Fine Food Digest January-February 2012

DELI OF THE MONTH Dorset’s Washingpool Farm Shop

PETER KINSELLA

‘The great thing about selling at 1am is that people are more lax about what they spend!’

PAXTON & WHITFIELD

‘We’ve moved the perception of the brand,’ says MD Ros Windsor January-February 2012 · Vol 13 Issue 1

perfect pickleS A new crop of tasty accompaniments

CHEF’S SELECTION 49 Halen Môn vanilla salt, Hafod cheddar, Ortiz anchovies… The Hardwick’s Stephen Terry tells us his deli essentials

DOBBIES 4 ‘Local food is a key part of our strategy,’ says Tesco’s garden centre chain

NEWS CHEESEWIRE WORLD CHEESE AWARDS PICKLES & CHUTNEYS ARTISAN BUYERS’ GUIDE SHELF TALK DELI OF THE MONTH EASTER & VALENTINE’S

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F&DE>Fine Food>141211 aw_Layout 1 16/12/2011 13:01 Page 1

A Fruitful Investment Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

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January-February 2012 路 Vol.13 Issue 1

What’s new this month:

Opinion

your definition, Trading Standards claimed last year that almost a third of UK food sold as local wasn’t, and judging restaurants for the Taste BOB FARRAND of the West Awards a couple of years ago taught me the pitfalls of menu-speak.

At a gastro-pub, I asked where Running your own business makes in Dorset they sourced their rack of you paranoid. If that business involves Dorset lamb. The waiter hadn’t a clue food, your paranoia is fully justified. so he asked the chef, who told me it Unfathomable regulations from wasn’t local at all, merely a sheep of faceless Eurocrats emit a constant the Dorset breed, reared in Shropshire. threat of prosecution and when you Supermarkets operate their own try to do something right, it costs a flexible definitions fortune. of ‘local’, mostly Todd Sadler of Supermarkets operate for the publicity charcuterie maker their own flexible it gains. But in Dorset Smokery today’s climate, thought he’d give definitions of ‘local’, his meat products mostly for the publicity would any deli or farm shop be a boost using an it gains bonkers enough to accredited British exaggerate food logo – the Red provenance? Particularly now we read Tractor. Until, that is, he discovered that convenience stores have joined it costs £1,040 a year for two audits the local bandwagon (p4). and £100 for the licence fee. Not too Could we not learn from the bad, you might think, except that fee French? A recent series in The Times only covers his pork sausages. revealed how French parents teach For his ham and bacon, add two their children to eat and behave at more audits a year at £850 each and table. From the earliest age, they’re you’ll understand why he believes offered no choice: they eat the same Red Tractor is beyond the reach of as their parents. Any resistance to most small producers or independent something new is met with firm but butchers. informed encouragement to taste.

Some would argue British is And rarely is television permitted yesterday’s flavour – today we’re during meal times, which are reserved mainly into local. But what is local? for discussion, frequently about food, To the French, local food is generally where it’s from and how it should ‘from their own village.’ If it’s from a taste. village 5km down the road, forget it.

Maybe that’s why, as adults, they In the UK, boundaries are blurred – a instinctively seek out local food and radius outwards from the point of why French farmers ignore expensive sale works, but should it be 30, 40 or logos and use their own red tractors 50 miles? to block the motorways when they Local food groups think ‘regional’ want a fairer deal for their pork. rather than local. Local authorities tend to keep within their counties.

Bob Farrand is publisher of Fine Food In the USA, local means 500 miles.

Digest and national director of the Guild of Fine Food Everything’s bigger there. Whatever

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EDITORIAL editorial@finefoodworld.co.uk Editor: Mick Whitworth Assistant editor: Michael Lane News editor: Patrick McGuigan Art director: Mark Windsor Editorial production: Richard Charnley Contributors: Lynda Searby, Clare Hargreaves

ADVERTISING advertise@finefoodworld.co.uk Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Gavin Weeks Published by Great Taste Publications Ltd and the Guild of Fine Food Ltd Managing director/FFD publisher: Bob Farrand Director/FFD associate publisher: John Farrand Director/membership secretary: Linda Farrand Marketing & circulation manager: Tortie Farrand Administrators: Charlie Westcar, Julie Coates, Nik Davies Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance

GENERAL ENQUIRIES Tel: 01963 824464 Fax: 01963 824651 info@finefoodworld.co.uk www.finefoodworld.co.uk

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Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, Station Road, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9FE UK Fine Food Digest is published 11 times a year and is available on subscription for £40pa inclusive of post and packing.

Printed by: Advent Colour, Hants, UK

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© Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2012. Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations.

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www.ffdonline.co.uk Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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fine food news Tesco-owned garden centre chain says local food is ‘a key part’ of its strategy

In-store bakeries are focus as Dobbies targets indies

New-format Dobbies stores have bakeries serving both shop and restaurant

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Tesco-owned garden centre chain Dobbies has developed a new format Farm Foodhall with artisan bakeries and a stronger focus on locally sourced food, as the retailer moves further into farm shop territory.

Eight of the new-style food halls have been opened in the past 18 months and new outlets are

planned for Gillingham, in Kent, and York later this year.

In total, Dobbies has 31 garden centres, 21 of which have Farm Foodhalls, with the company targeting a total of 100 outlets by 2020.

Director of catering and food halls Emma Banks told FFD the Farm Foodhalls are designed to compete directly with farm shops, delis and

other independents, plus Waitrose and M&S. She said the new format stores feature large, open in-store bakeries, which link the restaurant and the food hall, supplying both with artisan breads, cakes and patisserie made from scratch.

“We are in double-digit growth for bakery-to-go items with a target of annualised sales of £2m.

Bakery is a key driver for the food halls in terms of sales and margins.

Customers are looking for that different shopping experience and it provides theatre and interaction.

“We’re also going back into our established estate and developing bakery capability back-of-house in our kitchens, introducing deck ovens, spiral mixers and retarder provers.”

Skilled craft bakers have been recruited to work in the bakeries and the company has also set up an initiative with training company Scottish Bakers to help staff achieve vocational qualifications.

The majority of Dobbies’ food halls already house butchery concessions, run by local retail butchers, but the number of local food lines is also being stepped up elsewhere in-store.

“Local food is a key part of our strategy,” said Banks. “We’re looking to work with local suppliers within a 50-mile radius of our stores on core products such as eggs, honey, beers, pies, ice cream.

“We’ve beefed up our central resource to support the food halls and work with suppliers on things like due diligence. It’s about finding hero lines.”

Other initiatives include a new cook shop range, selling cookery equipment and books, plus new local, regional and national cheeses.

Free wi-fi is also being installed in the restaurants to attract the business community, while a petting zoo has been opened at Dobbies’ Carlisle branch with further visitor attractions planned for other stores.

How supermarkets are taking on the speciality sector Waitrose is targeting high street locations with its new Little Waitrose convenience stores, which have a strong focus on fresh food, such as artisan breads, cheese and charcuterie, as well as takeaway sandwiches, salads and ready-meals.

The upmarket retailer has also ramped up its local food offering in its Market Town store formats and is planning to build a farm shop at its Leckford Estate.

build links with small and medium sized producers.

M&S is investing £600m in a major revamp of its stores with changes to its food offering, including expanded deli counters and artisan bakeries. The new-look stores are being piloted in 14 locations.

Morrisons has moved into the convenience market for the first time, launching its M-Local brand last year, with a focus on fresh produce. It has also been piloting expanded cheese, bakery and deli counters at its Kirkstall store in Yorkshire, which have been rolled out to four new concept stores.

Sainsbury’s plans to double the amount of British produce it sells in stores by 2020 as part of its new sustainability plan. Its Supply Something New scheme aims to

Asda’s network of local delivery hubs supplies stores with over 6,000 local lines from 600-plus producers.

It has also launched concessions in some stores, run by local businesses,

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

such as McGees Meat Counter in Northern Ireland, Riddlers Fish in Newton Abbott and Rowes Pasties in St. Austell. The retailer plans to generate sales of £500m a year from local food by 2013.

Rigid E.coli rules may squeeze deli lines out of farm shops

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Some EHOs are saying deli meat cannot be sliced or vac-packed on machines used for raw meat, regardless of the cleaning regime

confused by exemptions for small caterers, such as pub kitchens, where the guidelines don’t apply.”

He added that the issue was a particular problem for farm shops, which often have large butchery counters and then diversify into cooked products such as pies, hams

and sausage rolls.“The danger is that some of our members will decide it’s not worth buying new equipment or employing new staff specifically for these products and will stop selling them, which puts them at a commercial disadvantage and affects overall profitability.”

Wales consults on compulsory ‘scores on the doors’ scheme Retailers in Wales could soon be forced to display their food hygiene ratings to the public after the Welsh Government launched a consultation on making the ‘scores on the doors’ scheme mandatory.

Under the current scheme, which was rolled out across England and Wales in 2010, a food business’s hygiene is rated from 0-5 with the score posted online, but retailers and restaurants are not obliged to display the rating on their premises.

The Welsh Government is committed to bringing in a mandatory scheme, which would be a first for the UK. Under the new proposals, which are in consultation until March, businesses would be required to display their score in a prominent position or face a fine.

Fixed penalty notices of £200 could be implemented for failure to do so and there would be powers to prosecute with a proposed maximum fine of £1,000.

Businesses would, however, be able to request a re-rating inspection

l Butcher Jack O'Shea was caught by an Evening Standard reporter selling foie gras to regular customers from his concession in Selfridges in the run-up to Christmas, despite Selfridges implementing a ban on the product in 2009. According to The Telegraph, O'Shea was escorted from the premises when the news broke. Selfridges said in a statement that O'Shea had apologised and the product was no longer for sale.

l Carluccio's is planning to open 10 new restaurants with delis in 2012, the first of which will be on Paddington Street, London, in February. The restaurant will include Carluccio's new bar format, the 'aperitivo bar', which encourages early evening drinking and snacking with a menu of Venetian-style tasting dishes, cocktails, prosecco and Peroni on draught.

Mrreporter | Dreamstime.com

Disparities in the way new E.coli guidelines are being implemented by environmental health officers could force some stores with butchery counters to ditch deli products such as cheese, cooked meats and pies.

The new guidelines, which were introduced in February 2011, specify that fresh meat should be handled in a separate environment from cooked meats and other deli products.

The National Federation of Meat and Food Traders told FFD some EHOs have interpreted this to mean deli products cannot by sliced or vacuum-packed on equipment that has been used to slice raw meat, even if it has been thoroughly cleaned down.

Chief executive Roger Kelsey said some farm shop butchers have also been told that washing hands between handling raw meat and cooked is no longer sufficient and they must either completely change their uniform or employ a dedicated member of staff for each section.

“There has been a lack of consistency, with each EHO adopting their own interpretation.

Some have been happy to apply a lighter touch than others,” said Kelsey. “The situation has also been

IN BRIEF

Welsh food shops could soon be forced to display their hygiene rating on the premises

and they would also be able to appeal against their score if they considered it unjust or unfair.

The legislation would affect approximately 30,000 businesses across Wales, including delis, farm shops and food halls. Under the existing scheme, more than 13,500 have been rated with only one in three displaying their rating.

Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said: “I believe food hygiene is vital for the protection of public health,

and this scheme will help drive up standards and benefit consumers and businesses alike. The scheme will enable consumers to make a more informed choice about where they choose to eat or shop for food.

“Mandatory display of hygiene scores will also benefit food businesses. Good food hygiene means a good rating which is good for business.”

It is expected the scheme will come into operation in 2014.

l Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier, is quadrupling the size of its production operation at its purpose-built chocolate kitchens in Perthshire due to increasing demand. The company, which was launched five years ago, counts Claridges, Gleneagles and Harvey Nichols among its customers. It has also significantly expanded exports to markets including Japan, Dubai and Germany.

l The first World Pasty Championships will take place at the Eden Project’s bakery in Cornwall on March 3. There will be categories based on the PGI guidelines for Cornish Pasties and open contests for versions from elsewhere in the country. l A decision on whether Waitrose can go ahead with a new store combined with a Cornish food hall on Duchy of Cornwall land in Truro has been delayed. The local council was split over the proposed development, which would include a park-and-ride and around 100 houses, so the decision has been postponed until later this year.

l Mild early-winter weather could mean smaller crops of British apples, blackcurrants and cherries this season, the Royal Horticultural Society has warned.

The result could be higher prices for British-made jams and fruitbased drinks. By mid-January, crops had received less than a third of the prolonged cold temperatures they ideally need. l For regular news updates from Fine Food Digest, visit: www.finefoodworld.co.uk/ffdonline

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

fine food news Exeter community food store inspires a Feast in Plymouth

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Residents of Plymouth are hoping to invest in a local food shop and café along the same lines as the Real Food Store in Exeter that was set up by raising over £150,000 in a community share offer.

The Plymouth venture would be one of a growing number of community-owned shops, which combine elements of delis and farm shops, such as a café and a focus on local food, but are owned and run by local residents.

The founders of the Real Food Store spoke at a meeting of Plymouth residents just before Christmas about their experiences of setting up their shop, café and bakery last year. They raised £155,000 from nearly 300 members of the public, most of whom paid between £100-200 per share to help set up the three-storey shop as an Industrial and Provident Society.

The Plymouth store is provisionally called Feast and is in the early planning stages, but Jeany Robinson, who is helping to set it up, said the Real Food Store presentation had been inspirational.

“We want our store in Plymouth to reflect what the local community wants here, but the Exeter model is fantastic and we can learn from their experience,” said Robinson, who also co-ordinates the City Farms and Community Gardens project in the South West. “Like

‘Community shops have 97% success rate’

together to do what they want and I think we’ll see this happening more and more in other towns and cities.”

According to the Plunkett Foundation, which advises local communities on setting up shops, there are now 268 communityowned stores across the UK – up from 252 in January 2011.

“Only 10 shops of a total of 278 to open have ever closed, giving them a 97% success rate, which compares extremely favourably with the average five-year success rate of small businesses nationally, which is around 47%,” said communications manager Katherine Darling.

Although many ventures are established in rural areas, the Foundation is seeing community groups “thinking in increasingly ambitious ways” and developing urban concepts similar to Exeter’s Real Food Store.

"We’ve seen existing community shops, pubs, etc expanding in the way the Real Food Store has – taking the idea of local food and community and applying it to the high street, to give better access to more people.

Communities are thinking about what they can achieve together.”

www.realfoodexeter.co.uk

www.plunkett.co.uk

Exeter’s Real Food Store is providing a model for the new Plymouth group

Exeter, there is a lack of shops selling good quality local food in Plymouth city centre, so there is a real need for something like this.

It’s a way for local people to get

If I'd known then what I know now...

and the economy to pick up.

Retail sales over Christmas were up 62% on the year before and we’re learning all the time how to make the deli and the restaurant work together. One thing we’ve Peter Kinsella Lunya, Liverpool done is to keep the deli counter open until the restaurant closes, which can be anywhere from 11pmequivalent of London’s Oxford Street.

I used to run a consultancy advising 1am. We need someone on the I couldn’t see a way for a niche governments on their national health counter preparing deli to work in services. One of the first international cold plates for the the suburbs. The jobs we did was with the Catalan restaurant anyway, footfall is just health service, which is when I What’s key to not there, so we first went to Spain and got the everything is wringing but we’ve made it had to go very idea of opening a Catalan deli and as much money out of more obvious to people that the deli mainstream, restaurant back home is open by changing which meant rents the space we have as I don’t speak Catalan beyond possible the lighting. and rates of just ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’ It’s amazing how under a quarter of and my Spanish is the same standard many people buy a bottle of wine a million a year. as Borat’s English, so it took about or slab of cheese to take home after With hindsight, going from five years to get things off the their meal or on their way home nothing to 180 covers was barmy. ground! from a night out somewhere else.

The level of trade we’re doing now The original plan was to have a The great thing about making sales could easily fit into two-thirds of the small deli with two or three tables, at 1am is that people have had a space we’ve got, but we had to take but I ended up with an enormous few drinks and are more lax about what we could at the time. We’ll deli and restaurant set over two what they spend! eventually fill it, but we need to grow floors with 180 covers in Liverpool’s

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

The deli acts as a fantastic larder for the restaurant and it’s something we’ve exploited more and more.

For example, we probably have the biggest collection of anchovies in Britain, so we’ve created different dishes with them in the restaurant and developed recipe cards to stimulate sales in the shop.

We’ve also introduced a scheme whereby anyone who eats in the restaurant gets 10% off their shopping in the deli, if they fill out a form and buy then and there. That bit of margin sacrifice is worth it to get the extra sale and an email address.

