FFD December 2016

www.gff.co.uk |

December 2016 · Vol 17 Issue 10

@guildoffinefood

STEFANO VALLEBONA 23 “A lot of importers are using Brexit as an excuse to raise prices by 10-20%”

NORWEGIAN WHO? How a AW S ARD little-known Scandinavian blue became 2016’s World Champ – p14

SEAFOOD SECRETS 45 Fishmongers Ashley and Ruth Major on selling fish and shellfish

DELI OF THE MONTH 52 With Andrew Wickham of Sussex deli-producer Weald Smokery

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ANALYSIS: RISING IMPORT PRICES

BEAUTIFUL BALSAMICS Bringing you the latest speciality vinegars

SCOTLAND’S SPECIALITY FOOD SHOW CHOCOLATE & CONFECTIONERY RETAIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES

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.

2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10 2 De cember Switzerland.

Naturally.

Castle of Gruyères

Born in Switzerland in 1115. www.gruyere.com

Cheeses from Switzerland. www.cheesesfromswitzerland.com

contents news analysis: import prices world cheese awards cheesewire cut & dried

p4 p11 p15 p21 p29

opinion I WONDER IF SANTA CLAUS, before revving up his reindeer and jetting off through the skies on Christmas Eve, will this year give himself a little in-flight safety reminder.

If so, “adopt the brace position” would be a good place to start, because the risk of turbulence, once the last of the presents is delivered, looks considerable.

As FFD goes to press, traders around our West Country homeland are in that strange pre-Christmas lull. The big summer spenders have gone back to the City and the party season hasn’t started. My Sunday night drinking-hole in Lyme Regis – almost unbearably packed in summer – has been tumbleweed-quiet.

Normally I wouldn’t worry, but this year I’m wondering what I’m seeing is the ghost of January and February to come.

At another of my regular haunts, the seafront at less-fashionable Seaton, just along the coast from Lyme, I noticed a new blackboard outside one of the better cafés. It was a message to customers, explaining that, from December, many suppliers would be putting their prices up, “mainly because of Brexit”, and inevitably that would mean a rise in the price of a latte and Danish too.

In some ways this is good. Neither food producers nor smaller retailers or cafés can continue to swallow the cost increases that have followed June’s referendum. It’s time we got used to a bit of inflation again (just a bit, mind).

As Andrew Don reports in this issue (see p11), the media fun-and-games about Unilever’s price hike on Marmite in October did us all a favour, because it put the issue of rising production and distribution costs under the public’s noses in a way they could comprehend.

But the flipside is that – certainly in our part of the world, and probably in yours – wages are not going to keep pace with inflation. When the fun and frolics are over and we return to work in January, how will consumers spend their diminishing real disposable income?

December should be good for everyone. Seasoned retailers know it will be followed by a quiet few months. But I don’t think we’ve faced such an uncertain New Year for well over a decade. When recession hit in 2008, we knew what to expect: we sighed deeply and got ready to tighten those belts again.

This time, I don’t think it’s about belt-tightening. I think it’s about really thinking through what will get shoppers to part with their money, what will keep them shopping in indie stores and eateries, and then delivering it with confidence and style.

We’re relatively lucky: the fine food shopper may be careful but they don’t usually stop spending altogether and we know there’s a continuing drive among younger consumers for authenticity and provenance.

Delivering that clearly and enthusiastically could be the secret of a prosperous 2017.

The risk of turbulence, once the last of the presents is delivered, looks considerable

chocolate & confectionery p31 balsamics p37 scotland’s speciality food show p39 retail equipment & services p41 seafood p45 shelf talk p47

deli of the month

p52

MICK WHITWORTH, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

editors’ choice MICHAEL LANE, DEPUTY EDITOR

Free Spirit fruit juices www.freespiritdrinks.com

p50

Speciality soft drinks are a hard thing to get right.

Established producers aside, most new ranges we see are destined for the supermarkets or the bin. Nasty PET bottles, flimsy plastic wrap, confused branding, dubious ingredients and weak flavour are all common criticisms.

So, our hopes were high when the Free Spirit range, with its sturdy glass bottles and twist caps, arrived in the post.

The branding is simple and has a “craft” feel to it but the messages are clear, although they could probably make more of the ‘not from concentrate’ tucked away on the back.

