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Aquaculture

UK’S LARGEST SALT DISTRIBUTOR CELEBRATES 150 YEARS OF FAMILY-OWNED SUCCESS

UK’S LARGEST SALT DISTRIBUTOR CELEBRATES

UK’s largest salt distributor celebrates 150 years of family-owned success.  A fifth-generation family business is celebrating 150 years of salt-based success. Founded in 1874, Ayrshire’s Peacock Salt is the UK’s largest salt supplier and a trusted partner for over 19,000 active food manufacturing customers from artisan independents, cheesemongers, smokeries, bakeries and meat processing businesses through to industry leaders supplying our supermarkets.

The business is now in its fifth generation of being family run, with Managing Director Gregorie Marshall having taken the helm from his father Harley in 2014. Known for being ‘Serious about Salt’, Peacock Salt has seen increased demand for its growing product range and has been producing BRC accredited products and bespoke salt, sugar and spice blends for the food industry for over 20 years using its team of in-house new product development and food scientists.
As well as a food grade mixing line with the ability to produce and package mixes bespoke to manufacturer recipes, Peacock Salt also recently launched Saltsmith – a reduced sodium salt in response to the looming HFSS food sodium content regulations, with specialist food scientists able to recommend the appropriate sodium content for different food groups. In addition, the company offers a specialist range of artisan salt and pepper through its consumer-facing e-commerce platform, Salthouse & Peppermongers.
Peacock Salt has changed shape entirely over its 150-year journey – from humble beginnings as a ship’s broker on Glasgow’s River Clyde, the company is now the largest salt business in the UK. In addition to the food manufacturing sector, it also supplies salt for de-icing and winter maintenance on the roads as well as in aquaculture, water softening and cosmetics, among many other industries.
Gregorie attributes Peacock Salt’s substantial success over the last 150 years to its agility and aptitude for innovation:
“We believe that the future is as important as the past. As we embark on the next 150 years, we remain committed to innovation, excellence, and making a positive impact on our community. That’s what will drive our strategy for the future as we aim to increase and diversify our market share, and to secure a more sustainable future for the company and its employees.”
Gregorie, whose great-great grandfather J.C. Peacock founded the company, has continued to expand and diversify the business since he became MD. The business has recently acquired water softening specialists Firenze in April 2024, allowing Peacock to expand its presence in the south of England, and added Peacock Turfscape to its portfolio in 2022, which provides a range of landscaping materials including locally grown turf from Paisley.
Working with wife and business partner Whirly Marshall, the duo also created Blackthorn Salt in 2019, bringing something new to the Scottish culinary scene as well as its landscape with the addition of an innovative Blackthorn graduation tower at Peacock Salt’s HQ in Ayrshire.
For more information, visit www.peacocksalt.com.
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