Since our founders, William Donald and John Stone, established Donald Russell in Inverurie in 1974, there have been so many milestones and achievements of which we can be proud.

From being granted our Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen in 1984, to winning over 50 Great Taste Awards, it’s been an incredible 50 years.

Donald Russell began by serving the hospitality trade both in the UK and abroad. We were delighted to include the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the Loews Hotel in Monte Carlo, The Orient Express and Le Relais De Venis among others as our clients, some of which we still work with today.

We’ve asked some of our long-serving staff for their favourite memories of working for Donald Russell:

Our Operations Director, Mark Farquhar, has worked for Donald Russell for over 30 years, and was working as a Butcher when Prince Charles came to visit in 1995.

Mark said “It’s one of my highlights from working here at Donald Russell and was my first time meeting Royalty. The visit from Prince Charles, as he was then, made me realise what the Royal Warrant meant to us and for him to come to visit, to see how we work and how we make the product, was a real occasion. He took time to chat to us all, and it felt like a really special day.”

HRH toured the butchery and watched as Butchers, including Mark, cut Extra Trimmed Rump Steaks for one of our export customers.