Grampian Food Forum Open Meeting - 22nd April 2009

Representatives from food and drink companies from across Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Moray are invited to participate in the next Grampian Food Forum Open Meeting, which takes place at 3-6pm on Wednesday 22nd April at the Holiday Inn Aberdeen West in Westhill.

Do you have to meet with retail buyers?

Following on from a recent Scotland Food and Drink Meet the Buyer event in Aberdeen with ASDA, this is the first in a series of events across Scotland which will help producers better prepare to meet the buyer.

Lorna Murray of ASDA will inform delegates what a retailer requires from a potential supplier and give some guidance on the preparation needed ahead of your appointment to ensure that meeting is beneficial to both parties. Although this will apply to ASDA specifically, the information provided will assist companies who intend to approach any retail buyers.

Lorna will be joined by her colleagues buyer Mervyn Jones and buying manager, Michael McCallion. They will be providing information on what they have been working on as a team including details of the buying team structure, market research and customer listening groups.

Paul Allan, managing director of bakers Murdoch Allan, will then speak about how his business has grown through supplying ASDA. Murdoch Allan started supplying the retailer over three years ago with four bakery lines into six local stores. Business quickly grew by supplying more lines to stores across the east coast and has now led to increased business across the whole of Scotland.

Morag Simpson of Simpson’s Bakery in Rothes has recently been listed as a new supplier to ASDA since attending a recent meet the buyer event. She will give an insight into the process she has been through over the last few months.

Informal 1-2-1 meetings with the ASDA representatives are also on offer.

Getting your message across - how to approach the media

John Sorrie is Communications and Marketing Manager with ANM Group Ltd, Scotland's largest farmer-owned business. Prior to joining ANM Group, John worked for the Aberdeen Independent newspaper, rising from reporter to sub-editor and before that worked as a reporter and photographer for the Inverurie Herald.

Using his experience in both the media and food sector, John is going to provide information on writing press releases, building up your relationship with the media and how to use PR to best effect with the aim of achieving increased coverage for your product or your business.

In addition to the above programme, Douglas Rennie of Aberdeenshire Council will provide delegates with information on the business grants that are available to Aberdeenshire based companies through the Support for Aberdeenshire Business scheme.

There will also be updates on Grampian Food Forum and Scotland Food and Drink activities and a buffet will be provided to allow time to meet other delegates.

This event is free of charge to attend, please make your booking by completing the short form found on the following link. Booking form ttps://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1x6zpiE9VGrJwFVtthbNOA_3d_3d