Gourmet's Choice

5-star success for smoked salmon in the Gulf region.

The issue

Established almost 100 years ago, Gourmet’s Choice is a traditional Scottish smoked salmon producer that until recently concentrated purely on distributing its produce on a local level. With margins decreasing in the UK market, the company realised it had to look to new markets if it was to grow as a business. With no export experience, Gourmet’s Choice contacted Food from Britain (FFB) for advice.  

What we did

The first task for FFB was to identify potential export markets for Gourmet’s Choice. Europe was the obvious first port of call, and with the help of FFB the company enjoyed relatively modest success in countries with good records of importing British fish, such as Portugal and Italy. From this humble beginning to its export business, Gourmet’s Choice began to increase its ambitions. Working in partnership with FFB, it developed a five-year marketing plan that aimed to achieve a 70 per cent share of total turnover of export sales by 2010. To achieve this, FFB advised Gourmet’s Choice it needed to look at developing markets such as the Gulf region. The company was encouraged to exhibit at the British Pavilion at Gulfood 2006 – and the results were staggering.

The result

As a direct result of exhibiting at FFB’s British Pavilion at Gulfood 2006, Gourmet’s Choice now sells its products in seven countries in the region. Four years ahead of schedule, it has achieved its dual target of growing total turnover and of having 70 per cent of it coming from export sales. “The results have been amazing,” said Terry Curran, Managing Director of Gourmet’s Choice. “Thanks largely to the professional advice and guidance we were given by FFB, and the way it handled and promoted the show, our smoked salmon is now sold in some of the finest five, six, and seven star hotels in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, India, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. “We have surged past the targets we set ourselves, with four years to spare! We are now planning to return to Gulfood with FFB to consolidate the excellent trading relationships we’ve established, and to look to expand into new markets such as Iran and Lebanon,” added Terry.