What’s more, three of the four we tried delivered with their slightly unusual flavour combinations. Watermelon & peach is soft and sweet, while lemon & yuzu is sharp without being wince-inducing and apple, mint & lime offers up an unexpected amount of harmony.

Given their obvious secondary use as mixers, they are being pitched to pubs and restaurants but Free Spirit has made it clear that it is seeking listings only in independent retailers. How refreshing is that?

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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finefoodnews Indies braced for big business rate hikes EDITORIAL editorial@gff.co.uk

Editor & editorial director: Mick Whitworth Deputy editor: Michael Lane Reporter: Andrew Don Art director: Mark Windsor Editorial production: Richard Charnley Contributors: Nick Baines, Bridget Cowan, Clare Hargreaves, Patrick McGuigan, Lynda Searby ADVERTISING advertise@gff.co.uk Sales director: Sally Coley Sales manager: Ruth Debnam Sales executive: Becky Stacey Published by the Guild of Fine Food Ltd Printed by: Blackmore, Dorset Fine Food Digest is published 11 times a year and is available on subscription for £45pa inclusive of post and packing.

© 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.

GENERAL ENQUIRIES Tel: +44 (0) 01747 825200 Fax: +44 (0) 1747 824065 info@gff.co.uk www.gff.co.uk Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB United Kingdom

Managing director: John Farrand Marketing director: Tortie Farrand Operations manager: Karen Price Operations assistant: Claire Powell Project manager: Christabel Cairns Training co-ordinator: Jilly Sitch Circulation manager: Nick Crosley Financial controller: Stephen Guppy Accounts manager: Denise Ballance Accounts assistant: Julie Coates Chairman: Bob Farrand Director: Linda Farrand

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BY ANDREW DON

Farm shops, delicatessens and other speciality food retailers are digesting the implications of their new rateable values which have rocketed in some cases, FFD can reveal.

How much retailers will pay from next April depends on any transitional reliefs that are still to be announced and whether they qualify for small business rate relief (SBBR) or Rural Rate Relief, say rating experts.

“There will still be some people paying big increases next year,”said Michael Mack, managing agent of farm shop association FARMA. He added that some had seen reductions in their rating revaluations of more than 20%.

Mack, referring to a list of farm shops he had in front of him, said 11 had received revaluation reductions of anything from 4% to 22.5%, 41 remained the same and 205 had

Shrewsbury’s Battlefield 1403 has seen its rateable value rocket by 158%

increased.

“The most significant one we’ve got [in value terms] is going from £11,000 to £32,000 – a 191% increase, which takes the shop outside the new 100% SBBR rate relief threshold that takes affect from April.

“We’ve got one going up from £11,000 to

Cornish duo buys pie-maker Okemoor

BY ANDREW DON

Devon’s Okemoor Quality Foods, which has won 17 Great Taste awards for its pies and desserts, has changed hands after 15 years of Ray Wilson and Lynda McKenzie at the helm.

Food industry veterans Mark Khan and Trevor O’Shea have bought the 27-year-old Okehamptonbased business.

Khan and O’Shea own The Cornish Patisserie in Launceston, Cornwall, which manufactures desserts and pies, including cheesecakes, gateaux, roulades, pavlovas and traybakes.

They also own deli and farm shop supplier Grumpies of Cornwall, which specialising in high quality savoury pies made with Cornish ingredients.

Okemoor delivers

De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

between Land’s End, Bristol and Dorset. “We were looking to expand and a lot of Ray’s customers were up in places like the Cotswolds, an area which has great potential, and we liked the quality of the product,” Khan told FFD, adding that there were several product areas that would be explored, including glutenfree desserts, luxury pies and hand-raised pies. www.okemoor.co.uk

Okemoor’s pies have won a host of Great Taste awards

£23,000 and another from £17,000 to £33,000,” said Mack. “You have to make the assumption that it will lead to a big increase in the rates they pay.”

Battlefield 1403, in Shrewsbury, has seen its rateable value climb from £13,750 to £35,500 – an increase of 158%.

Jeremy Jagger,

managing director, estimated the amount he would pay would rise from the current £3,000-£4,000-a-year to more than £7,600-a-year.

