Award-winning smoked salmon producer develops new premises

About the business

Salar Smokehouse currently produces a range of smoked salmon products from its site at Loch Carnan in South Uist and delivers across the UK. The business will move 12 miles north to new premises in Uachdar, allowing it to increase production, improve efficiency and be more accessible to visitors.

Growing Salar Smokehouse has been on the cards for a while, but without the support from Business Gateway it might not have been possible. Alastair’s advice has been invaluable to help us perfect our business plan and to spot gaps that we might’ve missed. We’ve built a great relationship with Alastair and the Business Gateway team and can’t thank them enough.

How Business Gateway has helped

With demand increasing, Iain and Emma set their sights on expansion and approached Business Gateway for growth support. Local adviser Alastair Macleod provided regular guidance including recommendations to strengthen the couple’s business plans and signposting them to funding.

The business was awarded Comhairle grant and loan funding, which allowed Salar to cover the costs of new equipment and the refurbishment of the new premises.

Iain MacRury, managing director of Salar Smokehouse, said: “Growing Salar Smokehouse has been on the cards for a while, but without the support from Business Gateway it might not have been possible. Alastair’s advice has been invaluable to help us perfect our business plan and to spot gaps that we might’ve missed. We’ve built a great relationship with Alastair and the Business Gateway team and can’t thank them enough.”

“The new premises are taking shape thanks to our staff and local tradesman. We’re excited to be able to experiment with new products and recipes with the expanded space. We’re looking forward to expanding our target market and giving more people the chance to taste delicious salmon from the Outer Hebrides.”