All these ideas have been developed as we’ve gone along – we’ve learned by doing – but what’s key to everything is wringing as much money out of the space we have as possible. After all, we’re paying for the premises 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Interview by PATRICK McGUIGAN

Vol.13 Issue 1 路 January-February 2012

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fine food news new openings

Opening or expanding a shop? Email details to editorial@finefoodworld.co.uk

what’s in store

l Set over two floors and with 30 parking spaces, the new food hall cost £1.3m to build. l Local sourcing is a key focus, with 21-day aged beef sourced from Bridgwater farmer Bob Hall, who finishes cattle to the shop’s own specifications. l Lamb comes direct from local farms or from the nearby Sedgemoor Auction Centre. l Open from 7.30am to 5.30pm with late night shopping on Thursdays. l Key product lines include Heck’s draught ciders and apple juice, North Curry beers, Friary Liqueurs, Fudges biscuits, Wessex Mill flour and fresh fish from Roberts Fishmongers. The deli counter is supplied by Rowcliffe’s and Kelway Farm Foods.

Somerset’s Pyne turns his back on the High Street

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

A Somerset butcher who has moved from a town centre location to a new £1.3m out-of-town food hall predicts a grim future for high street retailers.

Malcolm Pyne’s new purpose-built food hall, called Pyne's of Somerset, is located on the A38, close to Bridgwater and North Petherton, where his father and mother opened their original high street shop in 1984.

“Mary Portas can look at the high street as long as she likes, but the high street is dying,” said Pyne.

what they're saying

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Consumers are totally conditioned to shopping in supermarkets, so it’s up to independent traders like us to offer them similar standards of layout, product presentation and convenience of shopping.

Malcolm Pyne

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“People want convenience and an experience. The days of going out every day to shop for food have long gone. People want to go once a week and to be able to park.

“More than 90% of the trade we did at our old shop was already coming from outside the village, so we have no worries about being able to build on that here.”

Including office space and backof-house production areas, the new food hall measures 9,500 sq ft over two floors and has 30 parking spaces. It houses a 12.5m butchery counter, deli, fresh fish concession, bakery, fruit & veg area and a wide selection of locally sourced wines, beers and ciders.

A large production kitchen also makes products such as hams, sausage rolls and ready meals for the shop, while the butchery has developed a range of convenience products, such as chicken kievs and chicken legs with sage & onion stuffing.

“We're not a farm shop, but a new generation fresh food concept where staff are professional and knowledgeable,” said Pyne.

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

He added that shoppers have “turned their backs” on organics.“They don’t believe they are getting value for money and instead want local, traceable foods.

Businesses that offer those are doing outstandingly well.”

Pyne said sales had more than

quadrupled since the move. “I'd say 99% of the products we stock you can't buy in a supermarket, but we are still competitive. You can come in to buy a bottle of beer for £2.25 or a limited edition bottle of Chase vodka at £189.” www.pynethebutcher.co.uk

Sales have quadrupled since Pyne's moved to its new out-of-town location

AOC, the sign of special products...

A traditional cheese

The cheese of western Switzerland, with a delicate, distinguished flavour.

Made since at least 1115 AD in and around the small town of Gruyères, today it is still produced by village cheese dairies in western Switzerland according to the traditional recipe.

Le Gruyère AOC owes its characteristic delicacy and flavour to the top quality raw milk produced by cows fed on grass in the summer and hay in winter, coupled with the skill of the mastercheesemakers.

No less than 400 litres of fresh milk are needed to produce a single wheel weighing around 35kg.

During the slow maturation process, which takes several months in special cheese cellars, the wheels are turned regularly and rubbed down with saltywater. The maturing process lasts between five and 18 months.

Each cheese is systematically identified by the number of the mould and code of the cheese dairy. The day and month of production are also noted on the wheel. These black markings are made with casein, the cheese protein. No artificial additives are involved here either.

Le Gruyère AOC takes pride of place on any cheese platter. It makes for a delicious desert and can be used in tasty warm dishes. What’s more, no real fondue would be complete without genuine Gruyère AOC.

From this time on, the name ‘Gruyère AOC’ and the code of the production facility appears on the heel of each wheel of Gruyère AOC as an effective way of preventing fakes and guaranteeing authenticity.

This technique employs branding irons, which give an indentation in the wheel. It is this marking that makes it possible to identify and trace each individual cheese.

The humidity and rind washing process develops the characteristic appearance of the cheese and assists in bringing the cheese into full maturity.

This is what gives Le Gruyère AOC its famous, distinct flavour. It’s no great surprise that this authentic gift of nature is appreciated by cheeselovers throughout the world.

www.gruyere.com ruyere.com Cheeses from Switzerland.

Switzerland. Naturally.

www.switzerland-cheese.com

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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RetailReady

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RetailReady is a two day course that will steer you through the minefield of opening and running a fine food store.

The course is designed to equip managers of prospective, new or developing delis and farm shops with the business essentials of fine food and drink retailing.

The next course takes place on March 13-14 2012.

Visit www.finefoodworld.co.uk/retailready for more details and an application form.

Call us to find out more on 01963 824464.

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

16/09/2011 15:05

No one should even ❝ consider entering any form of fine food retail without completing the Retail Ready course at The Guild of Fine Food.

The two day course is brilliantly structured offering advice on every aspect of the business from insider experts and successful retailers.

It gave me insight I was lacking, to feel fully confident about getting started.

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fine food news Tax bill tips Dublin food hall Fallon & Byrne into crisis

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Dublin’s landmark food hall Fallon & Byrne has been placed into the Irish equivalent of administration after being hit by a €1.4 million tax bill.

The company became insolvent when it was landed with the bill, despite annual sales of over €8 million, and is now under the protection of the court. The fourfloor shop and restaurant, which is housed in a former telephone exchange building, is being run as a going concern by interim examiner Neil Hughes of chartered accountants Hughes & Blake.

Barrister Gary McCarthy told the High Court at the end of December that problems had occurred because directors Paul Byrne and Fiona McHugh had left financial administration to an under-qualified bookkeeper who was a member of Byrne’s family.

The bookkeeper had allowed tax arrears of around €840,000 to build up over several years without the directors’ knowledge. Once the liability was discovered, an instalment plan to pay off the debt had been agreed with the Irish tax

new openings

Fallon & Byrne says protecting its 175 employees is a priority

authorities, but the company had then fallen behind with its current tax payments.

McCarthy told the court that the company had seen sales fall from €11m since the recession struck in 2008 with bad weather during Christmas 2010 particularly damaging to sales. Credit from suppliers had also tightened after

Superquinn went into receivership last summer.

A statement on the company’s Facebook page said: “Although profitable, in common with many indigenous Irish businesses, the gourmet food hall, restaurant and wine cellar has suffered adverse trading conditions in the past two years against the backdrop

of a deteriorating economy. The company’s focus is on ensuring a viable future and on the protection of the jobs of its 175 employees.”

Fallon & Byrne was set up in 2006 by builder Paul Byrne with his wife Fiona McHugh, the former editor of the Sunday Times Ireland, along with then business partner and restaurateur Brian Fallon.

Keep us up-to-date with your shop news. Email editorial@finefoodworld.co.uk

Gourmet Meat Co

Scarborough, North Yorks

Pearce's has built a new café next to its shop, which has stunning views over the River Rib valley.

The glass-fronted, 90-seater café, which serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, was built to be environmentally friendly with solar power heating and rainwater harvesting, plus reclaimed oak beams. Planning officers initially advised against the development, which was funded by a Rural Development Programme for England grant, but local councillors rubber stamped the application, following the submission of a petition in favour of the café signed by 1,500 people.

Stepney Hill Farm has opened a new butcher’s shop and restaurant concept in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, under the Gourmet Meat Company brand.

Customers at the 22-seater restaurant can order from the menu or head to the Butcher's Block to choose the cut of meat they want from the counter. The meat, such as Shorthorn beef, Swaledale lamb and Saddleback pork, is sourced from the nearby 560-acre Stepney Hill Farm, which is run by John Tyson and his two sons Ashley and James. The new business is being run in conjunction with Daniel Fell, a former Microsoft executive, while the head chef is Andrew Porter.

“All our meat is reared, aged and hung on the farm. Because it is 100% traceable, it’s on a par with supermarket prices yet more cost effective in terms of the quality,” said Ashley Tyson.

www.pearcesfarmshop.com

www.stepneyhillfarm.co.uk

Pearce’s Farm Shop Buntingford, Herts

SpainSun Inverness

Spanish food retailer SpainSun is set to open a second delicatessen in Scotland less than a year after launching its first shop.

The new outlet in Inverness, due to open this month, joins the company's first store in Dingwall, which was opened by Enrique and Nely Juste in August last year.

The shops stock charcuterie and wine from the couple's family businesses back home in Spain, along with products from many other Spanish suppliers.

Christmas saw the company selling limited edition hampers at £190, containing brandy, Cava, meat, chocolate, chorizo and truffles all imported directly from Spain. www.spainsunproducts.com

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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fine food news Butcher fined for false provenance labelling Xanthe Clay will create the first GTA menu at The Cadogan

Great Taste winners to pop up in Knightsbridge Gold winners at the Great Taste Awards will have the chance to feature at a pop-up restaurant hosted by top London hotel The Cadogan.

Great Taste at The Cadogan will see a series of food personalities develop seasonal menus, featuring award-winning products, with BBC food broadcaster Nigel Barden and the Knightsbridge hotel’s chefs David Dorricott and Oliver Lesnik.

Telegraph food writer Xanthe Clay will be working on the first menu, launching on February 29.

The initiative – created by Great Taste Awards organiser the Guild of Fine Food – will initially showcase winning products from 2010 and 2011. If it proves successful it could be extended to 2012 winners.

Guild of Fine Food director John Farrand said: “Getting your product into a London hotel is great for your profile. We already promote the GTAs to shops and consumers. Now we want to encourage award winners into foodservice and help them raise their profile with chefs”

GTA entries open this month Entries to the 2012 Great Taste Awards open in February with a number of changes designed to benefit producers, retailers and consumers.

A two-tier entry fee system has been introduced to keep costs down for small producers, and entry fees have been frozen at last year’s prices for those entering before February 24. All entrants will automatically be entered into a directory, to be compiled by the Guild of Fine Food, for retailers to use as a sourcing tool.

The number of categories has been reduced, with consumer-friendly product descriptions making it easier for shoppers to seek out winners online. Producers can enter online, or email for an entry form: taste@finefoodworld.co.uk www.finefoodworld.co.uk/gta

Letter from Farrington's I’ve been putting the final touches to our marketing plan for 2012. It‘s an activity that always stimulates many a debate – including one about the difference between marketing and advertising.

When I asked one farm shop owner recently how they were marketing their business, they replied: “Really well – we have three ads in the local paper this week”.

But marketing is not just advertising. Ads are for communicating information about products, prices and services in a persuasive way. They’re impersonal, and they’re usually paid for. But marketing is more of a management process: it’s about identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer

This is the time to give serious thought to your marketing plan for 2012, says Farrington’s PAUL CASTLE

needs in a profitable way.

The more you make that distinction, the more you are challenged to think about your real points of difference. These are not always about price or products but are often about service – for example, highlighting the knowledge and friendliness of your staff, or the ease of parking in your location.

You could just advertise those benefits in the newspaper, which would interest many customers, but it might not be easy to measure the return. So how about sending out a personal mailer, addressed by name to your top 500 customers, letting them know you are not only offering free parking but personal bag packing and a carry-to-car service?

Gerald David, one of the West Country’s best known butchers, has been fined for claiming its meat was sourced locally when it was actually from the West Midlands.

The retailer, which has nine outlets in Somerset and Devon – including a large concession in the upmarket food hall at Topsham’s Darts Farm – was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs last month by Bridgwater magistrates in a case brought by Somerset Trading Standards.

Sixty-seven-year-old Gerald David, a director of Gerald David & Family Ltd, pleaded guilty to six counts of misleading labelling and advertising.

These related to claims made in his Dulverton and Taunton stores, on his website and in a local magazine that the company’s beef came from Devon and lamb from Exmoor, when the animals had actually been bought in Shropshire and slaughtered in the company’s Porlock abattoir.

The Trading Standards investigation between June and December 2009 found that only 35 of 604 cattle purchased by the company had spent any time in Devon and of 3,602 lambs, only 511 had come from Somerset farms, with less than 5% from Exmoor.

Signs in-store had said the lamb had been “carefully selected from the high pastures of Exmoor”, while the website stated that all animals came from within a 10-35 mile radius.

The council’s cabinet member responsible for Trading Standards, David Hall, said: “Many people take into consideration the origin of food

This is great marketing because it’s targeted, and you’ll be able to measure the impact through data such as higher average spend or increased customer numbers. You can also ask for feedback from the staff packing the bags, and you will know exactly how much the initiative cost so its profitability can be identified.

When I set a marketing plan I

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I'm putting more time into reviewing our marketing plan and measuring that money is well spent

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ask myself questions such as: • Which areas of the business are doing well and which have the potential to do better?

• What are our points of difference?

(Not what I think, but what customers tell me.)

• How best can our offer be

that they buy, particularly meat.

“Anyone buying beef and lamb from these two shops would not have had any suspicions that the labelling may be false and painting an entirely different picture to reality.”

In a statement, Gerald David said: “We source meat from many farms across the West Country and have built up strong relationships with lots of local farmers over the years.

“However, to ensure our meat is always of the highest quality and to meet the high demand we have found it necessary to source some animals from Shropshire, all of which are hand-picked by us so we are confident of their quality. During the time in question we labelled some of this meat incorrectly and for this I apologise.”

David told FFD he failed to change the company’s marketing to reflect the new sourcing policy because he was distracted by the acrimonious divorce of his eldest son, who was working for the business at the time, and because the company was incurring heavy losses at two pubs it had acquired, which eventually ran to around £500,000.

“There isn’t a person in this world who doesn’t make a mistake because of a lack of concentration,” he said. “I’ve made a mistake by starting something I didn’t understand. We just call our meat British now. We daren’t call it anything else.”

He added that sales had not been affected by the incident with Christmas takings up £56,000 on the previous year.

described, both internally and externally? (For example: ‘Knowledgeable friendly staff’ or ‘Fresh, local, home made products’.)

• What events are we going to run that will emphasize our points of difference? (I’ll look at opportunities around national events, seasonal produce, school holidays etc.)

• What product offers are we going to support? (I split this into primary offers, promoted internally and externally, and secondary offers, which we just highlight internally through displays and point of sale.)

Whatever you decide, make sure you set a budget for both costs and sales so each activity makes a profit.

I’m putting even more time and effort into reviewing our marketing plan this year and really measuring that our money is well spent.

Paul Castle is business manager at the award-winning Farrington’s Farm Shop near Bristol and provides consultancy services to other farm retailers. Email: paul@farringtons.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

05/01/2012 12:52

fine food news

Interview

After pulling smart Brighton start-up Thorne’s out of cash-flow crisis, new chief executive and majority shareholder Nigel Lambe tells MICK WHITWORTH that plans for a chain remain firmly intact

Back from the brink H

ow quickly a cashflow crisis can upset the best-laid plans. It took former investment banker Jason Hurwitz a good three years to get his stylish Thorne’s local food store and restaurant off the drawing board, but less than three months to see control slip out of his hands as the business ran out of readies.

Thorne’s opened last August in a refurbished warehouse in Upper Gardner Street, in Brighton’s famous North Laine district, with the likeable Hurwitz as its major shareholder.

However, by late October it had a new chief executive and majority owner in the shape of Nigel Lambe – a corporate heavyweight who was previously the store’s largest silent investor – and by January, Hurwitz was effectively out of the business, although he retains a small equity stake.

With its Victorian-chic brick, timber and ironwork, Thorne’s is a gorgeouslooking site that is a testament to Hurwitz’s vision. It includes a spacious ground-floor local food store, with a substantial cheese counter and a meat concession run by local butcher Westdene. On the top floor is a relaxed 50-seater café-eatery.

But fitting the 150-year-old building for purpose – which included

moving a staircase and putting in a Country Food Group and Capita, but lift over four floors – proved just too now focuses his energies on SMEs, costly. Hurwitz told FFD: “If you are mainly in the Sussex region. going to go for a city centre location “I didn’t have anything to do with you’re going to have to take on a running Thorne’s to begin with, ” challenging property – anything of he told FFD. “It just seemed like a any size will have been taken by the great concept – there’s such as strong big retailers – but the build costs foodie culture in Brighton, and I came in higher than expected, and thought it would be really popular, that put pressure on cash-flow.” so I put some money into it. Then, The net result: while the business when things weren’t quite on track, was trading in the black, it ran out of they approached me and we came to working capital. So Hurwitz turned to a deal.”

Lambe, who already owns Horsham Ahead of August’s launch, Hurwitz brewery W J King and Hove-based said he planned to open a second wholesaler store in 2012 and café and up to five Once we’ve got operator Small more across the whole model Batch Coffee the South over established we can the next few Co. “Nigel probably roll out Lambe is very years. Is Lambe much involved still thinking quite quickly in the local “chain”? “If I Nigel Lambe food space didn’t think we already, and he was willing to come could roll it out, we wouldn’t bother,” in and take the business forward,” he says. said Hurwitz, adding ruefully: “It’s a This year, however, will be spent shame for me personally, having put “refining” the concept. “Once we’ve everything into Thorne’s for three got the whole model established we years.” can probably roll out quite quickly.

