Kirsty George has joined Scotmid as Local Sourcing Manager and brings a passion for Scottish provenance and a commitment to bringing more local branded products into the Society’s food stores – championing the presence of local produce.
Kirsty joins the Scotmid team from Luss Smokehouse in Loch Lomond where she was General Manager to a rapidly expanding team and played a key role in the growth of the business which included export as well as the opening of a Smokehouse retail outlet to satisfy tourist demand last year.
Key focuses for Kirsty’s new role will be to work closely with store managers to rationalise store ranges to ensure local store offers reflect the needs of customers, and also to review store supply chains so that new products can find a quicker route to market.
Originally from Fife, Kirsty attended Business School at The University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2013. After taking on a graduate placement at Stockan’s Oatcakes in Orkney, she then took on a role with Scotland Food and Drink working on their strategy ‘Ambition 2030’, before joining Luss Smokehouse in 2016.
Kirsty George, Scotmid’s new Local Sourcing Manager, said: “Scotmid stores sit at the very heart of Scottish communities and play a huge role in meeting the convenience shopping requirements of Scots day in and day out and I’m really excited to be playing a key role in improving our customer’s food journeys.
“There is already a real wealth of fantastic Scottish products available in our stores, from well-known brands like Tunnock’s and Edinburgh Gin, as well as local brewery brands and cheeses which might perhaps be available in just a few nearby stores.
“I feel really passionate about championing Scottish produce, delivering exciting NPD and being first to market with new ideas and concepts. This will mean being fleet of foot and ensuring our supply chain is as efficient as possible so that we can commit to stocking new local and hyper local produce for our customers.”
Kevin Plant, Scotmid’s Head of Food Retail, said: “Kirsty’s arrival in an exciting appointment for Scotmid – we’re delighted to have her on board and she will be a real asset.
“Kirsty joins us with a wealth of knowledge across the food and drink sector and her passion for championing Scottish suppliers is something we share at Scotmid. We are looking forward to seeing the impact Kirsty will make and how we can continuously improve our in-store offering to match the ever-changing needs of our customers.
“Kirsty is a previous winner of Scottish Food & Drink’s Young Talent award and that underlines her top-class credentials – we’re thrilled that she has joined our team.”