Stoats is a British company which sells

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

and other

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

based products based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. Stoats was founded in 2005 and retails in Britain and other countries.

History

Porridge producer Stoats was founded by Tony Stone and Bob Arnott. Originally planning to sell porridge in the centre of Edinburgh in a large café bar, Stone and Arnott could not secure funding. With help from

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

, they began a business selling hot food at UK music festivals and

farmers' markets A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

in a converted hot dog cart named the "Stoats Porridge Bar". The Edinburgh food company progressed from the porridge trailer to marketing porridge oat bars, as the bars had become popular in Scotland.

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

, a supermarket chain was looking to expand in Scotland and started stocking Stoats porridge oat bars. Initially based in Scotland, Stoats is now sold at

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

and

. Stoats provided 10,000 porridge bars to runners in the

2007 New York City Marathon The 2007 New York City Marathon was the 38th running of the annual marathon race in New York City, United States, which took place on Sunday, November 4. The men's elite race was won by Kenya's Martin Lel in a time of 2:09:04 hours while the wom ...

and 26,000 bowls of porridge to athletes at the

2012 London Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Stoats now sell a range of oat based products including porridge, quick porridge, porridge oat bars and oatcakes.

PR and sponsorship

In 2007 Stoats broke the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the largest bowl of porridge ever made. The 81.2 kg bowl was equivalent to 2000 normal-sized bowls. The event was staged at the Castle Street

Farmers' Market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

in Edinburgh. In 2016 Stoats were title sponsor of the

Loony Dook The Loony Dook is an annual event held on New Year's Day in which people dive into the freezing waters of the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry (north of Edinburgh, Scotland), often in fancy dress. The name "Loony Dook" is a combination of ...

. Stoats was the official 2016 partner of the World Porridge Day.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Company website
Food and drink companies of Scotland Food product brands Scottish cuisine Scottish brands Companies based in Edinburgh British companies established in 2005 Food and drink companies established in 2005 2005 establishments in Scotland