MAKING HIS FIRST MILLION BY THE AGE OF 20, FRASER DOHERTY REVEALS THAT HE’S NOT MOTIVATED BY MONEY AT ALL
CUIDE RI CATHY – FRASER DOHERTY
Monday 1 June, 10pm, BBC ALBA
Whilst most fourteen year olds would probably have been watching the latest episode of Superman, one of Scotland’s youngest entrepreneurs was conjuring up recipes in his parent’s kitchen that was to be the making of his SuperJam business.
In an exclusive interview for the latest programme of the Cuide ri Cathy series for BBC ALBA, Fraser Doherty, nicknamed ‘Jam Boy’ speaks to Cathy MacDonald about his “simple idea” that became a business success, making him his first million by the time he was 20 years old.
Cathy joins Fraser in his parent’s kitchen where at one point in the earlier days of his jam business, he would be in the kitchen from 8am – 10pm making 1000 jars of jam per week. As his business flourished, Fraser realised that he needed a factory for production.
Fraser’s inspiration for jam making comes from his gran who taught him to make jam at a very young age. She used to host tea parties and take homemade scones and jam around to the elderly in care homes and as a child, Fraser would often accompany her. When his business took off, Fraser was determined to continue where his gran left off which resulted in the birth of the SuperJam Tea Parties, which Fraser hosts throughout Scotland.
The idea behind the SuperJam brand was “to produce a healthy alternative” said Fraser. Through research, Fraser found out that sales of jam have been on the decline as it is now perceived as being very unhealthy with up to 80% sugar in many jams. Thus Fraser set himself an ambition, “to try to create a healthier more fun brand of jam”, trying out hundreds of ideas, before settling on the use of grape juice allowing his jam to be made from 100% fruit.
Fraser’s mum claims he was always very enterprising and that the family didn't really encourage his jam business initially as he was also "running" four other businesses at the time, whilst still at school. However, the family promptly got behind him after he signed the deal with Waitrose.
Fraser first met the senior jam buyer for Waitrose at a ‘meet the buyer day’ where he had only 10 minutes to outline his jam plans in what Fraser calls “the X-Factor for selling groceries to supermarkets.” It took a couple of years to get his SuperJam into Waitrose but this was shortly followed by Tesco, Asda and Morrisons.
Having had lots of sleepless nights over his business and the risk of bankruptcy, Fraser is highly motivated and believes the biggest obstacle is in your head. Looking ahead, Fraser plans to launch new flavours as well as little jars of SuperJam for airlines, hotels and cafés and hopefully launching his brand in Ireland and Holland.
CUIDE RI CATHY will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Monday 1 June at 22.00 and is available on Sky channel 168 & Freesat channel 110.