Member Article

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur backs North East’s Clucking Pig

Scotch Egg manufacturer and retailer The Clucking Pig has won the prestigious backing of Dragons’ Den business tycoon Theo Paphitis.

The business, found just off the coast at Redcar, is run by husband and wife duo David and Christine Laing, who also run a holiday letting business near New Marske.

David and Christine’s culinary creations were spotted by business mentor Theo who shared details of their business with his 500,000 Twitter followers and awarded The Clucking Pig an #SBS (Small Business Sunday) Award.

With Theo’s backing the firm is on target to sell a record 40,000 scotch eggs for 2016.

David and Christine launched the business in 2013 and sell their range of scotch eggs, including Wild Boar and Chorizo, Free Range Pork with Black Pudding and Venison in Red Wine, on farmers’ markets and food festivals across the North East and North Yorkshire.

The duo’s ethos is to use only the best produce they can find including their own free range chicken, duck and goose eggs and the best free range meat which is reared on North East farms, some of which are owned by fellow market traders thus helping their business.

Each gourmet scotch egg is handmade, from the choosing of the eggs to the time spent boiling them, preparation of the meat and even the making of the breadcrumbs.

It’s proving to be a winning combination and is a long way from the company’s first day trading when they set up a stall with 70 scotch eggs. At one event this year visitors snapped up 2,000 of the breadcrumb-encased beauties.

David said: “We were thrilled to land on Theo’s radar and having our company’s tweets shared with his hundreds of thousands of followers has sparked inquiries from across the country from retailers and restaurants keen to stock our scotch eggs.”

Theo added: “I know I have been lucky in business and I am keen now to spread goodwill to others.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →