A pair of Perthshire pensioners expect to create a dozen new jobs after their expanding tablet and fudge-making operation picked up £40,000 in funding support.
The sweet deal has already seen Athole Tablet run by brothers-in-law Graham Northcott and John Gilmartin move to new premises in Blairgowrie as they prepare for a major step-up in production.
The capacity boost comes as the firm continues talks with a string of potential customers, including a major cash-and-carry chain, in a move which could see orders increase by more than 7,000 jars each week.
The start-up began life in Coupar Angus in 2010, when the enterprising pair struck out on their own following the demise of the town’s previous tablet-maker Abbey Tablet.
Mr Northcott, who turns 65 in a few weeks, and 68-year-old Mr Gilmartin said they had grown by around 25% a year ever since with more success on the cards.
The fresh funding boost has allowed their business to move to 6,000ft2 premises at the A Proctor Group Industrial Estate just off Dunkeld Road.
“There’s been tablet made in Coupar Angus for 25 or 30 years,” Mr Northcott said.
“But after Abbey Tablet closed down in 2009, I set up on my own to more or less take up where they left off,” he added.
“As soon as we started we picked up most of their customers, who brought their business to us.”
First-year revenues of £100,000 more than doubled to around £208,000 last year equivalent to half-a-million bars of tablet, or around 20,000 jars.
The concern already employs six people, but could add an additional 12 if its hopes for fresh custom bear fruit.
“I had no real intentions of expanding, but when the demand started to rise I thought we just had to go with the flow,” added Mr Northcott.
“If we get the custom from the cash-and-carry chain then that could be 7,000 or 8,000 jars a week, and that’s going to create seven or eight jobs on its own.”
He said Athole’s previous base an 800ft2 former bakery in the centre of Coupar Angus had hampered growth.
But £20,000 from the Michelin Development small business support scheme and match-funding from Perth and Kinross Council had enabled investment in new equipment and premises, which will in turn allow a significant increase in productivity and the number of lines the firm can create.
Mr Northcott said he’d had no qualms about starting a new business in his 60s but admitted the company he had initially seen as a “sideline earner” had snowballed because he was simply unable to say “no”.
“People have asked us to develop a new recipe or line for them, and I just can’t resist it,” he added.
“Now I’ve started it’s difficult to stop,” he added.
“Most days are between 12 and 16 hours, but you’ve got to put to the work in.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to take it a wee bit more slowly now we’ll be able to employ more people.”
Athole Tablet becomes one of more than 40 local businesses to have received support from Michelin Development, which provides low-interest loans designed to help create jobs in communities around the tyre manufacturer’s plants.
Perth and Kinross Council said it was delighted to support the firm’s development with a Business Growth Grant.