STUART’S is a sixth-generation family bakers and butchers with shops and outlets serving Fife and the surrounding areas. Stuart’s started out as a bakers, but began sourcing meat in the 1960’s to guarantee the quality of the filling in their speciality pies and consequently became Stuart’s the Bakers and Butchers.
Now retired, Alan Stuart, father of Keith and Mark who now run the company, founded the highly prestigious World Scotch Pie Championship in 1999, an annual headline-grabber across the UK.
1857 saw the birth of a family business that has made fine foods for several generations of hungry Fifers. Since that date Stuart’s the bakers and butchers have produced traditional quality Scottish goods, always to the highest standards, believing that their customers will pay a little extra for food that tastes that bit better.
James Stuart (1834-1895) began the business in the busy fishing village of Buckhaven. The local people depended on the sea for their livelihood, catching the silver herring, and James Stuart produced baked goods for them, including ships’ biscuits. To this day the memory of these early times is kept alive in the production of Cabin Biscuits, a slightly sweet morning roll, which is based on these old biscuits.
As time went by the business expanded, and by the turn of the century, there were three shops and a new Bakery, up the brae from the original site. By now the fishing was in serious decline, and was being replaced by coal mining. The miners earned comparatively good wages and their arduous toil demanded nourishing food, which Stuart’s turned out in increasing volumes.
Between the wars, two restaurants were added to the business, and more shops followed. As generation followed generation, the business prospered. The Stuarts were particularly adept at changing the nature of the business to match the lifestyle of the time.
A fleet of several shop vans brought new business in the 50’s and 60’s. Cafes were added to the shops from the 60’s onwards, and the restaurants were phased out, as were the shop vans. In the early 60’s a butchery business was bought, principally to provide a consistent quality of meats for the Bakery, but more recently, it has developed into a vital arm of the retail business.
Coming up to date, the huge decision to build a new production facility was taken in 2001 and this was completed in October 2004, providing an excellent base for the creation of all the company’s many products.
Finally the year 2007 saw the company celebrating its 150th Anniversary and the highlights of the year were the spectacular launch of two Iron Brew Pork Sausages, one straight Pork and the other a lively Pork and Sweet Chilli (Scottish Specialty Sausage of the Year 2011) and the capture of the prestigious Q -Guild Sausage of the Year with a Pork and Cracked Black Pepper banger.
Today, as well as 8 bakery shops, most with cafes, Stuart’s have three award winning combined baker/butcher/café shops, the original still in “auld Buckhyne,” since 1995 a unit in Leven and since 2005 an attractive combined shop in Lundin Links.
