People who love to eat are always the best people.

After graduating with a Nutrition & Food Science Hons degree, in Glasgow, I first ventured out into the world of food manufacturing, to a garlic bread company in Cheshire where I dabbled in Technical, NPD and CI roles, concluding that NPD was more fun than Technical surprisingly.  From there I went further south to Berkshire where I was appointed Senior Product Manager for the Weight Watchers retail licensed food range. This was a fantastic role in exposing me to so many different food categories and manufacturing processes and I developed partnerships with successful category champion manufacturers who produced products under license and demonstrated best practice in brand management. I worked on over 20 different categories, from cake and biscuits to chilled yogurts, ready meals and sandwiches as well as drinks, bread and snacking products and more. 

I loved that job, but I missed home (and wanted to buy a home!), so I moved back to Scotland and into a role of Branded NPD Manager working with the largest cake manufacturing group in the UK; Finsbury Foods who were one of the WW family of licensees. Here I worked on the full branded NPD portfolio which consisted of Nestle, Thorntons, Disney, Character Licensing and tertiary brands, covering both the Hamilton and Cardiff bakeries. Working with license partners on the concept development to gain their approval, hit their brand guideline requirements, ensure manufacturing capability and commercial targets were met, and then scaling up and tracking the projects to launch, usually in high volume and at speed. It was here is where I learned a detailed understanding of the product costs and the commercial viability of projects and it’s still engrained in me now, There’s nothing more satisfying than creating an amazing product that consumers love, has a great rate of sale in market, whilst also making great business margins for everyone. Some of the products are still on the shelf now, 10 years on, which is amazing. 

After starting a family, I reduced my commute and had to find a better work-life balance and found that in shortbread and biscuits; firstly with Paterson Arran, now part of the Fox’s Group and then onto Border Biscuits. I remember my first walk around the Border factory seeing the manufacture of the infamous Dark Chocolate Gingers and I was starstruck! Here I acquired good knowledge of automation and batch manufacturing, I got hands on in the kitchen in NPD and also developed fantastic packaging development experience. I was the lead on removing all the plastic packs they used to have, coming up with card solutions that allowed recognition of the brand into a new format and, reducing disposable plastics and removing tonnes of carbon from the environmental footprint of the full retail range. We had big challenges operationally in getting the new eco cartons through the equipment, but I worked with some great supply partners and together we got there. 

Venturing out....

After Covid, I decided to venture out on my own, which I’d always wanted to do and I’ve not stopped since. Well I did stop briefly to complete a foundation diploma in Patisserie at the Edinburgh School of Food & Wine, which was great fun! 

Working as a freelance consultant I’ve had the opportunity to work with many companies, old and new. Helping on an advisory basis or getting hands on in development; every project is different and quite often projects evolve as I get started as my experience gives me broad knowledge to help on many different aspects of NPD. 

I’ve seen best practice (and bad practice!) and with year of experience,  I can help you from making the same mistakes or help you work through issues with proven solutions. 

My Insights profile is green and blue, I love working with people and love process & organisation which beautifully compliments my love of food!