An Irishman with a Masters in It’s all about defining the categories international business, Lambe spent that people actually want to buy in a 17 years working for majors including store like this. Some perform very well PepsiCo Restaurants, Grampian – butchery and cheese particularly

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– and some don’t do so well. Our fruit and veg looks great but it’s not performing. So we are going to try three or four more categories over the next few months and see what works.”

Meanwhile, Thorne’s caférestaurant has been handed over to an outside caterer to run. “It’s still our restaurant under the Thorne’s brand,” says Lambe, “but it’s now being run in the way that we want by a professional catering company.

“The reality is that a single restaurant is extremely difficult to make money from, unless the owner is also the chef.”

Now, for example, if one chef goes sick, the catering contractor has the resources to provide cover.

Thorne’s is not the first business to be stricken by cashflow trouble, and it must be some comfort that the store had, in Lambe’s words, “a stunning Christmas”. “We planned on having a big uplift, but we were still having to take more stock in on Christmas Eve. And the great thing is, you get a completely different demographic coming into Brighton at that time of year.” The real test, he says, will be whether those shoppers are back again in the next few months. www.thornesfoods.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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Please visit our website to find out about our handmade cheeses and follow the process from milk through to the presses and to the finished, prizewinning cheese. In addition, you can discover both our history as cheesemakers and the history of Ashmore cheese, originally a cheese recipe in a Scottish hand book, which we mow make from local Canterbury farms’ unpasteurised British cows and goats milk.

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

cheesewire New Cropwell Bishop blue takes on the Continentals

Le Grande Fromage

B

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Cropwell Bishop has ventured beyond its core range of Stilton and Shropshire Blue for the first time with an ‘entry-level blue’ inspired by Continentals such as Dolcelatte and Gorgonzola.

The producer, which has made Stilton for three generations, has spent two years developing the creamy, soft blue cheese, called Beauvale. It was launched in Paxton & Whitfield stores before Christmas.

The cheese is made with pasteurised cows’ milk, traditional rennet and a different strain of Penicillium roqueforti to the company’s Stilton. Curds are hand-ladled to achieve a silky, rich texture. “To our knowledge there isn’t a British cheese out there like this,” said operations director Robin Skailes. “Beauvale is a British cheese to rival Continental blues “It’s an entry-level blue rather than the stronger Stilton and, without sounding sexist, we’ve found that it’s very much a ladies’ cheese when we’ve been doing tastings.”

Paxton & Whitfield provided advice during the development process and is the first retailer to sell the cheese, although Cropwell

Beauvale is ‘very much a ladies’ cheese’, says Robin Skailes

Bishop hopes to build sales with other independents later this year.

“We’ve got a lot of blue cheese experience here and wanted to do something a little bit different,” said Skailes, who runs the business with his cousin Ben. “We wanted to make our own cheese with our own name.

“Stilton is a generic term and we are one of several producers

Blue Bell launch marks latest round in Stilton PDO fight

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

A pub in the Cambridgeshire village of Stilton has stepped up its longrunning campaign to be included under EU law protecting Stilton cheese by starting production of its own cheese.

Under the current Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) regulations, Stilton can only be made in the three counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

However, Stilton-based amateur historian Richard Landy and Liam McGivern, owner of the Bell Inn, have long argued that historical evidence shows the cheese was once made in the Cambridgeshire village and it therefore should be included in the PDO. The pub, which used to be an important trading post for Stilton cheese, has now started producing blue cheese to a Stilton recipe in an effort to get the PDO changed – a process that requires them to prove they make the cheese commercially

on a regular basis. Legally the cheese cannot be called Stilton, but will instead be served in the pub under the name Blue Bell.

Richard Landy told FFD he expected the first batches of cheese to be sold in the pub towards the end of January with an official application to Defra to amend the PDO due soon after.

“We're starting on a small scale, but hopefully we can scale up production and make the cheese available to others,” he added.

Historians have long thought that Stilton cheese was named after the village of Stilton because that is where it was first sold, with production taking place in Leicestershire.

Landy insists this is incorrect and says he has conducted research that proves the cheese did, in fact, originate in the village in the early 1700s and was made there for many years before its production gradually shifted to Leicestershire and beyond.

who make it. We all make very different Stiltons, but they do tend to get put in the same basket.”

Around ten 7.5kg cheeses are currently being produced each week at the Notts-based creamery with Skailes hoping to increase this to around 30 per week by the end of the year. The cheese retails at £18£20 per kilo. www.cropwellbishopstilton.com

Stilton makers ‘unconvinced’ by PDO claim Nigel White, chairman of the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association, said he was “not convinced” there was a strong case for changing the PDO. He argued the new historical evidence showed that a cooked, pressed cream cheese was once produced in the village – very different to the semi-hard, uncooked, unpressed blue veined Stilton.

“As far as we can tell no cheese has been made in Stilton for 250 years,” he added. “The dispute is not between them and us; it's up to them to persuade Defra the terms of the PDO should be changed. We are not convinced there's a strong case, but until we see what's put on the table we are not in a position to say 'yea' or 'nay'.”

Bob Farrand

y and large, chefs don’t understand cheese. A sweeping generalisation, perhaps, but while there are a few who share a love of fine cheese with you and me, most cookery books and newspapers are jammed with recipes listing ingredients such as – ‘two slices of goats’ cheese’ or ‘4 oz of parmesan or mature cheddar’.

How often would you find celebrity chefs publishing recipes suggesting ‘1kg of meat’ or ‘two medium sized fillets of fish’ for their Michelin-starred creations?

They’d tell you the type of animal or fish and the correct cut, so why be so casual about cheese?

This cavalier attitude also filters down to restaurant cheeseboards.

Granted the last several years has seen some improvement beyond chunks of boring cheddar, wedges of sweaty Stilton and slices of tasteless West Country brie, but they’re rarely properly looked after.

No surprise, then, it was a

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O the est pro qu Nig

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How often would you find celebrity chefs publishing recipes suggesting ‘1kg of meat’?

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pack of Tesco’s Finest cheddar that Antony Worrall Thompson was caught nicking, rather than a more distinguished wedge from a deli or farm shop.

The delicious irony of that affair is that Tesco some years ago invented the stunning deli counter concept of ‘grab and go’ which Wozzer may have taken too literally. This was created to solve the problem of customers who believed deli counter cheese was better than pre-packs but couldn’t be bothered to queue. It offered money-grabbing Tesco the twin bonus of fewer counter staff and no need to train them.

That’s a concept Tesco boss Philip Clarke now believes may have contributed to the group’s poor Christmas performance. He told the BBC Tesco was about to invest in improving the shopping experience by increasing the number of employees per store.

He failed to elaborate on whether they intended arming deli counters with knowledgeable staff, capable of discussing the merits of the cheeses on display, but it could mean grab-and-go might soon be gone – and good riddance.

FFD publisher Bob Farrand is chairman of the UK Cheese Guild

Vol.13 Issue Issue 11 ·· January-February January-February 2012 2012 Vol.13

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cheesewire Goodwood’s Molecomb joins British blues line-up

By MICK WHITWORTH

Goodwood Home Farm, part of the historic Goodwood estate in West Sussex, has joined the growing list of British blue producers.

Trial batches of its new Molecomb Blue sold out rapidly before Christmas, according to cheese-maker Chris Vowles. The variety has now gone into regular production alongside the farm’s original hard, cloth-bound Charlton and recently launched white mouldripened Levin. All are made with milk from the estate’s 200 Dairy Shorthorn cows.

Vowles, a third-generation cheese-maker, joined Goodwood two years ago to start the cheese dairy. He has been experimenting with blues off and on since then, he told FFD, and debuted the new cheese at the Festival of British Beer & Cheese in London last November.

“I knew I had to make something totally different from what’s in delis already,” he said.

“I had a wide range of cultures available to me, and a good idea of what I wanted to achieve.

We’ve set out to offer a complete cheeseboard: a soft white, a blue

cuts, but with blue veining,” said Vowles.

The new variety is available through Brighton wholesaler The Cheese Man or direct from Goodwood.

Quickes Traditional, Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Co and Daylesford Dairy are among the producers who will help train aspiring cheese-makers from the School of Artisan Food.

Under a new scheme, advanced diploma students from the Nottinghamshire not-for-profit school will go on two-week work experience placements.

Similar schemes will also run for the school’s advanced diplomas in baking and charcuterie & butchery.

While the next advanced diploma in dairy begins in September, the school also has a number of shorter professional cheese-making courses: Professional Washed-Rind Cheese-making – three days starting March 31, £485; Professional Hard Cheese-making – three days starting April 25, £505; Professional Cheese-making Fundamentals – four days starting July 3 & November 5, £650; and Professional Soft Cheese-making – three days starting October 1, £505.

farmwholesale@goodwood.com

www.schoolofartisanfood.org

Molecomb Blue: creamy and piquant

and a hard cheese.”

Molecomb Blue, which has a dark grey crust, is a described as “the best combination of blue cheese piquancy with a creamy texture”. “I wanted a softish blue, reasonably like a brie in the way it

Students get a chance to train with the experts

Glut of goats’ milk prompts Errington’s blue move A trial batch of blue goats’ milk cheese produced by HJ Errington has proved so popular that the Scottish producer has added the product to its range alongside its well known Dunsyre Blue and Lanark Blue.

Cheese-maker Selina Cairns bought a consignment of goats’ milk last year when Cumbria-based supplier Armstong Dairy Goats found itself with a glut. The trial batch of blue cheese she produced went down well with wholesaler Clarks Speciality Foods and she is now making the new variety, named Biggar Blue after the nearby town, on a regular basis.

“Clarks keep asking for it and it’s been selling well at Gleneagles hotel, so we’ve decided to keep producing it,” said Cairns, who took over cheese-making responsibilities from her father Humphrey Errington four years ago.

“It means we now have a blue cheese made with all three different milks – goat, cow and sheep.”

According to Clarks, Biggar Blue has a “clean sharp taste with strong but pleasant goaty notes”. It is made with unpasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet. www.erringtoncheese.co.uk

Gwyn Williams of Loosehanger Cheeses in Redlynch, on the Hampshire/ Wiltshire border, took the Best Producer Personality title at the Hampshire Farmers’ Markets Producer Awards. Williams is pictured (centre) with Hampshire Farmers’ Markets business manager Alex Handford (left) and chairman Toby Bowtell. Loosehanger collected Great Taste Awards twostar golds for two of its cheeses last year: the soft creamy White Hart, and the pressed Loosehanger with Fenugreek.

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

P

axton & Whitfield had been selling cheese for nearly 30 years when the Stock Market crashed and the Bank of England had to be saved from collapse by a massive French bail-out.

Since the ‘Panic of 1825’ the country’s oldest cheesemonger – its history can be traced back to 1742 – has seen the rise and fall of the British Empire, two world wars and the Great Depression.

Britain’s current economic woes seem trivial by comparison, but MD Ros Windsor says the company is being squeezed despite rising sales.

“Below-the-line costs are going up astronomically,” she says.

“Utilities, packaging, transportation, maintenance, rents – all of these are really difficult to control, so maintaining margin is hard. We can’t just stuff loads more on our prices.”

Owned by entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword, who made his money in greetings cards and owns Gidleigh Park Hotel, P&W has three shops – London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath – plus an online business and a wholesale operation in Bourton-onthe-Water, Gloucestershire.

Windsor, who joined 10 years ago after a career in corporate accountancy, says each unit is having to work hard to manage costs. “Sustaining profitability is about managing all elements, from transportation to packaging.”

Some are easier to manage than others. A new EPOS-linked stock control system has helped cut wastage to just 1%, but reducing rents is trickier. “All our shops are leasehold and it’s always upward-only rent reviews,” she says. “[The London store] is in a prime location and, with the Olympics and Jubilee people think there is a lot of extra money about; whether that’s actually the case remains to be seen.”

Paxton’s search for new business has led to a collaboration with artisan bakery Gail’s, which has seen P&W counters installed at Gail’s stores in Exmouth Market, Queen’s Park and Crouch End. Ros Windsor says P&W would like to open more stores of its own, “but with rents as they are, it’s not the time to be doing it”.

It last opened a new site in 2004, in Birmingham’s Mailbox shopping and office development. The shop

Profile

Heritage is all very well, but it won’t open new sales channels or protect you from a cost squeeze. Paxton & Whitfield’s Ros Windsor talks to PATRICK McGUIGAN about keeping the business ‘fresh and relevant’.

Paxton puts its history behind it included a new concept called Café Paxton, serving cheese-related dishes, but closed its doors in 2007. “The footfall was just not there,” says Windsor, but she doesn’t rule out another Café Paxton launch. “The concept is a sound one.”

Rents can be offset by doing more with the space you have, which is why Jermyn Street was refurbished last year with a more open, contemporary feel and a new tasting room. The basement maturing rooms were also expanded. Jermyn Street now sells 150-200 cheeses while

the smaller Stratford and Bath stores stock around 100. Classics such as cheddar (Montgomery’s, Westcombe and the retailer’s own cave-aged) and Stilton (Cropwell Bishop) are the best sellers, along with Brie de Meaux and Mont D’Or in the winter.

But Windsor says this gives a misleading picture. “The key is having variety. We work hard to ensure it changes with the seasons and we regularly introduce new artisan cheeses, if only for a short period.”

Examples include Cropwell Bishop’s new squidgy blue Beauvale, Windrush

goats’ cheese and Mossfield Organic, an Irish Gouda-style.

New varieties are important in keeping P&W fresh and relevant, says Windsor. “Generally we’ve moved the perception of the brand on. Ten years ago we would have been seen as pretty staid and very traditional, whereas I think we’re now seen as a company with a heritage that is up to date and in some ways innovative. If we’re going to continue for another 200 years we need to reflect what customers expect in the 2010s.” www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

Targeting upmarket London eateries After doubling capacity in its Jermyn Street maturing rooms, P&W aims to increase trade with London eateries.

“Hotel and restaurant business was one of the drivers for the refurbishment,” says Windsor. “They want small quantities of cheese that’s gorgeous and ready to go.

The shop is perfect for that.”

The company also supplies other retailers from its 2,500 sq ft site in

Gloucestershire. Clients typically want longer-shelf-life cheeses, plus own-brand crackers, condiments and accessories, to create a Paxton & Whitfield-branded cheese offer.

“Cheese is hard to sell to consumers – why are you going to spend £25 per kilo as opposed to the supermarket’s £8? It needs to look special and look authoritative, as well as being top quality.”

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

19

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

429390 020306

WORLD CHEESE AWARDS CHAMPION 2010 Supreme Champion Bath & West 2010

world cheese awards

Why the USA is one to watch 2011

The supreme winner may have been French but it was cheese from America that took judges by surprise at the World Cheese Awards. MICHAEL LANE reports.

A

strong showing from Spain and the emergence of newer styles of cheese were among the headlines at the 2011 World Cheese Awards (FFD, December 2011) but the biggest revelation was the success of producers from the USA. American cheese certainly impressed the judges at November’s competition, staged alongside the BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham’s NEC. They took six of this year’s 55 SuperGolds – the shortlist from which the major winners are chosen – and Wisconsin-based Sartori Cheese’s limited edition Cognac BellaVitano bagged third place overall.

Another Sartori BellaVitano (cinnamon washed) then made it to

the final 16 chosen by the supreme judging panel, along with goats’ milk cheeses from Wisconsin’s Carr Valley Cheese Co and Missouri’s Baetje Farms.

Speaking to FFD after the dust from the awards had settled in January, Chris Gentine, co-founder of US cheese exporter The Artisan Cheese Exchange, said the prominence and quality of American cheese had improved as producers “look back towards their immigrant forefathers.”

He added: “They’ve got cheese-makers in there who are now master cheese-makers. They have unshackled the reins and their creativity has been able to blossom.”

Gentine, who also judged at the

INTERNATIONAL LINE-UP: (L-R) Supreme judges Svetlana Redpath (Russia), Claudia Bowman (Australia), Eurwen Richards (Wales), Cathy Strange (USA), Alex James (UK), Carlos Yescas (Mexico) and Victoria Urresti (Spain)

Daryl Brehm of the US Department of Agriculture and Chris Gentine of the Wisconsin-based Artisan Cheese Exchange take part in the first round of judging Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

21

world cheese awards Recognition for Mulder’s work in South Africa and beyond ago, Mulder set up a co-operative Whether it is production, marketing agreement between the Conseil or judging, the 2011-12 winner Régional de Bourgogne and of the Exceptional Contribution to the Western Cape Provincial Cheese title has done it all.

Government, that sees young, Although he shies away from aspiring cheese-makers travel the limelight, Kobus Mulder is to Burgundy and study with the a world-renowned expert and region’s artisan producers a regular judge at the World As the programme manager of Cheese Awards, the World Cheese the Burgundy and Western Cape Championships in Wisconsin and at Cheese-making Fellowship, Mulder the Concours Agricole in Paris. accompanies these youngsters on Outside of his native South an annual study tour and continues Africa, Mulder is best known to monitor their progress after they in France. He is a Confrèrie des have returned home.

