Never before has the Scottish food and drink industry adapted and innovated so swiftly to keep the nation fed. Key to this response is a highly skilled workforce that have developed new skills, implemented new technologies, adapted to new working patterns and found solutions to the many problems that arose. The food and drink industry has shown great resilience throughout and continues to move forward and thrive into the future.
Skills Development Scotland and FDF Scotland on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership have produced a series of case studies. These illustrate how industry has responded to disruptors and how building a skilled workforce can make your businesses more resilient for the future.
We would be delighted to gain any feedback from employers on the challenges they have been facing and how skills and people have helped you through recent challenges. Please send any feedback to skills@fdfscotland.org.uk.
Find Business Support
Find out more about the range of employer support available through FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot, including help and advice for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Case Study
Border Biscuits: What we learned in 2020
When it comes to the crunch, businesses need to think about their people and their ability to adapt how they work. Both will take you through the challenges of the next few years.
Case Study
Christie the Baker: Learning digital skills helped us through crisis
Christies is a traditional Scottish baker, selling traditional products. During the Covid-19 lockdown, all of us – from our managing director to our bakery and shop staff – learnt new ways to do our jobs.
Case Study
Dawnfresh: Our people development programme futureproofs the business
Believing that great people make a great business, Dawnfresh works hard to be an employer of choice. Our investment in areas such as core skills, wellbeing and fair pay served us well during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Case Study
Devro plc: Think about risk and develop your people
As a food business, how do you stay ahead of the game? You anticipate what could go wrong (and right) and plan for it. You also invest in people’s training and development. Since we need good engineers to run and improve our manufacturing equipment, we train them ourselves through our apprenticeship scheme.
Case Study
Maclean’s Highland Bakery: Resilience comes from treating staff well
Throughout Macleans, we develop our people, look after them and offer work-life balance. Our experience during the Covid-19 pandemic showed the value of building skills and loyalty.
Case Study
Macsween of Edinburgh: Going back to basics can work wonders
However successful a business, it can benefit from de-constructing the way it does things. At Macsween, we completely reviewed our operations and culture, and are more productive and resilient as a result.
Case Study
Mimi’s Bakehouse: How we hardwired adaptability into our business
When crisis hit our family-owned bakery, we were quickly able to adapt the business and move 100% online. The three key ingredients? Investment in digital, social media, and company culture.