The Orkney Food and Drink Trail has launched

A new trail highlighting businesses from the Orkney food and drink sector has officially launched.

Hosted on the Orkney.com website, the Taste of Orkney Food and Drink Trail initially features 10 companies providing tours, tastings, or other visitor experiences. It’s hoped that more local businesses will become part of the trail as it develops over the coming months.

Edgar Balfour, project manager for Orkney Food and Drink, said: “For many years now, visitors have been able to follow a Creative Trail in Orkney, linking the workshops of our local artists and artisans. That’s proved hugely popular, so it made sense to create something similar for our fantastic food and drink producers. It’s been more of a challenge in some respects because, by their nature, food and drink producers aren’t always able to fully open up to members of the public. However, those who have joined the trail so far represent a good spread of businesses and we hope more will follow when they’re able to accommodate visits.

“Orkney’s food and drink is famous the world over and a big draw for visitors, so the trail should greatly enhance the experience of anyone seeking a behind the scenes look at the work that goes into creating our remarkable local produce. Our producers also love to meet their customers and share the stories behind their businesses, so they’re very much looking forward to being part of the trail.”

The project has been funded by Scotland Food and Drink’s Regional Food Fund, which offers grants of up to £5,000 to support projects and initiatives promoting the development of the sector across Scotland. The funding is aligned to the Food Tourism Scotland Action Plan and is part of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Recovery Plan, supported by Scottish Government.

Mr Balfour added: “We were delighted to secure the funding needed from the Regional Food Fund to make the plan a reality and it’s great to see the food and drink trail now up and running. Hopefully, it’ll be seen as a really useful one-stop shop for anyone looking to book tours or plan their foodie break in Orkney!”