Chevaliers du Taste-Fromage de He developed and organises France and a Prud’homme of the the country’s largest annual food Guilde des Fromagers Confrérie de festival – the South African Saint-Uguzon.

Cheese Awards and Cheese Recently, he became Festival – and continues to the first South African to encourage the best South be awarded the French African cheese-makers to Government’s Chevalier de enter the World Cheese l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole Awards by consolidating for his contribution to their cheeses and French and South African organising the airfreight. cheese. “That’s more or South African food less equivalent to our writer Robyn Campbell knighthood,” points out summed Mulder up with UK Cheese Guild chairman these words: “Kobus Bob Farrand.

Mulder recieves calls himself a humble Mulder has also his award from cheese-maker. At heart, played a huge part in the UK Cheese Guild he may be. All I know is development of cheese chairman Bob that thanks to this tireless in his homeland. With Farrand dairy man, artisan cheese 20 years experience in making in South Africa, a cheese-making and 15 fledgling cheese nation, has grown years in local and international exponentially, in production and cheese marketing, he has become quality, to the extent that South a cheese mentor, nurturing the Africa now kicks some serious next generation of cheese-makers cheese-ass.” in Southern Africa. Seven years awards, said that US cheese-makers have learnt more about terroir, developed their skills as affineurs, and are now beginning to work with culture houses in the same way as European producers.

They are also pooling their knowledge to learn more and improve their products, he added.

“Cheesemakers have always been known for sitting around drinking beer and telling stories.

Now they are sharing them with each other more.”

Spain had 11 cheeses awarded SuperGolds including Queso Tierno de Almazora, from the country’s Valencia region, which made the top 16.

Victoria Urresti, who has

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represented Spain’s Basque region as a supreme judge for the past four years, said the country’s cheeses are winning more awards as judges become more familiar with its diverse range of tastes.

“Every region in Spain is making their own cheeses. You can find so many different types and designated origins even on the islands,” Urresti told FFD. “The awards are becoming more and more well known [in Spain] because we are winning more and more.

“Producers are now encouraging one another to enter.”

Guild of Fine Food director and UK Cheese Guild chairman Bob Farrand said the results of this year’s

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Kobus Mulder, with fellow South African and supreme judge Suzy O'Regan, gets to grips with one of this year’s SuperGolds

Judge’s view: Carlos Yescas Globetrotting supreme judge Carlos Yescas, originally from Mexico, told FFD he was surprised by the increase in entries from Eastern Europe and lesser known regions of cheese-producing nations.

“We have more cheeses from the smaller provinces of Spain and Switzerland, showing that small producers are really still around and still making amazing cheese,” he said.

Yescas was also impressed with the Austrian entries, and added: “I think we are seeing a resurgence in large format alpinestyle cheese and large format washed rinds.

The funky types are getting more attention and more producers are making them.”

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For details call 01963 32286 email: info@keenscheddar.co.uk www.keenscheddar.co.uk Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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world cheese awards awards supported the claim that cheeses made by hand with raw milk are generally better than those made with pasteurised milk in large creameries.

“When it comes to real taste, it’s got to be unpasteurised milk cheese made by artisan producers,” he said.

“The majority of the SuperGolds are handmade or from small dairies and that is tremendous testimony to the quality of handmade cheese.”

The supreme winner – a 10-month sheep’s milk Ossau Iraty from farmhouse producer Fromagerie Agour – fits the bill exactly.

Philip Stansfield’s Cornish Blue, which was World Champion last year, missed out on this year’s top prize by just a few points.

According to Farrand, the fact that Stansfield’s 2010 winner came second by such a narrow margin – not to mention the presence of Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton, Barkham Blue and Swaledale Blue in the Top 55 – highlights the quality and consistency of British blues.

For the first time, the top 16 also included a reduced fat cheese, Pilgrim’s Choice Extra Mature Lighter cheddar.

“The fastest growing sector in cheese is reduced fat,” said Farrand.

“We appear to have reached the point where some cheesemakers have discovered how to make it with an identical level of flavour and texture.”

More than 2,700 cheeses were entered into this year’s awards and well over 200 international judges spent a morning reducing these to the 55 SuperGolds before the supreme judging panel selected the final 16.

For a full list of this year’s and 2010's award winners, as well as video footage of the judging day, visit the Guild website. www.finefoodworld.co.uk/wca

Roll of Honour Fromagerie Agour’s Ossau Iraty is just the second cheese to be named supreme champion more than once. Here are the winners since the awards began in 1988: 2011 Ossau Iraty, Fromagerie Agour, France; 2010 Cornish Blue, Cornish Blue Cheese Company, England; 2009 Le Cendrillon, La Maison Alexis de Portneuf, Canada; 2008 Queso Arico Curado Pimentón, Soc Canaria de Formento, Canary

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Judge’s view: Cathy Strange

Australian Ian Robertson of Meribel Fine Foods (above left) and Roland Barthelemy, Prevot of France’s Guilde des Fromagers, were part of the expert panel that chose the supreme champion from the SuperGolds

Islands; 2007 Brie de Meaux, Rénard Gillard, France; 2006 Ossau Iraty, Fromagerie Agour, France; 2005 Le Gruyère Premier Cru, Von Mühlenen, Switzerland; 2004 Camembert de Normandie AOC, Isigny Ste. Mère, France; 2003 Chevre d’Or Camembert, Eurial-Poitouaine/Eurilait, France; 2002 Reserve Gruyère, Von Mühlenen entered by H T Webb, Switzerland; 2001 Joint Champion: Camembert Super Medaillon, Isigny Ste. Mère, France, and Mature Cheddar, Carbery, Ireland; 2000 Mature West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Brue Valley Farms, England; 1999 Kollumer 18-months (Old Dutch Master), Frico Cheese, Holland; 1998 Mature Traditional

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Cheddar, Dairy Crest, Sturminster Newton, England; 1997 Parmigiano Reggiano, Caseficio Vittori Quistello, Italy; 1996 Lord of the Hundreds, Traditional Cheese Dairy, England; 1995 Blue Shropshire, Cropwell Bishop Creamery, England; 1994 Brie de Meaux AOC, Hennart Frères, France; 1993 Double Gloucester, Diary Crest, Longridge, England; 1992 Le Gruyère Premier Cru, Von Mühlenen, Switzerland; 1991 Fourme d’Ambert, Hennart Frères, France; 1990 Mature Traditional Cheddar, Dairy Crest, Sturminster Newton, England; 1989 Blue Stilton, Dairy Crest Foods, Hartington, England; 1988 Blue Cheshire, Hutchinson-Smith & Son, England.

“In the past 15 years, cheese in America has evolved at the speed of light,” said Whole Foods Market’s global cheese buyer Cathy Strange.

The supreme judge told FFD that while US artisan cheese is establishing itself through the World Cheese Awards, it remains to be seen whether it will become a success in Europe markets, largely because of import costs.

“With the regulatory duty, this cheese is in the highest tier in pricing. The jury is out until [consumers] start buying it on a regular basis.”

America has had to contend with being seen as a producer and consumer of mass-market cheese, like Kraft singles, she added.

“That’s a generation-old perception of the American palate.”

Strange said there are numerous American producers, who can compete with European producers of blue, cooked and, particularly goats’ cheese, highlighting California’s Cypress Grove Chevre, Indiana’s Capriole Goat Cheese and Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery as among the world’s best.

“We have a very high level of goats’ cheese producers. We don’t often get recognised for those because they are fresh and don’t travel well.”

Strange was equally complimentary about UK cheeses such as Cornish Blue and Westcombe cheddar.

“I’m continually impressed by some of the young cheesemakers in the UK – seeing them own their history and tradition, and honour that, but really put their own stamp on it.”

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Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Hot Chutneys - a range of spicy chutneys for the adventurous! Available for full personalisation.

For full range please see NEW trade catalogue - out now!

T: 01308 458111

E: sales@forestproducts.co.uk

product update

pickles & chutneys

Savour and relish Combining scotch bonnet, bird’s eye, finger and kashmiri chillies, Velsi’s Kitchen’s new Fiery mixed chilli pickle is hot, even by Indian standards. The Goan food producer says the sweet, savoury flavour hits first, followed by the heat.

From spicy to sweet, LYNDA SEARBY finds out what’s new in accompaniments Paxton & Whitfield’s Really Proper piccalilli is now available in a larger 575g jar (RRP £9.95). The product is part of a range of P&W branded cheese accompaniments that includes chutneys, relishes and French-style confits to match specific cheeses.

www.velsis-kitchen.co.uk

Since buying Miranda’s Preserves last October, new owners Anita and Richard Bellfield have already repackaged the range in jars with bigger, clearer labels. A bumper beetroot crop has also spurred them to create a beetroot & orange chutney, which will be launched shortly, along with an old-fashioned style piccalilli.

www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

Hayloft Foods’ onion & redcurrant marmalade is now made with Chianti, following a case of mistaken identity in owner Juliette Brown-Forden’s kitchen. When reaching for some red wine vinegar BrownForden picked up a bottle of Chianti by mistake, but she says the new boozy chutney is proving to be a huge hit with customers. Also new from Hayloft Foods is Yorkshire beetroot & Bramley apple chutney. www.hayloftfoods.co.uk

www.mirandas-preserves.co.uk

After seven years in business, Isle of Bute producer Henshelwood’s Fine Foods has revamped its labels, moving to a three side wraparound design that accommodates more product information.

The rebranding coincides with the launch of Scottish chutney, made with neeps (swede) as an accompaniment for haggis, burgers, sausages and cheese (RRP £3.40-3.90). www.henshelwoodsfinefoods.co.uk

tick – for example, they wanted an ethical family business with local sourcing policies that didn’t use preservatives or additives but could produce reasonable volumes at a reasonable price.

We’re a family business employing 23 people and it went in our favour that we have the capacity to produce up to 20,000 jars per day on a single shift – they probably thought that if needs be we could change to a two-shift pattern and double our capacity. It also helped that we were already manufacturing for private label brands and were buying ingredients in sufficient quantities to achieve economies of scale.

The chosen ones Being selected to produce chutney and jams under the new WI Foods brand was a major coup for Mercer’s of Yorkshire. The company’s Paul Mercer told FFD about the selection process and the demands of working with the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI).

How did you come to be selected as the WI Foods jam and chutneys producer?

We were first approached by WI Foods at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in 2010 but there were a lot of hoops we had to jump through before being selected. There was a long list of boxes that we had to

Who came up with the recipes?

All of the recipes were sourced from the NFWI archives. We had to do lots of test batches as when we scaled them up the profiles changed slightly. The spicy tomato chutney took a bit of tweaking to get the balance of spices right. Once we were happy with the finished products, the NFWI trustees came up for a tour of the factory and to try the samples we had prepared.

How did you come to an agreement on pricing?

They gave us the recipe and asked us to produce it at a cost that would allow it to be sold at a reasonable price for the market. Between us we agreed on an RRP of £2.69 for the chutneys. Besides a profit margin for us and the retailers we also had to build in a royalty fee for the NFWI - the label states that no less than 14 pence of the proceeds of sale of each jar will go to the charity.

What next now the initial products have been launched?

We have already been asked to produce a load more samples – there are between 10 and 20 preserve and chutney lines in the pipeline and we’re already developing products for Christmas. www.wifoods.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

27

If it’s Mrs Darlingtons, it’s been made with love…

Mrs Darlington’s is a well established family run business in Cheshire which has been making its range of over 70 award winning curds, chutneys, jams, marmalades and sauces for over 30 years.

This Cheshire success story started with a surplus of eggs from the family farm. Not wishing the eggs to go to waste, Mrs Darlington, decided to use them to make a batch of her now Legendary Lemon Curd. Requests soon started pouring in, asking if she would sell her other homemade jams, chutneys and marmalades too. Since then Darlington & Daughter’s has just kept growing and growing.

Mrs Darlington is still at the helm today, supported by her two daughters Sarah and Wendy. Her aim remains the same as it always was - to craft delicious products with a truly homemade taste.

For further information visit www.mrsdarlingtons.com or call Sarah or Wendy on 01270 250710 for your nearest wholesaler.

Winners of Great Taste Gold Awards for: Lemon Curd - 2005 Beetroot Chutney and Blackcurrant Jam - 2007 Lemon & Lime Curd and Mint Sauce 2008 Farmer’s Pickle - 2009 Lime Curd - 2009 Spicy Tomato & Chilli Cooking Sauce - 2010 Sweet Apple Chutney - 2011 28

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

product update

pickles & chutneys Carved Angel’s expanding line of chutneys and relishes now includes Funky beetroot & carrot chutney (280g), Lust mango & ginger chutney (320g), Flame Piquant pepper chilli jam (340g), Crush cranberry relish (320g) and Feisty horseradish & cider mustard (270g).

The RRP for all products is £3.95-4.25.

SLOEmotion has found a lucrative new use for the by-products of its liqueur making process.

The infused damsons left over after making damson gin are cooked with Bramley apples, plums, raisins, cinnamon, allspice and ground cloves to create damson chutney. Sloe jelly is made from the gin-infused sloes used to make SLOEmotion’s sloe gin and is touted as an alternative to crab apple or redcurrant jelly.

The RRP of both products is £3.95 for 220g. www.sloemotion.com

www.thecarvedangel.com

In response to consumer demand, Godminster Vintage has launched its beetroot & apple chutney in a 670g kilner jar (RRP £11). www.godminster.com

An old family friend provided Byam Trotter of Trotter’s with the recipe and name for a new uncooked chutney made from dates, sultanas, apples and onions marinated in malt vinegar.

Launched last October, Uncle Allan’s chutney is available in 280g jars (RRP £3.80) and goes well with mature cheeses, cold meats and sandwiches.

Mrs Bridges’ chutneys might look and sound quite traditional, but the latest addition to the range chipotle, bean & chilli chutney – is right ontrend.

The chutney warms with smoked notes from the chipotles, whilst the chilli adds a kick at the back end. The RRP is £2.45-2.65 for 290g. www.mrsbridges.co.uk

www.trottersindependent.co.uk

Even after 30 years in business, Cheshire preserves producer Darlington & Daughters isn’t resting on its laurels and has added two new chutney lines to its range.

Caramelised onion chutney (330g) and sweet chilli relish (312g) retail at £1.75-£1.90. www.mrsdarlingtons.com

ers...

Top selslon’s Deli

...at Law , Suffolk gh Aldebur nion marmalade

nal ments o traditio Trackle brand) n w (o s Pickle Peter’s ickle butter p & d a e br es Preser v Rosebud tney u h c m lu spiced p Sharpie Jules & ey r chutn hot pea w g Hed ero Stonham tney u ch Suffolk

Hot pear chutney and very hot mango chutney, two of the best sellers from Jules & Sharpie (now owned by Thursday Cottage), have been relaunched in new smaller 300g jars.

They are still the signature square shape but the smaller jar means a lower RRP of £3.50. www.thursday-cottage.com www.julesandsharpie.co.uk

Fancy That From Wharfedale has launched a chilli piccalilli after a chance conversation with a customer who mentioned that they were mixing the producer’s piccalilli and tomato & chilli jam together as an accompaniment to sandwiches.

Containing a mixture of fresh green and red chillies, chilli piccalilli retails at £3.50 for 300g. www.fancythatfromwharfedale.com

Some like it hot – but not all. For those who prefer to keep their taste buds cool, Hawkshead Relish has launched mild sweet pepper pickle. A blend of Indian spices, green, yellow and red peppers, the preserve is a chilli-free partner for barbecued meats, baked potatoes and vegetarian dishes.

Trade price is £15.25 for a case (6 x 190g jars), and the RRP is £3.75. www.hawksheadrelish.com

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

29

Handmade, all natural sweet and savoury preserves and condiments Tel/Fax: 01697 345974 Email: claire@claireshandmade.co.uk

www.claireshandmade.co.uk

‘..Fig and Plum Relish is particularly good’ – The Good Produce Guide 2012 by Rose Prince Serve with goat’s or blue cheeses, cold cuts or patés www.kitchengardenpreserves.co.uk + 44(0)1453 759612 Follow us on

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

product update Carreglefn Nurseries has launched Satan’s Kiss chilli chutney (RRP £3.50) in response to customer demand for a super hot chutney.

The producer’s Lucifer chilli chutney wasn’t extreme enough for some, prompting it to develop a chutney based on sweet peppers and jalapeno, scotch bonnet and finger chillis, all grown at its nursery in Anglesey. www.carreglefn-nurseries.co.uk

pickles & chutneys

Newcomer From Dorset With Love is carving out a niche by making preserves using produce sourced from Dorset growers and independent suppliers.

Since launching in 2010, the company has picked up Great Taste Awards for its pear & walnut chutney and caramelised onion marmalade and is currently developing carrot & almond relish and plum, lime & coriander chutney for launch in 2012.

