Our Story

OUR STORY

Our goal remains the same now as it was from the start: to deliver the finest foods from Scotland to our customers. What’s more, once you shop with us, we hope we’ll have you as a lifetime customer, and we want you to be inspired by your experience, because you inspire us! You’re the reason we exist – and we love to hear from you, by phone, email, social media, or snail mail. Your comments and suggestions continue to guide us. We find new products, spurred by your interest, travel stories and tips. Even customer feedback about packing has helped us ensure that our products arrive to you in pristine condition. We love your stories, pictures, pointers and reviews. Please keep them coming!

OUR HISTORY

• March 2005 Anne Robinson founded Scottish Gourmet USA after years of visiting Scotland during her courtship and then marriage in 1999 to Andrew Hamilton, a kilt-wearing, Scotch-drinking, Scottish chef and hotelier from Inverness.

Anne and Andrew traveled widely in Scotland, always returning with Scottish gifts for friends and family in the US. One delicacy brought back in ever increasing quantities was Struan Heather Honey. Struck by all the exquisite Scottish food with no available equivalent in the USA, Anne was inspired to create Scottish Gourmet USA.

• July 2005 The Scottish Gourmet USA website launched. Two days later, we had our first order – for organic porridge oats. Thank you Megan! (She is still a customer today.)
• October 2005 The first Scottish Gourmet USA catalog mails to thousands of households and the orders begin! With only 145 products on offer at first, right away customers began asking for particular favorites - meat pies, sausage rolls, rhubarb and ginger jam, and butter tablet. (By contrast, our most recent catalog features over twice that number of products.) In the early years of the company, customers shared dozens of intriguing product requests, and the most requested item was …. HAGGIS. 
• August 2007 Scottish Gourmet USA participated as a vendor at its first Scottish Games at Old Westbury Gardens on Long Island. Anne met dozens of enthusiastic fans of Scotland and Scottish foods, and realized this is a perfect way to meet new customers all around the country.
• November 2007 Chef Andrew and a French pate and sausage maker, spend several Sunday afternoons perfecting a recipe for haggis – without any lungs. The pate maker, having made his first batch of 100 pounds, had his doubts about the viability of Scottish haggis in the American market. He told Anne, “This will never sell.” Upon its introduction to Scottish Gourmet USA customers, our first batch of haggis sold out in six weeks! Hamilton haggis is a hit!
• 2008 and 2009 Scottish Gourmet USA joins the robust community of other vendors at dozens of Scottish Games, surviving the Great Recession while adding new customers.
• 2008 thru 2015 Our product offerings expand based on customer requests. Meat pies sell well, but calls for lamb pies start next. We hear from dozens of customers of a beloved Scottish bakery in Paterson NJ that is no longer in business. We add Lamb pies, another success story. Bacon generates calls for bangers, then potato scones. We now sell the full Scottish breakfast! We work hard to satisfy those nostalgic food cravings for our customers, and we take that mission seriously.
• January 2015 Mimi Sheraton, famed NY restaurant critic, releases her book, 1001 Foods to Eat Before You Die. Scottish Gourmet USA is mentioned as a shopping resource twelve times – including culinary appreciations of the wonderful heather honey and porridge oats, a few of our original food offerings.
• March 2017 Scottish Gourmet relocated from New Jersey to Greensboro, North Carolina. Having outgrown our original space, the move gives us more space, a retail storefront, expanded warehouse possibilities and a dock for truck deliveries. 
• March 2020 Covid-19 forces a nationwide shutdown four days after our spring catalog lands in homes. Orders skyrocket, challenging us to handle the increase in orders. In December 2020, we cut off holiday orders on December 9th because demand exceeded our staffing and inventory capacity. New hires during Covid become terrific employees, allowing for growth that continues to the present. 
• April 2022 We expand our Greensboro space and install a large walk-in freezer to accommodate our growing business. Our retail store doubles in size, and you are invited to visit on your travels. Just a few miles off Interstates 40 and 85, you can browse the largest selection of Scottish food and gifts in the US.
• April 2024 A new website – our sixth in 19 years – making shopping with us easier and more engaging than ever. Hope you like it!