David Parker, ratings director at property agent Savills, which administers FARMA, said: “There will be some winners and some losers. We are still doing an analysis. Inevitably there will be some farm shops that see increased rateable values and some will be sizeable increases in rates.”

However, he said transitional relief, or transitional phasing, would cap excessive increase in liability.

“If you’ve seen a 300% increase in your rateable value you are not going to get a 300% increase in rates payable overnight,” he said.

“It’s a can of worms at the moment, a very complicated system and not very many winners at all from it.”

Co-op pledges to up local suppliers in 2017 The Co-op has made a commitment to double the number of local small suppliers it works with to 1,200 by the end of 2017.

It has made the pledge in a five-point charter which sets out principles to foster closer relationships and support for local producers.

The charter also includes an undertaking not to seek exclusivity to help small businesses to grow.

“These are prized local products,” said Co-op retail chief executive Steve Murrells. “We know our customers care about the provenance of their food and are keen to champion British products wherever they can.

“As a community retailer we want to make a difference in the communities we serve,

working with more small suppliers who produce locally loved products to give great British food pride of place on our shelves.”

The retailer’s proposal has been welcomed by both the NFU and food minister George Eustice.

In brief Small producers in the region around Derry, Northern Ireland, will benefit from a research and development centre that has opened in the city’s North West Regional College. Foodovation houses a food science lab, development and production kitchens, a photography studio, meeting rooms and a barista training school.

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A cross-party group of MPs representing vineyards has called for greater government support because of the “extensive” contribution the UK wine industry makes to the economy.

They want to see more investment in training and skills, and help to promote English wines in the domestic market and beyond.

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Pipers Farm has closed its shop in St Leonard’s, Exeter, after 25 years in business to focus on the company’s online meat sales, which it said are going “from strength to strength”.

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Caper delivery service goes live in London

BY ANDREW DON

A new artisan delivery enterprise that initially went on test with friends and family during the summer has disclosed its three-year plan to expand throughout the UK and beyond.

Caper, which is accessed via an app, said it differs from other services, such as Hubbub, because its focus is on smaller quantities for those wanting a meal for that night or over the weekend rather than a big shop.

While other services collect items from several stores and encourage larger orders, Caper charges £3.95 for delivery and wants to foster personal contact between retailer and customer. Delivery can be arranged in pre-bookable slots or “asap” – within an hour.

The service is initially available in London Zone 1 and 2 and participating retailers include Partridges,

Consumers can order from small shops via Caper’s app

La Cave à Fromage, Rippon Cheese, Brompton Food Market, The Continental Pantry, Sourced Market and Parson’s Nose.

Caper is trialling with Daylesford Organic and it is in talks with “several others”.

Co-founder Katherine Stennett, a former banker, said the current service was billed as “the best food in London at your fingertips”

Macknade to focus on greengrocery as it eyes up a second store

BY ANDREW DON

Macknade Fine Foods of Faversham has vowed to give its greengrocery extra bite as it looks to expand the business to a second site.

Managing director Stefano Cuomo said the team had been discussing the importance of greengrocery after seeing “some significant increases” in the department’s sales.

Cuomo said there was “real potential” for his business to push greengrocery more strongly against the backdrop of online businesses such as Amazon Fresh trying to find viable ways of delivering such produce.

“The principal part of our business was built on fresh produce from our farm,” he said. “Greengrocery can sometimes get a little bit dull and generic but the opportunity for it in the present climate, especially in the context of bricks and mortar, is exciting.”

Cuomo revealed he

was looking for a second site within 25 minutes of his existing store and greengrocery would play an important role.

He said the business would look to offer produce from mainstream suppliers alongside local ones.

“It’s really putting us at the forefront and trying to put it [greengrocery] back as a core part of our business again.”

Cuomo said he wanted to make greengrocery “interactive” so people could try things and seek information from specialist staff just as they had always done at the deli and other specialist counter.

– quality food that was convenient.

She said that Caper was focused on supporting “great independent artisan suppliers but in a modern, convenient manner”.

She added: “We’ve started in London but in three years we want to be UK-wide if not looking at international expansion.”

The app has curated sections, such as hampers

and gifts, and recipes. “So you can say here’s everything I need for a home-made burger”, Stennett said.

If a product is not available, retailers can contact customers directly and suggest replacements.

“That’s really important because a lot of the reason why people shop with specialists like these is because of the knowledge they have and we didn’t want to lose that through the process,” said Stennett.

