Eric McKellar Watt

Alexander 'Eric' McKellar Watt, OBE (16 March 1920 – 12 July 2001) was a Scottish entrepreneur, the founder and chairman of McKellar Watt Limited, at one time Britain's largest privately owned meat processing company.[1][2] The company became known for its slogan 'McKellar Watt for Meatiness'.[3] In 1983 he was awarded an OBE in recognition of his business achievements.[1]

Early life

Watt was born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow Academy and Strathallan School in Perthshire.[3] At the age of nineteen he volunteered to join the Army as a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps.[1] He served with Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army in North Africa, Palestine and Greece. Whilst on patrol in Greece in 1942 he and his patrol were caught by sniper fire.[1] McKellar Watt suffered severe head injuries and gunshot wounds to his legs.[1] His men thought he was dead but emergency treatment saved his life.[1] He spent eighteen months in an army hospital in Killearn having his body rebuilt and learning to walk again.[1]

McKellar Watt Limited

Before he had joined the army, he worked for 18 months in his father's chain of five Glasgow butcher shops.[4] McKellar Watt Limited was founded in May 1948 after he had been invalided out of the army.[5] On receiving a lump sum of £500 from the army and a £700 disability grant he started the business.[5] He opened a small factory in the Townhead area of the city, initially producing sausages, potted meat, black puddings and potato croquettes; the quality of his sausages, in particular, soon became a talking point around Glasgow.[4]

In 1954 when fire gutted a nearby firm's premises in Dobbies Loan, he acquired the site and the second factory was soon in operation.[5] After only six years in business the company was employing over 200 people.[5] In 1959 the second factory reached capacity and McKellar Watt Ltd purchased a nearby competitor on Old Shettleston Road.[5] Further nearby property purchases over the years meant the site occupied a total of 7.5 acres by the time of Eric McKellar Watt's retirement in 1985.[4]

The constant yet careful expansion of McKellar Watt Ltd, coupled with a quality product range provedsuccessful.[4] The company focused on producing chilled sausage and meat based bakery products which were distributed through depots in Dundee, Manchester and Birmingham.[4] Following the 1973 oil crisis the cost of distributing chilled foods on a daily basis became too expensive.[4] Management decided to withdraw from the chilled food market in England and replace it with frozen food which required less frequent deliveries.[4]

From 1976 the frozen food sector of the business grew rapidly.,[4] with widening of the product range to include frozen flans and quiches.[4] Both products became bestsellers under the 'McKellar Watt' brand and supermarket own label name.[4] By the early eighties the frozen food sector of the business accounted for 50% of turnover and the firm was exporting its products to Hong Kong, countries in Africa and the Middle East.[4][5]

In March 1985 after almost forty years Watt sold his business to Freshbake Foods Group Plc.[4] At the time of his retirement the company employed more than 600 people.[1] The factory had recently undergone a large-scale redevelopment and the future was very promising.[5] In 1988 Campbells Soup Company acquired Freshbake Foods Group Plc and by May 1989 Freshbake had been merged.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Eric McKellar Watt A Glasgow businessman who returned from the war to set up Britain's largest privately-owned meat-processing company". The Herald (Glasgow). 26 July 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  2. ↑ Bolton W.K and Thompson J.L (2003). The Entrepreneur in Focus: Achieve Your Potential. pp. 184–185. ISBN 186152918X.
  3. 1 2 "Eric McKellar Watt - sausage magnate". The Times. 5 September 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "New chapter in the McKellar Watt story". The Herald (Glasgow). 5 December 1985. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "From a back shop to a major market". The Herald (Glasgow). 8 February 1982. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "Freshbake Foods Group Plc". Worldwide Company Profile. 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
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