Mackie's Crisps is targeting £100,000 of sales after launching what it hailed as the world’s first “haggis, neeps and tatties" flavoured crisp.
The company – which was set up in 2009 as a joint venture between Aberdeenshire ice cream maker Mackie’s of Scotland and Perthshire potato producer Taypack and turned over £5.8million in 2018 – has secured listings in all 96 Scottish branches of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, as well as with grocers including Aldi, Lidl and Scotmid.
A previous limited-edition sausage and caramelised onion bag delivered £120,000 in retail sales during the summer of 2018. Each pack triggered a 7p donation to Muscular Dystrophy UK.
Just 150,000 of the latest 150g haggis, neeps and tatties bags have been produced and the flavour will only be available in Scotland. Mackie’s hopes the move will capitalise on the popularity of its existing haggis flavour, which is already part of its core range.
The addition of neeps and tatties to the recipe has been in development since 2018, when student Aileen McColm shadowed quality control manager Jamie McKell and undertook a survey, with 350 respondents favouring the new flavour.
James Taylor, commercial director at Mackie’s at Taypack, said: “While we have responded to growing export demand, this flavour has been on the backburner. It’s been many years in the making. Who knows, we may even be able to expand the run to make it a permanent addition to our range. We’d also love to be able to sell bags abroad to some of our core markets in Asia and Eastern Europe, helping the wider world to experience the taste of haggis, neeps and tatties.”
Taylor added that the company had secured further contracts for its existing flavours from China, Russia and Ukraine over the past two years. Previous deals have included a listing with Costco in Japan.
