BBQ sauce and rub company Angus & Oink has splashed out £300,000 on its Aboyne factory in a move which will see its production double.
The cash injection will also see staff numbers increase from seven to 10 in the near future.
Owners Scott and Malissa Fraser have installed a new £180,000 production line at their factory based in Deeside Activity Park.
The machinery will fill pots, do all labelling and seal all products meaning it will no longer have to be done manually by staff.
On top of that a further £30,000 has been spent on creating a new BBQ school.
Grow the business
Mr Fraser said: “This will allow us to double production from the site and continue to grow into new markets or grow existing markets.
“We’ve retained our staff and retrained on the new machine from what was a very manual job.
“We also plan to employ more people to add digital and conventional sales.”
Angus & Oink, which started in 2014, produces a range of sauces and rubs and currently exports to distributors in Holland, Italy, Lithuania, Ireland and Australia.
The Frasers were inspired by a period of extensive travels, with their sauces and spice rubs inspired by a range of spicy, flavourful cuisines they experienced on the way.
It moved to Deeside Activity Park in March last year and has since expanded on site doubling its space for production, storage and dispatch.
Across the globe sales
Mr Fraser believes sales have been driven by more people choosing to cook at home.
He said: “We really grew during the pandemic but seem to have retained a lot of customers.
“I think the quality and range of what we do sees people buy into it and the brand.
“We are trying to get in to the indoor cooking market as well because our products can be used inside as well as out.
“Another avenue we are looking to grow is international markets and are looking at the US just now.
“We currently have some products on Amazon US.”
BBQ shack investment
As well as looking to expand sales there is the opening of the new BBQ school.
Mr Fraser said: “Our experiences overseas and in the last seven years working in BBQ has given us so much inspiration and we love to share that passion with people.
“The BBQ school will be able entertain 20 people in a unique space built for demonstrating cooking with fire, smoke and bbq.
“We’ve planted a herb garden which is used for the school and staff lunches.
“We’ll introduce schools on curing, cold smoking and seasonal ones.
“We’re all about global flavour and sharing that love of cooking with others.”
Energy cost impact
Speaking about the on-going energy costs crisis Mr Fraser said he was hopeful the business would be largely unaffected as it’s tied into a fixed contract for another two-and-a-half years.
He said: “We are not that bad.
“We don’t cook or refrigerate anything so we’re not as heavy on the drawdown as a lot of businesses are.
“We also have biomass on site which helps.
“Hopefully we will weather the storm relatively well.”
Conversation