“This is something traditional delivery doesn’t do. You are stuck with whatever might turn up.”

David Deaves, divisional manager for retail at La Cave à Fromage, said he pays 17% commission on orders to Caper, which is “quite good”.

He added that it took all the pressure off having to work a back-office programme and ecommerce business from a small shop. www.shopwithcaper.com

Norway conquers the world Gunnar Waagen, of tiny Norwegian artisan producer Tingvollost, poses with the Super Jury at the 29th annual World Cheese Awards, held in San Sebastian in November.

Waagen was a surprise star of the event, thanks to his emotional celebrations when the dairy’s blue cheese, Kraftkar, was named World Champion. For a full report on the awards turn to page 15.

www.macknade.com Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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finefoodnews

Waitrose trends differ from indies’

BY ANDREW DON

Trends that upmarket supermarket group Waitrose has identified appear to have mostly bypassed the smaller end of the market which is experiencing a totally different set of dynamics.

One of the only trends the artisan market recognised in The Waitrose Food and Drink Report 2016 was seaweed, which Waitrose said was “this year’s kale”, although Okemoor Quality Foods director Mark Khan said he was aware of it coming into fashion more than two years ago.

Waitrose’s mention of churros and cactus water provoked raised eyebrows as did coconut flour, bao buns and a “70% increase” in sales of picanha rump streak – although it did not say from what base.

Danny Lidgate, managing director of C Lidgate Butcher and Charcutier, in Holland Park, west London, disputed picanha rump steak was

The retailer says picanha rump steak is trending but independents disagree

a high-flyer. “Rump is the least-selling of the steaks.

We sell more sirloin and ribeye fillets.

“We’re not being inundated with people saying, ‘I must have picanha’. I don’t think there’s massive demand for it,” he said, adding that beef in general is strong as are artisan sausages, poultry

and lamb.

Lady Harriet Hamilton, marketing manager at Apley Farm Shop, one of Shropshire’s top farm shops, agreed with Waitrose that wonky veg was doing particularly well but farm shop customers expected to find these anyway.

“We have them in spades from our own Apley walled garden,” Lady Hamilton said. She also agreed that seeds and grains were doing well. But she queried the cactus water, which she said she had never heard of. “Do you mean cactus as in a prickly plant? That’s incredible.”

Truffle-infused brie and gym meat boxes for people on “paleo diets” were trending, she said. And lamb and bacon are also trending at the farm shop – so much so that it would start selling uncured beef bacon products free of nitrites.

“We will use natural curing agents such as celery powder, rock salt, natural herbs, lime and lemon juice,” said Lady Hamilton.

Wales to stage Great Taste judging sessions Welsh entries to Great Taste 2017 will be judged on home soil, the Welsh Government has announced.

Lesley Griffiths (pictured right), Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Rural Affairs, said a Great Taste judging roadshow in Wales will form part of the eight-week process where thousands of products from the UK and beyond will be assessed.

Griffiths, who announced the news at a celebration event for 2016’s Welsh Great Taste winners, said: “Wales is excited to be hosting the judging of the Welsh entries for the awards in 2017.

“It truly is wonderful to see that so many Welsh food and drink producers have

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Fit for the Queen

been recognised at Great Taste 2016 and it highlights Wales as a country with the highest level of quality and innovation in food and drink production.”

Entries for Great Taste 2017 open for members from January 18, with general entries opening from February 1.

De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

Cryer & Stott has started producing its soft blue cheese, The Duke of Wellington, commercially.

The company previously supplied it exclusively to embassies around the world, after the Queen tasted it during a state visit at the British Embassy in Paris two years ago.

The Allerton Bywater business recently won gold for the blue at the World Cheese Awards.

“If I’d known then what I know now” SALLY YATES, DELISH FARM SHOP & DELICATESSEN, TUXFORD, NOTTS I WAS READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE having been a care home administrator for 10 years, and my husband Chris and I have always loved food and supporting local producers, so when a friend said she had some shop space, we took the opportunity.

Originally we wanted to open a tea room, but with an existing café business next door, a deli seemed the better plan.

