Fast-growing hot sauce firm Angus & Oink is moving production from Aberdeen to England in order to keep up with demand for its products.
The company, which also produces and sells marinades and sausages, and recently teamed up with a craft brewery to launch a new range of beers, said yesterday it was unable to find anyone in Scotland who could “hot fill” into glass.
It will instead have its products manufactured by The Condiment Company, based near Chichester in West Sussex.
“It’s the route we have to go down to grow,” said Scott Fraser, who left the oil and gas industry earlier this year to focus on Angus & Oink, which he runs with his wife, Malissa, from their home in Peterculter.
The firm suffered a blow recently when Aberdeen restaurant Cue BBQ, where it was making 6,500 jars of sauce a year, became a casualty of the local economic downturn.
Yesterday, Angus & Oink launched a crowdfunding drive – using Tesco’s Backit platform – to raise awareness of the brand, as well as £5,000 to invest in expansion.
Mr Fraser said: “The funding will allow us to move production to a Salsa (safe and local supplier approval)-registered facility and upscale on production volumes.
“We will also be able to launch a new sauce with a Mexican theme called Phat Taco. With the new accreditation and increased production capability, we are in a position to seek outlets within larger stockists and look to export markets.”
He added: “We are looking at growth channels across the UK and overseas. In order to access these markets we need to increase turnover which will in turn allow us to take on staff and, eventually, look at having our own manufacturing plant.”
From an initial run of just 10 bottles of sauce a month after start-up in 2014, the company is now selling its range through 25 outlets across the north-east.
Its plans to take the brand to new markets coincides with expansion of the product range.
Phat Taco and a new ultra-hot sauce, Voodoo Pinhead, will go on sale alongside existing products Pitboss BBQ, Rampant Angus, Red Dawg Apache and Voodoo Mango.