Asiri Foods has launched a hot version of its Brinjal pickle for chilli heads and onion marmalade with tamarind (Seeni Sambal), a staple in Sri Lankan households. Both products come in 200g jars and have a trade price of £2.45 and an RRP of £3.50. www.asirifoods.co.uk

Cottage Delight has developed four new chutneys, all with an RRP of between £2.65 and £2.95 and available to order from February in a trade case of 12 jars.

Fig, lemon & balsamic chutney, which is flavoured with ginger and garlic, is a Mediterranean-inspired cheese accompaniment; hot rhubarb & ginger chutney can be used as a glaze for lamb kebabs; spicy onion & tamarind chutney can be served alongside Indian bites or stirred through rice; and hot green tomato chutney, made with chillies and mustards seeds, is suited to cheeseboards and cold meats.

www.fromdorsetwithlove.co.uk

Forest Products, a brand of the The Bay Tree Food Co, has extended its spicy chutney range with two new SKUs. Chilli & pineapple chutney (300g) is said to complement both cold meats and BBQs while hot chilli chutney (280g) adds a spicy kick to cooked meats and sauces. Both products retail at £2.80-3.30.

Tipperary producer Crossogue Preserves is tapping into the revival of old fashioned foods with the launch of parsley jelly. This old Irish product can be eaten on toast or brown bread, with hard goats’ or sheep’s cheese or with fish, and is reputed to be good for rheumatism, indigestion and cleaning the blood. It comes in two jar sizes: 225g and 37g.

www.forestproducts.co.uk

www.crossoguepreserves.com

Norfolk Garden Preserves has reduced the food miles associated with its gooseberry chutney by using fruit grown in Suffolk.

The other major ingredient – sugar – is also grown in East Anglia, making it a truly local product. The chutney comes in traditional 1lb (454g) jars with a trade price of £1.80. www.gardenpreserves.co.uk

Top sellers...

...at Blakene y Deli Blakeney, N orfolk

Preser ves & Jams Figgy Mostardo Preser ves & Jams ale ch utney Tracklemen ts onion mar malade Edmond Fa llot Moutard eà Beaune

Tracklemen ts piccalilli

www.cottagedelight.co.uk

Cheshire entrepreneur Claire Plover hopes that creating modern interpretations of classic preserves will set Galore! apart from the competition.

The core range, which launched last summer, includes damson, pear & juniper chutney for serving with pork or game pie; pumpkin, apple & sage chutney for sausages and roast chicken; and Porter pickle - root vegetables cooked with Night Porter from the Bollington Brewery.

They retail at £2.95 (£1.95 trade price). galorefoods@hotmail.com

Following a handover from the fourth to the fifth generation, family business Shaws of Huddersfield has modernised its packaging and created a new ‘everyday’ range of reasonably priced chutneys and relishes.

The five-strong range comprises: Tasty tomato & apple chutney, Chunky mango chutney, Tangy red onion chutney, Juicy fruit chutney and Devilish tomato & chilli relish. In 2012 the company has plans to unveil a ‘premium’ range with more unusual flavour combinations. www.shaws1889.com

New to chutneys Having spent the last few years helping disabled people start new businesses, Phaldie Gool is now launching his own pickle production business, The More-ish Merchants.

The initial Cape Malay range comprises four products: carrot & string bean; cabbage & carrot; mix veg (carrot, green beans & cauliflower); and lemon & mustard.

According to Phaldie, these are no

ordinary pickles, thanks to their versatility. “What makes this product different is that it can be used as a marinade, condiment or to liven up a salad,” he tells FFD. “It goes with fish and chips, curry and everything in between.”

The first pickles have just rolled off the production line and are available in 200g jars (RRP £1.65). www.themoreishmerchants.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

31

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

coffee

product update

New brews MICHAEL LANE suggests some new products to spruce up your coffee offer Shelton’s Coffee rebranded its range of single origin Colombian coffee products towards the end of last year. The firm offers a choice of two roasts – smooth Colombian and espresso intense – in 227g packs (RRP £5.20) available in trade cases of 10 units. It also produces a unique range of individually foil-wrapped flavoured coffee cubes. Each pack (RRP £3.90) contains 10 cubes, which come in amaretto, vanilla, cinnamon, brandy, sambuca, natural and Irish cream flavours. Trade cases consist of 36 units, which can be a mix of varieties.

Union Hand-Roasted has launched a new kraft pack for its wholebean coffee range, The 227g packs retail for £4.25 - £4.75 and are available to the trade in cases of six. Cases of Rwanda Maraba and Revelation blend both cost £21.50, while cases of organic Natural Spirit blend and Sumatra Gajah Mountain are priced at £22.35 and £22.75 respectively. Union says the change to paper packaging will stand out on the shelf and help differentiate the wholebean range from its 12-strong filterground coffee range.

Nicaraguan coffee specialist Hada Del Café (formerly know as The Coffee Fairy), was re-launched at the Nicaraguan embassy last Summer. Founder Martina Gruppo says she rebranded in order to increase her products’ appeal to both consumers and retailers. The firm’s newest blend is an espresso roast, which joined the medium and dark roasts it offers. All three blends come in resealable 227g packs (RRP £4.99), which also feature details of the ethical project Gruppo runs to help children in coffee growing communities. Hada Del Café’s products are available from distributor The Bay Tree.

Grumpy Mule says its micro-lot coffees could be a real point of difference, whether they are sold from retailers’ shelves or as specials in their cafés.

Available through Grumpy Mule, often on an exclusive basis, this range of limited edition, small-batch coffees is sourced directly from producers and is updated seasonally. It currently includes Ethiopia Tchembe, which is available in cases of six 227g packs either as beans or pre-ground. Each pack retails for £7.99 with a trade price of £5.23.

www.unionroasted.com

www.hadadelcafe.com

www.grumpymule.co.uk

www.sheltonimports.co.uk

Little’s going big Devon coffee brand Little’s has a selection of new lines for retailers and cafés Devon based Little’s Speciality Coffees has unveiled a number of new products in the last few months, including flavoured ground coffee and a catering brand as well as additions to its Heritage range.

The firm – founded in Finland before relocating to the UK in 1995 – has developed four flavoured coffees, designed for use in drip filters or cafetieres. Managing

director Henry Little says, “We’ve been manufacturing private-label flavoured coffee for many years – in fact we were the first company to manufacture and sell flavoured coffee in Europe. We’ve found a surprising demand for flavoured coffee, yet there isn’t much available in the speciality food sector.”

The range, made with Central American Arabica beans from Rainforest Alliance farms, consists of chocolate truffle, hazelnut, Bourbon vanilla and Irish cream. All come in 100g pouches (wholesale £1.25, RRP £2.40), which are available in shelf-ready cases of six.

The firm, which slow roasts all of its coffees on a vintage German drum roaster, has added a coffee from the Santa Barbara estate in El Salvador (wholesale £2.85, RRP £4.99) and a limited edition Finca Bourbon from Guatemala (wholesale £3.35, RRP £5.20) to its Heritage range. Both are available as beans or pre ground in 250g packs.

At the tail end of 2011, Little’s also launched a catering brand, The Roastery, which is targeted at high end cafés. The range features three distinct espresso bean blends – Espresso #1 (£10/kg), Rainforest Alli-

ance (£12/kg) and Top Hat Espresso (£15/kg).

Each of these blends is seasonal and will change slightly throughout the year. The firm says this sustainable sourcing method will ensure that café customers are drinking the best quality coffees available at any given time and it also gets the best price for farmers. www.littlesltd.com

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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January-February 2012 路 Vol.13 Issue 1

at the heart of speciality food and drink

digest

SPECIAL REPORT

Julie Wing: gearing up to produce 200-litre batches of soft cheese

The artisan buyers’ guide Small speciality food and drink firms have a range of production options available as they move from start-up into growth. Here, we ask five businesses how they’re managing the process, and round-up some of the latest new equipment & services for the sector.

Parlour talk Julie Wing is starting small with her new cheese operation on a farm in Somerset’s Blackdown Hills, as she told MICK WHITWORTH ARTISAN CHEESE-MAKING

D

airy newcomer Julie Wing has spent the best part of a year planning the launch of her Blackdown Hills Cheese Co (FFD, December 2011).

Her new, micro-dairy operation is based on the 50-acre Higher Berehill Farm – actually more of a “large smallholding” tucked away in Somerset’s Blackdown Hills, an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – where she moved with her family a couple of years ago.

Here, Wing was due to make her first batch of soft cows’ milk cheese as FFD went to press.

She has converted a stone-built former milking parlour alongside the farmhouse to create a whiteclad 3.6m x 6m cheese-making unit with two 2m x 3m walk-in maturing rooms. She needs two, she says, because she plans to produce a washed-rind cheese in due course, washed with cider from local producer Tricky, a fellow member

of the Blackdown Hills Business Association.

The conversion has been relatively trouble-free, although Wing was surprised she needed to apply to the council for change of use on a one-time dairy building. Getting advice from the Environmental Health department in Taunton also proved challenging, but she has now established a good working relationship with her EHO, whose main demands related to handling of waste water. “They insisted that water from the wash troughs was piped to the drains, rather than draining across the floor,” she says, “and we’ve had to put in huge new soakaways.”

Most of Wing’s raw material will travel just a few hundred yards from the Friesian herd at Lower Berehill Farm in a “controlled sole supply” deal via Milk Link. The milk co-op will make its usual delivery charge to bring a segregated load of milk up the hill. But Wing is also talking to a farmer with an organic Ayrshire herd near Honiton, just a few miles

across the Blackdowns. “I understand Ayrshire milk is particular good for soft cheeses,” she says.

Wing went on training courses last winter with Chris Ashby of AB Cheesemaking, who she describes as “the doyenne of cheese training”, and started trial batches in her kitchen soon afterwards. “And I’ve visited various cheese-makers, like Sue Proudfoot [at Walesborough Farm Food near Bude, Cornwall] and Menallack, who have just ceased production. Karen Hindle at Mousetrap Cheese in Hertfordshire was very inspiring, because she’s been producing for about 16 years but is still experimenting. People have been really welcoming.”

Advice on HACCP and environmental issues has come from dairy consultant Jayne Hickinbotham, a member of the Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association’s technical committee. “Jayne’s an expert in microbiology. She was willing to tack me onto her visits to big companies and helped me put together my environmental plans.”

Further help on the nuts and bolts of her new facility has come from Jaap de Jonge of dairy hardware supplier Jongia UK, a familiar face in the specialist cheese sector. “Jaap talked me through a few things, then came to visit,” says Wing. “I’ve bought an ASTA-eismann vat, a multi-mould turner and a stainless steel table from Jongia. But our refrigeration and bulk milk equipment will come reconditioned from South West Refrigeration.”

Among her best buys has been a brace of plastic dairy wash-troughs from Fletcher European. “I’m using them as sinks, and they were half the price of stainless steel,” says Wing.

Although her husband had suggested she leap in and buy a 1,000 litre vat at the outset, Wing is more cautious. “I’m starting with 200 litre and hoping to get to 500 in the summer,” she says, encouraged by a conversation with La Cave a Fromage, which has asked for first refusal on her new soft cheese.

Will she be getting an established cheese-maker in to help with the first batches this month? “No, I’m a bit of a control freak,” she says, “and if someone comes in I won’t know if the mistakes are theirs or mine. I’m just hoping the walls are well soundproofed!” juliewing.berehill@gmail.com www.jongiauk.com www.fletchereuropean.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue Vol.7 1 · January-February Issue 1 · January 2006 2012

23 35

artisan buyers’ guide Initially conceived as a retail operation, Oxfordshire’s Ross & Ross has now struck out as a producer of potted meats among other things. MICHAEL LANE visits their fledgling operation for the story so far.

Double vision preserved meats & chutneys

R

oss & Ross, the brainchild of a former cheese shop manager and a head chef, was originally intended to be a deli-eatery. But finding the right location proved extremely difficult and, in the end, the bank came up with the idea of going into food production.

“We were trying to raise some money with the bank and trying to find a location at the same time,” explains co-founder and ex-Paxton & Whitfield Stratford shop manager Ross Bearman. “We always said when we opened the eatery, we’d make the food ourselves. The bank said, ‘While you’re still looking, why don’t you start making it, get six months under your belt and come back to us then?’”

When I visit Bearman and his business partner, former Raymond Blanc employee and Peach Pubs head chef Ross Whitmill, they have been in their new 1,200 sq ft premises on the Oxfordshire side of the Cotswolds less than a month.

The pair have developed a range of potted meats – duck rillettes, pork rillettes and chicken liver parfait – and complementary chutneys, which they

intend to sell into delis. They will also be creating bespoke products, including terrines and patés, for chefs and delis – a process they hope will help them develop some new lines as they go.

Once they had decided on becoming a producer, they found catering units were just as elusive as retail premises but eventually happened upon a unit, converted for catering by the previous tenants, on the Worcester Road trading estate in Chipping Norton. The property is split into a 600 sq ft kitchen area downstairs and 600 sq ft of office and storage space upstairs.

“It was literally a shell. Before it was just a warehouse but the caterers that were in here before put in the firewalls, the electrics, and the flooring,” explains Bearman.

While they got a good deal on the property – £500 per month with the first few months free – Ross & Ross had to wait longer than they would have liked to move in. This did give them a chance to amass equipment.

“We’re on a real tight budget so eBay’s been amazing and we’ve been searching for catering auctions.”

They have tried to source their kit locally to make the most of hiring

Recent purchases include a Rational CM101 three-phase oven (right) and Lincat IP24B double oven

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Ross Bearman and Ross Whitmill are already working on orders from chefs

a van. A baker they met at a food show on Adam Henson’s farm (of BBC’s Countryfile fame) has been particularly helpful.

When they went to pick up a £1,500 Foster fridge-freezer from him recently, it turned out that the fridge section didn’t work. As a result, the baker let them have it for free.

Bearman estimates that it will only cost £200 to repair. They were also going to buy a Porkka blast chiller from him but, when tested, it kept tripping, so he let them take that away for nothing too.

Despite this good fortune, Bearman says the biggest bargain so far has been the £7,000 Rational CM101 three-phase oven he picked up from a school in Oxford, for just £1,500.

It hasn’t all been lucky breaks and discounts, though. The two benches that Bearman and Whitmill prep food on were particularly tricky to extract from their previous owner.

“We went down to Malmesbury to pick up two big benches off a lady that had a sandwich business.

She said, ‘I’ve got a slight problem. I managed to get one of the benches out, but we built the shed around the other one’,” he recalls. “We had to wait for her son to arrive with a

toolkit and use a hacksaw to take the doors off.”

In the space of two months both Rosses had managed to fill their own homes, as well as those of friends and family, with equipment as they waited for the keys to the unit.

“Every opportunity we’ve had to buy stuff, we’ve bought it. Everything was just stacked anywhere we could put equipment. Those two metal benches were in my yard for a month. The missus was going mental.”

Other pieces of kit they have picked up include a Multivac C200 vacuum packing machine and a Lincat IP24B double oven with six hobs.

If they had moved into the premises earlier, Bearman thinks that they could have brought the equipment together more quickly but, ultimately, they just ran out of space.

In total, they have spent £15,000 getting production off the ground, including ingredients and packaging.

Now they’re in, Bearman says they need another £10,000 of kit to step up to full production. The next item on the list is a bratt pan, which he says will allow them to scale up their production, particularly of products like chutney.

“The next stage for us is to get bigger equipment and bigger storage.

At the moment we’re only making chutney in small batches."

Bearman says converting the upstairs office into a refrigeration and freezer area would allow them to produce and store several months' stock.

For now, Ross & Ross are working on fulfilling their orders, for a variety of deli-style products, with a pub group. But with other chefs and delis making enquiries they look set for a busy New Year. www.rossandrossfood.co.uk www.rational-online.com www.porkka.co.uk www.lincat.co.uk www.multivac.com

Refractometers for Quality Control Digital Hand Refractometer

Tamper evident & film sealable plastic food packaging Reliable leadtimes and service – sensible minimum order size Products available from stock in transparent Sizes available from 30ml to 5000ml

Visit www.innavisions.com or call us for a brochure TEL; 01886 832283 EMAIL; nick.wild@innavisions.com

sales@bellinghamandstanley.co.uk www.bellinghamandstanley.com Phone: +44 (0) 1892 500400

Buy on-line at www.refractometershop.com Vol.13 Issue 1 ¡ January-February 2012

37

artisan buyers’ guide contract manufacturing

Pots of gold stewed! founder Alan Rosenthal tells MICHAEL LANE why he opted out of production and switched to a contract manufacturer as his business grew

S

ince selling his first batch of stew at the Alexandra Palace farmers’ market little over three years ago, Alan Rosenthal has rapidly expanded production of his one-pot meals.

As orders for his stewed! range increased, he graduated to hired kitchen space before taking the decision to outsource production to a manufacturer as supermarkets came calling.

The first pots were made in the kitchen of his north London home, but cooking 30 kg of product and storing 100 pots of stew in his fridge at a time soon took its toll.

Local retailers, including the Budgens in Crouch End, took on Rosenthal’s products and he found it more and more difficult to separate his home life and business. However, he was wary of finding a new production location given the costs.

