September is always a busy time for us at Simon Howie. Largely because it marks the return of Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight!

What is Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight?

If you are unfamiliar, Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight is a chance to celebrate people, products and places in Scotland taking the lead in our industry. The event runs from the 2nd – 16th September and celebrates all the hard work that happens in our industry day in – day out to make sure a great range of locally produced food and drink reaches the supermarket shelves for you to enjoy.

So, to mark the occasion, we wanted to look back on just how far we’ve come as a company and celebrate some of the Wowie moments of achievements we are most proud of with you!

5th Biggest Scottish brand

In December, the Scottish Grocer announced that Simon Howie is now Scotland’s 5th biggest take-home brand of non-alcoholic goods – Wowie! In the top 5, we sit alongside other Scottish household names – Irn-Bru and Tunnocks. Having climbed from 5th to 6th place in 2021, we hope to keep moving up in 2023! Read the full report.

6th Largest Scottish FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) brand in Scotland

We were also ranked 6th most chosen Scottish brand in Kantar’s 2023 Brand Footprint Report, up from number 8 last year. This means more people are choosing to get a Wowie from Simon Howie when they pick up their produce! See the full report.

We continue to have Great Taste!

We’ve had products nominated and awarded a Great Taste Award for the last six years running. In 2023, our marvellous meatballs and bacon medallions received the coveted seal of approval. In 2022, our best-selling original haggis also received a 2 star Great Taste Award when it was voted above and beyond delicious! 2021 saw three of our products, including the wee black pudding, receive recognition and back in 2020, no less than five of our range were awarded a Great Taste Award! No one can say we don’t have great taste around here!

We’re nominated for a Scottish food and drink award

We are super excited that our mouth-watering Black Label restaurant-quality gastro burger has been nominated as meat product of the year at the Scottish Food and Drink Awards 2023.  It’s always a huge honour to be nominated for an award. Whatever the result we look forward to celebrating with all the wonderful Scottish Food and Drink companies that have been recognised and nominated alongside us!

We’re nominated for Campaign of the Year!

Never did we ever think, when we started our bonkers search for folk named R. Burns in celebration of Burns Night, that we would be a finalist of Campaign of the Year at the Food and Drink Federation Awards 2023 alongside the likes of Walkers, Quorn, Birds Eye and Cadbury! Gulp. But that’s why Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight is so important because it celebrates all the Scottish businesses punching above their weight and taking on the big guys. (double gulp) See the full shortlist.

Led by the business leader of the year

Back in January, Simon Howie was named business leader of the year by the Perthshire Chamber Business Star Awards. Simon began his career in butchery when he left school at 17 and has grown the business from a small village butcher shop to what it is today – a nationally recognised name and a sign of quality. All of this within his home village of Dunning.

So this food and drink fortnight, join us in celebrating the fabulous flavours of Scotland and some of the landmark achievements we’ve celebrated over the last couple of years on our journey to provide you with the very best Scottish produce! 

Thank you for being a part of our Wowie moments, and here’s to many more to come in 2023 and beyond!