FFD Jan-Feb 2016

ETHICAL RETAILING 12

DELI OF THE MONTH 52

TRENDWATCH 4

Olive’s Laura Rowe predicts ‘convenience Anne Mitchell tells without compromise’ FFD about Rumwell as we ask what to Farm Shop’s steady but ‘natural‘ growth. look out for in 2016

‘The future of all businesses is social enterprise,’ says Amy Anslow of Hisbe

January-February 2016 · Vol 17 Issue 1

ESPRESSO YOURSELF Give your shoppers a taste of the latest premium coffees CHEF’S SELECTION 49 The Whitebrook’s Michelin-starred chefowner Chris Harrod on Drury & Alldis apple balsamic, Kingstone Brewery stout and Trealy Farm air-dried ham

CHOICE CHUTNEYS 29 Perk up your pickle & chutney range with our round-up of new savoury preserves

HOW TO FIND A WORLD CHAMP

Re-visit all the action and the major winners in our four-page World Cheese Awards report – page 15 NEWS 4 CHEESEWIRE 23 CHARCUTERIE 27 COFFEE 33 PREVIEW: THE SOURCE 39 EQUIPMENT & SERVICES 43 SHELF TALK 47

LE GRUYÈRE AOP

*

BORN IN SWITZERLAND, 1115 A.D. And remains the only cheese that’s 100% Natural, 100% Traditional, 100% from Switzerland and 100% Le Gruyère AOP *AOP = PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) – must be traditionally and entirely prepared and produced within the region, thus acquiring the unique properties of Gruyère AOP cheese, to bear the name Le Gruyère AOP.

The uniquely smooth, savoury flavour you’ll find only in Le Gruyère AOP is a product of its upbringing – where the cows that supply the milk are grazed (only in the villages of Western Switzerland), the way the cheese is aged and cared for (slow-aged in the region’s cheese cellars and caves), and the recipe that’s remained, unchanged, for centuries (hand-made, in small batches). For a smooth and mild yet extremely satisfying taste, Le Gruyère Classic is aged 5 months minimum. Le Gruyère Reserve, which has been aged for 10 months or more, has a smooth but more robust flavour. Both varieties are great in recipes, or sliced as a snack. Either way, we’re sure you’ll enjoy the only cheese that can call itself Le Gruyère AOP.

Switzerland. Naturally.

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

LeGruyere_UK_FineFoodDigest_236w321mm.indd 1

Castle of Gruyères

Born in Switzerland in 1115. www.gruyere.com

Cheeses from Switzerland. www.cheesesfromswitzerland.com

1/22/15 2:33 PM

opinion

What’s new this month:

H

anxiety about what the discounters are ow do you read the health of doing, particularly with their strength our sector just now? It looks in deli lines and value-for-money good, if our straw poll of views wines. on December trading (p6) is anything What’s clear is that the old to go by. This suggests the Christmas demarcation lines between discounter, period did the required job for delis mainstream multiple, premium and farm shops – and not just by multiple and independent speciality upping sales of hampers and gifts. store are not just changing but Stefano Cuomo, owner of possibly disappearing altogether.

Kent’s Macknade Fine Foods and a Planet Retail analyst Rob Gregory member of the Guild of Fine Food’s warns (p4) that a new generation of industry steering group, says there has poshed-up Lidl stores, with a range been a more fundamental shift – at and ambience targeting the Waitrose Christmas, as least – with consumers audience, could put more pressure actively making independent stores on indies. Meanwhile, Waitrose, M&S part of their festive shopping routine. and Whole Foods At wholesaler are building more Cotswold Fayre, The demarcation lines eateries, cafés and Paul Hargreaves between discounter, take-aways into points to mainstream multiple their stores as, once “encouraging” signs of ongoing and specialist indie are again, consumers refuse to obey the positivity for 2016 not just changing but rules about how from his customer disappearing and where they do base, with retailers their consuming. putting more money into store refurbs.

We reported in our recent Best What’s happening with the Brands special edition how Ludlow multiples is harder to gauge. Results Food Centre – reigning Great Taste for the last quarter of 2015 show Shop of the Year – is breaking the Big Four clawing back a tiny bit down the physical barriers posed of ground against discounters, but by its layout, opening up its in-store they’re still way behind – and Lidl saw production units (bakery, cheesea massive 18.5% sales growth. maker, preserves maker, etc) to make Like-for-like festive sales at them more visible to shoppers and Waitrose actually fell part of the in-store experience.

1.4%. That might And many more outlets, from bring a smile to farm shops to prestige food halls, are those who see similarly bringing the theatre of artisan Waitrose as the food production into their stores. natural enemy.

So the boundaries between But given the production and retail, retail and strength of Aldi foodservice, even cheap and premium, and Lidl, are evaporating too. Indies whose there offer is particularly static – I'm thinking has to especially of space-limited urban delis be bit – may need to think creatively this year of about how to break that mould.

p29

p27

p30 p33

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MICK WHITWORTH Editor

EDITORIAL

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

editorial@gff.co.uk

Tel: 01747 825200 Fax: 01747 824065 info@gff.co.uk www.gff.co.uk

Editor: Mick Whitworth Deputy editor: Michael Lane Reporter: Arabella Mileham Art director: Mark Windsor Editorial production: Richard Charnley Contributors: Clare Hargreaves, Patrick McGuigan, Lynda Searby

ADVERTISING advertise@gff.co.uk Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Ruth Debnam Published by the Guild of Fine Food Ltd Managing director: John Farrand Marketing director: Tortie Farrand Chairman: Bob Farrand Director: Linda Farrand Operations & Guild membership: Charlie Westcar, Karen Price, Jilly Sitch, Claire Powell Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance, Julie Coates

Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB United Kingdom Fine Food Digest is published 11 times a year and is available on subscription for £45pa inclusive of post and packing.

Printed by: Blackmore, Dorset, UK © The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2016. 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.

For regular news updates from the industry's favourite magazine visit:

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p34 p50 p47

p47

Editor’s choice

Selected by MICK WHITWORTH Editor

River Amble Creamery – Cornish Jack sales@riveramblecreamery.co.uk

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Technically not quite ‘new’, in that I reported on the birth of Cornish Jack in Good Cheese magazine a couple of months back. But having met again with its makers (see p25) and had a second bite of this mountain-style cheese from rugged-but-not-so-mountainous Cornwall, I’m sold on it.

Sweet like Emmental, it also has a surprisingly well-developed savoury-fruity flavour considering it’s currently being sold at just four months, and makes fantastic cheese on toast with a slice of sourdough.

And the Cornish flag design on the cheese crowns is inspired. It might not go down well in neighbouring Devon but will look terrific in cheese counters elsewhere, working even in halves, quarters and smaller segments.

I’m itching to try the six month and older versions that new cheese-makers Lawrence and Rosea Reynolds are planning once they’re producing enough to hold on to for a little longer.

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p25

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

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fine food news Chefs, writers and market experts tell us the food trends set to impact on retail this year

2016: the year of Amazon Pantry, upscale Lidls – and spiralized veg

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Blogger Regula Ysewijn– aka Miss Foodwise – predicts smoothie bowls will create scope to sell all manner of fruit, ‘superfood’ seeds and powdered seaweeds

Regula Ysewijn

Independents face new challenges from the major retailers in 2016, but are also in a good position to take advantage of seismic changes to the way people shop.

That’s according to industry commentators, food writers and chefs, who have been outlining their predictions for new retail trends and hot products for the coming year.

Planet Retail analyst Rob Gregory told FFD he expected Amazon to put pressure not just on the big four supermarkets, but also delis and farm shops by offering cut-price speciality foods.

The online retailer launched Amazon Pantry in November, selling a range of 4,000 ambient products for next-day delivery, and plans to step up the service with chilled foods and a wider range later this year.

“Amazon already sells niche and upmarket foodstuffs at lower prices than many independents and it could be a really good opportunity for small producers who are locked out of the major multiples,” said Gregory.

“The challenge for Amazon will be communicating those premium qualities online, but it was interesting that Ocado’s share price fell after Pantry launched.”

He also predicted that fine food retailers could come under pressure from a new breed of Lidl store, which stocks a wider range of wines and speciality foods. The discounter launched the first – called Lidl of the Future – in Rushden in November, selling products such as quails’ eggs and legs of Serrano ham. It plans to open 40-50 more this year, while 150

existing outlets will be refurbished in the new style.

Meanwhile, Waitrose, M&S and Whole Foods Market are adding more foodservice elements to their stores to make them destinations.

“We’re seeing juice bars, coffee areas and takeaway bakeries being added but also places to drink wine and even sushi counters,” he said.

“Foodservice is something food retailers will do more in 2016.”

These developments are being driven by changing shopping habits – a trend that is going to continue

Waitrose is among the multiples adding more foodservice elements, like sushi bars, to their stores

in 2016 to the benefit of indies, according to food writer and blogger Regula Ysewijn.

“Shopping behaviour will continue to change from going to the large out-of-town superstores to in-town smaller supermarkets and independent shops,” she said.

“People will also look more online for special goods like wines and spirits and organic products which aren’t always available everywhere.”

New shopping patterns will also affect product development, said Laura Rowe, editor of food and travel magazine Olive. “We predict convenience food without the compromise will be big this year, so good-quality frozen ingredients and shortcuts like ready-to-bake breads, cooked pulses and curries, and steaming fresh food in the microwave.

“In the same vein, there will be ready-prepared spiralized, noodled and shredded veg.”

Health will continue to be a major trend, according to all the food writers

4

Chefs are ❛cottoning on to the difference between flour that’s been sitting around for a bit and nutty-tasting, freshly milled stuff.

I’m hoping in-store mills that turn out fresh flour to order won’t be too far away. Also, now fat is no longer the food demon du jour (that sad honour goes to gluten and sugar), let’s lose the ‘white water’ and embrace whole milk, with all its flavourful fat intact.

Andy Lynes, food & drink writer

Susan Low, Delicious

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

2016 we ❛willIncontinue to see an appetite for American foods, diners and barbecue, with a bigger emphasis on authenticity. How are these foods really served in America? The flavours, the presentation.

❜

Jared Male, pitmaster, Big Easy

Middle Eastern trend goes ❛fromThestrength to strength and will continue into next year along with more restaurants using natural cooking techniques such as woodfired grilling and roasting.

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grain used for everything from cattle feed to the production of ethanol fuel.

But the fact that it’s gluten-free means it’s becoming increasingly popular.

The grain can be boiled like rice or ground down into flour. Sorghum syrup can be used as a substitute for molasses or honey and has a distinctive smoky flavour.

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What the chefs say:

Ben Tish, executive chef, Salt Yard Group

What the food writers say: Sorghum is an ❛incredibly versatile

contacted by FFD. Seaweed, avocado oil, sprouted grains, teff and cacao nibs were all tipped for great things.

Rowe expects to see more hybrid fruit and veg, from kalettes (kale and sprouts) to plangoes (plum and mango), while Ysewijn said the ‘smoothie bowl’ will go mainstream this year.

“We’re putting more stuff in our smoothies, which makes them hard to actually drink. The smoothie bowl is the answer and gives the opportunity to be creative with fruit and all kinds of ‘super food’ seeds and powdered seaweeds.”

Perhaps the most unlikely hot new ‘super food’ for 2016 is black pudding, which has been tipped because it is high in protein, iron and zinc, and low in carbs.

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❜

I’m ❛predicting

There’s already been a growing interest in single origin coffee and tea. Now chocolatiers, especially the bean-to-bar producers like Duffy’s and Pump Street Bakery, are showing just how terroir, climate and variety of cacao can create a whole world of flavours in their bars.

the rise in popularity of savoury porridges, which have started popping up on menus throughout London.

We serve a miso porridge as part of our breakfast menu, topped with spring onions, almonds and a poached egg. It’s one of our bestsellers.

Felicity Spector, food writer & Great Taste judge

Adria Wu, chef-owner, Maple & Fitz

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Sourced kicks off expansion with new Marylebone site

Marylebone will see the first of two new Sourced Markets this year, with a Victoria store due to open in the autumn

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Sourced Market is set to open its second site next month, in London’s Marylebone, as it also completes a revamp of its original store in St Pancras International station.

In December, the retailer smashed its crowd-funding target to raise more than £750,000 to accelerate its expansion plans and has secured a third site near Victoria, which is set to open in September.

It is also in talks to develop more location in London in 2017, founder Ben O’Brien told FFD. The addition to the St Pancras Street shop – an 800 sq ft extension onto the station concourse – will boost its footprint by around 30% to 3,200 sq ft, with space for more café seating and an improved juice bar.

As well as a “slight” increase in retail space, which will see its range of bean-to-bar chocolate increased

by 25%, it is adding a new street food stall that will house a different trader each month, as well as a bar serving craft beer.

Production capacity in the coffee stall will also be increased to around 400 drinks per hour in peak times.

The 5,000 sq ft Marylebone site has been designed in a similar format to St Pancras, O’Brien said, but will include a number of new lines, as well as a bottle shop in the basement, serving wines and beers from a keg.

The expansion had been planned for around two years, O’Brien said, but it had taken longer than anticipated to secure planning at the Grade One listed station, and to find the second and third sites.

“Our main site now is working very smoothly – we have proven the way to do it and it’s doing well in financial terms,” he said.

The £1.5m spend across the three sites was funded partly by a cash injection from venture capital trust Pembroke (which also lists snack maker Dilly & Wolf and healthy juice drink brand Plenish in its investment portfolio), as well crowdfunding. www.sourcedmarket.com

Rhug’s Jon Edwards takes helm at Ludlow Food Centre

By MICK WHITWORTH

CULTURAL CHANGE: Selfridges has given its Oxford Street food hall, restaurant and wine shop a temporary “Taste of Japan” for January and February in a partnership with sake expert and footballer Hidetoshi Nakata (pictured in the food hall) and brands Kikkoman and Meiji. The retailer has rolled out a range of artisanal Japanese products, fresh groceries, and Japanese-inspired confectionery, along with a 50-strong noodle ‘library’. There is also a wall dedicated to Pocky – the chocolate covered biscuit sticks that epitomises kawaii (‘really cute’) pop and food culture – and an extensive range of matcha products. Food and restaurants director Nathan Herrmann said Selfridges wanted to celebrate Japan’s innovative culture, calling it “the next cultural phenomenon”.

Ludlow Food Centre has recruited Jon Edwards, long-serving food boss of Lord Newborough’s Rhug Estate in Denbighshire, to replace Edward Berry as managing director.

