SAINTLYSALMON

fo

od

&

d

rin

k: st jam

es sm

ok

eh

ou

se

Brendan Maher, owner of StJames Smokehouse, at its

manufacturing base in Annan

76-79 St James Smokehouse.qxp 05/12/2012 13:52 Page 2

‘I always wanted St James to be in the same league as Aston Martin or Rolls Royce – to build a global brand with that level of class and quality.’ Brendan Maher tells AnneArmstrong about the success of his Annan-based firm, St James Smokehouse, whose

products have been enjoyed by the Queen and are sought-after all over the worldPhotography by Jenny Woolgar

January 2013 DDUUMMFFRRIIEESS && GGAALLLLOOWWAAYY LLIIFFEE 77

From humble beginnings in Dumfries& Galloway, St James Smokehousehas become a global success story.

Based on a small industrial estate inAnnan, a hard-working team producepremium quality salmon products whichare a huge hit in America and are nowbecoming increasingly sought-after all over the world.

In under 10 years, St James has gonefrom employing four people to 70;developed products which have beenenjoyed by the Queen and an Americanpresident, and won a host of national andinternational awards.

The firm was founded in 2003 byBrendan Maher and his wife Alexandra,and now has a sales office in CoconutGrove, Miami, as well as its manufacturingbase in Annan’s Station Road.

Originally from Liverpool, Brendan, aformer graphic designer, had spent time in

the USA and realised there was a gap in themarket for Scottish smoked salmon, aftergaining experience working in the industryin Cumbria.

He says: “I lived in the USA for a whileand what I found there was Chileansalmon being put in tartan bags and givena Scottish sounding name and sold as aScottish product.

“I believed there was a definite need fora genuine Scottish salmon, salted andsmoked by hand in Scotland, by Scottishpeople.”

Brendan used his creative skills andspent months developing the St Jamesbrand. At first, production was out-sourced to a number of small Scottishsmokehouses, but a desire for more control of production and greaterconsistency of flavour meant a hunt for its own premises.

This led the firm to a pre-existing

facility in Newton Stewart and productionstarted immediately under the watchful eyeof master smoker Leo Sprott, who is stillwith St James today and is now sitemanager at Annan.

Interest in the products grew quicklyand St James outgrew the Newton Stewartpremises. It quickly snapped up a buildingpreviously owned by seafood firm Pinneysof Scotland in Annan, and celebrated fiveyears on the site this September.

Brendan says: “We’ve never lookedback since coming to Annan. It’s a great town and there are a lot of peoplehere who already have a knowledge ofseafood and how to handle it becauseof their previous working experiences atYoung’s and Pinneys. Annan has been great for that.

“We’ve sponsored The Annan HarbourAction Group, The Royal Burgh of AnnanPipe Band and we’re the main sponsor for

St James Smokehouse smoked site manager Kevin Murray – each salmon fillet is hand-cured before being naturally smoked

➨

76-79 St James Smokehouse.qxp 05/12/2012 13:52 Page 3

78 DDUUMMFFRRIIEESS && GGAALLLLOOWWAAYY LLIIFFEE January 2013

envelope with natural ingredients. Wealways try to use flavours which areharmonious with the salmon;complementing rather than overpoweringthe flavour of the smoked salmon.”

National and international awards

include numerous gold medals from theUK Guild of Fine Foods’ Great TasteAwards, and top business titles from theScotland Food & Drink ExcellenceAwards, along with honours from theprestigious International Boston SeafoodShow and Gulfood in Dubai.

While the domestic market is importantto St James – locally, it supplies to restaurantsincluding Smiths at Gretna Green, theQueensberry in Annan, and the Thin WhiteDuke and Andalusian in Carlisle, andproducts can be bought at the Foodhall atthe Famous Blacksmiths Shop visitor centreat Gretna Green – exporting abroad hasbeen a driving force for the business.

Around 60 per cent of the firm’s exportscurrently go to North America, whereBrendan lives with wife Alexandra andtheir four-year-old twins, Lennon andGrace, in Miami. He splits his working

Annan Rugby Football Club for 2012/2013. I like to support local organisationsto give something back to the communitywhich has embraced and accepted us.”

St James sources only the finestsustainable Scottish salmon, and each filletis hand-cured with a blend of pure sea saltand Demerara sugar, before being naturallysmoked over oak chippings. Each smokedsalmon fillet is fully trimmed by hand andvacuum-sealed to preserve the flavour. Noartificial flavours or preservatives are used.

Award-winning St James SmokehouseScotch Reserve Smoked Salmon isone of the firm’s bestselling products,

and it has also had great success recentlywith smoked salmon infused with the likes ofWhisky & Wild Honey, and Hendrick’sScottish Gin and Tonic.

Brendan says: “We like to push the

‘We’ve never lookedback since coming toAnnan. There are a lot

of people here whoalready have a

knowledge of seafoodand how to handle it’

Whole salmon ready to be processed; right: freshfish intake chill processor Andrew Graham puts asalmon through the descalling machine; below:

Ross Mackay and Logan Thomson de-heading thefish; edger Tommy Anderson and other workers

removing the belly, bones and fay from the salmon

76-79 St James Smokehouse.qxp 05/12/2012 13:52 Page 4

Brendan says: “It’s been a huge learningcurve for us, but we’re very happy with theend result and the new plant has beenoperational since the end of May.

“I had been looking at the growthpotential by doing our own fresh fish andsaw a pretty massive opportunity. We’vedeveloped quite a global presence for our

smoked products. Our customers havefaith and belief in the St James brand andnow we hope to the do same with our fresh salmon.”

St James is also keen to expand in theUK retail market and in November itsnewest product, The St James SmoakedSalmon Trio, featuring smoked salmoninfused with Whisky & Honey, Lemon &Pepper, and Gin & Tonic, went on sale inall Costco UK stores.

Reflecting on the firm’s success to date,Brendan says: “When I started I wanted togive people the real deal. I always wantedSt James to be in the same league as AstonMartin or Rolls Royce – to build a globalbrand with that level of class and quality.

“It’s been challenging and a lot of hardwork – but it’s been immensely rewarding.”

■ See: www.stjamessmokehouse.com.

time between Annan and the CoconutGrove office, where his ‘right-hand man’,global operations manager Andrew Potts,is also based.

While North America has been a topmarket for St James in recent years – itssmoked salmon was served at a lunchattended by President George Bush and theQueen during an official visit to America –the firm has expanded into other territoriessuch as Dubai, Egypt, Germany, HongKong, Portugal, Spain, Singapore andThailand, and is looking to expand more inthe months ahead.

Part of that growth this year has seen a£500,000 investment in the Annanpremises, taking over an adjacent vacantbuilding and transforming it into a filletingand portioning plant, which means it canhandle whole fish for the first time and nowoffer fresh salmon products to the market.

January 2013 DDUUMMFFRRIIEESS && GGAALLLLOOWWAAYY LLIIFFEE 79

‘Our customers havefaith and belief in theSt James brand and

now we hope to do thesame with our fresh salmon’

D&G

Clockwise from above: production supervisor for fresh site MaryJohnstone checks the fish before Kieran Edwards weighs and boxes thefillets; Brendan with some St James Smokehouse products; smoked site

manager Kevin Murray hand-salting fillets; Linda Linnett and Grant Legg remove bones from the salmon

76-79 St James Smokehouse.qxp 05/12/2012 13:52 Page 5