This document provides a summary of a speech given by Alec about how he grew his Scottish deli business internationally without much additional spending. Some key points: - Alec utilized existing resources like his computer and networking on LinkedIn to find contacts and opportunities abroad. - He worked closely with Scottish Development International for support with exporting, regulations, and contacts in different markets. - Alec traveled extensively to meet people in person, learn about new markets, and promote his products directly to customers. - Through passion and persistence, Alec was able to successfully export Scottish food products to countries in Asia and significantly increase his business revenues.

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Good afternoon Ladies and Gentleman. I hope you have enjoyed the
conference today and have been enlightened and inspired by the speakers so
far.
My name is Alec, and I am going to tell you a story.
Hopefully by then end of this story you will all be even more inspired to go out
there and develop and build your businesses beyond the four walls of the
markets you are already working in and out with the barriers of your comfort
zones utilising the resources thatyou haveto hand and use on a day to basis –
without having to spend money on new infrastructureand more employees.
For those of you that do not know whatThe Scottish Deli is all about – I have 2
delicatessens – one in Pitlochry and one in Dunkeld. My Dunkeld shop was
named in September 2012 as the best Deli in Scotland and the 5th
best in the
UK at the Great Taste Awards in London. Having an environmental
management background and a passion for what wein Scotland simply take
for granted…. I havebuilt the ethos of the business around that “The Deli is out
there – It’s the mountains, the moors, the rivers, the lochs, the fields and the
hedgerows – home to some of the best foods in the world – grown, nurtured
and foraged for by producers of undeniable quality.”
As all of you will know – especially those in retail – life has not been easy for
the last few years with the current Economic situation. Rising costs of
overheads, rising costs of raw materials, banks being uncooperative in terms of
lending have meant that those of us in business havehad to look at alternative
ways to either increace turnover, increace profit margins and ultimately
survive.
So how does a cheese monger / deli owner from Perthshiretake his business
global and in the last 2 years built up clients in Jakarta – Indonesia, Singapore,
Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong & China supplying world renowned establishments
such as Raffles, the Mandarin Oriental Group, HyattGroup & the Joel

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Roublechon group of restaurants? How do I choosemy markets? How do I
grow my business within the markets?
Before I leap into the ins and outs of exporting and whatThe Scottish Deli has
achieved and how, I wantto sharewith you a mind-set that was instilled into
me as a 13 year old schoolboy and that has helped me all the way, every day. I
would urge you all to adopt this mind-set in your everyday business and life.
We can all go through life travelling and driving the grey tarmac road. Our
attention is ultimately forward, looking atwhat is in front, a quick glance in the
rear view mirror and wing mirror to see what is behind. Never really looking
out the side window as our attention is focussed on what is in front. That’s fine
life will toddal along. If you really want to move forward though you need to
change your method of transport. Ladies and Gentleman - Sell the car. Get up
there above your life and your business. From there you can see down, see
forward, to the side and behind you. Look at how opportunities link together
and connect, look to the horizon – see where you are going. Look how your
network is interacting, your employees are interacting. Life and business are
like a spider’s web with routes and opportunities very visible and clear if you
justtake the time and look down on it all rather than looking along the grey
blinkered road. Swap the car for a helicopter. You as the pilot are in control of
whereyou are going. Get that Helicopter Vision Ladies and Gentlemen.
I mentioned in my introduction about utilising resources that you already have
and useon a day to day basis. Ladies and gentlemen - There are only 2 that you
need to grow your Internationalbusiness. Oneis a computer, the other is you.
In the last 2 years I havenot taken on any extra staff, increased my
infrastructure, or boughtanything new for growing the Internationalside of
my business apartfromrenewing my passport. SinceJune last year one of my
customers alone has placed orders twice week increasing turnover by in excess
of 6 figures by themselves. That’s justone customer. Me, my computer and the
world.