Edwards joined Rhug more than a decade ago to develop its retail offer, and in 2011 oversaw the opening of new 6,000 sq ft farm shop and café-bistro complex on the 12,000 acre North Wales estate.

He previously spent more than 15 years in supermarket retailing, including a decade in store management with Marks & Spencer.

He took over in January from Berry, who has run the foodie destination on the Earl of Plymouth’s Shropshire estate – named Shop of the Year in Great Taste 2015 – for the past four years.

Ludlow Food Centre comprises a food hall, a 160-seater café, a hotel and restaurant, on the outskirts of Ludlow, as well as a satellite deli and café, Ludlow Pantry, in the town centre.

David Windsor-Clive, chairman of Ludlow Food Centre, said: “To capitalise on our recent progress

we have ambitious plans that Jon will be pivotal in delivering when he joins.

“His understanding and experience of the retail sector makes him ideal for implementing our plans and will bring a fresh perspective to the business.”

Edward Berry, whose career has spanned hotels, fine wines and speciality teas, has now launched The Flying Fork, a consultancy service for independent delis, farm shops and small producers. www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk www.rhug.co.uk

IN BRIEF l The UK’s oldest wine and spirit merchant, Berry Bros & Rudd, has become a new corporate sponsor of food group Hampshire Fare.

l Chocolate brand Jaz & Jul’s has opened its first permanent caféshop in Islington’s Chapel Market.

It will sell chocolate-themed sweet and savoury bites, in addition to retail packs of hot chocolate. Other products include bean-to-bar lines from makers including Marou and Blanxart.

l Wildlife presenter Kate Humble has closed the farm shop and café at her Humble by Nature lifestyle venue in the Wye Valley after failing to make it financially viable.

Six jobs were lost with the closure of the shop, which was part of Humble’s 117-acre farm, cookery school and events business.

l Terry Jones, secretary of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and director general of the Provisions Trade Federation, is to leave his post in April to become director general of the National Farmers’ Union.

l Former Marks & Spencer boss Lord Rose has been named chairman of the upcoming London Time Out Food Market, to be run by cultural listings publisher Time Out. Its sister business in Lisbon runs the famous Mercado da Ribeira in the Portuguese capital. A New York market is also planned.

l Hebridean Sea Salt has launched a range of smoked and cured salmon, which it described as its “logical next step”. The range comprises original oak smoked, peat smoked, seaweed infused, kiln roasted flaky salmon and kiln roasted hand-carved salmon, cured in the company’s own salt.

l Cotswold Fayre has rolled out regional trade shows to showcase new products to independent retailers. The events – in Chesterfield, Birmingham, Chippenham and London – are designed as a conduit for new suppliers, MD Paul Hargreaves told FFD, with offers and discounts only available at the shows. “The thinking is to get things on shelf quicker,” he said.

l The number of outlets accredited

Jon Edwards is charged with pushing through ‘ambitious plans’ for Ludlow Food Centre

by the Scottish Government’s Taste the Best scheme has doubled in the last year to reach 1,000, according to food minister Richard Lochhead.

The scheme recognises delis, restaurants, bistros, pubs and guest houses across Scotland that source quality local Scottish ingredients.

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

5

fine food news Indies enjoy good December despite discounter threat

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Fine food retailers saw strong sales in the key Christmas period, despite the fear that supermarkets and discounters would encroach on sales by upping their focus on speciality food lines.

At Delifonseca in Liverpool, owner Candice Fonseca admitted she had felt pessimistic at the start of the festive season due to the “strong competition” from Aldi and Lidl’s deli lines. But the timing of December’s holidays had boosted sales by giving consumers more opportunities to shop.

“The way people took time off meant they had a whole week before Christmas, which was great for retail, and the mild weather meant shoppers were out and about,” she said.

Gifting had been particularly strong, she added, notably kits such as cheese-making for foodies.

Sangita Tryner of Delilah Fine Foods in Nottingham agreed, also noting strong sales of hampers.

Stefano Cuomo of Kent’s Macknade Fine Foods, said that sales across the sector were ‘maturing’, resulting in the number of transaction and the value rising over the period.

“We’re finding that an independent shop like ours is almost part of the Christmas routine now – it’s not just about buying the cheese but people wanting to be in an independent shop,” he said.

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Gifts and hampers were strong sellers for Delifonseca and Delilah Fine Foods

“We see it not just as a revenue generator, but a shop window to get people who might not normally shop here regularly to come in and realise it is a viable option for them.”

Distributors Hider and Cotswold Fayre both noted sales picking up before Christmas, after a relatively quiet summer and autumn.

“The sector is in good shape and benefiting from polarisation of the retail market,” Hider brand development director Rupert Titchmarsh said, but he added this was “wider” than just the festive period. “We’re benefiting from those customers buying at the top end,” he said.

There was little sign of it

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

SARAH PEAK THE CHEESE YARD, KNUTSFORD, CHESHIRE I was a marketing manager and buyer for major retailers for many years, but ultimately knew that I wanted to run my own business.

While working as a cheese buyer for the Co-operative I discovered this was my favourite category and the seed for my business was sown. It would be a cheese and wine shop that also accommodated a few tables, so people could have a cheese platter and a glass of wine and we could hold monthly cheese and wine evenings.

I signed the lease on what is now The Cheese Yard in August 2013, while I was still working full-time. I had just a couple of weeks between finishing work and opening the shop in November 2013.

6

Rosehill food hall to double in size after relocation

The shop was previously a homeware and gift shop so had to be completely refurbished. The two fridges were our biggest expense. I bought a free-standing fridge and had a walk-in display cold room built.

I wanted to buy new as I didn’t want the risk of anything going wrong.

I knew – or hoped – the runup to our first Christmas would be busy as we were offering bespoke hampers. For two weeks in December we shut the café and operated one large shop to allow for this.

We’ve done this every year since but we’ve become a lot slicker in our approach to hampers. We now start selling hampers with non-cheese products such as oils, chutneys and

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

tailing off, added Paul Hargreaves of Cotswold Fayre – and there was “encouraging” evidence that retailers were refurbishing and upgrading stores.

Specialist independents are now ‘part of the Christmas routine’ for many shoppers, says Macknade’s Stefano Cuomo

Plans are being drawn up to relocate Pioneer Foodhall in Rosehill, Carlisle – run by wholesaler Pioneer Foodservice – to a new purpose-built site on the Rosehill industrial estate.

A spokesman told FFD the shop had outgrown its current site, where it sells locally produced meat and poultry, fresh fruit and vegetables, deli and bakery items, frozen food and a choice of wines and ales. The move will double the size of the existing food hall.

As well as expanding its range of products to offer more choice, it will add a coffee shop to the new premises.

Plans are still at a design stage, and it could take 18-24 months before the new unit is ready to open.

Around 50 new jobs are expected to be created as a result of the development of the brownfield site, currently a car park, which was sold by the council earlier this year to the H&H Group.

Ten new units for agribusinesses will be built alongside the food hall, together with a 350-space car park, as part of the £4-5m development.

Pioneer Foodservice’s headquarters is also on the Rosehill estate. www.pioneerfoods.co.uk

crackers from mid November, we’ve on tables in the café. If I could invested in a hamper-packing station change anything about what I’ve and we’ve standardised and branded done it would be to take on more our hamper boxes. experienced staff from day one. I The rest of the year we operate tried to manage with part-timers – as a cheese shop and café. The café mainly because I didn’t know how proved more popular than I expected, successful the business was going so I soon had to recruit a professional to be. Now I have three full-timers, chef to extend the menu. We added which also means I don’t have to dishes like homemade goulash, work seven days a week anymore. quiche and potato cakes and now Since we started we’ve grown have 10 tables instead of four. steadily, month on month, and two In the shop, besides local cheeses years in I’m looking at where to take and core territorials, we’ve found the business next. crackers, chutneys, local beers and One option is to take the shop wine sell really well, online and have a whereas non-cheese fully transactional If I could change related items such as website. Another anything about what olive oil or pesto are is to look at larger not as popular. We I’ve done, it would be premises as our to take on experienced future growth are very pro-active with our sampling, staff from day one is limited by our too. available space.

Finding staff who can multi-task Ideally, I’d like premises all on one has been my biggest challenge. floor with more space for the shop Because we are both a shop and and an open plan kitchen. café, staff need to be knowledgable Interview by LYNDA SEARBY about the cheeses and able to wait

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fine food news Cook plans more concessions amid healthy sales to indies

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Premium ready-meal maker Cook is aiming to expand its in-store concession business during 2016 following record sales over the Christmas period.

Cook concessions in farm shops and delis, which contribute around 20% of total turnover, saw sales rise 27% in the six weeks over Christmas, with the company’s own shops up 6.6%, it said.

Co-founder and MD Edward Perry told FFD it was planning to boost the concessions business, saying the company remained “totally committed” to the independent sector.

“We are very keen to grow space with existing retailers, and open up more new concessions in the next 12 months, and we have a plan in place to do that,” he said.

There were plenty of opportunities, and little risk of its town-based retail shops cannibalising sales in farm shop concessions, he said. “We’ve found they both do well and feed off each other instead of competing. It not only works very well for us, but also for retailers, as it gives them a point of difference.”

Irish Great Taste winners on show at Titanic centre

Concessions in independents such as Gog Magog Hills farm shop account for a fifth of Cook sales

“But we will only open up in towns where it will work – and it doesn’t work everywhere – and in retailers where there’s a good fit. It’s about opening up in the right place and with the right partners.”

Perry noted that consumers were demanding more from ready-meals in a tough market – in October, mainstream producer S&A Foods went into administration after

losing a key contract with Asda – and warned against complacency over quality.

Last year the upmarket frozen ready-meal specialist invested more than £1.5m into boosting capacity at its savoury production site in Sittingbourne, Kent and it is set to boost this with a further £500,000 in 2016. www.cookfood.net

Quicke’s to host Guild’s first ‘in the field’ cheese training Devon farmhouse cheddar maker Quicke’s is to host the Guild of Fine Food’s first “in the field” course for cheese retailers, combining product knowledge and selling skills with a study tour of an artisan cheese operation.

Taking place at Home Farm at Newton St Cyres near Exeter on March 7-8, it will encompass everything from the afternoon milking of Quicke’s dairy herd to a two-hour tour of production and a talk on tasting and flavour profiling by owner Mary Quicke MBE. Guild training coordinator Jilly Sitch said: “I want to get retailers literally out in the field, studying cheese-making at first hand – to get down-and-dirty with the cheese and give them an experience they’ll never forget.

“It’s so much easier for them to understand the concept if they’ve seen it in person, and the more they understand, the easier it is to engage with the consumer. It’s simply about selling more cheese.”

Sitch will run the course alongside Dorset cheesemonger Charlie Turnbull, a member of the World Cheese Awards final judging

Northern Ireland’s biggest food and drink trade show of the year – the three-day IFEX 2016 will include the north’s first Great Taste Market when it opens in Belfast on March 8.

In a partnership between the Guild of Fine Food and show organiser Fresh Montgomery, at least two dozen Great Taste winners from the north and south of Ireland will exhibit alongside each other in a dedicated market section. It will celebrate some of the best quality products on the island of Ireland’s vibrant food scene.

They include organic salmon specialist Burren Smokehouse, Cavanagh Free Range Eggs, cheese producer Cashel Blue, free-from brand Goodness Grains, independent tea importer and coffee roaster S D Bell, and deli and bakery business Yellow Door. The show will also feature a tasting theatre where buyers can compare mass-produced products with the winning foods and talk to the people who made them.

IFEX has moved to Belfast’s largest and newest exhibition space for 2016: the Titanic Exhibition Centre, which forms a central part of the city’s urban-waterfront regeneration project.

The show runs from March 8 to 10 and features more than 140 exhibitors. It is expected to attract 5,000 buyers from across the region. www.ifexexhibition.co.uk

Belgian showcase for Continental fine foods

The two-day course will include a study tour of Quicke’s dairy and a session on taste and flavour profiling by Mary Quicke MBE (pictured above)

panel.

Like the Guild’s long-established one-day courses for deli counter managers and staff, the two-day version will include tastings of cheeses in all categories, as well as advice on display, labeling, cutting and wrapping.

The cost is £225 plus VAT for

Guild members and £250 plus VAT for non-members, including a course workbook and lunch on both days.

The Guild is planning two “in the field” cheese courses each year, and a further two-day charcuterie course featuring a visit to an artisan producer. jilly.sitch@gff.co.uk www.gff.co.uk/training

Classic Continental charcuterie and speciality food will be high on the agenda at Tavola, a Belgian fine food trade air being held in Kortrijk Xpo, 55m west of Brussels from March 13 to 15.

The biennial show includes dedicated artisan producers’ zones highlighting foods from small producers across Europe.

Innovation is also a big focus, with original products promoted through the Golden Tavola 2016 competition. Exhibitors include producers from the Netherlands, France Luxembourg, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary and South Africa. www.tavola-xpo.be

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

9

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

fine food news new openings

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

New deli-butcher is ‘testbed’ for Cornish wholesaler

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

A catering wholesale business in the South West has opened its first retail store.

The Two Brothers Foods Butchery & Deli, which opened in a converted portacabin in Newquay next to the firm’s headquarters, will act as a “testbed” for its wholesale business, director Gavin Roberts told FFD. “Our model is intended to be one we can roll-out, providing a unique retail experience to the discerning consumer,” Roberts said. “We've been really pleased with both feedback and sales performance so far” The shop is split between the deli and a butchery counter, selling meat from its own Cornish Table range, including local turkey,

award-winning gammon, dry-aged beef, and products from sister business The Kernow Sausage Co. Ambient products stocked in the new shop include Cornish Ketchup, spices from local merchant Nature Kitchen, jams and chutneys from Sisley’s & Crellow, Simply Cornish

Rapeseed Oil and Mary’s Pasties.

Although primarily catering for chefs and foodservice, Two Brothers is willing to work with retailers, distributors and strategic partners to share its range beyond the South West. www.twobrothersfoods.co.uk

Pub rises from the ashes to become deli

Funding secured for Farmer Copley’s expansion

A new store has opened in Quedgeley on the outskirts of Gloucester. The Orchard Deli has been built on the site of the Orchard pub, which burnt down in 2011.

It has helped transform the area into a local business hub, which now comprises five retail units.

Shop manager Darren Payne, who previously ran the Farmhouse Deli in Northgate Street in Gloucester, said the 645 sq ft unit had been quick to transform for retail use and its dual-aspect shop front made it the “perfect” location.

The premises includes a 430 sq ft preparation area, a butchery counter, a hot and cold serve-over, cheese counter and ambient goods and oils.

