JUICE brand Laprig Valley was set up as an alternative income stream for Lorna Fleming’s Hardacres farm that she runs with her husband in the Scottish Borders. The juice uses only apples from the UK and the company plans to conquer that market before going international.
Name: Lorna Fleming
Position: Co-founder
WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?
LAPRIG Valley. The name of the brand derives from the Laprig Burn, which runs along the fields on the farm.
WHERE IS IT BASED?
GREENLAW in the Scottish borders.
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
I SET up the business from diversification. The farm wasn’t big enough and I knew someone who was making apple juice. It was fitting as it was a product we liked and were familiar with. My husband has been a farmer his whole life and I’m a retired accountant.
I think Scotland is a good place to set up a business as there’s support if you want it. Scottish Food and Drink has been exceptionally supportive for us. Since I am a former accountant, I’ve got the knowledge on that side of things so we don’t need to use Business Gateway and don’t need help with book keeping.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
IT is an artisan-made, specific single variety product. It is Cox or Gala apple juice. Provenance is also important to our brand. We only use UK apples and it is handmade. Consumers increasingly care more about where their food and drink comes from.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
WE are aimed at a high-end market because we have a high-end product. We have a no-selling-in-supermarkets policy and we only work with independents.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU FACE AS A BUSINESS?
PEOPLE in general associate apple juice with the concentrated version found in supermarkets. That’s our biggest challenge and the next biggest is getting the right stockists. We have to research suppliers or people find us or come across us at a trade events which are set up by Scottish Food and Drink. People find us and like what we’ve got to offer. It is a high-end product so the price is also an issue. Supermarkets sell apple juice for 79p a litre and ours is more expensive.
We only use British apples – we can’t get enough Scottish apples which is sad in a way because people don’t know exactly where the apples come from. We buy the apples from a dealer in Colchester and keep enough juice in stock to supply it to all the stockists. The juice has a shelf life of two years. We produced double last season so we will need to increase the amount we produce again this season. We only have a finite supply but we always produce more than we think we need. It is a unique selling point – we make it and when it is gone it is gone. That’s why we can’t sell in supermarkets. We are already talking to people for the next season. We have our supply for this season and we will have to plan ahead for next season.
We are going for kosher certification in August so we will be asking then how much juice is needed.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
I LOVE meeting new customers. They are all super people and I love interacting with them. Building up a network of retailers has been enjoyable.
Like all new businesses we have our challenges and successes. You can’t be complacent. You always have to be prepared for the unexpected but don’t be afraid to take a risk – what’s the worst that can happen?
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
IN five years I would like turnover to go up. It is just me and my husband and we are investing in machinery. It is a rural and seasonal operation – we can only harvest apples from February to September – so instead of investing in people we plan to use technology. Having people is more expensive and we want to keep the price of the product the same. Our new press that we got recently has been a significant time saver. We don’t want to dismiss the idea of selling abroad but we want to conquer the UK market first – you can’t walk before you can run. America and France already make very good apple juice so we would have to market ours as Scottish apple juice but we can’t get enough Scottish apples.
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