Bernard Alessi can speak six languages after a lifetime travelling the world in the catering industry. Now he runs a factory making gourmet pies in Biggar, Lanarkshire. Bernard, from Malta, got into the restaurant business by accident.

He said: “My father was desperate for me to become an accountant and I needed a job to tide me over before I started work for a firm in London.

“I loved it so much that I thought ‘Stuff accounting, this is what I want to do’.”

He moved to Stockholm where he earned his spurs at one of the top restaurants in Sweden before moving to Germany, Switzerland and France.

“I moved to London in 1973 and worked for the Trust House Forte Group for the next eight years.”

Bernard moved to Scotland in 1983. He said: “The people here want to know you for who you are, not what you have, and that is the first time I encountered that on any of my travels. I have adopted Scotland since.”

Set up in 2005, Simple Simon’s Pies creates gourmet pies using the finest local produce.

With delicious fillings such as duck breast and cherry sauce and chicken fillets in creamy tarragon sauce, prices range from £2.15 to £3.98.

Visit www.simplesimonspies.co.uk.