From the Land to your Basket was one of the 22 projects across Scotland that was successful in the 2023/24 Regional Food Fund.
This project was carried out by one of our Regional Food Groups, Arran's Food Journey.
We caught up with Cameron Bruce, Coordinator at Arran's Food Journey, on how the Regional Food Fund has helped with recent projects.
What did the project aim to achieve?
"There were three main objectives of the project:
Objective 1: Drive visitors to buy more Arran produce
Objective 2: Create the food and drink stories and journeys
Objective 3: Update Arran’s Food Journey Website."
How have the objectives been achieved?
Drive visitors to buy more Arran produce
"We have created and placed an advertisement in Arran’s Island Guide which has a 2-year life with tens of thousands of copies being used by visitors to Arran each year. The advertisement is aimed at driving traffic to the Arran’s Food Journey website where visitors can find out about Arran’s produce and where to find it.
"We have also created and distributed a new flyer that details all of Arran’s food and drink producers and the retailers who sell their products on the island."
Create the food and drink stories and journeys
"We have researched and created storyboards that tell the story of Arran’s landscape, producers and their products. They encourage visitors to explore more deeply and lead them to the retailers where they can buy produce from Arran.
Physical sets of the boards are in situ at Bellevue Farm Tours and The Arran Geopark i-Centre and the Arran Heritage Museum. A spare set of boards will be used at temporary exhibitions including at the VisitArran conference and Visit Scotland I-Centre.
A downloadable digital set of the boards can be found on Arran’s Food Journey’s website."
Update Arran’s Food Journey Website
"We have reviewed Arran’s Food Journey’s Website and updated it in a way that encourages visitors to stay on it longer. This includes adding the story boards.
To increase our promotional activity and build our visitor database we have added a quiz feature and sponsored prizes that include Arran food and drink hampers, An Arran Gift card that can only be redeemed on Arran and a voucher for a Farm Tour."
What have been the project highlights?
"A bi product of the data gathering exercise during the creation of the information boards has been the opportunity to meet many businesses and to hear their needs and expectations of Arran’s Food Journey.
The information boards look even better than expected and have been well received by the organisations that will host them. They have also been used to showcase the work of the Regional Food Group at the VisitArran conference to businesses and stakeholders from across Arran’s visitor economy. Agreements are in place to use them in temporary exhibitions at Arran’s VisitScotland i-Centre, its distilleries and COAST visitor centre.
The project has also given the opportunity to highlight partnerships that exist such as Kilpatrick Farm supplying lamb to the Arran butcher and the passion that producers put into their product such as Arran Botanical Drinks foraging wild food and botanicals to go into their drinks."
Have there been any key learning from the project?
"As part of the project, a free independent review of the Arran’s Food Journey’s website identified that it is performing well and generating traffic from search engines, but more can be done to drive traffic from social media and visitors need to be encouraged to visit more pages. This knowledge has enabled us to update the website and add new features such as a quiz to encourage visitors to delve deeper.
In meeting and chatting to businesses we found that they really like the idea of the storyboards and that they will encourage visitors to explore more deeply when they are here. They asked us to ensure the project also had some focus on reaching potential visitors from our key markets in their homes."
The Regional Food Fund has provided an invaluable opportunity to improve the assets that Arran’s Food Journey and its supporters can use to tell its story and encourage increased consumption of local produce.