‘Free from’ bakery wins entrepreneur prize

A Scots bakery business has been bestowed with an impressive honour at a recent awards ceremony.

Dr Sally Beattie and Emer Bustard, of Lazy Day Foods, have been named Scottish food and drink Entrepreneurs of the Year at the 2019 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards.

The ‘free-from’ bakery was set up in 2006 after both Sally and Emer, joint managing directors of the business, experienced living with food intolerances and allergies. Believing that everyone should be able to indulge in high quality treats from time to time, Lazy Day Foods was born.

The award, which was sponsored by Scottish business advisory and accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael, recognised Sally and Emer as key players in Scotland’s food and drink industry.

The Lazy Day team hand bake all their cakes, biscuits and tray bakes from their dedicated free-from bakery based in Shotts, North Lanarkshire. The bakery is totally gluten free, dairy free, nut free and egg free and the range is available to purchase in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and on Amazon.

Adam Hardie, partner and head of food and drink at Johnston Carmichael, has chaired the judging panel at the awards for a number of years. This year, he was joined by Dennis Overton, chairman of Scotland Food & Drink and Simon Hannah, managing director of JW Filshill, and presented Sally and Emer with their award.

Adam said: ‘Lazy Day Foods was an early market mover, and now they on a great trajectory with particular success within supermarkets. The team have developed a range of delicious new products, complete with their own unique branding.

‘Sally and Emer demonstrate so well how to manage a business together. I look forward to seeing Lazy Day Foods grow from strength to strength particularly in the food service category.’

A spokesperson from Lazy Day Foods, said: ‘We are thrilled to be named as Entrepreneurs of the Year. We have worked really hard with our team over the last 11 years to create a range of delicious products that everyone can enjoy, and it’s fantastic to be recognised for our efforts with such a prestigious award.’