Scotland Food & Drink appoints business development manager for Highlands & Islands

Scotland Food & Drink has appointed an Inverness-based business development manager to help strengthen its support for Highlands & Islands food and drink businesses.

John Murray will be based at the Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Inverness office and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of Scotland’s business landscape, the organisation said.

Mr Murray will join a team of four business development managers covering the whole of Scotland and will work closely with existing and new members of Scotland Food & Drink in the north of Scotland region to advise and support companies looking to drive business growth.

Prior to taking up the position with Scotland Food & Drink at the end of August, Mr Murray worked in convenience retail. At its largest, the business had nine convenience stores throughout the Highlands and Moray with a turnover of £6 million and supported 100 jobs in the northern region.

Mr Murray saied: “The region has many fantastic food and drink businesses and I’m delighted to be working with Scotland Food & Drink to bring my experience in retail to this new role as their Inverness-based Business Development Manager. I’m looking forward to meeting members and prospective members and seeing how we can work together to support their business needs and drive growth for food and drink businesses in this region.”

Elaine Jamieson, head of food and drink at HIE, said: “Scotland Food & Drink are increasing their commitment to businesses in the Highlands and Islands through the appointment of a regionally based Business Development Manager. John will ensure food and drink companies of all sizes access the wide range of benefits provided by the industry leadership group and will be key to taking forward collaborative initiatives with HIE.

“The industry has set a bold vision for growth in their strategy ‘Ambition 2030’ and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Scotland Food and Drink on this appointment which increases the expert support available to all businesses in the sector.”