“You need extractors and ovens, and the walls have to be covered, and before you know it you’ve spent thousands.”

The Olive Grows – a company that hires fully equipped kitchen space in Park Royal, north west London – proved to be the solution. For an hourly rate Rosenthal was able to up his production, but it also proved a valuable learning experience.

He discovered the benefits of preprepared ingredients, such as diced onions, to help to make the most of his time in the kitchen.

“You have to think sustainably. Is it really practical to be boiling chutney for 15 hours? How can you find ways to make it easier for you? It took me a while to start thinking that way.”

His time at The Olive Grows also helped him decide that he didn’t want to remain responsible for production.

“Manufacturing food is not an easy thing to do. It’s hard, hard work,”

he says. “When you’re making paté at home, selling at a market and everyone thinks they’re lovely, it’s very different from an industrial unit.”

Despite this, Rosenthal says that The Olive Grows was a good introduction to larger scale production.

“It’s never going to be perfect because it’s not your own kitchen, it’s shared and you have to work around other people. The hourly rate is expensive but the idea of The Olive Grows is not to use it long term.”

When Waitrose and Ocado showed interest in his stews, Rosenthal needed a production facility with more capacity that would also meet the food safety standards – drawn up by the British Retail Consortium – required by supermarkets. Fortunately, he was already buying pre-prepared ingredients from a manufacturer.

Even so, he describes the move to a manufacturer as a “leap of faith”.

“You have to disclose the recipes and they are not copyrightable so it’s a risk. You have to trust your manufacturer and, ultimately, if want them to do it, you’ve got to give them the recipe.”

He hasn’t relinquished total control of production. His manufacturer chooses the bulk of the ingredients, which lowers costs, but Rosenthal still specifies certain things, such as the chorizo sourced from Spain and the high welfare pork used in his chorizo, chickpea & pork stew.

One of the most important factors in deciding to outsource, explains Rosenthal, was the ease of distribution into supermarkets.

“Distribution is very difficult especially for chilled product. It helps to piggy-back off a larger manufacturer already distributing to supermarkets.”

Rosenthal has since moved to another manufacturer, helping him secure listings with Sainsburys and boosting production capacity to around 2,500kg of stew a week – a huge increase compared to the 100kg he was producing in Park Royal.

While not all producers would want to take the route he has, Rosenthal is confident it was the right move for his business.

“It’s a decision about what you want the business to be,” he says.

“I’m a chef and manufacturing 500 kg of product doesn’t appeal to me in the same way as a cookery demonstration.”

“People go into [food production] because they have a passion for something they have made and then it becomes a burden.”

Without the worry of production, Rosenthal can concentrate his time, and more of his budget, on promoting his brand and coming up with new recipes. www.steweduk.co.uk

Kitchens for hire in north west London The Olive Grows facility, in Park Royal, near Wembley, meets HACCP standards and provides all the equipment required for food production.

Eight-hour sessions on single workstations cost £180 while

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the whole kitchen area can be booked for £360. Four hour sessions cost £90.

The company also offers storage facilities at £12 per pallet/rack per week for chilled and ambient or £7.80 per

January 2006 · Vol.7 January-February 2012 Issue · Vol.13 1 Issue 1

pallet/rack per week for frozen.

Vans are also available for hire with prices ranging from £26.40 for three hours and £108 for 24 hours. enquiries@theolivegrows.co.uk www.theolivegrows.co.uk

Brewed Cornwall’s newest brewery has a USdesigned, Hungarianbuilt and UK-sourced system at its heart, reports MICK WHITWORTH the craft brewery

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hys Powell and Eddie Lofthouse are targeting Cornish pub-goers and deli shoppers as well as Londoners craving a reminder of West Country weekends with a range of craft beers from their new Bodmin-based brewery.

The Harbour Brewing Co began full operation in January, producing an initial selection of four core beers in casks, kegs and bottles.

Powell and Lofthouse have invested “between £200,000 and £300,000” in the start-up – a sum that includes converting the 2,200 sq ft former storage unit of a spring-water bottling factory into a craft brewery,

Brewer Rhys Powell (left) and business partner Eddie Lofthouse and (above) their Bavarian Brewing Technologies mash-lauter tun

with a 10 British Brewers Barrel (or 360 gallon) brewplant at its heart.

While Lofthouse is a former hotelier, Powell studied brewing and distilling at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University and worked as a brewer at Sharp’s Brewery in Rock, north Cornwall, now owned by Molson Coors.

The pair say they now aim to produce beers that are “all about taste and creativity” rather than chasing market share, and they are taking a lead from the US craft beer scene as well as Brits such as London’s Kernel Brewery and Redemption Brewing Co. “Danish brewer Mikkeller [run

by Mikkel Borg Bjergsø] is probably who we’re drawing inspiration from right now,” says Lofthouse. “His beers are creative and his approach is innovative. He’s a true craft brewer.”

Closer to home, advice on the start-up has come from a number of established producers, including Steve Skinner at Skinners in Truro, Chris Hearn at Loddon Brewery in Oxfordshire and Adam Komrower at Andwell in Hampshire. “Brewing seems to be a very supportive community,” says Lofthouse.

Harbour Brewing Co’s standard

range will comprise an IPA, an amber ale, a light ale and a lager. To produce them, Powell and Lofthouse have opted for a combined mash-lauter tun rather than using separate vessels for mashing (heating a mixture of grain and water to produce wort) and lautering (separating clear wort from the grain). Lofthouse says this is more efficient than the traditional British set-up of separate tanks.

They have also opted for sealed fermentation vessels rather than traditional open vessels, for greater hygiene, faster fermentation and ease of yeast harvesting.

Although £200,000-plus is not a sum to be sniffed at, the startup brewers did not buy new kit off the shelf. Their Hungarian-built brewplant, designed by Bavarian Brewing Technologies in the US and supplied by Advanced Bottling UK (ABUK), has had two previous

James Ram

ed on Bodmin owners, both of which owned it for three years before outgrowing it. “We initially decided the type of system we wanted and contacted the manufacturer in the US,” says Lofthouse. “We then discovered there was a complete system for sale through ABUK, which was already built and in this country.”

He adds: “ABUK were great to deal with and have helped us source more equipment throughout our set-up.”

If Lofthouse and Powell fell on their feet when sourcing the brewplant, they had less luck with another aspect of the development. “We were initially told the building had B2 planning consent,” says Lofthouse, “but

unfortunately this turned out not to be the case and we had to submit a planning application.” This added cost and time to the project, but the Harbour Brewing Co now has an operational plant that is forecast to be produce 3,000 hectolitres in its first year – that’s over half a million pints of craft ale and lager.

Eddie Lofthouse adds: “We’re currently working on a number of speciality beers for our Harbour Special range. These will initially be brewed in small batches on our pilot brew plant and bottled by hand.”

Designed to “push the boundaries”, these are set to include some unusual ingredients. Watch out soon for Cornish premium beers flavoured with cassia bark, bog myrtle and wormwood. www.harbourbrewing.com www.abuk.co.uk www.bavarianbrewerytech.com

Their Hungarian-built brewplant, designed by Bavarian Brewing Technologies, has had two previous owners Vol.13 Issue Vol.7 1 · January-February Issue 1 · January 2006 2012

39 25

HS HS French Flint Ltd. FF Speciality Glassware, for the more discerning producer.

Unit 4G, The Leathermarket, Weston Street, London SE1 3ER Tel: 020 7407 3200 Fax: 020 7237 9093 www.FrenchFlint.com

yoS VISa Br uTAr InTd ew Now UsSe Dn Oll Cb6 N e7e r

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Tel: 01427 890099 www.advancedbrewing.co.uk

artisan buyers’ guide

Jackie Lee (left) and Cordie Strube carrying out a test production run of their marshmallow dippers at the Food Technology Centre

Small and sweet The founders of Bonny Confectionery tell MICHAEL LANE how Anglesey’s Food Technology Centre has helped them get their business up and running CONFECTIONERY

I

sle of Anglesey residents Cordie Strube and Jackie Lee met through their young children and soon discovered that they had given birth on the same day in the same hospital.

Once their conversations moved on from nappy changing, says Strube, the pair found that they also shared a love of homemade sweets and decided to set up Bonny Confectionery.

As FFD goes to press, Lee and Strube will have embarked on the first production run of their gourmet marshmallows, which they are making in rented space at the Food Technology Centre, at Coleg Menai’s site in Llangefni on the Welsh island.

“As a stepping stone, the Food Technology Centre is brilliant,” Strube tells FFD. ”They have got the food hygiene rating you need to be taken seriously by businesses who would want to stock your products and they have equipment that we need at the moment.”

And for the range they are making – marshmallow lollypops and dippers in a variety of flavours – the duo needs fairly little.

They begin by preparing flavoured syrup and boiling it. Currently they do this on the hob but, as volumes increase, may move on to a 100 litre Electrolux Variomix Boiling Pan that the centre has recommended to them. The syrup is then combined with gelatine in a mixer – the centre has suggested a Hobart HSM40-F3HE 40 litre mixer.

The mixture is left in trays to set overnight at room temperature before it is cut it into the desired shapes with the Dedy wire cutter on site, and packaged.

Not only has the Food Technology Centre got all the kit for Strube and Lee to use, it has also been flexible enough to accommodate their production run by splitting an eight hour session (at a cost of £80) across a week.

Strube explains that the pair intend to carry out the first stage in a four

hour afternoon slot, leave it to set in storage (provided at no extra cost) for two days and then return for a four hour morning slot to cut and package the products.

The centre has also suggested that they make use of grant money, which could help them reduce their wastage in the future.

“We have some off-cuts and they have funding here to help develop new products from by-products you are making. That’s something that we will take advantage of in the future,” says Strube, adding that this could help Bonny develop Rocky Road-style confectionery.

If Bonny’s products had been made with local ingredients they would also have been eligible for a grant to develop their first range with

the expertise of the resident food technicians. While they didn’t qualify for this money, the local council has paid for the pair to get their products’ shelf lives tested at the centre.

Having had such a great leg-up, they are not resting on their laurels and Strube intends to look at options for their own premises to prepare for future expansion.

“We need some sort of base where we can produce. It’s a cashflow decision as to when we move on. If we use the Food Technology Centre more and more, on a weekly basis, then it will equal the rent you pay [on your own production facility]” www.bonnyconfectionery.co.uk www.dedy.de www.electrolux-professional.com www.hobartuk.com

Support for start-ups and NPD The Food Technology Centre at Coleg Menai, Llangefni was set up in conjunction with the European Union, the Welsh Assembly Government, Welsh Development Agency and Anglesey Council in 1999.

It houses three 915 sq ft processing halls – for meat, dairy and prepared foods – kitted out with industrial equipment.

These can be used for both

new product development, launch and pilot scale manufacturing. Eight hour slots can be purchased for £80-£140 depending on the nature of the food being produced.

In addition, the centre offers a broad range of courses, covering food safety, butchery and cheesemaking, that range in price from £54 up to £450. www.foodtech-llangefni.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue Vol.7 1 · January-February Issue 1 · January 2006 2012

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nutsaboutbrands...

Riggs Autopack Ltd manufacture volumetric depositors and filling machines for artisan food producers.

Designed for a single operator, our semi-automatic filling machines provide damage free and highly precise depositing of hot or cold products and accurately fill most types or size of container.

Find out more at www.autopack.co.uk or call our Lancashire office on 01282 440040.

www.maydaylivingbrands.com 020 8994 4445

Kemtile_FineFoodDigest_Layout 1 19/12/2011 17:12 Page 1

Products manufactured using our equipment include • Jam, Honey and Preserves • Chutney • Mustard • Pickles • Relish • Mayonnaise • Sauces • Dips • Dressings

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See us on Stand FH32

Kemtile specialise in providing flooring systems to the food and drink industries in areas where the very highest hygiene standards are demanded. We have the knowledge about the precise requirements of your industry, its constraints and specific needs.

Kemtile also market Protectorseal – a specialist hygienic system that provides a clean, washable, hygienic surface for walls and ceilings.

www.kemtile.co.uk Wiedemann Drainage Systems

Kemtile Limited, Unit C3, Taylor Business Park, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6BL. UK. Tel: 01925 763045 Fax: 01925 763381 Email: all@kemtile.co.uk

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

artisan buyers’ guide what’s new: equipment, packaging & services

l Designer Mayday has created a new brand identity and pack designs for Fratelli Damiano, the world’s largest producer of organic almonds.

The packaging has just launched in the UK ahead of a Europe-wide roll-out.

Damiano has been supplying organic Sicilian almond and hazelnuts since the 1970s, mainly for wholesale and private label. Export manager Mariateresa Licata says the redesign was prompted by “a decision to drive our business towards the premium retail market”.

Mayday says its designs “clarify the product ranges and signal quality for the entire business”. Key elements include a brand identity featuring a single nut in the D of Damiano with elegant, hand-drawn type.

New pack designs have been created for each range, including nut butters, ground almonds and nut pesto. Some lines were more relevant to the premium gifting market, so a new range, ‘My’, was created to increase luxury perceptions.

Licata says: “Repackaging a range of products with different pack formats in nine languages was a big project for us. It wasn’t just an update. Mayday had to accommodate all the usual regulations and constraints in designing organic food packaging with our desire to create a more premium brand.” www.maydaylivingbrands.com www.damianorganic.it

special self-sealing tape so food can be tested without breaking the vacuum.

“The advantage is that it can be used alongside a basic sous-vide thermal circulator to achieve the same result as more expensive industrial sous-vide equipment,” TME says.

The kit costs £135 and comes in its own carry case.

l Essex-based Hispack can now offer next-day delivery of Vynarac modular shelving on a EU-wide basis via www.plasticshelves.eu.

The Vynarac hygienic storage system is made from hi-impact, non-toxic plastic and has been designed with food safety needs in mind.

Unlike wooden or metallic systems there is nothing to rot, rust, chip or splinter.

Its non-porous surface helps inhibit bacterial spread and can be wiped clean easily. An open slat design helps air circulate, while temperature resistance to -40°C means it is fine for cold rooms.

Supplied in kit form in a range of colours, Vynarac, can be assembled quickly with no tools, and casters can be added to make the shelves moveable. A 1-metre, four level unit costs around £120.

brand Orange Pekoe and craft boutique Miratis. It also handled the branding for Thielen Wine (pictured), Katja Thielen’s family business.

www.plasticshelves.eu

www.togetherdesign.co.uk

l Advanced Dynamics is targeting the speciality food market with a “low-cost” range of versatile jar and bottle labellers.

The Bradford business describes

l A new microwaveable 670ml soup pack and a novel 125ml ice cream pack with a built-in spoon are among the latest launches by plastic packaging specialist Innavisions.

The soup pack, which will suit 600g portions and can be hot-filled, joins a range of tamper-evident retail soup pots in transparent polypropylene to hold 300g, 350g, 450g and 500g.

The 125ml ice cream pack comprises a paperboard tub with an injection moulded lid that Innavisions

www.tmelectronics.co.uk

the Pack Leader PRO range of fully-automated applicators as “exceptionally accurate and robust”.

They can apply labels to a wide variety of container sizes, cartons and bottle shapes, from the base to the top, at speeds of up to 40 metres per minute. Prices start at around £6,000. www.advanceddynamics.co.uk

l A London creative agency that lists Caffe Nero and John Lewis among its clients has developed a branding and design service aimed at “ambitious producers and start-ups”.

Together Design says a number of packages are available, starting at £12,000 plus VAT. Services include naming, brand positioning, logo design, packaging design and web design. Together says it is offering a “significant discount” for startups and small firms compared to its usual corporate rates.

Founded in 2003 by designers Heidi Lightfoot and Katja Thielen, Together has worked for premium artisan businesses including tea

says is unique. “The lid incorporates the spoon, guaranteeing a spoon with every lid, plus reducing a component in the packaging,” it says.

l Nature Delivered, the company behind the Graze snacks-by-post brand, has added two more Kliklok JR carton formers to the three already installed at its plant in Feltham, Middlesex Graze products comprise portions of dried fruit, nuts and seeds, filled into compartments in a top-loaded carton. They are mailed to homes and workplaces as healthy lunches and snacks.The Kliklok units provide a steady flow of formed cartons or trays for its hand-packing operations.

Nature Delivered first asked Kliklok to supply a cartoner when it began moving from hand-assembly to automatic carton forming. As well as erecting the cartons, the JR units pre-break the three lid flaps, as they are tucked inside the carton once the product has been manually filled. www.kliklok-int.com

www.innavisions.com

l Thermometer manufacturer TM Electronics is offering a kit specifically for food producers using a sous-vide system.

Sous-vide cooking involves sealing food in a vacuum pack before placing it in a hot water bath to cook at a set temperature over a controlled period. The system, often used by chefs, helps retain nutritional content, moisture, flavour and tenderness.

TME’s kit uses a waterproof thermometer and a fine needle probe for precise, fast measurements together with a Vol.7 Issue 1 · January 2006 Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

25 43

They’ve made it.