There is, Payne added, a readymade clientele from the surrounding businesses at Olympus Park which has already helped to generate some trade.

Quedgeley Parish Council chair Chris Pearce said the change of use since the pub fire had already benefited the local economy.

West Yorkshire farm shop Farmer Copley’s is investing £1m in a new 150-seater café and restaurant, allowing it to expand its retail section by around 40% and create 19 new jobs.

The Pontefract-based business secured funding from RBS this month to convert a barn and outbuildings into the new Moo Café, along with a bakery, a business meeting room and an upstairs function room that can hold 100 people.

Once the new café, which will be run as the Beast restaurant three nights a week, is open in the Spring, the farm shop will develop the

existing café area into retail space.

Owner Heather Copley said this would allow it to increase its product range from local suppliers as well as its own products, and to improve merchandising.

A ‘grazing’ area and a new jam kitchen are also being planned.

“It is the largest capital investment we’ve made in one go, but we have some very exciting and innovative ideas,” she told FFD adding: “The consumer has changed dramatically in the 13 years since we opened, and is becoming more like a food tourist.” www.farmercopleys.co.uk

Village shop with 600-year old history reopens One of the UK’s oldest shops has reopened as a deli and farm shop two years after it was closed following the death of its elderly owner.

Boxford Stores, near Sudbury in Suffolk, which traces its history back to the 1420s, was on the market for nearly two years before it was bought by local businessman Lawrence Motts of Motts Body Repairs in March. In November the shop re-opened following a sensitive refurbishment and input

from villagers, who had successfully campaigned to keep the shop’s post office open until its future was decided.

It is being run by Robin Windmill, a local egg producer and ex-Tesco senior manager, and Neil Cottrell, who owns The Village Deli in Bures.

It stocks around 250-300 lines, including local fresh produce, pies, pastries, cheeses and cold meats, and newspapers and stationery, by popular request.

Guild brings in awards expert for Basque WCAs A former international awards manager for wine trade bible Decanter is joining the Guild of Fine Food as project manager for the 2016 World Cheese Awards (WCAs), to be staged in Spain’s autonomous Basque region this November.

Christabel Lemke spent more than eight years in marketing and organising roles for the Decanter World Wine Awards – the world’s largest wine competition – most recently as director of its pan-Asian offshoot.

She will now take a leading role in the WCAs, as the Guild stages the competition outside the UK for only the third time in its 27-year history.

The awards will form part of an International Cheese Festival taking place from November 16 to 19 in San Sebastián, the 2016 European Capital of Culture.

It follows a deal brokered between the Guild and Basque artisan cheese-making co-operative Artzai Gazta, supported by the Basque Government.

Staged alongside the winter BBC Good Food Shows in Birmingham and London for the past few years, the WCAs were last held abroad in 2009, when they moved to Gran Canaria with backing from the Canary Islands government.

Guild MD John Farrand said: “We know from the Canaries experience that judging over 2,500 cheeses outside the UK is a major undertaking, so we’ve been incredibly fortunate to get Christabel on board for San Sebastián.

“The Decanter awards have a lot in common with our own Great Taste and World Cheese Awards, but operate on a global scale, so her experience really couldn’t be a better match.” www.gff.co.uk/awards

The 2016 World Cheese Awards will take place in San Sebastián Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

11

fine food news

The only way is ethics Interview

Funded by family, friends and its own shoppers and opting to sell at low margins, Brighton’s ethical supermarket Hisbe puts principal before profit. But two years from start-up it’s set to post a surplus soon – and is searching for more sites. PATRICK McGUIGAN reports.

G

etting your customers to finance the opening of your shop sounds like a business idea that is too good to be true. But that’s exactly what Brighton-based ethical supermarket How It Should Be – better known as Hisbe – did in 2013.

The social enterprise, which champions fair, responsible and sustainable trading, was founded by sisters Ruth and Amy Anslow, who raised £200,000 from members of the public and private backers thanks to a smart social media campaign and principles that resonated with the people of Brighton and Hove.

They opened their 3,000 sq ft pilot store in December 2013, on an unloved stretch of road leading out of the city, and haven’t looked back.

“Customers just got what we were trying to do,” says Amy Anslow, who previously worked in the third sector for the Prince’s Trust among others, while Ruth Anslow had a career working for blue-chip consumer brands, such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

“I believe the future of all businesses is social enterprise,” she continues. “Within the next decade or two it won’t be enough for a business to sell good stuff or have a nice customer service record. People will need to know they are having a positive impact on the communities.

Otherwise I think customers will start turning away.”

Evidence of these changing attitudes was demonstrated by Hisbe’s fund-raising success. Around £30,000 was secured via crowdfunding with BuzzBnk, where people invested as little as £10 in return for money-off vouchers to spend in store once it opened, while other individuals lent the business larger amounts for a 3% return.

Around £100,000 was raised by selling shares to a handful of long-term backers (mainly friends and families) and a further £25,000 came from start-up and social enterprise loan schemes. Finally, at the last moment, Body Shop co-founder Gordon Roddick gifted £20,000 to the business and offered to mentor the directors, which he continues to do today.

“The crowd-sourcing campaign gave us a customer base of hundreds of people before we’d even opened, which we calculated guaranteed us a minimum spend of £250k in the first 12 months,” says

12

SISTER ACT: Founders Amy (left) and Ruth Anslow bring a blend of third-sector and commercial experience to Hisbe

a sleeve of three from Holland for local bakeries, and dispensers filled Anslow. “At that point investors £1.20, while ours were local, from with nuts, seeds, cereals, pasta and started getting interested.” down the road in Sussex, absolutely grains, from which customer can fill Hisbe is a community interest huge and by weight were 30p each their own containers or the shop’s company limited by share, where with no packaging,” says Anslow. reusable tubs. the profits are used for community “That’s our whole raison d’etre: to For every pound spent in the benefit rather than private fill that gap, so people who don’t store, 63p goes to the producer, advantage. In practice this means have loads of money can still buy while the 14 staff are paid the directors salaries are capped, as good quality food.

Brighton Living Wage (due to be are dividends, while profits are “It’s companies with £8.25 per hour from April). Once all reinvested into the business to shareholders and benefit staff directors on huge and local Crowd-funding will always be part of the model salaries who want suppliers. because it engages your future customer base and huge dividends The that have to force shows that the community want you to be there 3,000 sq ft margins up and Amy Anslow, co-founder, Hisbe store aims to have to be unfair in stock ethical order to satisfy all those people and the bills are paid, the company aims versions of products you would their financial objectives.” to have about 2% left over. expect to find in a conventional Around 3,000 customers visit Margins are kept low to supermarket. Meat, dairy, fruit and the store each week and basket keep products affordable, with vegetables come from local farms spend has increased from £4.50 prices competitive with the major and Fairtrade growers, there is in the first year to around £8 with supermarkets. Peppers are a case a big range of eco cleaning and top sellers including eggs, milk and in point. “The Co-op were selling toiletry products, fresh bread from

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

❛

❜

Hisbe attracts 3,000 shoppers a week, with an average basket spend of £8, up from £4.50 in year one

e

bread. This has helped the business to turn over £2m in its first two years of trading and it is on track to make a small profit at the end of this financial year.

The retail side has overperformed, with the shop increasing the number of lines by about 20%, introducing a range of local beers and wines, and doubling the range of loose products available in the dispensers from 20 to 40. This has helped offset unanticipated costs in other areas, including two ‘pods’, which are let to start-up food businesses, and a coffee bar that has underperformed.

The pods are being reviewed at the moment, with ideas such as an in-house bakery or more grab-andgo products up for discussion, while the coffee bar has been revamped with a new range of takeaway food and plans to extend this further.

Signage has also been improved to make it clearer what the business is all about, says Ruth Anslow.

“People thought we were a wacky, hippy shop, so we’ve made it easier for them to see inside and we’ve put up signs explaining that we’re an affordable supermarket.

One of the most effective ones was a big arrow pointing at the door that just said ‘Good food here’.”

Fine-tuning the model is important because Hisbe is currently on the look-out for a second site, with plans to build a cluster of 10 shops in and around the city in the next five years. It’s an ambitious target, especially as they have already found it difficult to find suitable premises.

“We want the next store to be in Hove, but there aren’t that many sites that are big enough,” says Amy Anslow. “It needs to be larger

than 3,000 sq ft and it’s difficult for small businesses because a lot of negotiations on larger sites are done by in-house property teams of big chains, so they never make it to the commercial letting agencies.

Deals are done before closing down signs go up.”

Despite the challenges, the sisters are convinced the popularity of the first store, and their own research, proves there is enough demand for what they call a ‘hive’ of 10 outlets.

“As we grow we want our suppliers to benefit at the same time,” says Amy Anslow. “We then want to replicate that ‘hive’ in another area, such as Bristol or Manchester. Crowd-funding will always be part of the model because it engages your future customer base and shows that the community want you to be there,

which is the exact opposite of how the supermarkets operate.”

She also draws confidence from the dismal performance of the multiples in recent years, taking it as a sign that the traditional supermarket model is failing.

“There is a life cycle to major corporations and brands of around 30 years, when they either fail or reinvent themselves.

“Tesco is coming to the end of that and they haven’t been futureproofing themselves. It’s so reliant on cheap oil and cheap labour that it’s not financially viable.

“We’re positioning ourselves as the next thing: a social enterprise model that is genuinely sustainable for the 21st century and can adapt to what people want rather than just doing whatever brings in short term profit.” www.hisbe.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

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world cheese awards

Down to the wire Dramatic finishes are becoming a bit of a habit at the World Cheese Awards and 2015 didn’t disappoint. MICHAEL LANE reports on the finale and rounds up the other major winners.

B

ack in Birmingham after a year’s absence, the 28th World Cheese Awards concluded with the customary tension in a final judging round that saw the trophy go to Switzerland and its Gruyère AOP. At one point, the final jury looked like it was going to deliver a tie for first place as the awards – organised by the Guild of Fine Food – drew to a close on the evening of November 26 in the NEC. A Tomme Chevre Brebis from producer Onetik in the French Basque Country was scored level with a Burrata, entered by Londonbased importer La Credenza.

Then a flurry of 5s went up and a Gruyère AOP Premier Cru – from Cremo SA’s von Mühlenen brand – overtook these other challengers by a single point to become World Champion with a score of 69 from a possible 80.

It is the fourth time in the awards’ history that the Alpine cheese has taken the top prize, with its last win coming a decade ago.

The final judging panel – which included experts from France, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico – was almost unanimous in its praise for the Gruyère as it deliberated over the best 16 cheeses in the competition.

WCA founder Bob Farrand, who was on the panel, hailed the Gruyère AOP’s “depth, creaminess, fruitiness and nuttiness”.

Italian judge Davide Firori, from Luigi Guffanti 1876, said the winner represented everything he looks for

Von Mühlenen’s Le Gruyère AOP Premier Cru was named World Champion after an intensive judging day

in a cheese.

“It has what the French call terroir,” he said. “because the taste tells you so much about the pastures it comes from.”

When he collected the World Champion trophy, Cremo SA’s René Ruch, manager for von Mühlenen, described the win as a “real honour” given the quality of cheese in the field.

“The World Cheese Awards is the greatest of all cheese competitions and it is very special to be recognised by a jury of top international experts,” he said.

“This award represents the hard work and dedication of our farmers, cheese-makers and affineurs, so I’m very proud to be going back to Switzerland to congratulate them.”

The crowning of the Gruyère AOP was the pinnacle of a day-long judging process that saw 250 judges from 22 countries descend on the

dedicated arena within the BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham’s NEC. The record number of 2,727 entries was drawn from more than 25 countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Estonia and South Africa as well as established European nations and the UK. “The final round of judging is such a close run thing, so it never fails to provide a really exciting spectacle,” said Guild of Fine Food MD John Farrand. “With our choosing between the top 16 cheeses in the world, it’s always too close to call until the final numbers come in, but Le Gruyère AOP got a resounding thumbs up from our judges and is testament to the tried and tested traditional techniques of these cheesemakers from Switzerland.” www.gff.co.uk/wca

Buchanan’s central London shop is best of the counters Less than two years after opening, Rhuaridh Buchanan’s London cheese shop has collected the title Le Gruyère AOP Cheese Counter of the Year.

A short walk from Marble Arch, Buchanans Cheesemonger impressed judges with both the presentation of its cheeses and its knowledgeable staff.

They said Buchanan had “one of the finest palates in the business”, evident not just from the cheese selection but also from the range of wine, beer, tea, saki and cider he has chosen to match with cheese.

“We also liked the details: Roquefort-print wallpaper in the small tasting room, a customised bicycle to deliver to restaurants

and a basket full of Kentish cobnuts at the till,” said one judge.

Buchanan spent a decade honing his skills with leading cheese-makers, affineurs and cheesemongers, including a stint as manager of Paxton & Whitfield’s flagship Jermyn Street store, before opening on his own.

Paxton’s shop in Stratford upon Avon took second place in this year’s competition, with La Cave a Fromage in Hove, East Sussex, coming third.

Buchanan collected the trophy from Helen Daysh of Le Gruyère AOP UK and Guild MD John Farrand at a dinner following the judging day.

WCA 2015 in numbers The 28th World Cheese Awards saw a total of 2,727 cheeses entered from some 25 different countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Estonia and South Africa. Just 25% of the entries are British and none are yoghurt, butter or milk – the WCAs are just for cheese.

These cheeses were assembled and across more than 60 tables in a dedicated 1,100 sq metre area of the BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham’s NEC. The entries were then tasted, assessed and scored during a two-and-a-half-hour session by a team of more than 250 food professionals from 22 countries.

Judges come from across the UK and as far afield as Japan, Mexico and Australia.

As a result of this first session, cheeses could win one of three awards – Gold, Silver or Bronze. The Gold winners were judged again to decide a Super Gold for each table.

These 62 Super Golds then progressed to a second stage where the Supreme Judging Panel of 16 experts re-judged and chose one cheese each to proceed to the final session.

The final 16 cheeses were discussed by the panel in front of a live audience (it is also broadcast on the World Cheese Awards webpage) and each judge gave a score out five for every cheese.

With a score of 69 from a possible 80, von Mühlenen’s Le Gruyére AOP Premier Cru took the World Champion crown by a single point.

www.buchananscheesemonger.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

15

world cheese awards All hail Devon’s cheddar queen Described by World Cheese Awards founder Bob Farrand as “one of the livest of wires our trade has to offer”, farmhouse cheddar maker Mary Quicke collected the 2015 Exceptional Contribution to Cheese award.

