When buttery-fanatic Duncan Jones, the filmmaker and son of David Bowie, needed a fix of Aberdeen’s finest while in the US last month, he turned to the Ackroyd’s Scottish Bakery in Detroit.
The family-run business has made Scottish baked goods for more than 70 years and butteries for the past three, ever since a customer put in an order for a batch.
So Jones was in good hands when he tweeted that he was ready to tuck in.
Aberdeen… i can’t guarantee this will be Aitkens level, but it’s the best I can get out here!
Defrosting tonight. Eating tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/rWlMndVM97— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) March 17, 2022
Me and My Buttery caught up with Megan Ackroyd, the granddaughter of the Ackroyd’s founder, and her partner and business general manager Joe Hakim, to ask about their status as the leading source of traditionally-made butteries in the US, and their mission to make Rod Stewart a customer.
Hi, Megan and Joe. Before we get on to the celeb chat, I have to ask: How do you eat your butteries?
Joe: I just ate one! This one was plain but I either have them plain or with Robertson’s Extra Ginger marmalade or jam, whatever you guys call it.
I keep a jar in the refrigerator for my own personal use because I love ginger a lot.
Ackroyd’s has been around for many years, but why did you start baking butteries?
Joe: Sometime in 2019, a customer from out west sent us an email asking if we could make some butteries. So we gave it a go and decided that they tasted really good.
Neither of us had ever been to Aberdeen but we sent the customer a batch and he really liked them. So we put them on the menu.
That was three years ago, and now we have customers who – and I’m not kidding – will reach their free shipping threshold with just butteries.
They’ll order 10 or 12 packs at a time.
We have one customer out in New Mexico and she orders eight to 10 packages a month.
Are you surprised at how popular they are?
Joe: We sell a lot of traditional items [haggis, black pudding and mealie pudding is also on the menu at Ackroyd’s] and people have a very strong idea of what, for example, a meat pie or haggis should taste like.
But the butteries are universally well-liked, no matter if it’s someone from Aberdeen trying them or someone trying it for the first time.
What’s the history behind the bakery?
Megan: My grandfather started it in 1949, and I took it over from my father.
We have a really enthusiastic, loyal customer base and I wanted to be able to continue the tradition for all the families that buy from us.
Who are you customers?
Joe: We have people that have been coming to us for decades. We started shipping from Detroit about 10 years ago and now ship across the whole of the United States.
The head of the Tartan Week festival in New York City told me we are one of the few places still making a lot of these things in the traditional manner.
And it’s not always the easiest stuff to sell. Think of the average American’s diet, and black pudding isn’t a part of that.
It must have been great to see Duncan Jones tweeting about your butteries.
Joe: It’s always fun to see where your food ends up. We’ve have had some connections with other famous people and it’s always nice to see really genuine enjoyment from them.
What connections?
Joe: We’ve sent scones to Tenille Dashwood, an Australian professional wrestler who has about 1.5m Instagram followers.
We sent food to Sasha Banks, another pro wrestler in WWE. But we’ve never sent any to [Scottish wrestler] Drew McIntyre.
Megan: We also get a lot of musicians coming into town because it’s Detroit.
Joe: Yeah, and I can’t confirm this but I was told that when Radiohead came over a few years ago, some of our food went to them.
I try my best when people are in town to entice them with our food. I’ve tried to get Rod Stewart to come through, but that hasn’t worked yet.
If you have an unusual or interesting way to eat your buttery, we’d love to hear about it.
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