Ea rly -B O i f 2 f en 0% er rd t be ries r off a for ec ll e F eiv eb ed 24

J Lawrie & Sons, Best Scottish Speciality

Spurreli, Best Speciality North of England

Denhay Farms, Best Speciality South West Green Pastures (Donegal), Best Irish Speciality stratta, Ambient Product of the Year

Purple Moose Brewery, Best Welsh Speciality Wan Ling Tea House, Speciality Importer of the Year

McCartney’s of Moira, Best Speciality Northern Ireland

Demarquette Fine Chocolates, Best Speciality South East

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Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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Our range ticks all the boxes.

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on by the cart · Available ed spoke print · Can be be g nufacturin a m y t li a u · High q from oard comes urces b d n a r e p · Pa l so and ethica sustainable

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You might recognise our Ripple-Wrap™ Hot Cups but we’d like to introduce you to the whole pack. The good thing about all these guys is that you can splash your own brand across them with bespoke printing. That’s a big tick in the box for a range that already ticks a lot of other boxes; the Detpak range is made to world class standards (HACCP and ISO 9001 accreditation, food safe and compliant with EC 1935/2004), we’re an environmentally and socially responsible business that gives back to the communities we work in,

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

shelftalk

products, packaging & promotions

The revamped Lincolnshire crisp brand is holding firm to its ‘made by farmers’ message

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Pipers digs for victory with ’40s-style rebrand

By MICK WHITWORTH

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Lincolnshire potato S U P LI E P crisp maker Pipers has dropped its familiar on-pack photography and switched to a 1940s-style retro look as it carries out its first brand redesign.

The revamp also sees the name ‘Pipers Crisps’ changed to ‘Pipers Crisp Co’ and moved to the centre of the pack – a move intended to emphasise “the company behind the brand” as well as improving visibility on-shelf.

Managing director Alex Albone says: “When we started eight years ago we had a design we were very pleased with, but we used primary colours, which was quite restricting.

By the time we’d launched six flavours we’d run out of options.

Also, putting the name Pipers right at the top of the pack meant you often couldn’t see it on the shelf. So we realised the brand was starting to look tired.”

Although Pipers does not sell to the big four supermarkets, Albone recalls being advised by an Asda regional sourcing manager not to use photography on-pack.

Eight years on, the crisp-maker has around 1,400 stockists and is making 800,000 packs a month. “So it worked,” says Albone, “but it was time we brought it up to date.”

The old design (right) took Pipers into 1,400 outlets

While the front-of-pack design has been simplified and decluttered, the strapline ‘Made by farmers’ has been retained. “When we started, our whole premise was ‘made by

farmers in Lincolnshire’, and we are one of the few newer brands who actually make our own crisps. Other people talk about the provenance of their potatoes – but ask to look at their factories. ” He cites Essex-based Fairfields Farm Crisps as an example – it grows its potatoes but currently has its crisps contract-manufactured by Kolak Snack Foods in Middlesex.

Albone also believes Pipers’ ownership structure, with only three private investors, has helped it stick to its “no supermarkets” principle and win the support of independents, whereas brands like Tyrrells – sold to private equity firm Langham Capital in 2008 – are forced to chase volume.

“The bigger boys have that hunger for growth. But we grew 30% last year, which I’m very happy with. And I’m happy not to be dealing with the major supermarkets or to be in the hands of one or two major customers.”

Pipers sells into pubs and foodservice outlets through catering distributors, but Albone says the “backbone of it all” is independents, served through wholesalers including Cotswold Fayre and Pipers’ own direct sales team.

‘It’s hard to build brand recognition’ Pipers’ Alex Albone says he “cannot blame” other up-and-coming snackmakers for taking the supermarket dollar because delis and farm shops can be reluctant to replace familiar brands with another that shoppers don’t know.

“The thing every new business needs is brand recognition, and it has taken us eight years to be recognised for what we do.

“Building a brand when you haven’t got bucketloads of money is difficult. You’ve got to have advocates – independent retailers who will say to consumers, ‘No, we haven’t got Walkers and we haven’t got Tyrrell’s – we’ve got Pipers, and they’re bloody good crisps.’”

www.piperscrisps.com

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Malmesbury Syrups boss John Taylerson says S U P LI E P promoting flavoured coffees in an in-store café can help offset food sales lost as consumers trim their spending.

“Each customer paying out for flavoured coffee effectively increases the turnover and profit of a coffee shop,” Taylerson says in a blog on his website. “The big chains know this.

They have been busy with promotion of flavoured coffees.”

He cites research by consultancy Allegra, which suggested average spend in coffee shops is declining slightly, with consumers buying less food to accompany their hot drinks.

For a café serving 300-plus people a day, adding 30p to every second or third sale by adding a flavoured syrup could add up to £15,000 in

Adding flavours at 30p a shot can 'reset expectations' of coffee prices

takings over the year, he says, with a 50-60% gross margin on the extra sale. “If spend on food is going down, as suggested by Allegra, then getting more spend per cup of coffee sold is the easiest way to recover that.”

He also suggests using “seasonal and tactical promotions” to encourage wary coffee buyers to trade up. “Flavours can define a season and define an occasion [like] birthdays, office parties and social media-driven get-togethers. They offer the chance to get consumers to try a different drink and perhaps reset their expectations on pricing.”

New “themed and novelty flavours” planned by Wiltshire-based Taylerson’s Malmesbury Syrups include Hot Cross Bun, Easter Bunny and Strawberries & Cream. www.malmesburysyrups.co.uk

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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Our secret recipe involves curing and smoking Scottish salmon, taken from ice cold Atlantic waters, for 2 days and nights - all done by hand in a traditional way, unchanged by generations of the Ritchie family.

We smoke our cured salmon over oak shavings from Scotch Whisky casks in kilns that have been in use for over 100 years.

Our smoked salmon is then sliced by hand to order so as to emphasise its rich and varied texture. This is why we are known both locally and internationally as producers of the highest quality smoked fish. Our salmon, with its unique flavour has kept loyal customers coming back for more year after year.

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BIZERBA (UK) Limited, Unit 4 Erica Road, Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes, MK12 6HS Tel: 01908 682740 Fax: 01908 682777 Email: info@bizerba.co.uk 48

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

shelftalk

CHEF’S SELECTION

Top chefs tell CLARE HARGREAVES their deli essentials

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By MICK WHITWORTH

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North London-based Bim’s Kitchen has teamed up with specialist importer and producer Mighty Baobab to source an African ‘super fruit’ powder for its newest hot sauce.

The artisan producer’s sweet baobab hot sauce is said to be the first of its kind in Europe to use the tangy fruit powder that forms naturally inside the fruits of the baobab tree.

The ingredient is combined with other African spices to produce a sauce S U P LI E P

that Bim’s co-owner James Adedeji describes as having a “sweet, fragrant, piquant flavour with a chilli kick”.

“This shows the versatility of a fruit I first tasted as a child in Nigeria and which his now becoming more widely available in the UK,” he tells FFD. The hot sauce, which has already received endorsement from London-based New Zealand chef Peter Gordon, is available to the trade in cases of 6x100ml for £18, RRP £4 each. www.bimskitchen.com www.mightybaobab.com

Petty Wood launches jelly beans

By MICHAEL LANE

National distributor Petty Wood has created it own in-house brand of jelly beans, called Beenies, aimed at eight to 14-year-olds.

The sweets come in two varieties, Berry Explosion and Hawaiian Splash, and are available in 50g packs (RRP 49p), which are supplied to the trade in cases of 24.

Senior brand manager Gavin Tarrant tells FFD there is a gap in the UK market for the product as this American-style confectionery grows in popularity.

“We know it’s developing strongly,” he says. “Most jelly beans are expensive and not available in convenience packs. Most brands are adult orientated.”

As well as being free of artificial colouring or flavouring, Beenies are also suitable for vegetarians and coeliacs as well as nut-, GMO-,

gluten- and gelatine-free.

Tarrant says the product would be available both through Petty Wood and from other wholesalers, and could be followed by other confectionery brands from the Andover-based distributor, which also owns the Epicure premium grocery brand. “Over time, if this is successful we would definitely want to bring out more varieties.” www.pettywood.co.uk

Stephen Terry Chef-owner The Hardwick gastropub, near Abergavenny www.thehardwick.co.uk

Halen Môn vanilla sea salt www.halenmon.com

It’s a bit pricier than other sea salts but I love Halen Môn. It comes from the Menai Strait in Wales, and it’s a small family business – I know Alison and David Lea-Wilson well and sell their five-salt gift-packs on the bar. They’ve got their marketing just right. As well as the pure white sea salt, they do some great flavoured salts, which chefs love – there’s a celery salt, a smoked one and a spiced one too. My favourite is the vanilla salt. I put a pinch into my fruit crumbles. Like bread, a crumble needs it – you really notice if it isn’t there.

Blodyn Aur Welsh rapeseed oil www.blodynaur.com

There are thousands of olive oils out there to choose from, but I’m currently loving Blodyn Aur cold-pressed extra-virgin rapeseed oil from north Wales. It has a wonderful nutty flavour and is supposed to be even better for you than olive oil. I use it as a finishing oil. I might put a drizzle round the plate. I also put it in the dressing for salads to go with my pasta rotolo; I combine it with toasted pine nuts and a few capers.

Hafod Welsh organic cheddar cheese www.hafodcheese.co.uk

Of all the cheddars, Hafod, crafted by Sam and Rachel Holden on Wales’ longest certified organic dairy farm, is my favourite. Using raw milk from their Ayrshire cows, it has a wonderfully rounded flavour, perfectly balanced for my palate. Some other cheddars get you at the back of the mouth and can be quite harsh. It appears twice on our menus. For lunch, we grate it onto our cauliflower soup, then grill it. We also make a Welsh rarebit using a slice of ham hock terrine instead of toast.

Ortiz anchovies www.brindisa.com

These are the ultimate anchovies. Cured in rock salt for six months before being trimmed and filleted by hand, then preserved in organic olive oil, these buttery Cantabrian beauties taste like fudge. Every larder should have some. They don’t have the “hairy” finish that ordinary anchovies have, and they’re superb as a seasoning agent. I dip them in batter to make anchovy fritters which I put on my fish cakes. I also use them as a base for my crab linguine, mixed with shallots, garlic and chilli. Good with lamb as well – anchovies and lamb make a perfect marriage. I put anchovies in my classic Italian dressings too, along with fresh rosemary, garlic and oil – great with a carpaccio of beef.

Usk River Pear-Lilli www.uskriver.co.uk

When someone makes something as well as you do, or better, there’s little point in making it yourself. That’s the case with the chutneys and pickles made by Rhian Short at Usk River – I simply can’t make better. I particularly love her pearlilli – like piccalilli but using pears and Usk Valley honey – which recently won a Great Taste Award.

I serve it with game and pork terrines, and it’s good with Hafod cheddar too. The pears give it an edge.

PREMIUM COLLECTIONS: Chinese tea specialist LuLin is offering six ‘Tea Collections’ multi-packs containing 50g each of three types of tea. The packs, which include a green tea (pictured), Oolong tea and a black tea collection, retail for between £18 and £28. LuLin, produced by LPV International, has also launched 50g packs of Black Oolong (RRP £6.95), Black Long Jing and Yellow Tips ‘single estate’ Chinese tea (both £7.95).

Sponsored by

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www.lulin-teas.com

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Dips from the Med PROVENCE DIRECT

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Specialist Polish food importer and distributor Morgiel Foods now offers a range of organic, marinated wild mushrooms. Varieties include Bay Bolete, Cep, Chantarelle, Slippery Jack and Honey mushrooms. All of these mushrooms grow in forests, which have not been treated with chemicals for at least three years prior to picking.

Cases of six 300g jars are available to the trade for £11.94 to £37.74.

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Importer and distributor Provence Direct has added a range of Mediterranean dips

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Fruit mixers

JO HILDITCH/BRITISH CASSIS Jo Hilditch has added two more alcoholic mixer lines to complement her British Cassis and Framboise mixers. The new Fraise and Poire varieties are available as ‘limited edition’ in 375ml bottles, while miniature 100ml bottles will be launched later in the year. Each bottle has a EDITE CR

S U P LI E P

Chilli harissa sauce Olives Et Al

www.olivesetal.co.uk

Olives Et Al has created a chilli harissa sauce – a blend of crushed chillies, garlic, coriander, cumin, fennel and paprika. The product is available in cases of six 180g jars (RRP £4 per jar). The firm suggests trying the sauce, which is gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and vegans, in dishes such as tagines and couscous as well as using it as a condiment.

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Edinburgh-based Peter’s Yard has created a smaller sized version of its artisan Swedish

Almond crisps CONFEKTZ www.confektz.co.uk

Suffolk-based Confektz has released almond crisps as part of its new range for Spring 2012. The confectionery firm describes this product as a “slightly sweet” cross between crispbread and biscotti. These crisps – made with East Anglian organic free range eggs, British beet sugar and organic British flour -– are baked twice and studded with whole almonds. Other nut combinations are also available and the crisps come in 100g or 200g bags, which retail for between £1.50 and £2.10. Confektz makes a spectrum of sweet products including gourmet marshmallows, Rocky Roads, fruit jellies, honey nut nougats, almond brittle, and rum truffles.

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wholesale price of £7.50 (plus VAT) and an RRP of £12.90.

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The Isle of Wight-based firm has launched a range of reduced sodium salts with added ingredients. The range includes sea salt with garlic, sea salt with garlic & black pepper and sea salt with garlic & Tuscan herbs. This salt has 66.7% less sodium than traditional sea or rock salts but, unlike other low-sodium products, it is kept in crystal form and comes in 60g pots with an integrated grinder. Each pot retails for £3.95 with a trade price of £2.60.

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and tapenades to its extensive product list. All products come in 180g jars and are suitable for vegetarians. The range includes a black olive tapenade, green olive tapenade, hot & sweet pepper caviar and a basil pesto. Jars retail for £3.95 and are available in trade cases of 12 (£2.83 per jar). The firm also has an artichoke heart caviar and a truffled mushroom tartufata (RRP £4.95, trade £3.53 each).

Cathryn Cariad Chocolates – winner of four Great Taste Awards this year – has launched a new range of handmade truffles featuring award-winning Welsh ale, cider and sloe gin. The Gwyneddbased chocolatier says its dairy-free Welsh Ale truffles – made with dark chocolate and traditional ale from Porthmadog’s Purple Moose Brewery – have a malty, nutty flavour and are proving extremely popular in customer trials. It says that Black Dragon cider lends its milk chocolate cider truffles “the fresh flavour of apples”. Not only does the sloe gin in its white chocolate sloe gin truffles give a “tart and fruity” taste, it also adds a pink tint. All truffles are hand-dipped, finished with lustre dust, then packaged in trays of six, which retail for £3.95 - £4.25.

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Chocolate truffles

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crispbreads. It says these bite-sized crispbreads can be used as canapé bases, served with dips, or added to a cheeseboard. They come in a 105g pack (RRP £2.50), which contains 36 crispbreads and acts as a serving tray. Orders can be placed online with delivery available anywhere within the UK.

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Sweeten up your cheese counter for Valentines Day! More and more people are looking for something other than chocolates to give their “significant other” on February 14th. Not everyone has a sweet tooth and a cheese option can be ideal for a gift for a husband or boyfriend. We now have a range for a romantic cheese platter with a heart shaped ‘Coeur Neufchatel’ and a goats milk cheese heart from France. The Godminster organic cheddar and (new for this year) a Wensleydale with cranberry in a heart shape will add variety and make an attractive cheese board. Order now to ensure you have a great Valentines display.

01892 838999 www.rowcliffe.co.uk Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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shelf talk Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICK WHITWORTH

Washingpool Farm Shop has just been named Local Retailer of the Year for the fourth time by Taste of the West, but owners Simon and Vicky Holland are keeping their feet firmly on the ground

Simon Holland: ‘We haven’t got a big investment in cosmetic stuff – our fruit and veg is on pallets’

Earthy delights P

erched on a hilltop a couple of miles from Bridport and the stunning west Dorset coast, Washingpool Farm Shop is as well placed as it could be to exploit the region’s rise as a foodie hotspot.

Mark Hix’s Lyme Regis Fish & Oyster Bar is a 15 minute drive to the west. Masterchef winner Mat Follas’s The Wild Garlic is six or seven miles to the north-east. River Cottage HQ is 20 minutes away by Chelsea tractor.

All summer long and on every sunny weekend, this picturesque patch is teeming with Kate Humble lookalikes in Aigle jackets, the lanes clogged by Audi Q7s.

Yet Washingpool – named Local Retailer of the Year for the fourth time in November’s Taste of the West Awards, which cover a region stretching from Cornwall to Hampshire – has never gone out of its way to tap this lifestyle market.