Quicke – pictured here with Farrand – joined the family cheesemaking business in Newton St Cyres near Exeter in 1984 and has received numerous accolades,

including an MBE, for both her traditional clothbound cheddars and her innovations in dairy farming. www.quickes.co.uk

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

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world cheese awards

Judges arrived at the NEC on November 26 from 22 countries. The Supreme Jury, whose deliberations on the top 16 cheeses were broadcast live, included experts from South Africa, France, Japan, Italy, England, Mexico, Wales, Denmark, Canada, Australia and the Basque Country.

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January-February 2016 路 Vol.17 Issue 1

The World Cheese Awards arena took up some 1,100 sq metres at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham’s NEC and housed 2,727 cheeses from 25 countries across more than 60 tables.

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

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January-February 2016 路 Vol.17 Issue 1

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

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cheesewire Unsung heroes Hidden gems from British producers

news & views from the cheese counter

New British cheeses needed to tackle sheep’s milk glut

DOUBLET In a nutshell: Somerset-based Wootton Organic Dairy is best known for its soft sheeps’ cheeses Little Ryding and Bartlett, but it also makes an unusual mixed milk cheese called Doublet. This combines a 50:50 mixture of the farm’s unpasteurised ewes’ and Jersey cows’ milk in a camembertstyle cheese, which weighs around 220g and is matured for 3-8 weeks.

Texture and flavour: Chalky when young and gooey when older, this is an incredibly rich cheese thanks to the relatively high fat content of Jersey and sheep’s milk. Expect pungent flavours of mushroom and vegetable notes.

The British Sheep Dairying Association said there is up to 20% more ewes’ milk available than normal

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

The British Sheep Dairying Association (BSDA) has urged UK cheese-makers to develop more ewes’ milk cheeses to fill what it says is a gap in the market.

BSDA secretary Mark Hardy, owner of Sussex maker High Weald Dairy, told FFD that the organisation

was working with the Specialist Cheesemakers Association to put producers in touch with farmers, after a surplus of milk last year.

He estimated there was around 20% more milk available than normal, much of which is in frozen storage, because of good milking conditions last year.

History: The Bartletts have been farming at Sunnyside Farm since the 1960s. Brothers James and Dave took over in 1999 and bought their first Friesland milking sheep, before starting to experiment with raw milk cheeses. They bought their Jersey cattle in 2011 and now have 200 ewes and five cows.

JUST CHILLING: Award-winning cheesemonger George Mewes’ new shop in Edinburgh has been designed to replicate the environment of a traditional underground cellar.

The Stockbridge shop has three special refrigeration units that chill the entire space so that cheese can be displayed on the open counter.

Rather than using fans, which dry out the cheese, the units allow cold air to circulate naturally. Concrete floors with drains built into them mean the entire shop can be washed down at night, which helps increase humidity, while cheeses are stored on untreated spruce shelves just like they would be in a cheese-maker’s maturing room.

“The cheeses are just loving the environment – they are in really good condition each morning,” said Mewes, whose Glasgow shop won the Cheese Counter of the Year 2014 competition, sponsored by Le Gruyère AOP. “We’re also saving money because the units use less electricity, there’s less wastage and we’re not losing as much moisture from the cheeses.”

There might be thousands of miles between them but South Africa and Northern Ireland are now united by a new range of cheeses.

South African chef Christo Swanepoel, who has lived in Northern Ireland for five years, has recently started making three products inspired by the Dutch cheese-making traditions of his homeland.

These include Pitjes Kaas, a semi-hard creamy cheese containing cumin seeds; the Gouda-style Young Culmore; and Angelique, which is similar to Parmesan.

All three are made with unpasteurised, organic milk under the City Cheese Company brand in a small creamery developed at Swanepoel’s home in the seaside town of Millisle in County Down.

“I’d been keen on cheese in South Africa and learned a lot about Dutch cheeses from Angelique, my wife, and her parents who have family roots in Holland,” he said.

“This led me to start researching the market and to educate myself on artisan cheese production.”

The cheese is currently sold at farmers’ markets and via direct deliveries.

www.georgemewescheese.co.uk

www.citycheese.weebly.com

Why stock it? Raw milk soft cheeses are hard to come by in the UK and finding a mixed milk version is even rarer. The farm’s organic principles add another layer to the story.

Where to buy: Direct from the producer or Turners Fine Foods. www.woottondairy.com FFD features a different ‘unsung hero’ from Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association members each month. To get involved, contact: patrick.mcguigan@gff.co.uk

www.sheepdairying.com

Ulster start-up goes Dutch

Cheese care: The individually wrapped cheeses have a six-week shelf life and should be stored with other bloomy rinded cheeses.

Perfect partners: Dave Bartlett swears by a crisp apple and glass of cider, as they would in the camembert heartland of Normandy.

Also delicious baked and eaten with crusty bread.

“We’re looking to even up supply and demand, so there’s an opportunity here for cheesemakers,” he said. “It’s a lovely milk to make cheese with and there’s definitely a gap in the market for British ewes’ milk cheeses.”

Milk supplies are likely to remain buoyant as more sheep farmers look to diversify into dairy production because of low lamb meat prices.

However, milk prices are unlikely to fall much from the current level of £1.20-30/litre paid by Hardy (he pays around 35p/litre for cows’ milk) because the cost of production is so high.

“Sheep only produce 3-4 litres of milk a day and the price may put some cheese-makers off,” he said.

“It might seem like a lot of money to have tied up in cheese while it matures, but the final product is worth it.”

The BDSA represents around 70 sheep dairy producers and processors. Cheese-makers looking for a source of sheep’s milk should contact Mark Hardy via the BSDA website.

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

23

The taste of pure English mint revived for the 21st century

8 - 9 March, Bournemouth BIC

THE LEADING CATERING, HOSPITALIT Y AND FOOD SERVICE EVENT FOR THE SOUTH

Entry is free for trade buyers. Call 01934 733456 or register online.

Stands are selling fast – to enquire 01934 733433.

For more about our award-winning Black Mitcham peppermint chocolates and teas: visit www.summerdownmint.com

Chiltern Natural Foods would like to introduce four new exciting flavours of hand roasted and flavoured gluten free granola: Cherry Bakewell, Maple Pecan Pie, Blackcurrant and Apple Crumble and finally Mandarin, Date and Fig. We will ship anywhere.

www.chilternnaturalfoods.com 01494 862133 24

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

@ HotelCaterShow

www.hotel-expo.co.uk

cheesewire Interview

Start-up cheese-makers Lawrence and Rosea Reynolds talk to MICK WHITWORTH about their Swiss-style Cornish Jack and the challenge of controlling those trademark ‘eyes’

All eyes on Cornish Jack

A

vid readers of our annual Good Cheese magazine, published before Christmas, will have seen news of what’s believed to be the first Swiss-style cheese from an English artisan dairy.

The semi-hard Cornish Jack is a washed curd variety whose sweetfruity-nutty flavour has echoes of Emmental and Maasdam. It also has those distinctive ‘eyes’, or holes, formed by the action of propionic bacteria.

It’s the creation of Lawrence and Rosea Reynolds of newly formed River Amble Creamery, and when FFD spoke to the couple back in November, a year after Lawrence made his first trial batches, they were just about to launch through Padstow Farm Shop. Cornish Jack featured on the shop’s stand at the four-day Padstow Christmas Festival, where it sold out.

When we next meet, in early January, it’s at another of their stockists: Relish deli in Wadebridge.

Cornish Jack is on sale here and another shop in town, and has just been taken on by regional wholesaler Hanson Fine Foods.

The Reynolds are also in discussion with clotted cream producer Rodda’s, to add Cornish Jack to its van sales operation.

Rodda’s – which supplies all River Amble Creamery’s milk – distributes its own and other Cornish products to hundreds of outlets across the country.

All of which adds up to a good start for the fledgling cheese-maker.

“Everyone that has stocked Cornish Jack has sold out,” Lawrence Reynolds tells me. “It’s starting to get a bit of a following.”

There’s only one minor problem, he adds: “If you wanted to buy any today, we’ve only got about 10kg left.”

Cornish Jack is matured for a minimum of four months and, given that the first batches were only released in December, the Reynolds are still in the process of building up stocks.

Everything they can make they can sell – but they are not being dragged into letting cheese go too early just to secure new customers.

“My worst-case scenario is that we start supplying people, then run out,” says Lawrence Reynolds, who spent 21 years in the textiles industry. “I’d sooner have a steady start, then gradually move it further

Lawrence Reynolds outside stockist Relish deli (left), and (below) with wife Rosea in their Duchy College processing unit

afield. That’s my old manufacturing background kicking in – you always want to undersell your capacity.

“The other temptation is to let it go out early, when the flavour notes aren’t developed, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice.”

The couple are processing around 500 litres of milk per day, and not yet making five days a week. They have pitched for grant funding to buy new equipment that would triple production to 1,500 litres – equivalent to 150kg of cheese – but Rosea tells me: “It’s not the making of the cheese that’s the problem, it’s the storage.”

A new maturing facility is being built alongside the couple’s cottage near Port Isaac, but wet weather in early January means building has been delayed.

Production currently takes place at Duchy College’s Food Innovation Centre near Callington, where a few small processing units are available to rent for new product development

or small-batch production. The Reynolds hope to open a purposebuilt dairy at their home in the next year or so. The challenge is getting planning permission, but this should be easier now they have a proven product.

“If we step up production to where we want to be, we are looking at 250,000 litres a year,” Lawrence says. This would mean more Cornish farmers selling milk at added-value and would be the first step towards creating new jobs at River Amble Creamery.

Meanwhile, Lawrence says there were good reasons for working with Duchy College in the early stages.

Access to technical advice meant that much trial-and-error in recipe development could be avoided. “We could have put in a lot of time and effort in and still not got it right,” he says. “And they’re such good facilities for people that who don’t want to make in huge quantities.”

The Reynolds took a three-day

temptation is to let it go out early, when ^theTheflavour notes aren’t developed, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice _

Lawrence Reynolds, River Amble Creamery

cheese-making course with dairy technologist Liz Whitley before “starting on the Cornish Jack journey”.

“She has been on hand to help us with questions and give us advice,” Lawrence says, “and has taken a keen interest in how we developed the recipe.”

Rosea Reynolds is no slouch on the tech side, either. Until late last year she was an Environmental Health Officer at Cornwall Council, where she helped the Specialist Cheesemakers Association refine its code of practice for producers and achieve its Primary Authority agreement with the Council.

With Cornish Jack, one of her biggest challenges has been achieving those trademark ‘eyes’ without the cheeses becoming too peppered with holes – or worse, blowing up like footballs – due to an uncontrolled build-up of carbon dioxide. “They say this is one of the hardest styles of cheese to make because you’ve got no control over eye formation,” she says. “We’ve had tremendous issues with cheeses blowing.”

After taking advice from a starter culture supplier, Rosea has opted to add Lysozyme – widely used in everything from Emmental to Grana Padano to limit bacterial growth. It means Cornish Jack can be matured for four to five weeks at room temperature to develop a fruiter flavour without becoming more hole than cheese. But the size and distribution of eyes will always vary.

Lawrence says: “You’re chasing the Holy Grail, really, because it’s small-batch and you’re going to get these variations. But that’s the beauty of what we’re doing – we don’t want to churn out supermarket cheese.” sales@riveramblecreamery.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

25

A taste of the Outer Hebrides

A Berry Nice Tipple!

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Family Butchers and Producers of Stornoway Black Pudding.

Winner of the Country Alliance ‘Best Scottish Butcher Award’ 2012 www.charlesmacleod.co.uk

Tel: 01851 702 445 Email: sales@charlesmacleod.co.uk

cut & dried

making more of british & continental charcuterie

Jamie and Jimmy turn TV spotlight on charcuterie

By MICK WHITWORTH

Italian heritage inspires rare breed salami

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

A Scottish rare pig breed specialist that supplies fresh pork to a Michelin-starred restaurant and hotels across Scotland has launched a new retail range of artisan salamis.

The range from Clash Farm Pedigree Saddlebacks was inspired by owner Caron Stewart’s Italian heritage, and comprises a chorizo and three salamis: red wine & fennel, hazelnut & tarragon and Salami a la Piciniso. The latter is a dry cured salami with black pepper named after the Italian village where Caron’s father was born.

Stewart, who runs the business with her husband Robert from their remote farm at Port Logan, on a peninsula close to Stranraer, said the slow maturing rate of the traditional

breed made it ideal for salami production.

The husband and wife team, who are targeting independent retailers, have invested in an imported Italian drying cabinet to ensure the quality and consistency of the products, and spent 18 months developing the recipes.

The range is available direct as 8 inch salami sticks (RRP £10-11 each) with a three-month shelf life, or sliced in a vacuum pack (RRP £4.75/80g).

Clash Farm also supplies Michelin starred Edinburgh restaurant The Kitchin, Chez Roux at Greywalls and the Trump-owned Turnberry Hotel, through fresh meat wholesaler Campbells Prime Meats. www.clashsaddlebacks.co.uk

Hampshire artisan charcuterie maker Parsonage Farm hosted Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty last month for a slot on Channel 4’s Friday Night Feast.

The celebrity chef and TV farmer spent a day at the farm near Andover, using the visit to illustrate how consumers can help keep British pork on British dining tables by supporting our home-grown craft charcuterie makers.

Over a quarter of UK pork production (around 240,000 tonnes) is currently exported, particularly the less popular cuts such as ribs, belly and shoulder. A proportion of this is then re-imported as charcuterie, which means farmers outside the UK are benefiting from the added value.

Parsonage Farm owners Sarah and John Mills diversified into charcuterie production five years ago, after taking part in food group Hampshire Fare’s Preserving the Hampshire Hog project, funded by

the Prince’s Countryside Fund.

The pair had been rearing pigs for the fresh meat market.

However, with feed costs increasing and consumers reluctant to buy anything but prime cuts, they were considering quitting the sector entirely.

After learning charcuteriemaking from consultant and trainer Marc-Frederic Berry, they began producing a range of salamis using Hampshire ingredients, including beer from Upham Brewery, Twisted Nose Gin from Winchester and spice mixes from Anna Valley Chillies. As a result, they have tripled the return on each pig they produce.

Sarah Mills said Parsonage Farm had got involved in the Channel 4 show “to help promote British charcuterie and small farmers”.

