Ever wondered what it’s like to work at Simon Howie Foods?? Want to know what we get up to on a daily basis and get to know some of the team?? Well now is your chance! Here is what Commercial Executive Eilidh Wynd gets up to…

“If you ask my friends and family what I do for a living, half would say “she sells haggis” and the other half would guess I promote a Scottish brand on Instagram. Both are valid (@simonhowiebutchers if you want to give us a follow) but as everyone who works in commercial will say, “no 2 days are the same”. However that is no fun to read, so here is a rough overview of what I get up to on a random day in March…

Most days start with a catch-up with Clair (Brand Director) and Steven (Commercial Director) about the day ahead and any general life goss. I am a real people person and love an excuse for a natter! I then sit down at my desk to look at the emails I’ve received overnight. I also take a look at my to-do list for the day and week ahead (which is obviously colour coded) and get cracking!

Now that we are heading towards summer launches and range changes within supermarkets, a key metric I look at is availability within retailers and how many stores are selling our products. For example, X number of stores sell our Original Haggis but only 80% stock our Veggie Haggis, could this be something we look into? Small steps make a massive difference for our business, the stores success and customer satisfaction! I also help analyse sales after a big promotion or event like Burns. We see what worked, what could we improve, and what our plans are for the year ahead.

Then, if I’m lucky, we will have a taste panel to try new recipes, improve current products, or just a general panel to see that our quality is as great as always. I find these really rewarding because you can see the care and passion we all have for our products, as we want to find any small improvement to make customers happy. I get to hear from skilled butchers how different cuts and thicknesses can affect the overall product and it’s a great way to have some team bonding over bacon.

Most of my afternoons are spent either working with my lovely boss Steven ( he didn’t even pay me to say he’s nice) on bigger projects or company goals. Part of my role that I love, is working alongside wholesalers to promote Scottish brand presence in the hospitality and education sector. I get the greatest sense of pride when I see our burgers or balmorals on menus across the country and beyond. This is a different logistical challenge for us and it’s super interesting to see how that side of our business works.

I end my day with making my new to do list and dedicate a good 10 minutes to watching Clair’s latest TikToks or pun posts on Instagram ( did I mention we are on social media?)

A bit of a whirlwind day but I can either be office based all day, spend part of my day out with retailers, or have a full day away at a food conference or event. I sometimes even work as an elf at our butcher shops over the festive period to make your Christmas Wowie!

Commercial is all about increasing sales and growth of a category, as well as building customer relations, supporting the factory with forecasts and making exceptional cups of tea ( my words not the teams…) to keep morale high  I love my job even more than I love talking about it. It is fast-paced and sometimes overwhelming, but when we hear how important Simon Howie Foods is to so many people it makes it all worthwhile!”