History in the baking – the Murdoch Allan story
Paul Allan, Managing Director, Murdoch Allan
As a family-run business, we have been at the heart of the local community for three decades – during this time we have built strong relationships with our customers across the North-east, making us much more than just a bakery.
The Murdoch Allan journey began in 1991 when I was leaving bakery college, and my parents Murdoch and Caroline Allan bought Reid’s bakery in Fraserburgh.
It was a really exciting time for the family, and we were proud to introduce our range of sweet and savoury treats to the public. In 1993, we acquired Robb’s bakery in Strichen, famed for its oatcakes and butter biscuits, and it wasn’t long before our product ranges had grown so much in popularity, we started to supply corner shops and independent supermarkets.
As a family business we are keen supporters of our local community – and this was highlighted in 2002 when we stepped in to save the long-established Simmers factory in Hatton, which was being threatened with closure by its owners United Biscuits. We worked alongside Alex Salmond who was a local MP at the time, and local councillors in order for a deal to be made for us to take over the factory and maintain production in the village. As a result, local jobs were safeguarded and turnover virtually doubled overnight.
In 2015, famous Aberdeen bakery, Thains became part of the Murdoch Allan family portfolio. We felt they were the perfect fit as rich family history matched our values, especially as my grandfather served his apprenticeship at Cummings of Tarves, one of the constituent brands of the Thain’s company.
Today, we employ 150 members of staff at our bakeries in Fraserburgh, Turriff, Aberdeen, Peterhead, Mintlaw and Hatton where we produce 25,000 of our famous Aberdeen butteries per day, and award-winning Aberdeen pies.
Demand for our products continues to grow across Scotland, seeing us stocked in supermarkets including Coop local stores; Sainsbury’s local stores; Aldi; Lidl and Asda. We are proud of our growth journey to date and look forward to serving our products across Scotland for many more years to come.