Stoats branches into plant-based products

The company, which employs around 40 people at its site in Loanhead, Midlothian, launched a new vegan-friendly oat bar ‘THINS’ range in three flavours just before lockdown, with retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Ocado.

“They’ve been performing really well and retailers are looking to roll them out to more stores,” said managing director Tony Stone, who set up the business with co-founder Bob Arnott in 2005.

“We’ve now got vegan porridge pots due to launch around October time and there’ll be a lot more coming through in the next 12 months.”

A Public Health England campaign promoting the health benefits of snacks with fewer than 100 calories and customer feedback had helped to prompt the move.

Mr Stone said: “We’ve historically always used butter, but in the last couple of years we’ve had more feedback from customers saying they’ve tried a dairy-free or ‘flexitarian’ diet and want to lessen to amount of dairy in their diet. After good feedback to an early trial with online customers, we pitched the new product to our supermarket buyers, who have been really supportive.”

New customers picked up during lockdown include the Close House golf resort in Newcastle upon Tyne, which hosted this year’s Betfred British Masters golf tournament.

“They were originally looking for good quality snacks for their players, carriers and crew and ordered thousands of bars and also granola from us,” Mr Stone said.

“But after the event, sales in their pro shop have continued to be really strong. Golf is one of the sports that people can still play, so that’s been really good for us.”

Stoats has continued operating throughout lockdown by introducing new measures across its 22,000 square foot site. These include the creation of a new overflow changing room, a new layout in the cafeteria and more space between stations on the production floor.

Before the pandemic, the company recycled around 97% of the waste from its site. Introducing high levels of personal protective equipment has posed a challenge. But Mr Stone said: “We’re working with our suppliers to find products that will achieve the balance of keeping our staff safe, while limiting the impact on the environment.”

Looking ahead, he believed a second coronavirus spike was currently more of a concern than Brexit, which the company expected to start preparing for in the next few months by stockpiling raw materials coming from overseas, like dried fruit and seeds.

The Middle East and Iceland are key export markets, but 90% of Stoats’ sales are in the UK.

“About half of that is Scotland and half is the rest of the UK,” Mr Stone said. “We used to invest a lot of time, resource and cash into growing our export markets, but actually we see better growth opportunities in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.”

During the first four to six weeks of lockdown, Stoats saw its online sales double, but sales overall in the first quarter were down about 30%.

Volumes are now starting to return to normal. The company produces about five tonnes of product a day, including 100,000 oat bars.

“We’ve seen the impact of the pandemic on many small businesses,” Mr Stone said. “We feel grateful to still be operating and thankful to consumers who have continued to support local and buy our products.”

Stoats has supported local communities during lockdown by donating more than six tonnes of product to key workers and charities including multiple NHS hospitals, care homes and food banks.

The company also lent one of its vans to community project Empty Kitchens, which turns surplus food into healthy meals for those who need them.