Co-owners Simon and Victoria Holland say they wanted to attract “the hard-up local dairy farmer” as much as the well-heeled weekender,

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with reasonable prices and a minimum of designer fuss. The shop’s exterior is as functional as you can get, the signage basic, and the interior gets its eye appeal not from swish shop-fittings but from the goods on the shelf – a highimpact fresh produce selection and canny block merchandising of the most brightly packaged speciality brands like Olives Et Al, The Bay Tree and Mr Filberts.

Simon Holland tells FFD: “We’ve made no real investment in infrastructure. We built the initial shop for £35,000, and we did a lot of the work ourselves. And we haven’t got a big investment in cosmetic stuff.

“A lot of people have put in oak flooring and oak counters. Our fruit and veg is on pallets with a bit of feather-edge boarding on them.”

Washingpool pre-dates Dorset’s foodie explosion by several years and was a pioneer of the local food scene. The family first won planning permission for a permanent farm shop on their 80-acre holding in

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

the mid 1990s, but shelved the idea until Simon Holland joined forces with local food activist Tim Crabtree to develop the region’s first monthly farmers’ markets, in Bridport and Poundbury, Dorchester.

“That was the catalyst,” Holland tells me, as we talk in Washingpool’s modest 30-seater café, overlooking the mixed farm’s rolling fields. “We were taking our fruit and veg to those markets twice a month. The whole of Friday was spent harvesting, the Saturday morning was spent selling – and Saturday evening was spent throwing a lot of it away.

“It wasn’t sustainable. You’d be harvesting the crop with no idea of how much you’d sell. But talking to the public, they wanted to be able to buy every day, not once a month, and other producers at the markets were saying it would be great to have a permanent outlet.”

He continues: “We’d had planning permission for the shop for four years but we hadn’t thought it was viable, so we’d covered the

foundations up and planted a crop on top of it. It wasn’t until the markets took off that we thought, ‘We’ve got permission. Let’s go.’”

The Holland family were no strangers to retail. In the early 1980s, after Simon’s parents expanded the horticulture side of the family farm, they bought out their biggest customer, a traditional greengrocers’ in Bridport. Later they opened a second, self-service shop in the town and they ran both shops until the arrival of Safeway

Victoria Holland (above) and her husband opened the shop in 2000

killed off the original, full-service store. (Ironically, their bank manager refused to lend the Hollands money to open its second shop saying selfservice would “never catch on”.

They changed banks.)

Simon Holland, who studied farm management at Devon’s Seale Hayne College, had not planned to join the family firm. But after going home to help out following his grandfather’s death, and meeting future wife Victoria, he decided to stay in Dorset, again focusing on horticulture. His grandparents and uncle Noel had been dairy farmers primarily, but he says: “I liked animals, but I just didn’t have the passion for dairy. I was much more interested in growing.”

Washingpool Farm Shop opened in April 2000, with just the young husband-and-wife team on its staff. The family continued to run the Bridport shop too for a few months but, clearly over-stretched, closed it at Christmas after 18 years’ ownership.

The move coincided with a decision to pull out of dairy farming.

“That was tough,” says Holland, “but we needed to invest £5k per cow to bring the facilities up to scratch, and it just wasn’t viable.

To cap it all, the foot-andmouth outbreak began within weeks. The cows were eventually sold off the following autumn, an unhappy coda to generations of dairy farming. Today, however, there are cattle on the farm again – a small herd of low-maintenance North Devon Red Ruby beef cattle that require no cereal feeding and provide one carcass a month for sale on the shop’s meat shelves.

If the dairy business ended on a low, the Washingpool Farm Shop rapidly took off, selling its own fresh produce, pork, lamb and beef alongside packaged lines from local and regional producers. “I’m not

saying we invented farm shops,” says Holland, “but our rapid growth was because no-one else was doing it. Poundbury farmers’ market had given us a link to the east of the county, and we were getting people coming up at the weekend from Bournemouth. We became a destination.”

Many of the shop’s first suppliers had sold alongside the Hollands at farmers markets – and some, while they still supply Washingpool, are now national names. “I remember talking to Denhay when we first opened.

Clipper Tea were small at the time but are now in supermarkets. In west Dorset we’re lucky we’ve got people like Forest Products, Moore’s, Dorset Cereals and Clipper that are national but are based on our doorstep.”

Holland has no complaints about producers that can progress to serving supermarkets, but says farmers’ markets are still vital in kick-starting new producers. Today, he cites Somerset start-up preserves maker Bunnies Love – one of Washingpool’s must-stock ranges – as “a classic little cottage industry, coming up from nowhere”.

At one stage, Washingpool was employing 35 staff. That figure has now dropped, and while turnover is just over £1m, sales flat-lined for several years before starting to rise again in 2011. “I’m not sure if that was down to Waitrose moving into Bridport,” says Holland, “or complacency on our part, because we'd grown so rapidly and expected it to just keep doing the same. We were certainly guilty of that.

“I don’t think the recession had a big effect on west Dorset. But what has kept it more static is the emphasis on local food – even our local convenience stores are doing more of it.”

Waitrose moved into a former

Somerfield unit in Bridport’s main street just a couple of miles away, in 2009. Holland says: “The thing with Waitrose is, they do a good job. You can’t really knock them. Somerfield we could live with, but Waitrose is the wrong end of the market for us.

“But you can only KS fight them with experience, MUST STOC and with the things you n-label ow ol t Products) Washingpo offer that they can’t: utney (Fores ch e al al re l ia ec sp free parking, carrying the d flour six seed brea shopping to the car, the Wessex Mill wine inery mulled chance for kids to see Lyme Bay W fed olives animals right outside the tomato-stuf Olives Et Al shop.” ious Lemon e Dairy Lusc Washingpool already The Collectiv rean Dairy UK) cu yoghur t (Epi hosts school visits – three eel rrest smoked team members have been Brown & Fo trained by CEVAS, the oked bacon Denhay unsm Countryside Educational Visits e chicken er free rang Creedy Carv Accreditation Scheme, so they utney spicy pear ch can provide teachers with s Bunnies Love ine tomatoe the necessary assurances. But all on-the-v e Tomato St Th the whole farm experience is e cream rm vanilla ic something the Hollands aim to Rookbeare Fa ix sotto dry m Primavera ri build on in 2012. Sections of Gustosecco wine te hi ew land will be opened up for selfBacchus Fum eigh Estate rl Fu guided walks, for example. They Cox & t Fruit Farm will also be staging more short Nor th Perrot juice ple Bramley ap events and courses, from poultryloaves akery cobber B t keeping afternoons to cookery Evershot sortment as sessions with local food writer uits Dorset Moore’s Bisc Christine McFadden. idge oats rganic porr Pertwood O Simon Holland says scones Washingpool cannot compete Washingpool e cake with the convenience of Dorset appl Washingpool supermarkets so it has to take a different tack. “There has been a lot of anti-supermarket stuff in the media in the last 12 months – like the size of profits they make – and in the back of their minds people know what’s wrong with supermarkets, but they can’t get over the convenience thing. So Although Washingpool Farm what we’ve got to capitalise on rears much of its own pork, is the farm, because that’s what lamb and beef, the Hollands makes us different.” have opted against opening a full-service meat counter, www.washingpool.co.uk instead selling pre-packs produced by their nearest abattoir, in east Devon.

“They slaughter and butcher for us,” says Simon Holland. “We give them an order list and it comes back pre-packed.

“That’s not as good as cutting to order but I hesitate to go into butchery here. We pride ourselves on fruit and veg but we’re not butchers.”

Unless you know the trade, he says, you can’t fully control the department or cover for specialist staff in emergencies.

For similar reasons, the Hollands reined back their originally more ambitious restaurant operation to make it less chef-dependent and focus on “simple home-cooked farmhouse food”.

Stick to what you know, says Holland

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

53

23 - 24 APRIL 2012 WESTPOINT, EXETER

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54

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

Source Fine food magazine-v2.indd 1

25/10/2011 15:43

shelf talk

Valentine’s Day and Easter ideas Pondering your orders for Spring? Here is a selection of romantic gifts, seasonal specials and Easter treats.

Bonny Confectionery is a new brand of gourmet marshmallows, which have been launched this month. The Anglesey-based firm makes marshmallow dippers (wholesale £1.04, RRP £2) for swirling into hot beverages in vanilla, chocolate, orange chocolate, and mint chocolate flavours. It also offers kits for self-assembly of six marshmallow dippers (RRP £10, wholesale £5.20). Bonny also makes marshmallow lollypops (wholesale £1.43, RRP £2.75) in strawberry & cream, blueberry vanilla, chocolate & vanilla and mango & lime flavours.

James Chocolates says its take on the combination of chocolate and honeycomb has been a winner at every store tasting it has done and will make the perfect present for a chilli lover.

Its chilli honeycomb – honeycomb chunks with a double coating of chilli-infused milk chocolate – is available in 150g packs (RRP £6-£7). Packs are available direct from the producer in cases of 10 units for £32.60. www.jameschocolates.co.uk

(RRP £3.50) and a 100g milk chocolate heart box (RRP £4.99).

For Easter, Butlers offers small (260g RRP £10.99) and large (420g RRP £14.99) boxed eggs as well as wrapped eggs (RRP £7.99-£17.99).

Its range of half eggs with mini eggs comes in milk, dark, hazelnut and white chocolate and retail for £9.99.

Butlers products are available from Crème D’or. www.cremedor.co.uk www.butlerschocolates.com

www.thenutfreechocolatier.co.uk

Preserve maker Kitchen Garden has developed two limited edition jams to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Easter. ‘Ma Cherie Amour’ is a cherry & amaretto jam, which features a heart-shaped tag with space for a personal handwritten message. For Easter the firm has a pear & elderflower jam, made with locally grown Catillac pears and elderflower cordial. Both jams are available in 227g jars (trade price £2.30, RRP £3.20) from this month until stocks last.

Peter’s Yard says its Swedish crispbread range will make great accompaniments to Easter and Valentine’s Day meals and recommends its storage tins as a gift idea. Silver 300g storage tins (RRP £6.99) come in trade cases of six for £31.56, while large 620g storage tins (RRP £9.99) feature nine large crispbreads and are available in cases of four for £30.08. The smaller tins can be refilled with the firm’s 200g packs (cases of 12 cost £31.68) while larger crispbreads come in 350g packs (five unit cases cost £18.75).

Fudge Kitchen suggests its range of individually wrapped fudge pieces as an alternative to chocolate this Valentine’s Day. Its ultimate treat is a 20-piece gourmet fudge miniatures selection (500g), which features 10 different flavours of fudge. The box is decorated with an embossed slide-on gold sleeve and contains a menu detailing the contents of the box with a brief description of each flavour.

The product – available in cases of eight at £10 per unit – retails for £20 and has a shelf life of five months.

www.kitchengardenpreserves.co.uk

www.petersyard.com

www.fudgekitchen.co.uk

www.bonnyconfectionery.co.uk

Pic: Alex Sedgwick

The Nut Free Chocolatier’s large raspberry & Champagne cupids come in boxes of six (trade £4.10, RRP £5.75).

These white chocolates have a milk chocolate cap encasing a chocolate infusion of raspberry purée and Champagne distillate. The firm’s Valentine’s products range from its large solid Belgian chocolate hearts (30g, trade price 99p, RRP £1.50) to luxury boxes of assorted chocolates (trade £28, RRP £45). It will also be producing a range of Easter eggs and children’s treats (trade £1.10£18, RRPs £1.99-£24.99).

Devon-based Browne’s recommends its Truffle Pops for Easter as well as birthday parties, wedding favours, or simply as an after dinner treat. This range of handdecorated 25g chocolate truffles on sticks comes in vanilla, raspberry, strawberry and caramel flavour, which are supplied in a display unit. www.brownes.co.uk

Butlers Chocolates’ Spring collection includes two heartshaped velvet keepsake boxes (medium box 105g RRP £8.99; large box 225g RRP £15.99) for Valentine’s Day. Each features assorted chocolate truffles and pralines. The Irish chocolatier also has 75g pack of six heart truffles Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

55

shelf talk from £6.95 to £16.95. Candiasoil’s products are available from wholesalers The Tree of Life and The Health Store. www.candiasoil.com www.treeoflifeuk.com www.thehealthstore.co.uk

Malt whisky specialist Gordon & MacPhail makes a boutique liqueur, Dunkeld Atholl Brose, based on a Highland recipe. The spirit is a blend of Speyside single malt scotch whisky, honey and herbs. The producer says the 35% ABV liqueur, which is available in 50cl bottles and retails for £19.95, has sweet and aromatic notes, as well as a hint of toasted oatmeal. It adds that it is versatile and can be served straight, with mixers such as cola or tonic, or in cocktails.

Godminster’s heart-shaped organic mature cheddar could make an appropriate gift this Valentine’s Day. Finished in the producer’s signature purple wax coating, the cheddar is made to a unique 70year-old recipe and is available as a 200g and 400g truckle (RRP £5 and £10 respectively) and as part of Godminster’s range of gift sets.

The Godminster Party Pack consists of a jar of apple & beetroot chutney and digestive and rosemary water biscuits (RRP £24). Its Cheese & Cake Combo (RRP £18.50) features a handmade fruit cake while a cheese and chutney combo is available for £16. www.godminster.com

www.gordonandmacphail.com

Seasoning specialist The Organic Blending Company has a range of Organic Collection gift packs, featuring selections of its sprinkles, marinades and herb & spice grinders. The five collection packs have been designed to highlight the firm’s Scottish heritage as well as meeting its customers’ price point expectations. Each pack retails for £9.99-£11.99, contains four glass jars and a recipe card. The firm says that trade prices start at £6.60 per pack giving retailers more than a 30% margin.

By popular demand, Sarah Bunton Luxury Chocolates, based in Mid Wales, has re-launched its chocolate Ducks ‘n’ Eggs gift box.

Each 150g box (RRP £4.99) contains 12 Belgian milk & white chocolate ducks surrounded by mini eggs. This product is available to the trade in cases of 10 units and the producer can arrange delivery nationwide. www.sarahbuntonchocolates.co.uk

South Devon Chilli Farm has added a honeycomb chilli chocolate to its range of chilli products in time for Valentine’s and Easter gift giving. Each bag contains at least 100g of the product – made with Belgian plain chocolate (60% cocoa), blended with South Devon Chilli Farm chillies and honeycomb (25%) – and retails for £3.50. The producer now has seven varieties of chilli chocolate as well as a range of preserves, sauces, fresh and dried chillies and chilli plants.

Forest Pig Charcuterie has a range of salamis and air dried hams made from its own rare breed pigs, reared in the Wyre Forest in the West Midlands. Its spiced walnut salami is made with walnuts from the Ludlow Nut Company, five year aged Murcia hot paprika sourced directly from Spain, cayenne pepper, anise and garlic. Small whole salamis (approx. 220g) retail for £10, sliced packs (minimum 110g) cost £4.90 and large whole salamis are available wholesale for £30/kg. www.forestpig.com

www.sdcf.co.uk

www.organicblending.com

Dorset-based artisan chocolate maker Chococo (The Purbeck Chocolate Co) has created a range of unique chocolate gifts, perfect for impulse and gifting opportunities throughout the year. It says that its eye-catching sleeves provide both on-shelf impact and customer visibility. The range includes candied orange segments and sundried apricots in dark chocolate, honeycomb-studded milk chocolate clusters and chocolate covered rose & lemon Turkish Delight. RRPs start at £7.50. There is also still time to order Chococo’s range of handmade Easter eggs, marbled chocolate hens and chocolate lollies decorated with edible Union Jacks. www.chococo.co.uk

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Candiasoil has an exclusive range of unfiltered, single estate, artisan olive oils – all produced on the Greek island of Crete. The firm’s range will appear on shelves under the brand name Oi1 and features an organic and a premium variety. Three of these oils – Viannos, Sitia and Peza – have Protected Designation of Origin status.

The retail prices of these 500ml bottles of oil range

January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

The Kandula Tea Company says its Pink Ceylon tea – a blend of Camelia Sinensis green tea and hibiscus – will make a great romantic cuppa. As it is prepared without fermentation, the tea retains high levels of antioxidants and very low levels of caffeine.

The tea comes either in loose leaf or pyramid tea gems, which are 100% biodegradable and will make two to three infusions. Packs of 15 tea gems retail for £3.95, while 75g tins and 100g refills cost £5.50 and £4.95 respectively. www.kandulatea.com

Tobago Cocoa Estate is the first firm to produce single estate chocolate on the Caribbean island. Its bars are made entirely from Trinitario cocoa beans, which are said to have originated on the island and neighbouring Trinidad. The estate, located in the Roxborough Hills, has developed all of its products with artisan French chocolatier Francois Pralus. Its 70% cocoa chocolate is available in 5g squares, 50g and 100g bars, and 1kg coverture blocks. The estate is currently seeking UK distributors. www.tobagococoa.com

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Phone: 020 7091 3200 Fax: 020 7091 3300 Email: sales@bespoke-foods.co.uk Web: www.bespoke-foods.co.uk Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

57

classified

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January-February 2012 · Vol.13 Issue 1

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Avilton foods

Vol.13 Issue 1 · January-February 2012

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