“Jamie and Jimmy were not only interested in the campaign but clearly passionate about it,” she added. www.parsonage-farm.co.uk www.hampshirecharcuterie.co.uk

Supporting British pig farmers: (l-r) Jimmy Doherty, John Mills, Jamie Oliver and Sarah Mills

Heat-and-serve range promises speedy tapas for foodservice

DE

in bacon. They are priced to sell at £5.99 as a starter or on a sharing platter.

The Snack Ham Co launched in 2014 with a range of three, 100% pork charcuterie snacks: dried ham pieces in original and chorizo flavours, and snack chorizo sticks. www.snackham.com

SIGNATIO

N

ORIGI

N

O PR

OF

TECTED

Market development director Annabel Spink said: “Because they’re easy to prepare and serve in less than 60 seconds, the tapas are also perfect for a bar menu when the kitchens are closed.”

Other products in the glutenfree range include grilled chicken & lemon skewers and dates wrapped

•

Air-dried snacks brand The Snack Ham Co is targeting foodservice outlets with a new range of chilled ready-prepared tapas meats, ranging from grilled

pork skewers with curry to mini chorizo sausages.

Vacuum-packed in portioncontrolled 40g packs, they are being pitched by The Snack Ham Co as “perfect for sharing platters or as an appetizer on the menu”, giving diners a range of options while minimizing waste in the kitchen

•

By MICK WHITWORTH

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

27

% ers 20ll ordarch a M off in

A range of 18 traditional and modern chutneys, pickles and sweet preserves

Bespoke service available

For more information on any of our products please contact our team on 01225 722255, or email sales@inapicklefoodco.co.uk

www.inapicklefoodco.co.uk

British free range pickled hen and quail eggs in a unique range of exciting flavours Traditional fayre with a 21st century twist From 195g jars to party buckets, there are sizes and flavours to suit all your pickled egg needs

Email us at eggline@purelypickledeggs.co.uk or call on 07752955182

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28

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

product focus

pickles & chutneys

Chunky accompaniments LYNDA SEARBY rounds up the latest chutneys and pickles to spice up your shelves.

Devon-based Clare Gault of Clare’s Preserves has Great Taste ambitions for the spiced plum, pineapple and Bakehouse chutneys she has added to her eponymous range.

For her spiced plum chutney, she uses local damsons to produce an accompaniment for dry, sharp cheeses and cold meats. Bakehouse chutney, which combines carrots, swede, onions, bramley apples, tamarind, ginger and dark muscovado sugar, is a dark, rich chutney she says works well as part of a ploughman’s lunch, while pineapple chutney can be eaten with curry and poppadoms.

Trade price £2.40 for 200g (based on a case of six) or £2.30 (based on a case of 12), RRP £3.95.

The Garden Pantry’s latest creation is a gluten-free ploughman’s pickle, developed in response to a request from The Norfolk Gluten Free Company.

“They had several customers requesting a traditional pickle which did not contain any malt or other gluten products so we developed a recipe to meet these requirements,” says the company’s Becky Slater. “Our ploughman’s pickle is made with home grown vegetables, plums and tomatoes, with a blend of spices, creating a tasty, versatile pickle.”

Trade price £2.25 for 205g.

RRP £3.50.

www.clarespreserves.co.uk

Bim’s Kitchen has continued its focus on innovating with African ingredients, with the introduction of a tomato & tigernut relish that goes with cheese, meat, fish and vegetable dishes or can be used for stirfrying.

Made with crunchy tigernuts (which are not actually nuts at all but root vegetables), African tomato & tigernut relish is available via Blas ar Fwyd, Cotswold Fayre and Diverse Fine Food (trade price £16.80 per case of 6x210g, RRP £4.50). www.bimskitchen.com

O Erin Grove Preserves are sporting new labels, developed in cooperation with InkREADible Labels. www.eringrove.com

O Scarlett & Mustard has added red onion marmalade to its Colonel’s Bit on the Side range. www.scarlettandmustard.co.uk

O East London’s Café Spice Namaste is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a hot, all-fruit chutney containing 20 different fruits and berries. www.cafespice.co.uk

www.thegardenpantry.co.uk

O Cheshire-based Posh Pickles and Preserves has scooped silver at the World Hot Sauce Awards in Louisiana for its Vietnamese lemongrass & chilli relish, Sa Va Tu’o’ng O’t.

Cottage Delight has drawn on the hot smoked trend with the launch of hot & smokey apple chutney. Pitched as a partner for cheese, pulled pork and hot dogs, the chutney blends Bramley apples, sultanas, ginger, chipotle chillies and smoked paprika.

Also new from the Staffordshire producer is Bombay chutney, a spicy, tomato-based accompaniment for Indian appetisers and curries. Both lines have a trade price of £1.94 per unit (RRP £2.90) and are available free of charge for use within in-store tastings.

www.poshpicklesandpreserves.com

O Andre Dang’s

www.cottagedelight.co.uk

It pears to be patient Miranda’s Preserves’ new pear & ginger chutney, released last month, has been a long time in the making.

The company’s founders, Anita and Richard Bellfield, say they were set on realising a new recipe for the pears they would harvest in September from an ancient orchard near Raglan on the Welsh Border.

“The sweet crunch of the pear was to be generously flavoured with ginger and lightly spiced,” said Richard.

While the initial taste was promising, on sampling at Christmas, Anita and Richard were delighted with how the blend of flavours had matured.

They are pitching the chutney, which is available in 300g and 113g jars, as “delicious with both cheeses and cold meats”. www.mirandas-preserves.co.uk

Ladle & Larder has tweaked its piccalilli recipe following comments from the Great Taste judging panel.

After missing out on a Great Taste award for her homemade piccalilli in 2014, owner Carrie Banbury took on board the feedback that it was too acidic and sweet. She played around with the recipe – reducing the sugar content, increasing the cornflour quantity and intensifying the spices by 15% – and was over the moon to be awarded two stars in the 2015 Great Taste awards.

Trade price £2.63 for 200g; RRP £3.95. www.ladleandlarder.co.uk

Manfood range is now available exclusively from fine food distributor Cotswold Fayre. www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk

O Lemon & sweet chilli chutney and hot onion & red pepper relish are the latest flavour combinations to join Hawkshead Relish Company’s expansive line-up. www.hawksheadrelish.com

O “Deliciously earthy and packed full of fragrant spices” is how Halzephron Herb Farm in Cornwall sums up its new spiced beetroot chutney for cheeses, cold meats and mackerel. www.halzherb.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

29

product focus

pickles & chutneys

New to pickles and chutneys… Blueberry Hill Small batch production, artisan ingredients and great taste are the three principles on which Yorkshire newcomer Blueberry Hill is founded. Husband and wife team Lynn and Rob Clayton

North Yorkshire’s Rosebud Preserves has collaborated with the Wensleydale creamery in nearby Hawes to develop a chutney to partner PGI Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese. With an RRP of £3.40 for 198g, Yorkshire Wensleydale chutney is a classic combination of Bramley apples, sultanas and spices. www.rosebudpreserves.co.uk

first started selling chutneys, preserves and curds at markets and food fairs all over Yorkshire, and are now breaking into the retail market.

They currently have a dozen local stockists but are “hoping to grow that quickly”, trading on their “big but balanced flavours”.

“Having now established our brand and created a really strong customer base we need

the help of a select number of high quality, exclusive retail outlets whom we can direct our regular purchasers towards,” said Rob. The company’s range already includes lines such as beetroot & horseradish chutney, Bengali chutney and Yorkshire’s ploughman’s pickle. RRP £3.75 for 320g. www.blueberryhillpreserves.co.uk

Since unveiling a new look for its pickles and chutneys last September, Tracklements has a experienced a 10% uplift in retail sales.

The Wiltshire stalwart is also keeping its range fresh, with the introduction of a new Charcuteriments range. The three varieties – pickled onion, hot garlic and mixed pickle – have an RRP of £3.80. “They are an excellent opportunity for the retailer to make an immediate upsell to consumers from the charcuterie counter and have been flying out of the door since their launch in September,” says the company’s Becky Vale. www.tracklements.co.uk

O A sour cherry relish that can accompany pâté, duck or terrine is the latest recipe to launch under Barbara Moinet’s Kitchen Garden Foods label. www.kitchengardenpreserves.co.uk

O “Smashing on sausages, and banging on burgers” is the strapline for In a Pickle’s new mild chilli and smoky chipotle tomato jams. www.inapicklefoodco.co.uk

O York’s Puckett’s Pickles is bringing back its G&T-inspired cucumber & lemon pickle along with its “sweet, sour, spicy and salty” oriental carrots and “piquant” pickled red onion for summer 2016. www.puckettspickles.co.uk

O Four new savoury Importer Urbangrains has launched two chutneys that fuse British flavours and Greek ingredients, after tracking down an independent producer in northwest Greece. The beetroot and red onion & pumpkin chutneys come in 150g jars, and are available individually (RRP £3) or as a set.

preserves have come out of Tiptree’s Essex jam factory: sweet pepper relish, ploughman’s plum chutney, red onion chutney and jellybased chilli chutney. www.tiptree.com

www.urbangrains.net

generations.

The first three products to hit the shelves were Tickly Tamarind Chutney (a tamarind and jaggery chutney with notes of black rock salt, root ginger and cumin), Smelly Garlic Pickle (a slow roasted garlic pickle with roasted coconut and crushed whole chillies) and Messy Mango Pickle (a hot green mango pickle using aromatic spices like crushed fennel, mustard and black oinion seeds). Trade price £2.80 for 190ml. RRP £4.50.

Geeta’s, carried by RH Amar, has released a pomegranate & mango chutney (RRP £1.89 for 230g) and a sweet mango chutney (RRP £2.29 for 320g).

It says the new varieties tap into growing interest from shoppers for authentic chutneys to enhance their main dish.

Cooks&Co, which is also represented by the ambient fine food distributor, has added Sweety Pepp cherry peppers and Sweety Drop red peppers to its range of pickled peppers. Grown in the highlands of Peru, the crisp, sweet, Sweety Pepp cherry peppers are said to offer a tasty accom-paniment to cold meat and burgers (RRP £2.49 for 290g).

Meanwhile, the Sweet Drop Red Pep-pers are of the Peruvian Inca Red Drop variety - a miniature red pepper with a sweet and sour fla-vour. RRP £2.39 for 235g.

www.cheekyfoodcompany.com

www.rhamar.com

Somerset condiments and preserves company Fox Gourmet Foods is now represented by Buckley and Beale. Product lines include Gentleman’s Choice chutney, black fruits & juniper jelly and apple, white grape & thyme jelly, which are already stocked by Fenwicks and have a trade price of £1.93, RRP £3.59. www.foxgourmetfoods.com

New to pickles and chutneys… Cheeky Food Company Not many food producers can claim Selfridges as their first stockist but, last August, Cheeky Food Company went from selling at local markets, fairs and festivals to launching in Selfridges’ Oxford Street, Birmingham and Manchester stores, as part of the department store’s Meet the Makers campaign.

The company’s founder, Indianborn mumpreneur Swati Biwal, says her products are unique in that they are made true to the traditional methods of preparation that have been used in families in India for

30

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

16 Great Taste Awards Just add food!

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www.thebaytree.co.uk 01963 828020 sales@thebaytree.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

31

Erin Grove PRESERVES

Producers of award winning, handmade Preserves | Marmalades | Chutneys | Fruits for Cheese

Be inspired by our NEW collection for 2016

Winners of 10 Great Taste Awards

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award-winning: additive free home cooked in small batches responsibly sourced ingredients suppliers to the retail and catering trades

Jam Marmalade Chutney Jelly 32

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

inkREADible suppliers of labels and swing tags to the food and drink industry since 1980

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product focus

coffee

Wake up and smell it LYNDA SEARBY spills the beans on the latest news and brews in speciality coffee

After 16 years of supplying foodservice operators in Vietnam and Cambodia, craft roaster Cafés Folliet is moving into retail, with a new range of ground coffees in 250g packs launching this month. The range spans the full flavour spectrum, from mild and delicate through to rich and intense, and takes in four varieties: Saveur de Rêve (decaf), Idéal (Robusta), Royal (Arabica and Robusta) and Suprême (Arabica).

Cafés Folliet Vietnam, part of Les Vergers Du Mékong, was founded in 2000 by Jean-Luc Voisin and uses French roasting and blending techniques to produce Arabica and Robusta blends from coffees sourced directly from farmers in Vietnamese Highlands and the Bolaven Plateau in Laos. www.vergersmekong.com

New to brews… Roost Coffee David and Ruth Elkington, the former founders of CottonHouse coffee shop in Helmsley, Yorkshire, have moved onto a new venture, launching a coffee roasting business.

Roost Coffee roasts ondemand, small batches of fairly sourced, high grade beans, in a newly converted carriage yard opposite the Talbot Hotel in Malton.

It is pitching itself as offering “the best possible fresh coffee at an affordable price,” and is

currently supplying a small number of coffee shops, restaurants and hotels including The Star Inn, the Michelin starred restaurant in Harome.

The Elkingtons say they are also keen to supply farm shops and delis with their blends and single origin coffees, which are available in 250g retail packs and include Guatelmala El Fogon Estate, Kenya Kiri AA, Honduras Swiss Water Decaf and espresso blends. www.roostcoffee.co.uk

Caffe Society’s new Swordfish espresso blend is pitched as “an accessible, everyday espresso blend that explores origin characteristics like no other”.

The combination of a Badra Estate Mysore Arabica (India), COSURCA Medellin Excelso Arabica (Colombia) and Java Semeru Robusta (Indonesia) has produced a “smooth and balanced espresso that has hints of chocolate and chestnut and a tangerine finish”, says the North Yorkshire producer.

With its roastery a stone’s throw away from Sherburn-inElmet’s airfield, Caffe Society named the blend after a fighter plane that was valued for its versatility.

The RRP is £2.75 for 200g. Bulk wholesale price is from £9.60/kg. www.caffesociety. co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

33

product focus Converting an old Dutch barn into a bigger coffee roastery has enabled Sussex-based Edgcumbes to massively enlarge its offering to the independent retail trade. Since opening the roastery six months ago, Edgcumbes has introduced six new hand-roasted single origin coffees, among them Kenya AA Kisii Peaberry, Brazil Rio Verde Farm and Ethiopia Yirga Cheffa, as well as four new blends.

One of these, Billy’s Blend, was awarded two stars in the Great Taste 2015. With a wholesale price starting from £3 for 250g and an RRP of £5 for 250g, this blend of Bourbon, Acaia, Typica, Caturra, Catuai and Variadad varieties is now stocked by selected Co-operatives, HiSbe in Brighton and other local farm shops. www.edgcumbes.co.uk

Delis or farm shops looking to invest in their own roaster should check out Bella Barista, which has launched a collection of commercial coffee roasters.

