Houghton Hams


Putting good food on tables across the country


After facing redundancy and then another two years of buying and selling with savings in hand, Nigel Wagstaff founded a business that now provides food to families across the UK. Leveraging his farming background and early experi- ence as a butcher’s boy, Nigel created Houghton Hams, which celebrated its 40th anniversary a couple of years ago. T e business was initially funded by Nigel’s £5,000


redundancy money, matched by a further £5,000 bank loan that he repaid within a year. Refl ecting on the journey, Nigel said, “It’s a long time


to have been running a family business.” After losing his job as Sales Manager at Dalgety, working


with processed meats until the emphasis of the company switched to fresh meat, Nigel then decided to work for himself just taking a commission for buying and selling familiar products amongst previous contacts. It soon became apparent that the desire to form


his own business had become the driving force. He secured a secret ham cure recipe from his previous MD, purchased a batch of pork legs, and started his venture. Despite the high-interest rates of 14% during the mid- 1980s, Nigel’s business plan convinced his bank manager to provide the loan. In its early days, Houghton Hams operated on a small


scale, supplying local Co-op butchery vans and the community in general. Food standards were less stringent then, allowing for


arrangements like selling hams at a petrol station counter. Nigel said: “We didn’t have refrigerated vehicles and


handled orders ourselves. On one particular occasion, a customer needed 100 hams, so my wife, Jo, and I delivered them using our cars – one being a Mini – with 50 in each.”


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