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Ladies and gentlemen the worlds a big place – Scotland is small. When you fly
into Shanghai it takes 20 minutes of flying over the city before you even think
about landing. That one city is as wide as Scotland…
Right! Hands up! How many of you have a Linked in Account?
Is it quite fun to collect connections? Haveyou passed that magic 500+
connections that show everyoneelse that you mustbe really well connected!
Or is it that you arejust using as a Facebook for Business?
Why are you collecting connections? Is it because you think you might need a
PR Agency in the future or is it because you think you might need a sign writer
in the future? Storing up contacts for the future? How many of you actively use
it to build your business? Can you hand on heart say that due to those
connections on LinkedIn you haveincreased your turnover by x %.
I can.
Use it to its full advantage – see how people connect, look for new
connections. Get in the helicopter and see how people interconnect. The more
usefuland I emphasiseuseful connections you have the moreopportunities
will come your way. Join interest groups. Putposts out there. Without doubt
90% of my international business has come through LinkedIn. How else would I
be currently talking to someonein Outer Mongolia that is wanting to purchase
live Lobsters and Smoked Salmon on a weekly basis from Scotland? How else
would I be in talks with the largest Hotel Chain in Brazil with a view to
supplying them fish, shellfish, smoked salmon and other bits and pieces for the
up and coming Olympics. How else was I contacted by Kylie Minogue’s
personalchef looking for fresh fish and shellfish to be sent all over the world to
feed her and her entourage when on tour? And do you know whatLadies and
gentlemen – the best bit aboutit – it’s free! You don’tneed a premium
account!
Any way back to the story….

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Itwas about this time 2 years ago that I had been reading in the Financial
Times about how the whisky industry in China was booming. Me being me
flying along in my helicopter had a wee thought that it might be quite good
idea to see if the Chinese might like to buy some Scottish food to go along with
the whisky. I did a bit of delving and discovered there was a company looking
to open 300 whisky shops acrosschina in the next 3 years. Bingo I thought – I’ll
get them all to put a stand in their shops with a selection of fine Scottish
produceunder the Scottish Deli brand. Easy. Ha ha ha. How do you convincea
company in China that they should buy a bunch of jam, chutney and biscuits
and put them in 300 shops? China’s 8000miles away – I don’t know anyone
there. I don’t speak Chinese.
To discover if there was a way of getting someScottish Produceinto China I
thought I’d havea look at Linked in and see if I could connect with people in
the industry over there so joined a couple of groups – British Entrepreneurs in
China, and Business in China and wrote a couple of posts stating that I was
looking for a distributor of fine Scottish produce and that if anyone had any
tips / contacts then I would be very interested in talking to them. A pile of
advice came along and recommended contacts. Easy life I thought and out
when the box of samples biscuits, jam, honey etc. to Shanghai. 8 weeks later
everything was still stuck in customs.
Back to the drawing board. For everything that doesn’twork – make sureyou
ask yourself why didn’tit work? Whatdid I do right, what did I do wrong, what
can I do to make it better? In this caseit became blatantly clear I had not got a
clue abouthow to export, the rules and regulations of whatproduceis allowed
into what countries etc. OK – need somehelp here?
What would we do without Google these days? Time to crank up the computer
again and type in “How to Export from Scotland”. A whole hostof pages come
up labelled Scottish Development International. Wow – so much information,
so much support. Any way after a bit of ferretting around I managed to get

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hold of the food and drink liaison at SDI who looked after Asia. A meeting
ensued and it became abundantly clear that there werea vastrangeof
opportunities in Asia for Scottish Food in particular for consolidating a range of
produce. Mixed pallets of a larger range of smaller quantities of producewould
surely be more attractive to distributors in foreign countries rather than having
to buy a whole pallet of one product. Oneof the main things that I was
worried about was that if I sold a pallet of jams, honey and biscuits, it was
unlikely that they would reorder the following week. From the experience
having 2 shops I know how often I reorder and also whatthe profitmargins
were like. I needed to find a productor a set of products thatcould be
reordered on a weekly basis.
Time for a trip in the Helicopter across Scotland and see what products it’s
famous for and have a shortenough shelf life so that they have to be ordered
on a regular basis, thereby giving good cash flow and regular profit. The most
obvious products werefish and shellfish. High value, shortshelf life, needs to
be ordered on a weekly basis. Not only that I could add a case of honey, a
couple of cheeses, a case of biscuits to the shipmentif necessary.
The world is really not that big a place from a Scottish point of view. The one
thing that we as a country are very good at is promoting ourselves abroad.
None so as at this particular time with The Commonwealth Games and the
Ryder Cup being hosted here this year. Global eyes are going to be on
Scotland. I have justmentioned Scottish Development Internationalor rather
SDI as they aremore commonly known. To quote Anne – SDI arethere to:
“help Scottish companies trade successfully in international markets through
our 27 overseas offices backed by our local experts and ex-pat business
community.”
These offices have staff that have an intricate knowledgeof the different
sectors within that particular country and the majority havea Food and Drink
Team. These are your ears and eyes and facilitators on the ground ladies and
gentleman. They are there to help and open doors for you. I cannot tell you