Retailers can choose from a selection of models, including the new Bella Barista Dalian Amazon 1kg roaster, exclusive to Bella Barista, which costs £2,791.67 (excluding tax).

Claudette Porter, director of Bella Barista, says: “We have been in the coffee industry for many years and branched into roasting through demand. Selling commercial coffee roasters to trade outlets is an exciting new development for the business.”

From its Northampstonshire base, Bella Barista supplies restaurants and delis with roasted coffee sourced from locations including El Salvador, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Papua New Guinea. www.bellabarista.co.uk

Arabica specialist Union Hand-Roasted has moved away from its purple foil packs to brown paper bags with copper accents for its 14-strong range. The new packs also communicate more information about the coffee including the roast profile, Qscore and tasting notes. www.unionroasted.com

www.djmiles.co.uk

www.bruceandlukes.com

Beans from the Pezuru Estate in Zimbabwe are the latest release from Birkenhead roastery Adams & Russell.

This single plantaition coffee, available ground or as beans, is a mixture of Arabica Catimor and Caturra varieties, which are washed and sun-dried on the farm. It is supplied in 227g retail bags (RRP £12) or by the kilo. www.adamsandrussell.co.uk

Bali Happiness, the latest roast from The East India Company, uses a 100% Arabica coffee from Bali, where it is grown by traditional methods on volcanic soil.

The company says this results in a “full bodied, smoky cup with hints of brown sugar and spicy undertones”. RRP £14.95 for 250g.

New to brews… Moonroast

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Bruce and Luke’s Handcrafted Coffee has relaunched its packaging with bean characters to represent each of its products.

“The old packaging and branding didn’t really express our personality, and didn’t give an idea of the flavour sensations,” said co-founder Luke Jackson. All four blends – Espresso, Citrus Bomb, Chocolate Dream and Decaf – are available in pack sizes of 1kg, 252g and 18g, whole bean or freshly ground.

The brand has just won a listing with Westmorland, owner of Tebay and Gloucester Services.

West Country producer Miles Tea & Coffee this month rolls out new packaging for its four-strong range of freshly ground coffees. It has also renamed its top selling Mr Miles blend ‘Bright & Breezy’, aligning it more closely with the other three blends: Fabulously Fairtrade, Cheerfully Colombian and Delightfully Decaffeinated.

www.eicfinefoods.com

Coffee is in Fran Bradshaw’s blood.

The daughter of writer, broadcaster and coffee advisor Haydon Bradshaw, she comes from a family with a tradition in coffee trading and roasting that stretches back over a century.

In 2014, Fran started roasting coffee in a barn in rural Hampshire, an experiment that has since evolved into a speciality roastery creating small batch, slowly handroasted coffee with beans sourced

coffee

from selected smallholders.

Moonroast offers a house blend of Brazil/Guatemala and some single origins including a smooth, rich Red Bourbon from Rwanda, a floral and light Ethiopia from the organic Kaffa Forest Estate and a sweet zesty Thiriku from Kenya.

All are available as ground, for cafetiere and espresso, or whole beans. RRPs start at £5.95 (225g) www.moonroast.co.uk

Grumpy Mule has rolled out new look packaging across its range and added two certified single origin coffees to its line-up.

With tastes of caramel, biscuit and hazelnut, Brasil Deterra Sunrise uses Catuai, Catura, Acacia, Icatu and Bourbon varietals from the Daterra Estates in the Minas region of Brazil where the altitude, flat terrain and mild climate are said to help grow a beautifully balanced, mellow bean. RRP £4.49 for 227g.

The other variety is organic India Araku, made with SLN 5 and SLN 9 varietals from the Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India. This roast is characterised by brown sugar flavours and a slow, spicy finish. RRP £4.99 for 227g.

Both are available whole or ground via Suma Wholefoods, Infinity Wholefoods and Essential Trading. www.grumpymule.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 1 路 January-February 2016

35

Brand New Look

ALWAYS GM FREE

Miles Freshly Roasted Coffee

The Finest Coffee from Bean to Cup We do a wonderful range of crafted coffees available in both ground and beans all of which are roasted in our Porlock Roastery.

www.djmiles.co.uk

Look for our range of Fairtrade coffee’s at RevolverWorld.com T: 01902 345 345 Revolver Co-Operative Ltd is an Industrial & Provident Soc. 31024 R FCA Mutual registry

Find us on facebook follow us on twitter See you at the Source Show in February & Farmshop & Deli Show in April - Stand C212

OUR COFFEE RANGE IS SO METICULOUSLY SOURCED, SO ETHICALLY TRADED AND SO LIP-SMACKINGLY DELICIOUS THAT YOU’LL BE LEFT GRINNING. BASICALLY, WE’RE GRUMPY SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE.

36

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Open for entry 20 January-2 February Members’ Fortnight*

Guild of Fine Food members can enter Great Taste ahead of the general ‘open for entry’ and at a special discounted members’ rate

3-22 February

General Entry open to all

22 February Midnight

Closed for entry (or when we reach the 10,000 entry cap)

March to end of June

Delivery Instructions. Download notifications begin via email

21 March

Judging begins

16 June

Judging ends

27 June

3-star products re-called for judging

13 July

3-star Judging Day

Early August

Results and Feedback

Mid August

List of Top 50 Foods announced

5 September

Golden Fork trophies awarded at Great Taste Dinner, London

Members’ Fortnight ends and normal rate of entry applies

Cost of Entry 2016 Members’ Fortnight (20 Jan-2 Feb)

General Entry (3 Feb-22 Feb)

Turnover less than £1million: £34 per product (plus VAT)

Turnover less than £1million: £48 per product (plus VAT)

Turnover more than £1million: £44 per product (plus VAT)

Turnover more than £1million: £78 per product (plus VAT) Supermarket own label products: £175 per product (plus VAT)

www.gff.co.uk | www.greattasteawards.co.uk |

* Guild members must have a valid membership up until 29 February 2016 to qualify for Members’ Fortnight NEW Guild members must join by Friday 8 January to qualify for Members’ Fortnight

@greattasteawards |

/greattasteawards

Adventurous Coffee • Roasted by Hand Coffee Equipment • Barista Training • Retail

Holme Mills, Marsden, Yorkshire www.darkwoodscoffee.co.uk e: damian@darkwoodscoffee.co.uk • t: 01484 843141

ECIALISE AT BELLA BARISTA WE SP CO.UK IN ALL THINGS COFFEE VISIT WWW.THEROASTERY.

TODAY AND BECOME A From the roasting of the beans at OR FOR WHOLESALE CUSTOMER our Roastery where we choose only very HING COFFEE RELATED RYT EVE high quality beans and dispatch them when E STORE PLEASE VISIT OUR ONLIN NZM[PTa ZWI[\ML \W KZMI\M M`KMTTMV\ KW‫ٺ‬MM .UK WWW.BELL ABARISTA.CO *MKWUM I _PWTM[ITM KW‫ٺ‬MM IKKW]V\ 5 customer and see our online and CALL TODAY 01933 273 27 retail store W‫ٺ‬MZQVO M^MZa\PQVO KW‫ٺ‬MM ZMTI\ML QVKT]LQVO KW‫ٺ‬MMUISMZ[ OZQVLMZ[ ZWI[\MZ[ IVL M^MV KINu []XXTQM[

BELLA BARISTA, NENE COURT, THE EMBANKMENT WELLINGBOROUGH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE NN8 1LD

38

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Tea & Coffee Merchants bristol-twenty.co.uk sales@bristol-twenty.co.uk 0843 557 4669

show preview Are you going west?

The West Country’s food and drink showcase for the trade pitches again up in Exeter

T

he South West is rightly famed for its award-winning food and drink, and the return of West Country trade show The Source in February provides an opportunity to see a lot of it under one roof.

Taking place in Exeter’s Westpoint Exhibition Centre on February 10-11, the show is a one-stop shop for food businesses.

You can discover new products, source interesting ingredients, meet local and national food and drink producers, kit out a kitchen and find essential services from EPoS to business support.

Around 170 exhibitors will be on hand, including 100 members of the

New exhibitors Sweet Cumin Littlestone Coffee Roasters Bad Boy Chilli Co Teatonics Beyond Sauce Gin Jar Rocktails Emal Brewery Fravocado The Cornish Pudding Co Honest Food AJS Bakery UK Curio Spirits Company

food group Taste of the West and representatives from Food & Drink Devon. Returning faces include Chesil Smokery, Lyme Bay Winery, Favis of Salcombe, Styles Farmhouse Ice Cream, Bradley’s Juices and confectioner Elizabeth Shaw.

A key part of any trade show lies in spotting innovation, novel products and the rising stars that will help independent retailers differentiate themselves from the competition.

Among the stands is the Newcomers section, introducing 19 producers new to the show. These include Fravocado, a Dawlish-based start-up which has launched a gluten-, dairy- and guilt-free avocado ice-cream, and a Cornish artisan distillery called Curio Sprits Company that makes rock samphire gin and cardamom vodka. There will also be frozen juice cocktail pouch producer Rocktails, Teatonics, Littlestone Coffee Roasters, Bad Boy Chilli Co, gluten-free frozen sauce producer Beyond Sauce, Ancient Romeinspired Emal Brewery and Indian ready-meals from Sweet Cumin.

One of the other highlights of the event will be the Demo Kitchen, a theatre for learning tips and tricks from leading chefs and gleaning inspiration from foodservice experts.

and brand strategy to 12 businesses in the South West.

Running alongside The Source is the Westcountry Tourism Conference, bringing together leading tourism businesses and industry experts for two half-day events, covering topics from increasing profitability to boosting visitor numbers, and adding value to the brand.

Whether you are looking for a special ingredient for the menu, a unique product for your shop, or essential equipment for your kitchen, organiser Hale Events says the show “will both inspire you and help your business grow”.

The line-up this year includes Matthew Norton, head chef at River Cottage Canteen Plymouth, Mark Evans of Tierra Kitchen in Lyme Regis and development chef Richard Hunt of the Devon Scone Company.

South West Chef of the Year Professional and Young Professional winners Jamie Rogers and James Mason will also be on hand to pass on their expertise and inspire the audience on how to use local ingredients.

The show will also see the launch of The Seed Fund Academy, a professional development mentoring programme offering courses such as finance, funding,

www.sourcetradeshow.co.uk

NEED TO KNOW Where and when?

Westpoint Exhibition Centre, Exeter EX5 1DJ; Wednesday 10 - Thursday 11 February, 2016 How do I get there?

Westpoint Exhibition Centre is located a mile from M5 Junction 30 on Sidmouth Road. An hourly train service runs to Exeter from London Waterloo. Exeter Airport is located 3 miles from the city centre.

How do I register?

Pre-register by visiting www.sourcetradeshow.co.uk or call the ticket hotline on 01934 733433 Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

39

Need to get the stamp of Approval?

Come and visit the SALSA team at The Source Trade Show, Exeter on Stand H36 and take your first steps to a successful SALSA

SALSA - The food safety certification scheme for the UK’s smaller producers

T: 01295 724248

E: info@salsafood.co.uk

W: www.salsafood.co.uk

New Spring/Summer Brochure out now!!

Come and meet the team, we’ll be at the following shows…

Sample our award winning handmade pies, quiches, cakes and delectable Italian desserts made to order using fresh West Country ingredients. Visit us on Stand D26 at The Source Show, Westpoint Exeter 10th - 11th February for a tasty treat!

We’ll be on stand A44

We’ll be on stand 19

We’ll be on stand 4300

Telephone: 01837 53601 · email: mail@okemoor.co.uk

www.okemoor.com

Seventeen Great Taste awards won since 2010 40

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Call: 01452 225175 Email: hello@gorgeousfoodcompany.co.uk Order Online: www.gorgeousfoodcompany.co.uk

Sunday 19 June 11am-4pm Monday 20 June 9.30am-4pm Halls 1 & 2, Yorkshire Event Centre HG2 8QZ

All good things come in small packages

Featuring this year: • Feed the Dragon: producers pitch to big-name food buyers • Cracking Christmas: workshop for retailers wanting to maximise sales • Expert advice & support from the Guild of Fine Food • Great Taste: sample awardwinning food & drink • FineFoodLive! Theatre: demos & tutored tastings

Who should attend: Buyers from delis, farm shops, food halls, garden centres Chefs, pubs, restaurant and hotel owners, café and coffee shops Butchers, bakers, grocers and gift shop owners

Harrogate Fine Food Show combines both first-time and established brands. As a visitor you will meet new producers and taste exciting new products that will have never been seen before at a food trade show.

Exhibitors can enjoy meeting new customers from retail and food service sectors, as well as buyers from well-established food halls and farm shops across the UK.

“

There is so much innovation in food and drink across the UK, so the show plays an important role in getting new products in front of buyers.

”

Adrian Boswell, Selfridges & Co

“

We’ve been coming to Harrogate Fine Food Show for many years and that says it all really. We come because it works for our business.

”

Felicity Hall, Bramley and Gage

To exhibit at Harrogate Fine Food Show 2016 contact Sally Coley on 01747 825200 Register for your free visitor ticket at www.gff.co.uk/harrogate Easy access and free parking for both exhibitors and visitors. Under 18s will not be admitted. Students by prior arrangement only.

www.gff.co.uk |

@guildoffinefood | #harrogateffs

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January-February 2016 路 Vol.17 Issue 1

equipment & services for producers

Get kitted out FFD takes a look at the kit and expertise available to artisan producers Farleygreene has the solution for small artisan producers looking to safeguard the quality of their powder ingredients – the Sievmaster 200-S Artisan sieve.

This 200mm diameter unit is designed to sit on small containers or even mixing bowls and allows the user to pour their ingredients through an electrically powered vibratory screen. It plugs into a domestic power supply and is light enough to hang on a wall bracket.

The sieve unit is supplied with three mesh screens for fine, medium and coarse products and it can even be used for liquid filtration.

It also strips down for cleaning without the need for any tools and Farleygreene offers a ‘try before you buy’ service at no cost.