This time last year, we got the keys to the deli. It was actually a clothes shop in the front room of an old building. We kept original features like the chandelier and the wooden floors, and we decked it out with wooden crates for shelving. Being in an old building meant there were some constraints. For example, we had to make sure that our chiller was less than 1.5m long so we could get it through the door.

Four weeks later, we were open for business. We are a small deli packed with lots of ranges which we change and expand all the time. Cheese is one of our biggest areas. Local varieties, such as Cote Hill Blue, Dambuster and Flaming Charcoal, are our mainstay but we also stock some Continental cheeses. Home-cooked sausage rolls and quiches from the Yorkshire Bakery are also very popular.

The only category that hasn’t taken off is home baking. With the Great British Bake Off, I had hoped to have a large baking section but this hasn’t worked in our shop.

The big surprise has been online meat and fruit & veg hampers, which account for 75% of our sales.

We knew that being on a little high street there wouldn’t be a huge amount of footfall, but we thought that we could make prepared meals to deliver to people. When there didn’t appear to be much demand for that service, we looked at fruit & veg boxes, and it has grown from there – yesterday I made 45 deliveries.

I think the reason for this success is that we provide a service the supermarkets don’t – everything is fresh and local and people are starting to appreciate that.

One of the challenges of mail order is making sure everything makes it onto the van – once Chris had to do a 30-mile round trip because he had left sausages off an order.

We have been making up the hampers in our kitchen area but we’ve outgrown this set-up and are in the process of signing a lease on an outbuilding we can use as a packing hall. We’ve also taken on another member of staff to work in the shop while I make up and deliver the hampers. Chris still works nights, fulltime as support staff for homeless charities so, between us, we don’t have any spare time.

Our plan for the future is to grow the online side of the business by expanding our customer base and making more use of social media. Ultimately we would like to expand geographically too, perhaps through a franchise type model whereby we would act as the hub for other shops.

We have been making up the hampers in our kitchen area but we’ve outgrown this set-up and are in the process of signing a lease on an outbuilding

INTERVIEW BY LYNDA SEARBY

Amélie

Selection fine de claire

“La perfection”

huitresamelie.com

Best Imported

Food

“ Probably one of the best oysters in the world ”

Indication géographique protégée. Marennes Oléron.

FRANCE Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cvember 2016

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Open for entry Want to know more about food and drink’s most coveted awards? www.gff.co.uk/gta New to Great Taste? Make sure you receive entry information by contacting greattaste@gff.co.uk

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

@greattasteawards |

/greattasteawards

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

new openings Cakeadoodledo café open at Quicke’s Cakeadoodledo café has opened at Quicke’s Home Farm in Newton St Cyres, Devon, in a safari-style tent next to the farm shop at Home Farm.

The café is open for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, six days a week.

The tent used to house Quicke’s own Farm Kitchen but business development manager Joe Farrow said it “wasn’t quite cleaning its face”.

He added: “We are fantastic cheesemakers and very good farmers but probably not quite up to speed with the ins and outs of running a café.” www.quickes.co.uk/ cakeadoodledo-quickes

Cakeadoodledo’s cafe is housed in a tent that used to be Quicke’s Farm Kitchen

Sourced Market sets sites for more stores

BY ANDREW DON

London speciality retailer Sourced Market has targeted becoming a 10-store group by the end of 2018, with several new sites already in the offing across the capital.

Chief executive Ben O’Brien told FFD about the plans on the day it opened its third branch, outside Victoria station at Nova, a new 897,000 sq ft Land Securities development comprising 17 restaurants and three pop-up kiosks.

O’Brien said a smallerformat site would open in Barbican in March which, at just over 1,000 sq ft, will be about half the size of the new branch in Victoria.

He said Sourced Market planned to “make the space work harder” at Barbican, where the offer would be rotated throughout the day.

“You will be able to come in during the morning and get coffee and pastries.

In the evening, it will be much more focused on craft beer and wine and being

Sourced Market’s third outlet is in the new Nova food development outside London’s Victoria station

able to get a bite to eat, and we will squeeze retail in.”

O’Brien added that he expected to exchange contracts, as FFD went to press, for a 2,700 sq ft unit in a building that is still under construction near the Bank of England in the City.

He hopes to open it next September.

