We Hae Meat secures lucrative deal to supply Tesco stores throughout Scotland

Group Business Editor

Saturday 23 June 2012

FAST-growing Ayrshire company We Hae Meat has landed a deal to supply 84 Tesco stores in Scotland.

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Ian McConnell Business Editor

The meat supplier, which is based at Cairnhill Farm near Girvan, South Ayrshire, and was born out of fourth-generation cattle farmer Alex Paton's move into butchering five years ago, has increased its workforce by nine to 30 on the back of the contract.

Carlyn Paton, co-owner of the business and wife of Alex, said the Tesco contract would add 20% to 25% to We Hae Meat's annual turnover of more than £1 million.She revealed the business also planned to supply Waitrose stores across Scotland. We Hae Meat already supplies Waitrose's store at Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, and supplies Asda stores in Ayrshire.Mrs Paton said: "Fingers crossed, we will look to supply Sainsbury's in the future as well."She noted that the business also, under the Cairnhill Farm brand, supplies meat to hotels and restaurants, including Cameron House on the banks of Loch Lomond, Glenapp Castle Hotel near Ballantrae, and the Hotel Du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens and Butchershop Bar and Grill in Glasgow. The agreement with Tesco will involve We Hae Meat, named after the line in Ayrshire Bard Robert Burns's Selkirk Grace, supplying steak mince rounds to all of the 84 stores. In 56 of these stores, We Hae Meat will also supply its "haggis eye" and "black eye" steak slice, which respectively feature haggis and black pudding in the centre of the sausage. In 15 of the outlets, in Ayrshire and around Glasgow, it will supply these products as well as steak block and steak slice sausage.Declaring the "quality of our product is the most important thing to us", Mr Paton said: "It is four generations of the Paton family at Cairnhill."Citing the family's "tremendous reputation in farming", he added: "I am the first generation to go into butchering. I want to maintain that reputation in butchering. The quality has got to be number one. I don't want my family name to be associated with anything but quality."We Hae Meat, which has recently rented out a shop it had opened in Girvan in 2007 to another butcher but still has a retail presence at a farm shop at Turnberry, will be offering samples of its steak slice at Tesco's stand at the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston on the outskirts of Edinburgh today. The company, which also has an online presence, met Tesco's local sourcing team at last year's show.Angus Bell, Tesco local buyer for Scotland, said: "When I first met Carlyn at The Royal Highland Show, what stood out for me was that it's a fantastic family-run business dedicated to producing the highest-quality local produce."

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We Hae Meat secures lucrative deal to supply Tesco stores throughout Scotland

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