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how much supportI havehad from them over the last couple of years. Each
country is different in terms of laws and regulations as to what products can be
imported and how they are imported. Some countries require different
labelling, somecountries requireproducts to have a Health Certificate – some
require a Certificate of Origin.
Some countries need you to have a Defra approved Vet to inspecta box of
cheese to make sureit’s not still mooing. Its time, its money and a total hastle
and more than likely totally unnecessary, butatthe end of the day – that’s
what the importing country requires. It’s justpaper work. Takethe time – dot
the I’s cross thet’s and all’s good.
I engage with the SDI offices within the countries I work in on a regular basis.
Their knowledge, contacts and enthusiasm to help is something that if you are
looking to grow your Internationalbusiness should notbe ignored. The staff
speak the local language so if you are having trouble with the language barrier
when talking to potential distributors they are there to help. A classic example
is when I attended Foodex in Tokyo this time last year. I was partof the SDI
stand and had a stand full of cheese. The Japan office of SDI translated all the
cheese labels into Japanesefor me.
SDI also run Learning Missions to various countries. If you arelooking at
growing your Internationalbusiness I would seriously urgeyou to look at the
possibility of joining one of these missions. In thelast 2 years I havebeen lucky
enough to join Learning Missions to Japan, China, Hong Kong and India – all of
which are invaluable in terms of learning about how your products fit into that
particular country whether it’s for Food Service or Retail and what the
obstacles are in terms of regulations / importrestrictions etc. These are the
chances for you to sell yourself and your products. Getyour feet on the
ground. Meet up with your network and contacts that you have built over
LinkedIn. As a reward for your long day chasing across someof the most
polluted, dirty heavily populated cities in the world – take time out and enjoy a
beer on a rooftop skyscraper bar overlooking theNeon lights – and skyscrapers
to the far horizon.
So – onto the second resource – the computer and using the likes of LinkedIn
and Google is fine, however the most importantresourceyou have in your

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business is you. At the end of the day you are the business –if it wasn’tfor you
wherewould it be. We are all in business for a reason – to make money – to
make money we need to sell - if you as a business don’tget out there and sell
these products then you wouldn’thave a business. You are also the one that
can network, inspirecustomers to purchaseproducts and ideally inspire other
people to do it for you because it is you that carry the passion about your
business and your product. Having the ability to inspire people whether it is
distributors, chefs, customers and sales agents though your enthusiasm is one
of the most powerfultools you have in your day to day tool box.
Back in June 2012 I started talking to a school friend over Facebook that I had
lost contact with since I was 14. Itturned out that she was based in Singapore
working as a brand manager for Proctor & Gamble covering the whole of Asia
and the Pacific. To cut a long story shortshe agreed to have a look at
opportunities in Singaporeand other Asian countries for Scottish Food in her
sparetime for me. Emails started dropping in with photographs of Scottish
produceon supermarketshelves etc. SDI has an office in Singaporeand very
soon we were having video conferencemeetings with them about the
different opportunities there were. Itsoon became apparentthat there were
definite opportunities for us to sell a rangeof fish and shellfish into top end
restaurants.
In September that year I took the decision to get my feet on the ground in
Singaporeand go and see the market for myself, walk the streets, meet the
possibledistributor I had met over LinkedIn faceto face and go and sell sell
sell! So off I went– met up with Nicki who by this time was starting to get
caught up in the potential and enthusiasm of what I was trying to achieve.
When you take a person who has worked and been immersed in the corporate
world for 15 years and say to them, right come on we’re going to go and walk
the street and see whatopportunities there are and knock on some doors –
they look at you as if you arecrackers. That’s not the way business is done in
the Proctor & Gamble world!So off we went looking at restaurantmenus.

