Business Insights and Resources

The adventures of "Jam Boy" - How I turned my Gran’s jam recipes into a successful company

by Fraser Doherty

I’ve always loved jam!  And, one afternoon when my Gran was making some in her kitchen in Glasgow, I asked her to share her recipes with me.  I was fourteen at the time and had no idea that an afternoon spent making jam with my Gran would go on to change my life.

The same day, I ran around to the supermarket and bought some fruit and made a few jars of jam myself.  I took them round the neighbours and asked them what they thought – thankfully they liked my homemade jam and asked if they could start buying it from me every couple of weeks.  I was soon making deliveries all over the local area.

Leaving school to make jam full time

After coming up with some labels on the computer at home, selling my products at farmers’ markets and to a few delis around town, the local newspaper, the Edinburgh Evening News wrote an article about my tiny business.  After being featured in the paper, I decided to leave school so that I could make jam all day, every day, in my parents’ tiny kitchen.  I was soon making over 1,000 jars of jam a week and selling them all over Scotland.

Soon, I came up with an idea to make jam 100 percent from fruit, which I called ‘SuperJam’.  I was given an amazing opportunity to pitch my idea to Waitrose at a ‘Meet the Buyer Day’; which I like to describe as the ‘X-Factor of selling groceries to supermarkets’.  The buyer said he loved my idea for making jam 100 percent from fruit but explained that there was a long way to go before I could supply it to supermarkets – I’d have to set up production in a factory and create a brand.

Setting up production

After meeting with the Waitrose buyer, it became my dream to see my products in their stores.  I spent a couple of years convincing a factory to believe in my idea and creating labels that got our message across really clearly.  Amazingly, after many failed attempts, Waitrose agreed to launch my products in all of their stores.

Since then, we’ve launched in over 2,500 stores in five countries, launched a charity running free tea parties for elderly people and even been entered into the National Museum as an example of an Iconic Scottish brand.  SuperJam has gone on to sell millions of jars and there’s still a whole heap of adventures out there yet to be had.

I guess what my story shows is that your idea doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel – it is possible to make something extraordinary out of something as ordinary as jam.  With some love and imagination and a lot of hard work, it is possible to turn your passion into your career.  And to have a lot of fun along the way!