Celebrated jam-making teenager Owen Foster is opening a farm shop outside Forfar.
Inspired by his Grandma Joyce Morrison’s recipe the 18-year-old started Owen’s Angus Jams from his mum’s kitchen four years ago and now makes thousands of jars a year for shops, cafes, restaurants, including Glamis Castle.
A successful crowdfunding campaign in 2018 allowed him to move out of his mum’s kitchen at Lunanhead to an industrial unit at Orchardbank.
The entrepreneurial teen is now on the move again to new premises on the Old Brechin Road, just outside the Angus market town.
Owen said: “It started in my mum’s kitchen on a small stove till about last year, then we got a premises in an industrial unit.
“I’m moving again to a place with a kitchen in the back with a farmshop and space for a cafe.
“We weren’t looking for a new place but it came up and thought it was too good to pass on and the scope for growth is much higher.
“The public can come and see what we’re selling, so demand will grow.
“It must be about 3,000 to 4,000 jars this year.
“We’re looking to upscale but by doing the farm shop we’re looking to branch out and get other local products in.”
Owen started out on his entrepreneurial journey when he was 12, selling free-range eggs round the village.
When the supply dried up he asked grandma Joyce to teach him how to make jam and he has never looked back.
The first batch all sold out within a week, at £3 per jar.
His company has grown quickly from there, producing a selection of preserves and fruit-infused gins, and going on to secure a lucrative contract with Glamis Castle.
His accountant mum, Jude, helps him run the business.
She said Owen had been engaging with customers on social media to see what new products he could stock in the farm shop.
She said it was likely to take a couple of months before the premises were properly up and running but they were feeling good about the change.
She said: “He’s received a lot of positive feedback already. People seem to be very excited about it.”
She said customers were drawn to high quality local produce and were “prepared to pay a little more for it.”
“Forfar doesn’t have anything like it at the moment,” she added.
