HEAR the name Simon Howie and the chances are you will think of the branded meat products sold in supermarkets.

But the man behind the bacon and sausages business has a good deal more than food on his plate.

Although the food business, which includes a farm, a meat processing plant in Dunning and butcher shops in Auchterarder and Perth, is on track to deliver almost £15 million in turnover this year, it accounts for just 25% to 30% of his business.

The Simon Howie Group, winner of the consumer product and services category at the recent Ernst & Young entrepreneur awards, is a collection of companies engaged in a range of sectors.

Each is run by its own managing director, who normally holds an equity stake in the business.

Employing around 350 staff in total, the group includes Calport (industrial property), Strata Group (spanning three firms involved in supplying laminates), Rossco Properties (large commercial and industrial sites) and Shore Energy (renewable energy). It also used to include a recycling firm, Shore Recycling, which it offloaded to Viridor for £23m "cash" in 2008.

As the son of a farmer, and a man whose company retains a connection to the land by rearing cattle on its 450-acre Perthshire estate, it might be assumed that Mr Howie prizes the meat supply business above the rest.

Yet the entrepreneur, who opened his first butcher shop aged just 19, insists he is just passionate about his other interests. And he says he does not build companies with an exit strategy in mind.

Mr Howie said: "It is about creating businesses that can grow and 'daisy chain' and become as big as they can come.

"For me, it is about trying to create businesses that are best in their class. I am really only interested in being involved in things that are seen by the customer as a really good solution."

Building some businesses is tricky than others, though, as evidenced by recent experience in the reneweable energy sector.

The group's plans to build a plant in Carnbroe, near Coatbridge, to transform residual waste – in other words, waste that is contaminated or cannot be segregated – into energy is the subject of a continuing legal dispute.

North Lanarkshire Council blocked the initial application for planning permission, with that decision overturned on appeal by the Scottish Government after Howie's company lodged a judicial review.

The case has been reverted back to the Inner House at the Court of Session, where it will be considered by three judges.

Mr Howie was reluctant to comment directly on the case beyond saying that, while he respects the stance taken by his opponent, he remains convinced of the concept behind the proposal.

He said: "We think we have got a great business there. The big positive is that it is a solution to a problem for the UK, in that we have a zero waste target, which essentially means zero waste to landfill. [But] without an end solution for the residual waste, ie the waste that can't be recycled, we don't have a zero waste plan.

"What we have got is a policy to recycle half the waste and the rest of it essentially gets shipped abroad or goes to landfill.

"That is not a real solution for residual waste."

Elsewhere, developments are proceeding more smoothly on the renewables front.

Plans to create a similar plant in Inverness have been "passed and permitted", with the facility awaiting construction, while everything is in place to begin the development of a 100 turbine, 300 megawatt (MW) wind farm near Bucharest, Romania.

The "spade-ready" €450m project, which will be constructed by an Italian turnkey company, will benefit from one of the top five wind speeds in Europe, with the electricity feeding into the local grid.

Yet although the group has spread its wings far beyond farming and food, agriculture remains close to his heart.

Mr Howie has strong views about the need to support farmers, who he said are struggling to combat rising feed costs and red tape.

Lamenting the freezing conditions of last winter, when the loss "hundreds of thousands" of sheep came as a devastating blow to many farmers in Scotland, he said the recent horsemeat scandal had brought a timely boost to the industry – even though it will mean higher costs for him.

Mr Howie said: "If you said to me what is one of the big challenges for the food industry, I would say low herd numbers [and] low flock numbers. That inevitably is the big thing that is going to push the price up.

"Unless we can encourage farmers to reproduce their livestock, inevitably you are going to have to pay more for your steak, because the supermarkets have said they are now going to buy British. The supply and demand dynamic kicks in quite heavily."

Yet having a foot on both sides of the fence does bring benefits, Mr Howie went on, mainly due to the insight it provides.

But just because he has empathy with farmers does not mean they are treated with misty eyes.

Mr Howie added: "When my buyers speak to the farmers they are not too hard on them. We know they do not have a lot of profit there, so why take advantage of that?

"There are other times where we think, 'hang on guys, you have a cracking spring, the grass has been growing, the sheep have been out, you have not been putting hard feed into them, don't play hard luck stories, be fair with us.'"

It is not only farmers whom Mr Howie's team speak regularly to. Constant discussion is also held with the outlets it supplies, be it supermarkets (it struck a deal with Sainsbury's to run the butchery counters under its own brand in 1999) or five-star hotels.

It works closely with the Gleneagles hotel and resort, for which it has developed a "breed book". The idea is for waiting staff to recommend beef, whether it is from Galloway cattle reared on the hills near Loch Lomond or Limousin in France, in the same way a sommelier would talk about wine.

But more significant is the launch of a new online store which Mr Howie said will be crucial as the food business looks to raise turnover to £25m over the next five years.

The service comes with the promise that all UK orders will reach their destination by the next day.

Mr Howie said he relishes seeing colleagues bring projects like this come to fruition, insisting that the Simon Howie Group is no longer a one man show.

"For me, that is the fun. OK, we get days when it is really tough and things go wrong. But there are people around me.

"Twenty-six years ago I was on my own."