Sweet success on a global scale

Alastair Walker, a fourth-generation director at Walker’s Shortbread, shares his export experiences for Family Business Week. 

Walker’s Shortbread is a Scottish success story.

The company sells direct to around 80 countries and distributors often sell on the product to other parts of the world. “Sometimes it’s easier to list the countries we’re not sold in,” says Alastair Walker, Head of International Sales. “Someone once asked if we’re in North Korea and there’s a rumour that we are. We think we have a distributor who’s getting them in.”

Walker’s meaningful exporting journey starts in the mid-1970s when Alastair’s father Jim and aunt Marjorie packed a car with boxes of shortbread and set off from the family bakery in Speyside, bound for their first international trade fair in Cologne, Germany. “They got about five miles from the bakery when the snow came down and they got stuck,” says Alastair. 

They eventually made it to Cologne where their tiny stand, stacked with products, drew unexpected interest, not least from a German visitor named Gert Ahlers.  

Partnerships built to last

“He came to the stand and said he loved the product and wanted to represent Walker’s,” says Alastair. “He didn’t even have a business, but he said he would start one and he managed to convince my dad that he could do a good job, and he did. We’re still connected with that business today. It shows what can happen when you find a partner who truly believes in your product.” 

Germany became one of Walker’s first major export markets and others soon followed. 

Finding the right partners has remained central to Walker’s international growth and it’s no coincidence that many of them are also family businesses. “When you’ve got a family business, you tend to resonate with other family businesses,” says Alastair.

“More than half of our biggest markets are accessed through distributors who are family-run and we’ve been working with a lot of them for more than 25 years. A big company might want quick wins, but family businesses think in decades. We’re not chasing next quarter’s results, we’re building something for the next generation.” 

Alastair’s great-grandfather, Joseph Walker, opened the company’s first bakery in Aberlour in 1898. Everything the company sells around the world has been baked in the Highlands. The business now employs around 1,400 people, making it one of the region’s largest private employers. 

The shortbread continues to be produced to the same traditional recipe: flour, butter, sugar and salt. The company doesn’t add anything else and is committed to quality. “If you’re going to eat a biscuit,” says Alastair, “you might as well eat one made properly.” 

That mindset proved vital in Japan, which has become Walker’s largest export market. It took almost 10 years of flat sales whilst the distributor built up the market then “suddenly the sales graph goes from flat to vertical,” says Alastair. 

Today, Walker’s Shortbread has a loyal following in Japan’s premium retail sector, where it is positioned alongside Europe’s best-known confectionery brands.

“Internationally, we’re seen as a premium product. We’re unashamedly Scottish and people value that authenticity.”

Overcoming hurdles abroad

Even the strongest brands face hurdles overseas and Walker’s is no exception. “You can be at the mercy of government policy that changes without warning,” says Alastair. “Something that we have faced and are still facing today in all different guises.” 

The company has also had a rough ride in China where a combination of a product rebrand coincided with Covid. The company paused direct sales – not least because Covid caused a spike in container shipping costs which rose from $3,000 to $20,000. Now things are relatively settled Walker’s is reviewing restarting again. 

Brexit too caused genuine disruption to Walker’s. “Overnight we lost about 15 smaller markets,” says Alastair. “Sometimes it took a month just to get goods into Europe while everyone figured out the new paperwork.” 

Despite the challenges, Walker’s global sales remain strong and today account for about 40% of trade. 

The company operates from six bakeries across Speyside where many staff have spent their entire careers with the business. Several families have worked there for generations. 

“We are indebted to our staff. Their loyalty and craft are part of what make Walker’s a domestic and international success,” says Alastair. “Our people take pride in what they do and that shows in every pack that leaves the bakery.”