From a young age, Alister Asher got involved with his family bakery, often helping out to earn his pocket money.
He fondly remembers working in the cafe at the Inverness Wool Mart, which was one of the busiest days for the small business.
This progressed to a Saturday job picking orders, where Ali was paid 50p an hour, which was “quite a lot of money” to him in those days.
Despite the family bakery running since 1877, he and his elder brother George were never expected to take it on. They both went off to study and do their own things.
But they were eventually drawn back to the Highlands — and their family business.
The two brothers took over from their father James when he retired at 60 and became the joint managing directors of Ashers. Under their leadership, the bakery has grown massively, and they now look after 11 outlets and 110 staff members across the Highlands and Moray.
And nowadays, Ali’s son Robbie works in the bakery, making him the fifth generation to work for the business.
Ali spoke with the Press and Journal to share what it’s like working in a family firm with a legacy like Ashers…
Ashers bakery started in Nairn, almost 150 years ago…
Ali’s great-grandad James A Asher opened the first family bakery, James Asher and Son, at 3 Bridge Street, Nairn in 1877.
It wasn’t until Ali’s father, James R Asher, took on the business in 1947 that it started to expand, with shops later opening in both Inverness and Forres.
Determined to keep the family business in Nairn, a couple of factories were bought in the Balmakeith Industrial Estate in 1998 to build a modern bakery — which was formally opened by Princess Anne in 2002.
Over the last 148 years, the business survived World Wars, recessions, and more contemporary challenges like supermarkets and the lack of footfall on High Streets.
Instead, the Nairn-based bakery has gone from strength to strength, opening even more shops across the Highlands and Moray, winning awards and winning international contracts.
“I think just keeping good customer service, and good product quality, can keep your loyal customers coming back,” Ali explained.
“And although we’re very proud of our history we are quite forward-looking. We keep looking ahead and seeing how we can change and adapt to the challenges thrown at us.
“We’ve been here a long time, we’ve got a responsibility to keep our standards up, our brand strong and keep our customer’s expectations of what we do right up there with that.”
The original shop on Bridge Street only closed in 2003, after serving the community for 126 years, because it was time to expand.
And once it moved to 40 High Street, the building was redeveloped into a block of flats.
Ali and George officially join family business
Ali’s father, James, left school aged 14 (against his mother’s wishes) to help out with the family bakery after the death of his father.
But, there was never any pressure for the brothers to join the family business, with the decision being left up to them.
At first, Ali didn’t know what he wanted to do and went to study accountancy at Napier College. After completing his course though, he realised he could use what he learned within Ashers.
And so he officially joined the company in 1988, and four years later he was joined by his elder brother.
“We were never forced into joining by any means,” he said. “But I think my father was delighted when we both decided we did want to come back to the business.”
Their father retired aged 60 after Ali and George took over the helm.
The pair opened outlets in Inverness, Elgin, Aviemore and Grantown-on-Spey. They also acquired Smillies the Baker, adding three more shops in Elgin and Lossiemouth to their offering.
Most recently, Ali and George were faced with the closure of the St Giles Centre. But they were determined to keep two stores in Elgin and their loyal staff, some of whom have worked for the firm since the 1990s, and found new locations on the High Street.
Has baking been passed on throughout generations?
Now, Ali’s role is more focused on sales and admin, although he says he’s a happy product tester if his skills are ever required.
Meanwhile, he describes George as “quite a good confectioner and cake decorator”.
“I’ve not got too much of a sweet tooth,” he admitted, “I’m more of a savory person. So I like our steak slices, chicken bridies, Scotch pies, all that sort of stuff.
“And I think one of the products people remember from a long time ago would be our cherry rings and lemon rings, which were like big Danish rings that we were often asked for, but they were too bulky. So we do a slice version of them now, and they still sell pretty well.
“A lot of products are still the same as they were from all these years, scotch pies and sausage rolls haven’t changed much… you know, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
While the bakery still uses the traditional recipes, passed down through the generations, Ali enjoys experimenting with cooking at home when he has the time.
He explained that baking is more of an “exact science”, but he enjoys being creative, trying new things and adding “a little bit of this and a little bit of that” to his dishes.
‘There’s always great humour’ in the bakery
Ali’s son Robbie works on the bread and roll production in the main bakery at Balmakeith, and the 29-year-old “loves what he does”.
“It’s good to see,” Ali said with a hint of pride. “And I think it’s good for the people who work with and around him. He’s part of the family but he’s also just one of them, just one of the folk getting on with their day-to-day job and working hard.”
Ali still fondly remembers his own time having some great laughs while working in the old bakery with some “real characters”.
With a chuckle he added: “There was always a great humor in the day.
“I think there still is, to be honest, I think the staff really sort of enjoy working there, and long may that continue.”
‘We all just muck in’
The brothers live 100 yards apart from each other, and share the same hobbies including golfing and curling, as well as their passion for the business.
Their father James was the president of the Scottish Bakers and chairman of the British Confectioners Association (BCA).
Ali went on to become the president of the Scottish Bakers from 2009-10, meanwhile Geroge was the chairman of the BCA in 2020.
Although they run the company together, Ali says he and George deal with different departments, and Robbie technically works under George in production — so they don’t work too closely together.
“When we go to play golf, we do say ‘you can keep us apart because we’ve seen enough of eachother’,” he joked. “But it’s good-humoured.
“We’re on the same level, dealing with different departments, and we kind of get on with our own tasks and projects. And while we don’t work together on a daily basis, we still see each other as a fairly small business — so we all just muck in.”
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