While many artisan charcuterie, meat and cheese producers use vacuum pouches now, there is still the issue of a product deteriorating once the consumer has opened it. Spanish firm Papeles El Carmen has solved this problem by creating a new vacuum pouch for its Sacovitta range, which features a third layer with a selfadhesive strip to keep food fresh for longer.

www.hillsdesign.co.uk www.olivermoinet.co.uk

www.sacovitta.com www.papeleselcarmen.es

Photographer Sophie Carson has been working with food producers to showcase their products for the last 10 years. Her recent clients includes a trio of Great Tastewinners: Martins Meats, rapeseed oil producer Cotswold Gold and fruit vinegar specialist Womersley Foods. Carson can shoot for a variety of media, including marketing material, websites, catalogues and display advertising. www.sophiecarson.co.uk

www.farleygreene.com

Organic soup and meal pot specialist Rod and Ben’s became one of the first producers in the UK to install new labour-saving technology from Advanced Dynamics to help de-stack its pots and tubs.

Pack Leader’s automatic pot dropper, exclusively available from Advanced Dynamics, removes manual intervention by ensuring a fast, uninterrupted flow of containers through filling production lines.

This machinery is combined with a Pack Leader PL-501D wrap-around labeller specifically designed for conical pots to ensure accurate automated labelling. The pot dropper is suitable for hot or cold food, even ice cream. www.advanceddynamics.co.uk

Kingscroft Logistics has expanded its production facility in Irvine, North Ayrshire, and is now able to offer an improved bespoke gift packaging service.

The company can provide orders in both small and large quantities and new machinery allows it greater flexibility for making gift boxes to a client’s exact specifications. This can be offered on small or large quantities depending on client requirements. www.kingscroftlogistics.co.uk

Moravek’s CW400 inline carbonator and semi-automatic counter pressure bottle filling machine is widely used for small scale, low volume production of all drinks products.

Somerset’s Bradley’s Juice, which specilaises in single variety apple juice, is one of the latest Moravek customers to install this line. Another recent client is Preston-based Morrow Brothers, which has opened a new contract bottling plant to keep up with the rapid expansion of the craft brewing industry. www.moravekinternational.com

When it was looking to launch its Breakfast & Tea Time boxes of individually portioned preserves, Kitchen Garden Foods turned to Hills Design. The boxes, which feature illustrations by Oliver Moinet, house either strawberry jam or Seville orange maramalade and have been designed with both breakfast buffets and café countertops in mind.

For East Sussex’s Sedlescombe Vineyard, sugar content and pH is “paramount” to creating its award-winning wines.

Winemaker and owner Roy Cook uses a digital refractometer to monitor his grapes’ ripeness for the best possible harvest and uses a high precision EcoSense pH-PEN to strike the right balance between acidity and sweetness in his wines.

Both items were supplied

by UK instrument maker Bellingham + Stanley via its on-line shop, which also carries precision thermometers, data loggers and an array of instrumentation for artisan food and drink producers. www.refractopmetershop.com

Amberley Labels has deployed the latest olive oil resistant technology in labelling supplied to Selfridges.

The Dorsetbased company discovered the self-adhesive Tintoretto Gesso greaseproof paper when conducting research for a cosmetics firm but it has proved to be the perfect solution for the department store’s bottles of extra virgin olive oil.

The ecological pure cellulose paper is uncoated, felt-marked and resistant even to the most aggressive oils. www.amberley.net

Pont Packaging is now supplying manufacturer York Specialty Foods with a distinctive range of mini jam jars after meeting the company at a major food trade show earlier this year.

The Wheldrake-based company – which produce the Mercers of Yorkshire range as well as lines for the Women’s Institute brand and own label products for independent retailers – has already placed orders for 660,000-plus units from Pont’s artisan food jars range. It favours Pont’s white glass 41ml mini jam jars as well as its 300ml panelled food jars. www.ponteurope.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

43

SORBA-FREEZE Sorba-Freeze Ltd, Unit 5, Girdleness Trading Estate, Girdleness Road, Aberdeen AB1 8DG, Scotland Tel 01224 894417 Email info@sorbafreeze.com www.sorbafreeze.com

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).30)2%$ 0!#+!').'

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January-February 2016 ¡ Vol.17 Issue 1

Visit our website www.sorbafreeze.com

SPOTLIGHT YOUR GREAT TASTE

AWARD-WINNING FOOD & DRINK IN-STORE BOOK

GREAT TASTE 2015-16

COVETED to THE MOST Your GuideOD & DRINK AWARDS FO FINE

Join hundreds of independent fine food shops around the UK promoting Great Taste award-winners on their shelves during February and March. At a time of year when sales can be slow, introduce your customers to thousands of Great Taste award-winning products, many of which you already stock.

To help you get started the Guild of Fine Food will send you a promotion pack free of charge, including:

A

O

F

OSTS DELS able

products 37 MUST-TRY featurING 2

Posters to display in-store O 100 copies of Great Taste book to give away to your customers O Great Taste apron O Branded bunting O Window sticker for your shop door

To sign up for your free promotion pack contact claire.powell@gff.co.uk or call 01747 825200 This promotion is for retail members of the Guild of Fine Food only

Order while stocks last

www.gff.co.uk |

@greattasteawards |

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

/greattasteawards

`

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.

a

Matthew Drennan, former editor of delicious. and aspiring deli owner

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 15-16 2016.

Contact jilly.sitch@gff.co.uk for more details and an application form.

Call us to find out more on 01747 825200 www.gff.co.uk/training

HR4UK.com The Premier HR Solution

www.gff.co.uk |

@guildoffinefood Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

45

+44 (0) 1494 530182 www.hydropac.co.uk sales@hydropac.co.uk

Manufacturers of insulated shipping boxe sa

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“We can help you label every step of the way, manually, semi and fully automatically”

Proudly supplying British made packaging equipment and labelling machines for 50 years 1964 – 2014

A unique range of plastic food packaging Tamper evident and film seal ranges injection moulded in PP 25ml to 5000ml size range in round, square, oval and rectangle Available from stock in transparent PP Reliable lead times and service - sensible minimum order size Norpak Ltd, 3 Mitre Court, Cutler Heights Lane, Bradford. W. Yorks., BD4 9JY Tel: 01274 681022. Enquiries to info@norpakltd.com www.norpakltd.com

46

January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

Visit www.innavisions.com or call us for a brochure TEL: 01886 832283

EMAIL: nick.wild@innavisions.com

shelf talk

products, promotions & people

Divine Deli rings in new year with host of additions

The new additions include condiments from Mr Trotters, Spanish ceramics and olive wood products

By MICHAEL LANE

Divine Deli has added a number of lines to its range of non-food items and has also added a Scottish condiment-maker to the line-up of producers it distributes.

The Rochdale-based business has added three heart-shaped boards to its range of olive wood products, which are sustainably produced in Tunisia. Available in three sizes – 18x15cm (RRP £9.99), 21x18cm (£12.99) and 24x21cm (£14.99) – these boards can be used both as kitchenware or for serving food.

Trotters Independent Condiments are the newest addition to the stable of products carried by Divine Deli. Uncle Allan’s chutney, hot pepper jelly, Italianstyle mostarda and sweet pepper dipping sauce all come in cases of 6 jars (280g-300g, RRP £3.99 each), as do the Scottish producer’s mojito marmalade and A Bloody Shame, a vodka-laced chutney based on Bloody Mary cocktails.

Meanwhile, Divine Deli has also boosted its Signature range of Spanish painted ceramics with the addition of a large 42 cm platter (RRP £79.99), which is

recommended as a table centre piece, in a range of designs.

It has also added large and small jugs (19cm- and 12cm-high, RRPs £35.99 and £19.99 respectively) in its Lemons, Coloured Fish, Blue & White Fish and Flowers designs.

The 9th volume of Divine Deli’s brochure is out now and contains a number of other new launches, including gift sets from Asian sauce producer Karimix and nuts in honey from The Wooden Spoon Preserving Company, as well as an established range of ceramics, bread dippers and brie bakers.

FOX FEELS THE HEAT: The producer behind beetroot ketchup has come up with a hot version of its flagship product that it says will “gently raise an eyebrow rather than blow your socks off”. Foraging Fox hot beetroot ketchup (RRP £3.49) features two heat sources – chilliinfused beetroot and horseradish – that create a “complex and sophisticated” flavour that can be deployed at BBQs or stirred into a Bloody Mary.

www.divinedeli.com

www.foragingfox.com

Now that Dryanuary has drawn to a close… ...ARABELLA MILEHAM and MICHAEL LANE round-up the latest drinks for your alcohol section Cumbria’s Eden Brewery is adding the limited edition Psycho beer brand it launched in the autumn to its permanent range. Among the Hitchcock-inspired beers is Hop Rocket Pale Ale – made with hops from Britain, the USA and New Zealand – as well as a dry hopped pilsner, a wheat beer called Juniper Wit and a 9.1%ABV aged beer called Revenge. Planned launches for 2016 include a saison called Rebel Rhubarb, a chocolate orange stout named Mocha Madness and a raspberry fruit beer. www.edenbrewery.com

Seedlip Drinks has had to quadruple production of its nonalcoholic distilled spirit to keep up with demand. Launched in Selfridges late in 2015, Seedlip (RRP

£29.99, 70cl) is made using botanicals that include oak bark, allspice, cardamom and lemon. Each one is distilled individually in Germany before being blended in the UK. Founder Ben Branson wants to move production to his family’s arable farm in Lincolnshire and plans to develop two more “grown-up” nonalcoholic drinks this year. www.seedlipdrinks.com

London game restaurant Mac & Wild has launched a range of handcrafted ready-to-drink cocktails that incorporate foraged Scottish herbs and botanicals. The line-up includes The Forager (Glenkinchie 12-year-

old malt, pine tincture, heather honey & barrel aged bitters), The Ginger Laddie (Bruichladdich Classic Laddie and Port Charlotte Islay whisky, ginger, oloroso sherry, orange and sweet vermouth) and Tam’s Tears (Tanqueray No. 10 gin, lemon verbena, wild nettle and dry vermouth). www.macandwild.com/cocktails

The Sweet Potato Spirit Co has developed a range of premium spirits and liqueurs all made in East Anglia by triple-distilling sweet potatoes.

Moonshine and spiced rum (both RRP £29.95) and Orangecello and raspberry liqueur (both RRP £15.95) all come in 50cl bottles. A gift box of 4x5cl miniatures is also available. www.thesweetpotatospiritcompany. com

Hot on the heels of its successful Rock Rose gin, the most northerly distillery in mainland Britain is now making vodka. Dunnet Bay Distillery’s Holy Grass Vodka(700ml, RRP £34) is distilled with (of course) holy grass and infused with the vapour of Highland apples for a “delicate and fresh vodka with a creamy smooth finish”. www.rockrosegin.co.uk

Produced with a unique blend of 24 botanicals, Surrey’s Silent Pool gin is described as “juniper-driven with floral layers of lavender and chamomile”. The gin also offers up notes of citrus, kafir lime and local honey and comes in a 700ml aquagreen bottle (RRP £34.99). www.silentpooldistillers.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

47

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January-February 2016 路 Vol.17 Issue 1

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shelf talk

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CHEF’S SELECTION Top chefs tell CLARE HARGREAVES their deli essentials

Chris Harrod Chef-owner, The Whitebrook, Monmouthshire, Wales www.thewhitebrook.co.uk

Diverse lives up to name with 2016 catalogue

By MICHAEL LANE

Jerky made from discarded fruit and energy bars that contain insects are just some of the new products available in Diverse Fine Food’s new catalogue.

The Somerset-based distributor’s latest line-up for independent retailers features some 45 additional producers.

Crobar by Gathr is a natural energy bar made with protein-rich cricket flour as well as nuts, seeds and fruit. The two dairy- and glutenfree flavours – cacao & cricket flour and peanut & cricket flour – are

available to retailers in cases of 12 for £17.52.

Another new arrival, Snact, makes healthy fruit snacks from surplus produce. Made in the UK with predominantly British ingredients, Snact’s Fruit Jerky (case of 20, £12) is vegan, gluten-free and contains less than 65kcal per bag.

As well as beers from craft brewer The Wild Beer Co, Diverse has also listed 100% natural snack bars from Squirrel Sisters and sugarfree cold brew coffee from producer Point Blank. www.diversefinefood.co.uk

SUB-SAHARAN SPREADS: Bim’s Kitchen has launched two new Soil Association-certified organic nut butters that its says are the first of their kind. Made in Wales, African baobab & peanut butter (RRP £4.75) and African tigernut, coconut & cashew butter (RRP £5.75) both come in 190g glass jars and are gluten-free, as well as suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Cases of 6x190g are available from distributors Cotswold Fayre and Blas ar Fwyd. www.bimskitchen.com

Raised in Worcestershire, Harrod started his career with Paul Gaylor at The Lanesborough before working for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons from 1996-2000. He subsequently opened Collette’s at The Grove in Hertfordshire, before founding and opening The Whitebrook in September 2013 where, 11 months later, he won a Michelin star.

Drury & Alldis English apple balsamic vinegar www.druryandalldis.co.uk

This vinegar, made in Thornwood in Essex, is wonderful for pickling foraged ingredients, such as pine buds in the spring or nasturtium buds later in the year. We also use it to pickle kohlrabi, which we serve with flaky white crabmeat.

You get the pickled flavour, but also hints of candied apple and toffee. It’s a rounded vinegar with a rich balsamic flavour and consistency, so it makes a great English alternative to Italian vinegars. We try to use just British ingredients at the restaurant so it’s good to find a vinegar that’s made in the UK.

Parva Farm vineyard apple & elderflower mead www.parvafarm.com

Tintern’s Parva Farm vineyard make this mead with their own Seyval blanc grape and mix it with apple juice from their own orchards and foraged elderflowers. We use it for sauces, for example with suckling pig or in a light sauce to accompany pine-roasted asparagus and hogweed in spring. It’s also great with chestnuts and pumpkin to go with confit duck leg.

Trealy Farm Monmouthshire air-dried ham

Hillfarm Oils releases first batch of honey

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Hillfarm Oils has diversified with a new honey range, which is produced from hives on its Suffolk arable farm.

The initial batch of Hillfarm Honey, which is available in set and runny varieties (454g, RRP £4.75), amounts to just 800 jars that will be sold locally and available online.

However, the cold-pressed rapeseed oil producer, which works with beekeepers to place hives around its Suffolk farm, is looking to boost honey production during 2016.

Hillfarm Oil founder Sam Fairs said the move had stemmed from

customers’ enquiries about how the arable farm worked with the environment.

“It’s important to demonstrate our commitment to caring for the bees and other beneficial insects on our farm,” he said. “This clearly demonstrates that, although we are a commercial and modern farming business, we do work hard to look after the environment in which we live and work.”

