Sir James Walker obituary
Jim Walker, who has died at the age of 80, was one of the UK’s master exporters, turning a simple product into an international brand.The ubiquity of Walker’s Shortbread in the world’s airports and delis has made it a leading brand of the food and drink industry and an exemplar as to how a family business can expand and still retain its independence.Jim himself was an understated and charming man who led the firm’s growth from its place of origin – the village of Aberlour, Moray, with a population of barely 1,000, tucked away on Speyside in the north-east of Scotland.Between its sites in Aberlour and Elgin, 12 miles away, it grew under his leadership to employ 1,500 people, with a turnover in 2023 of £184m.In 1898, Jim’s grandfather, Joseph, an Aberdeenshire farmer, moved to Aberlour, took over the village bakery and developed the original shortbread recipe from which the company has never deviated.
Jim and his siblings grew up above the shop in the village’s main street,To this day, every new Walker’s product is market-tested through the original shop before being offered to consumers worldwide,In the 1960s, the Walker’s business began to spread its wings, having acquired the reputation of making the finest shortbread in Scotland,Jim’s elder brother Joe became the master baker, and their sister, Marjorie, looked after the commercial side as company secretary, while Jim worked to push the brand into large-scale outlets at home and abroad, now selling in more than 100 countries,When Walker’s became a limited company in 1980, the siblings were the three founding directors.
Joe died in 2021 and Marjorie in 2023,For many years, Jim and Joe were the joint managing directors, with the younger brother’s focus firmly on brand promotion and market expansion,While the range of products expanded, shortbread continued to be the staple with which the Walker’s brand was most strongly identified,Jim told me a few years ago: “It’s down to integrity and doing a simple thing well,” Shortbread, he pointed out, contains only four ingredients – flour, butter, salt and sugar.
Perfection lay in maintaining the product’s consistency on an industrial scale, as the business expanded and large bakeries were built in Aberlour and Elgin.Proud of his brand’s distinctive tartan packaging, Jim also warned: “You can’t slap a bit of tartan on it and expect it to sell, as some people think.It’s the quality of what’s inside that matters.” While big companies produce shortbread as part of huge product ranges, he insisted: “We think about shortbread seven days a week.” Innumerable approaches from the industry’s giants were quietly rebuffed and Walker’s remain the UK’s biggest independent biscuit maker.
The key to their exporting success, he believed, lay in finding a good distributor, usually on an exclusive basis, in each territory,Jim relied heavily on trust-based personal relationships that often lasted for decades,Until recently, when he stepped back from the front line to take on an ambassadorial and advisory role, Jim travelled extensively to trade shows and had “not missed a day” at the big ISM sweets and confectionery trade fair in Cologne since 1978,Educated at Aberlour primary school and Robert Gordon’s college in Aberdeen, he joined his parents, Williamina and James, in the business straight from school, when it had a workforce of 16 and turnover of £40,000,In 1962, he became an executive director and never worked for anyone other than the family business.
In 2004, Aberlour House, formerly a prep school for Gordonstoun, was taken over and renovated to become Jim’s office and host international customers in suitably A-listed headquarters.Jim was hugely respected in his home region of Speyside, not only as an inter-generational employer on a vast scale for a rural community, but also as an ambassador for its wider reputation as an centre of quality Scottish products – food, whisky and textiles.He served as deputy lord lieutenant of Banffshire (1998-2019) and in 1999 was appointed CBE.Respected by successive governments as a champion of export promotion and willing adviser to other businesses going down the same route, he was knighted in Queen Elizabeth II’s last birthday honours list, in 2022.Walker’s had been granted royal warrants for the supply of oatcakes to the Queen in 2001 and shortbread in 2017.
The business has now passed into the hands of the fourth Walker generation with Nicky, son of Joe and nephew of Jim, as managing director, and other family members on the board.In 1979 Jim married Jennifer Poushinsky.She survives him, along with four children, Jacqui, Jamie, Bryony, and Alastair, and six grandchildren.James Nicol Walker, food manufacturer and exporter, born June 13 1944; died 15 December 2024
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