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“Excuse me could I talk to the chef. I am from Scotland and have the, most
amazing range of fish, shellfish and cheese. Here’s our brochure - is this
something you think you might be able to use?” Very quickly we found out that
if the chef was European and had worked in restaurants in London or the UK
then they recognised the fact that Scotland’s fish and shellfish is known as the
best in the world. Trying to convince an Asian chef who had absolutely no
knowledgewas a lot more difficult. Coupled alongsidethe sheer enthusiasm
and passion of me jumping up and down in frontof them waxing lyrical about
the fact that I could have the fish delivered to them within 48 hours of being
caught in Scotland invariably meant that they would say yes. I remember
standing in the Kitchens of L’Atelier in Singaporeowned by Joel Roublechon
the mostMichelin starred chef - 24 in total across the world showing samples
to his Executive Chef. One of the samples was a beautiful piece of smoked
haddock. This particular chef had never seen / let alone tasted it – he thought
that as it was smoked you would justeat it like smoked salmon. Itwasn’tuntil I
asked him if I could throw it into his oven in a little bit of milk for four minutes
and then let him taste it that he really got the messageabout what an amazing
productit was. Sometimes a little education is needed along the way to help
open the eyes of people abroad aboutwhat great products Scotland has to
offer.
After 5 days of tramping the streets, Nicki was hooked and agreed to start
looking at other countries, doing the research and landscapework. Following
another trip back to Singapore in January to finalise everything with the
distributor and visiting an endless round of all his clients with samples, Nicki
decided to take a 3 month sabbaticalfrom Proctor and Gamble and fly around
Asia for me setting up distributors in Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia and
would without any qualms walk into an establishmentand ask to meet the
chef and talk about the products with the same level of enthusiasm and
knowledgeas me. Enthusiasmis inspirational.
Not only did she havethe ability now to do this but having worked in the
corporateworld, was quite comfortable dealing with the Vice President of the

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entire Peninsula group for Asia, the Purchasing manager for the entire Hyatt
Group working within their policy guidelines for sustainably sourced fish and
other products. Oneof the key things with penetrating these large corporate
groups was to be able to bring to one meeting The Vice President, The
Executive Chefs, and the purchasing Managers for onedemonstration /
sampling / testing. Make the contacts over linked in. Set up a meeting. Deal
with it in a professionalcorporatemanner.
One of my mentors once said to me - Alec don’t be frightened of approaching
or bringing on board the expertise you need from another organisation.
Result – I poached an Asia and Pacific Brand Manager of Proctor and Gamble
to come and flog cheese, fish, jam and chutney for me.
Incidentally this is whereSDI can really help you grow your International
business with their Manager for Hire Scheme. 50% of Nicki’s consultancy fees,
travel expenses and accommodation werepaid by SDI under this scheme. I am
sureAnn would be happy to explain in greater detail this schemein the
question and answer session at the end.
So sell sell sell. I had a great time in Singaporein January last year where I
walked round the streets in the evening lugging a poly box full of cheese
samples that I flew out to our distributor. Toddling from wine bar to wine bar
in 27 degree heat, having the odd glass, (there have to be a few rewards for
InternationalBusiness) looking at the menu – seeing if there was cheese on it.
If there was it was almostundoubtedly French. Ittook selling right back to the
basic level – get on your feet and go and pedal your wares. –If there was
cheese on the menu I would ask if I could speak to the chef. “Hi I see you’ve
got some fantastic cheeses on your menu. I’m from Scotland and have flown all
the way here to Singaporewith these samples – would you like to try someand
compareit with what you have on your menu?” Invariably they would say yes,
try the cheese and say “Wow – I never knew Scotland produced cheese let
alone anything so good.” When asked if they would put it on their menu they
said they would but how do they get hold of it. When told that they can buy it
through a distributor that they werealready using for other products they
were delighted. Job done. Next.

