Full name: Jo Macsween
Role: Haggis Ambassador & Joint MD of Macsween Haggis
DOB: not telling!
Birthplace: Edinburgh
Twitter Handle: @JoMacsween
Website: www.macsween.co.uk
Fun Fact: “I like running, especially up hills around the Scottish borders where I live”
Hi Jo! What was it like growing up as part of the Haggis making family? Was/is there pressure to continue and build upon what the rest of the family started?
There was no pressure at all, although as children, we all helped in the butcher shop in Bruntsfield Place in Edinburgh, where the business started in the 1950s. I enjoyed the work, even though the wonderful Morningside Ladies were very fussy and exacting!
Do you use old family recipes or are they continually being updated? How do you develop different varieties and refine your recipes? I assume it’s an ongoing process?
The recipes for our key lines, haggis, vegetarian haggis and black pudding, are virtually unchanged since my grandfather devised them 60 years ago and 30 years ago (vegetarian recipe). However, we have launched a Special Edition range, with products such as Wild Boar Haggis, Chocolate and Chilli Black Pudding and Moroccan Spiced Vegetarian Haggis, which lets us combine the finest ingredients to create a range of truly wonderful gourmet editions, a great opportunity to let our creative juices and expertise flow. Last year’s two Specials, Venison and Three Bird haggis, were a winner in the ‘Product of the Year’ category at the Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards 2014.
What’s your role at Macsween? The brand builder…?
Yes and that is really about holding dear the values of the business and making sure we work with people who share these values. So, for example, that we continue to make the best tasting products, and work in a sustainable way.
What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?
I enjoying converting haggis virgins to haggis lovers and seeing people’s faces light up as they realise they actually like haggis. I also enjoy seeing talent in the business flourish and experiencing the team taking on things I used to do. What I enjoy least is when people are not honest with me.
If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing instead?
There is a good chance that I would still be involved with food and be based in Scotland. I also love radio, and interviewing people, so perhaps a presenter?
What’s your biggest challenge been so far, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn?
There are many! Leading the business through the last recession has been one; and I think setting out goals many years ahead, helped us see any hurdles as short term issues that would only strengthen our abilities as a company. We continued to invest in future projects and refused to get depressed about the economic outlook.
I’ve had a fair bit of haggis (varying degrees of quality…hehe) and yours has been by far the best. What exactly is it that you guys do to make it work so well?
For us, it’s all about simplicity. We use the finest natural ingredients, working with local suppliers who we know every well. And, just as we have always done, we hand-make our products with great care in small batch sizes. My brother and I as the third generation Macsweens are very aware that we put our name (literally!) on every product, so it has got to be great.
What’s the reality of being an artisan food producer? Hard work?
I am very fortunate that my work never feels hard. It’s a vocation to me and I wake up most mornings genuinely excited about what I can achieve.
Any advice to those who’d be looking to do the same?
Don’t start anything you don’t have a genuine passion for. You will need a lot of self-belief to be successful in the face of inevitable setbacks along the way. And you need to make products that other people will pay you to make. Sounds a bit simple, but some entrepreneurs don’t seem to be able to face the brutal truth that their great new idea is not marketable.
If you’d had to start over and build Macsween from scratch with no brand awareness and none of your current facilities, how would you do it?
Actually, in much the same way as my forefathers did. I’d start small, keep a tight control on recipes and quality, go and meet as many consumers as possible and say yes to opportunities that are a fit with our family values.
You have a ‘Haggis Virgins’ sections onsite. How does it work? Can you tell us some of best & worse reactions to Haggis you’ve seen?
There can be a lot of apprehensions around haggis, mostly when someone hasn’t actually tasted the dish before, and has come armed with preconceived ideas that they will not like it or that it contains unmentionable ingredients. More challenging in a way, is when someone has tasted an inferior brand of haggis before. This experience can haunt people like a school dinner memory and it takes some courage for people to trust us and try haggis again.
Almost every time, people are delighted that they did try again and then they go and get their friends and want them to try too! We want to do everything we can to help Macsween haggis virgins overcome these obstacles, so they can love haggis as much as we do.
If you could cook some haggis for anyone, anywhere you chose – who would you pick, where would you do it and what flavour would you cook for them?
I’ve always harboured a secret desire (not so secret now!) to be on Desert Island Discs. So I like the idea of cooking a haggis dish for Kirsty Young while we listen to some music. As for the recipe, I would need to know more about the things Kirsty likes and then tailor a recipe just for her. I think she is a brilliant interviewer.
Any popular conceptions/misconceptions about Haggis you’d like to dispel?
The biggest myth of all, in a way, is that haggis belongs to Scotland alone. Haggis is actually a very ancient, global dish. Going back thousands of years, when hunters returned with their kill they would cook-up the parts of the animal that needed to be eaten first. The fresh offal would be chopped and mixed with cereal and herbs and cooked over the fire in the ready-made saucepan (the stomach). Hey presto – the first haggis.
Many cultures actually had haggis made from different animals depending on what was being hunted and we like to think of haggis as the celebratory dish that everyone shared after the big hunt!
I think it helps for people to know that while I am not the most confident offal eater, I do like haggis. I think this is because the offal is minced, mixed up with spices and blended with oatmeal to form a wonderful savoury dish I adore.
Is it making much of an effect in the rest of the UK, internationally etc (apart from amongst the expats, I suppose?)
Actually we sell more haggis in England than we do in Scotland, and 20% of our sales are in London which is a big growth market for us. When we had a stall at London’s Borough Market last January the local foodie crowd were very enthusiastic and we sold out. [Ed: why didn’t anyone tell me about that?!]
Any tips on what to pair with haggis for full enjoyment?
From a drinks point of view I actually think beer works wonderfully with haggis, I think one could safely speculate that Robert Burns could have enjoyed an ale of some sort with haggis. In my experience it is the higher alcohol beers that work best to match the spicy character of haggis.
What’s your most ‘unfavourite’ food, and what don’t you like about it?
I don’t enjoy overly processed food or anything that is too fussy. My approach is to leave the ingredients I’m cooking alone as much as possible and let them shine as nature intended.
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for Macsween? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…
To be known and trusted internationally as producers of interesting foods, including our famous haggis.
Anything I missed that you’d like to include here?
There are many pre-conceptions around haggis and how it should be consumed, but it is actually a very versatile ingredient which can be incorporated into a whole variety of snacks and dishes, from teatimes for young families, weekend family feasts, Christmas canapés and smarter occasions.
We have been sampling our range of haggis with Michelin starred chefs such as Michel Roux (Le Gavroche), Sriram Aylur (Quilon) and Tom Kerridge (Hand and Flowers), plus Racine’s Henry Harris and top publicans. They have been very positive about our products, each making the haggis their own in their own particular way.
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
If, for some reason, you were forced to turn your business into a travel agency, what would you call it, what types of holidays and locations would you specialise in and what would your game plan be?
‘Mojo’ would be the name. You’d ‘go’ nowhere – the focus would be on experiencing and appreciating what was right under your nose, thus re-energising people in their own environment. We often stop noticing what is around us and there is a simple pleasure in seeing familiar things anew.
If you had to have any character from Greek mythology come and work with you at Macsween, who would you employ?
I think most businesses would benefit from their employees having more fun – I’m not sure what God has that role, they all seemed to have their moment of being mischievous!
If you were forced to fend off an alien invasion and singlehandedly save mankind using only the tools available at the business, how would you do it?
We’d invite them in for a feast of haggis and Scottish hospitality aplenty. Then they would be too distracted and full to do anything.