The farm produced its first culinary cold-pressed oils in 2004 and now produces a range of rapeseed oil mayonnaises, hand wash and lotions.

www.trealyfarm.com

Trealy produce this ham by smoking rare-breed pork silverside over beech wood. It’s lightly cured, so it tastes a bit nutty. I use it in canapés, like braised salsify wrapped with Monmouthshire ham and coated in breadcrumbs, which I serve with a ground elder mayonnaise. It’s also good to flavour a sauce, for example with halibut. I adore Trealy’s products because their seasoning is superb, the meat is top quality, and it’s all British.

Kingstone Brewery No1 Premium stout www.kingstonebrewery.co.uk

I love the rich, dark, malty flavour of this stout, made just down the road in Tintern. I use it in my brown rye bread, along with black treacle. The stout gives it a lovely aroma and depth of flavour. I also make beer-pickled onions, using stout, apple balsamic vinegar, local honey and juniper berries.

They’re lovely with slow-cooked brill and caraway cabbage.

The Preservation Society blackcurrant jam www.the-preservation-society.co.uk

Angharad Underwood, who makes this jam, uses seasonal ingredients from the Wye Valley. I like it because it’s not too sweet and is full of natural flavour. We put the jams on the tables for breakfast. We also use her sirops in cocktails and mocktails – I like the Blissfully Blackcurrant and the Blackberry Bramble.

www.hillfarmoils.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

49

shelf talk what’s new Toffee bar WALKERS NONSUCH www.walkers-nonsuch.co.uk

Specialist toffee maker Walkers Nonsuch has re-launched its fruit & nut toffee bar. The 100g bars, which have to be whacked by the consumer before opening,

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neighbouring Suffolk to launch beer-flavoured crisps. Made with Adnams’ Ghost Ship pale ale, the crisps (40g) are fittingly described as “hauntingly good snacks” and are being pitched to both retailers and bars.

Mexican sauces COOL CHILE CO www.coolchile.co.uk

The London-based Mexican food manufacturer and supplier has launched three ambient sauces

Collection premium gift chocolate range. The hand-painted, square, wooden boxes are made by a community of artists in Kashmir, India, that the Norfolk chocolatemaker has worked with for more than 14 years. The new boxes (RRP £19.99) feature the two most popular flavours of Booja-Booja chocolate truffle: Hazelnut and Fine de Champagne.

More crisp flavours TEN ACRE www.tenacresnacks.com

combine the company’s signature creamy toffee with raisins and toasted almonds.

All of Walker’s toffee is glutenfree and free from artificial ingredients.

Drunken olives OLIVES ET AL www.olivesetal.co.uk

Olives Et Al has expanded its Neat & Dirty range with a tequila-infused variety of Siciilian Nocellara olives. The lemon tequila olives are designed to be served straight from the freezer and

in 70g pots (RRP £2.85).

The adobo marinade is recommended for use with lamb while Mexican Buffalo sauce can be added to chicken or vegetarian dishes like macaroni cheese. Mojo de Ajo, a garlic and chilli oil, can be used as a sauce, marinade or dressing, especially with mushrooms or prawns.

New matcha formats TEAPIGS www.teapigs.co.uk

Teapigs’ top selling organic matcha green tea is now available in a single-serve

Inspired by the classic New York deli combo, the latest flavour from Ten Acre – Pastrami in the Rye – is actually suitable for vegans, like all of its other flavours.

The producer’s other new launch is When the Pepper Crack'd, flavoured with black pepper. Both varieties come in 40g and 135g bags (RRPs 69p and £1.89 respectively) and are gluten-, dairy- and MSG-free.

Beer crisps FAIRFIELDS FARM CRISPS www.fairfieldsfarmcrisps.co.uk

Essex-based Fairfields Farm has teamed up with Adnams Brewery in

Cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield has spruced up its biscuit range with four new lines. Its Cracker Bakes (12x100g, trade £29.16) come in multiseed & cracked black pepper and apricot, date & sunflower seed varieties while the Cheese Squares (12x85g, trade £23.28) flavours are West Country Farmhouse Cheddar & mustard and Shropshire Blue & sweet onion. format for ease of use. Each box (RRP £11.90) contains 14 sachets that hold a daily portion of the matcha powder, which can be stirred into water, juice or milk. The tea company is also offering the powder in 500g bags for cafés and catering firms.

BOOJA-BOOJA www.boojabooja.com

Booja-Booja has unveiled two new designs for its Artist’s

Sweet chilli crisps JUST CRISPS www.justcrisps.co.uk

Sweet chilli is the latest flavour from Staffordshire’s Just Crisps, which are produced on the family farm from skin-on potatoes and rapeseed oil January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

MRS CRIMBLE’S www.mrscrimbles.com

As part of its new range of gluten-free Continental cakes, Mrs Crimble’s has launched two madeleines: classic and chocolate with a rich choc filling.

Both are made in France and recommended for breakfast or

PAXTON & WHITFIELD

Chocolate boxes

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Glutenfree madeleines

Four cheese biscuits www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

used to create ‘dirty’ cocktails.

The range – which also includes lemon gin and lemon vodka varieties – comes in 165g jars with an RRP of £10.

from sister business Just Oil. They come in 40g and 150g bags (RRPs 75p and £1.95 respectively).

Just Oil has also re-launched its mayonnaise in classic and garlic flavours.

at any time of day with a cup of tea or coffee. The producer has also recently added puff pastry cheese straws to its line-up of gluten-free baked goods.

Free-from fudge BLACKTHORN FOODS www.blackthornfoods.co.uk

To meet growing demand, Northern Irish fudge maker Blackthorn Foods has created a range of non-dairy, gluten-free fudge in 90g packs under its Melting Pot brand. The fudge, which is also soya-free, comes in four flavours: Madagascan vanilla, chocolate, stem ginger & chocolate and chocolate & orange. batches by hand.

FS&D Digest 236x321 aw.qxp_Layout 1 14/01/2016 09:12 Page 1

• • • • • • • • • • •

BUTCHERS FARM SHOPS FOOD HALLS VILLAGE SHOPS / LOCAL STORES DELICATESSENS GARDEN CENTRES BAKERS CHEESEMONGERS FISHMONGERS GREENGROCERS CAFES

Join us for the Farm Shop & Deli Awards winners announcements including the prestigious Retailer of the Year on Monday 18th April

Register for free at

farmshopanddelishow.co.uk @FarmShop_Deli #FSD2016 This is a trade event. No under 16s will be admitted.

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Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

51

shelf talk

Doing a proper job The Mitchell family has built up Rumwell Farm Shop from a humble potato shed into a thriving retail operation but has always stayed to true to its home-grown philosophy. MICHAEL LANE meets co-owner Anne Mitchell.

Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL LANE

W

e’ve barely sat down in Rumwell Farm Shop’s striking curved café when co-owner Anne Mitchell is out of her chair and on her knees trying to adjust the feet of our table to get rid of a slight wobble that has irked her.

Shortly afterwards, her attention has turned from the floor to the café’s sloped ceiling, as she tells me about the special acoustic material that dampens the noise and makes for a calmer dining experience.

Throughout my visit to this Somerset retailer, which sits on the busy A38 between Taunton and Wellington, there are countless examples of this desire to do things properly.

“I think retailing is all about trying to get it right,” she tells FFD. “And then trying to provide people with something that they don’t necessarily know they want, but you can interest them with when they come in.”

Mitchell and her husband David – who she says has “tremendous vision” – have grown their business from the farm gate into an 8,000 sq ft retail operation over the course of nearly two decades.

While there are more than 60 staff, Rumwell remains very much a family affair. A good deal of what is sold is supplied by the Mitchells themselves – including pork reared by their son James – or produced on-site in one of several kitchen areas visible from the shopfloor.

A self-described “people person”, Anne still does shifts in the café and the shop when management duties will allow her while daughter-in-law Sophie also works in the business and younger son Jack, who has a full-time job in rural property, chips in during the year’s busy periods.

The latest addition to the Rumwell site is a 100-cover café that has been full and queued out the door almost every lunchtime since it opened last May. Even in an era when fully formed mega farm shops seem

52

Anne Mitchell and her husband David oversee an 8,000 sq ft site with a recently opened café

to spring up overnight, it’s an impressive extension both in scope and design.

Rumwell’s development to this point is especially remarkable when you consider that there wasn’t really a blueprint for farm retailing when the Mitchells opened up the front of their potato store in 1997 to sell direct to consumers.

“Lots of people that come to FARMA conferences are starting out

“We’ve expanded because we’ve needed to. It’s been very gradual and very… natural.”

Given the demand for the eggs from their own farmhouse and a fall in potato wholesale prices, opening a shop made sense but Anne, a nurse, and David, a chartered accountant, were already farmers on the side and hadn’t planned to become retailers, too.

The influx of customers meant they had to A lot of wholesalers will offer you be, though. As more and more the possibility of buying things were being and having your label put on them. items requested, so We’ve never believed in that. the shop grew.

First there was local produce (Rumwell has one of with a business this size,” says Anne the largest fruit and veg sections Mitchell. “That would frighten me I’ve seen in a farm shop) then to death, to be honest. the Mitchells began to take the “To start something like this initiative, adding the first of their with that level of investment, you’ve in-house production units, the jam got to be pretty sure of yourself, kitchen. This now makes some 50 haven’t you?

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January-February 2016 · Vol.17 Issue 1

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different lines, including a ginger marmalade that has taken Gold at the World Marmalade Awards.

Rumwell has undergone four major expansions prior to the café. The previous major structural change came in 2006 when the butchery and deli counters were installed but there are always smaller upgrades going on.

Some things haven’t worked, like the fish counter that they just couldn’t find a staffing solution for.

The space has since been converted into Rumwell’s ‘sweet shop’ area.

What have been roaring success are the on-site production kitchens and these were boosted, six years ago, when the Mitchells decided to remove the windows from them.

Now, whether it’s chutney in the jam kitchen, pastries in the deli or sausages behind the butchers’ counter, customers can watch and speak to staff as they prepare the veritable array of Rumwell’s

products, promotions & people products. It even makes its own ready-meals – “They’ve not got any junk in them, they are just proper home-cooked food” – for sale from freezer chests in the centre of the shop.

The masterstroke is the positioning of the shop’s bakery hatch by the entrance. When I arrived, an enticing waft of ginger cake greeted me and customers were frequently asking staff what was in the oven.

“A lot of wholesalers will offer you the possibility of buying things and having your label put on them.

We’ve never believed in that,” says Mitchell.

“That’s why we have all our kitchens open so people can see that it is genuine. In the early days we called ourselves ‘the genuine farm shop’ because we really do what we say we do and we don’t want to deceive people.”

Although doing things in-house has obvious margin benefits for the business, Mitchell says that there’s more to it than pure profit.

For a start, different staff work at different speeds and levels of skill and there is also shelf life testing during development to factor into the costs of a product. But, she says, these shop-produced lines also have a value that isn’t just monetary.

“It’s about more than just the margin, it’s about how people perceive the business and the fact that they love that we are making so much ourselves,” she says. “So there’s two sides to it. Yes, of course the margin’s got to be right, it’s got to be commercially viable but there is that USP aspect too.”

She adds that having this point of difference is vital given the number of supermarket shopping options that lie a short trip east or west. It certainly helped ward off the most recent competition – a Waitrose that opened in Wellington in 2010.

“When it first opened we did notice it because a lot of our customers would be Waitrose customers,” says Mitchell. “We lost TOCKS RM ’S MUST-S a certain amount of RUMWELL FA ggots rm Shop fa people but then we Rumwell Fa ef started to see them rm Shop be Rumwell Fa s come back. I suppose it’s ck mince pa usage the things like the readyrm Shop sa Rumwell Fa meals, the jams, the packs chutneys, the marmalade. e rm Shop larg Rumwell Fa Waitrose can’t do that.” eggs The categories and sey Sea Salt products that Rumwell Pipers Angle can’t take care of itself are crisps g pork cracklin filled in by a host of wellAwfully Posh known brands – crackers ocolate Miles hot ch from The Fine Cheese olives Co, tomato ketchup and Self-service es mayonnaise from Stokes, anish pastri Field Fare D Pipers crisps – and a good my ddings crea Country Pu deal of local suppliers, d ar st cu vanilla especially when it comes to

iltong Somerset B d flour strong brea Wessex Mill o ketchup Stokes tomat

beers, ciders and spirits.

The selection of bought-in items in the shop is constantly under review and being refreshed – the deli manager is currently sourcing some more Continental cheeses for the counter while Mitchell is soon to be hitting a London trade show for more gift lines.

Although updating the offer is crucial to keeping those regular

customers interested, Mitchell also uses it as an opportunity to engage her employees.

“All our staff take a share in ordering – we don’t have a central buyer,” she says. “Sometimes I wonder whether we should but it actually empowers the staff. They are responsible for certain suppliers so they then get to watch what is selling and what isn’t.”

The shop benefits from having more eyes sifting out poor sellers but motivating the staff is paramount, especially when you’ve got 64 (with over a quarter full-time) and they are so vital to the Mitchells’ business model.

“We try and compete [with supermarkets] on price but you can’t always do that,” she says. “What you can compete on is customer service. I always tell the staff this because without good customer service, whatever your product is, people won’t come back.”

While the loyal following demonstrates Mitchell’s theory in action, the staff also seem to enjoy working at Rumwell. Both the shop’s assistant manager Andrew Morrison and the jam kitchen manager Liz Brown have been with the business almost from the beginning. Mitchell says she generally goes for a certain profile – ladies who have had children and are looking for jobs that involve social interaction.

There are exceptions to the rule, like Hannah Studley, who started part-time at 16 and is now the deli manager at 24, but Mitchell tends to find that younger staff either don’t stick around long enough or haven’t got the required life skills for the job.

She acknowledges that hiring inexperienced teenagers to deal with the “phenomenal” popularity of the café made for a stressful few months, but now that her team is in place, Rumwell is starting to see the benefits.

As well as having another outlet for wastage and a means of showcasing the shop’s stock, the café has also broadened the customer base, traditionally at the older end of the spectrum.

While the older regulars come in their droves, there has also been an increase in the number of young families and summer tourists from the M5 (the Wellington junction is just five minutes away).

With the café not even a year old, Anne Mitchell says that – other than an outdoor play area to satisfy newer clientele – she hasn’t got anything major planned. Although, she adds, she can’t speak for her husband, who may have something up his sleeve.

Whatever the Mitchells do next, you can expect that it will be done right. www.rumwellfarmshop.com

Vol.17 Issue 1 · January-February 2016

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January-February 2016 路 Vol.17 Issue 1