Clootie McToot, a traditional Scottish bakery producing clootie dumplings, has achieved major listings with UK retailers after winning a Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards award and securing additional funding.
Based in Abernethy, Clootie McToot was launched in 2017 after owner Michelle Maddox made the traditional pudding for a bake sale at her son’s school.
After the pandemic limited its options for targeting customers directly through festivals and markets, Michelle worked with Business Gateway to adapt and target the wholesale market.
“Working with the team, I adapted my business approach and started to target the wholesale market,” Maddox said.
“This resulted in contracts with retail giants including Tesco and John Lewis, as well as others, and has been fundamental to my business growth.”
Michelle, who already exports to the USA, is now looking to build on her growth by securing a contract with a global brand. She also has new products in development including a ‘ready to eat’ Clootie Wedge.
Michelle was signposted to funding by Business Gateway and was awarded over £40k of grant funding through a Scottish Enterprise CAPEX grant.
This allowed the business to purchase new equipment to increase their dumpling manufacturing process, including the purchase of 60-litre mixers and two 50-litre boilers, a significant improvement from the 40-litre mixers and 50-litre pots they had previously been using.
The move has helped the business scale up production, and it is now producing over 1,000 dumplings a week, with the capacity to increase this to 7,000 dumplings a week during December.
Additionally, based at Clootie HQ is the Clootie McToot Bistro, a café where visitors can enjoy clootie dumplings and watch the activities in the kitchens from a viewing gallery.
The Clootie Dumpling won Bronze at this year’s Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards.
Andrew Webster, Adviser, Business Gateway added: “Michelle’s passion for fostering an inclusive working environment coupled with her love of the clootie dumping, is what sets Clootie McToot apart.
“It is rewarding to see how the business is growing and we look forward to continuing to support her and her business’ expansion into the USA.”