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I cannot emphasiseenough the importance of getting your feet on the ground
in the market place when you are looking to build your business abroad.
Business in Asia especially depends on forging a relationship with your
customer / client distributor. Takethe time to go there. Take the time to let
them take you out to lunch and feed you fish stomach soup, jellyfish sashimi,
flying fish roe salad, and chicken cartlidge kebabs.
One of the most importantthings about going and getting your feet on the
ground is due diligence. If you are sending products to the other side of the
world – you wantto know that who you are dealing with are actually ok. SDI
can help here by doing company checks in country re financials etc., however
what aboutyour customers infrastructure?
The easy bit of exporting is getting the products from Scotland to the air-port
in country or rather A to B. I know that I can get a chilled box from Glasgow
airportto Hong Kong airport in tip top condition within 19 hours. That’s faster
than Parcel Forcedeliver my chilled Hampers on a 24 hour next day service–
invariably its more as I am suremany of you will know that useUk distribution
companies!
What I really wantto know is what happens when that chilled box arrives at
the airport. The temperature in Hong Kong can vary from 20 degrees right up
to mid-30s sometimes more. What I wantto know is how good a relationship
my potential distributor has with the customs at the airport. Is that chilled box
going to be put in chill immediately it arrives or is it going to sit in 30 degree
heat for 3 hours waiting to be cleared? Onceit is cleared how it is getting
transported fromthe airport to my distributor’s premises. Isitgoing in a
chilled van is it going in the back of his car. How long is it going to take? The
point I am trying to make to you is that haveto be so sure that the B-C bit of
the logistic is ok. If it takes 4 hours to clear customs and get transported to
your distributor facilities in 30 degree heat and it is not in a chilled van, the

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chances are that the live scallops or lobsters or chocolate or cheese are not
going to be very happy when that box gets opened. You are then going to get a
phone call from your distributor saying everything has died or melted or is not
in good condition and that they want crediting for x amount. Hang on a minute
though – it arrived in tip top condition – it’s justthe last bit wasn’tright in
country. Get your feet on the ground – get your potential distributor to take
you to the airport to see another shipmentarriving. Drivethe route with him
fromthe airportto his premises. Check that it’s all ok. When you reach the
premises ask to see the chilled store, find out how long its going to take for the
productto reach the end customer. Havea look at the office, ask to meet the
accounts team. Meet the person that is paying the invoices – startbuilding a
relationship with them.
Itdoesn’thave to cost you the earth to get your feet on the ground either.
With Emirates flying fromGlasgow getting to Asia is easy and quite reasonable
providing you fly economy. My flights to Singapore and Hong Kong have never
cost me more than £550 return. Accommodation can be as cheap or as
expensive as you wantit to be. When I go I am quite happy to stay in a budget
£40 a night hotel or even hostel. Asia rooms.comhas some great deals as does
AIRB & B. When I went to Tokyo for Foodex I managed to get a 2 bedroom
apartment in the centre of Tokyo for £150 for the week through Air B& B.
If you engage with SDI and Scottish Enterprise, become accountmanaged and
create the trip as a projectthen you can get 50% funding. So a return flight to
Hong Kong at £550, 5 nights’ accommodation at £50 a night – that’s £250 +
£550 - £800. Geta 50% grantfrom SDI or even your local council under their
InternationalMarketing pot of money and you are there and back for £400.
Live off the best street food in the world for the week - £500 done. Walk the
streets – knock on doors – havea week of meetings lined up that you haveset
up with your contacts over LinkedIn. Potential for loads of business.
How much would it costyou to go and take a stand at the Speciality Food Fair
in London, your Hotel, your travel each day, your food? I have a sneaky
suspicion it would be a little more than £500!

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Ladies and gentlemen, don’t be frightened of looking further afield for
business. Theworld is a small place and do you know what – Scotland is a very
very small place compared to the restof it. Saying that though….wehave a
reputation….there are chefs all over world that havecooked in Europe /
London, Scotland and then gone abroad. Every single one of those chefs
knows, appreciates and understands the quality of what we as a country have
to offer. All we haveto do is connect with them and say – yep we can send this
to you.
At the end of the day it is justthe same as doing business back here – someone
wants to buy something – you sell it – you make money. Just becausethere is
10000 miles between you and a potential customer it doesn’t mean you can’t
do business – get in the helicopter get up there and look for the opportunities.
They are there.