Christopher Leigh, CEO at John Ross Jr, Aberdeen’s artisan smoked salmon producer and global luxury food brand, has won the Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year Award at this year’s North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards.

The award, which was presented at a ceremony that took place at Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeen, was given to Christopher for taking ‘significant steps to move the family business forward both locally and internationally’, according to the judging panel. In 2017 Christopher orchestrated and oversaw the sale of shareholdings in John Ross Jr to Estonian-based PRF Foods in order to take the business to the next stage of growth.

The panel, which included Alan Leslie, Buying Director at Aldi, Nikki Castley, Head of Buying at The Cress Co and Lauren Henderson, Director at Lomond Fine Foods, also felt that John Ross Jr’s growth plan and partial exit had ‘shown strong entrepreneurial flair’.

Christopher comments: “Whilst I’ve been fortunate enough to collect this accolade, the award itself represents the hard work carried out by my entire team and their ongoing commitment to producing nothing but the very best smoked salmon. We’ve worked hard over the last two years to ensure that John Ross Jr’s foundations are solid and capable of delivering continued growth at home and abroad. I’m now looking forward to leading John Ross Jr into new and exciting territories and being part of the business as we enter the next chapter in the company’s history.”

The 2019 North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards included 13 different categories and celebrated prominent food and drink brands including Associate Seafoods, Brew Toon, Mackies of Scotland and Summerhouse Drinks.

Pat Machray OBE, Chairman of ONE’s Food, Drink & Agriculture Board, added: “The awards recognise the achievements of businesses across the region’s food and drink sector and provide an important vehicle for businesses to get new products in front of influential buyers who participate in the judging. Entries were received for 69 new products this year, with 12 businesses entering for the first time, which is encouraging in terms of the potential for the sector to grow and we congratulate all of the winners and finalists for their efforts.”

Peter Argyle, Chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, concludes: “It has been very exciting to see the increasing number of products finding their way overseas, as well as the excellent food and drink experiences increasingly being offered for visitors and the range of employment opportunities continually being created by this industry. It is so important to celebrate growth, innovation and success within what is one of our key sectors. We have an increasing number of excellent food and drink producers in our area and anything which helps highlight that and support this important area of the economy is worthwhile.”

For more information on John Ross Jr visit www.johnrossjr.com.

Image caption:

IMAGE 1 (TWO PEOPLE): Christopher Leigh (right) receives the Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 2019 North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards.

IMAGE 2 (GROUP): Christopher Leigh (centre bottom) receives the Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 2019 North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards.