Lees, Lees more if you please!

LOCAL HEROES

THE ICONIC LEES OF SCOTLAND BUSINESS HAS BEEN MAKING ITS MUCH-LOVED CONFECTIONERY AND MERINGUES SINCE 1931 AND IS GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH WITH CUSTOMER AWARENESS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH.

Lees of Scotland is undoubtedly one of the best known home-grown food businesses of all and while it may be famous for many reasons, the one thing that many consumers (and retailers!) of a certain age will associate with the brand is its iconic ‘Lees Lees more if you please’ jingle.

That jingle helped make the brand a household name in Scotland and, it seems, the company has continued to build on that position. Recent research shows that Lees brand awareness is at an all-time high following a successful TV advertising campaign focusing on one of their bestselling products, Lees Mini Snowballs.

Based in Coatbridge just outside Glasgow in a modern 80,000 sq ft factory, the company has been producing a tempting range of confectionery and meringues since 1931. It now employs 250 people and recent years have seen Lees of Scotland go from strength to strength.

As the original creator of the Macaroon bar, Lees now have a wide product range including Meringues, Teacakes, Snowballs, Mallow Dreams, Tablet, Jaffa Bars and Coconut Ice Bars. The dedicated new product development team at Lees of Scotland are committed to continuously improving the product offering for retail and wholesale customers, investing in new equipment and technology along the way. Lees of Scotland’s products are widely available in the UK and maintain their status as well-respected Scottish brand. BUSINESS INVESTMENT In 2019, Lees of Scotland increased their investment in equipment which included innovative machinery to allow the company to continue to expand their Meringue category and a massive overhaul in their air and water systems.

Following the success of a number of new Meringue products, including Lees Meringues with Dark Belgian Chocolate and two new flavours of Extra Special Meringues created for Asda’s own label, Lees invested in a new chocolate enrober to allow the busy factory to meet demand.

In addition to this and with the need to expand Meringue production capacity, the Lees factory doubled the size of their internal hot-room, this is where the Meringues sit to remove moisture before packaging. This has significantly increased efficiency within the Meringue production process. SNOWBALLS Snowballs continue to be Lees’ bestselling product line and are considered to be a great snacking option for the whole family. Sold in a variety of pack types for all occasions, including packs of 6 and 12 Snowballs or packs of 12 and 18 Mini Snowballs. The soft and fluffy mallow with a chocolate coating, topped with flakes of coconut are suitable for vegetarians and contain no gluten or artificial flavouring. The Snowballs contain only 79 calories and Mini Snowballs contain 50 calories, making it a calorie controlled snacking option.

Snowballs also continue to be central to Lees’ marketing and PR plans for 2020 with a number of exciting campaigns in the works to help promote the product.