“We are starting conversations now about doing a further equity raise in spring next year that

Former Neal’s Yard manager unveils British cheese showcase in Oxford

BY ANDREW DON

A former Neal’s Yard Dairy shop manager, Adam Verlander, has launched his own cheese shop in Oxford, which he says has opened people’s eyes in the city to the quality of British cheese.

Jericho Cheese Company, which opened on October 20 in an old Victorian building in Little Clarendon Street, used to be home to Uncle Sam’s Vintage American Clothing, and housed a butcher in the 1960s.

The 215 sq ft shop will sell 30-35 cheeses depending on the season and availability. The range includes Montgomery

Cheddar, Kirkham’s Lancashire, Appleby’s Cheshire, Colston Bassett Stilton, Hafod, Berkswell, Spenwood, Baron Bigod, Stawley and St Jude. Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano is the only non-British cheese.

Verlander, who spent five-and-a-half years at Neal’s Yard Dairy, said: “I want to get people involved in cheese, interested in how they vary and how they’re tasting right now.”

Jericho Cheese Company does not yet have the infrastructure in place to offer cheeses online but Verlander hopes to do so in about six months.

“It’s early days but the reception has been really good,” he said. “Within three or four days we had regular customers. Someone every day says that this is exactly what Oxford needs and they like the slant on British cheese.”

would fund sites for 2018 onwards.”

Sourced had plans for another three London sites in 2018 that would take it to 10 in total, he said.

The newest outlet, at Nova offers a selection of “handpicked” local produce, from Bread Ahead doughnuts to Regent’s Park honey, Dalston Chillies Original Hot Sauce and a variety of deli items from independent suppliers

including charcuterie from Cannon & Cannon and Cobble Lane Cured.

It has squeezed in a coffee bar with a selection of beans from what it says are London’s finest roasters, and a “growler” station with a regularly changing roster of craft brews to drink in or take home.

The Victoria branch joins its established outlets at St Pancras and Marylebone. www.sourcedmarket.com

Gurneys grabs a slice of Humble Pie The owner of Humble Pie, a 36-year-old deli in Burnham Market, Norfolk, has shut up shop and sold the business minus the premises to Gurneys Seafood, which has reopened the deli above its fishmonger a few yards down the road.

Ned Catt, who works at Gurneys, said the aim was to replicate Humble Pie as much as possible although it might add a “few twists” later.

“We were devastated that it might be shutting in the village and wanted it to continue,” he said.

Humble Pie was an important part of the community, he said, and

Gurneys would be hiring staff who worked there.

“Apart from its location and its owner, Humble Pie will be as similar as we can possible make it.”

Susan Elston who sold Humble Pie to Gurneys, told FFD: “I’m very old – way past retiring age. I’ve done thirty-six-and-a-half years here so enough is enough.

It’s been wonderful – a very good business.”

Elston said she had enjoyed the patronage of many famous people over the years, including the Duchess of Cambridge and actors Albert Finney, Bill Nighy and Keira Knightley. www.gurneysfishshop.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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Boxing Day comes but once a Year Folkington’s Juices, The Workshop, Endlewick House, Arlington, East Sussex BN26 6RU 01323 485602 info@folkingtons.com

www.folkingtons.com

TM

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

finefoodnews “what they're saying about...” ...the falling pound

Dvmsimages/Dreamstime.com

If I had wanted to buy a case of olive oil for €130 on June 22, it would have cost me £100. If I wanted to buy that same case of oil today, it would cost me just over £116.

As a hedge against a possible Brexit, we paid all our suppliers before the referendum, allowing us around 60 days to assess the situation.

Now that time is well passed, we are in the process of putting our prices up by sending lists to all our customers.

We have identified what percentage of a product’s wholesale price is directly euro related – the cost of the oil in its bottle and the shipping of it to the UK are the most important constituent parts – and it is only to this that we have applied the price rise.

Charles Carey, director, The Oil Merchant

Entering the drop zone

We are developing pie cases and the price of butter has rocketed. Virtually every day we are repricing it. I think it’s speculators on the currency market. We used to get butter from Bako. We are having to hunt around and are looking to source butter from the Irish Republic where it’s cheaper.

Alan Sidebottom, advertising and marketing manager, TRU Seasons

The Marmite price hike may have alerted the nation to the perils of the falling pound but our currency’s plunge has also started to impact speciality food prices news analysis

BY ANDREW DON

A

ll hell broke loose when Unilever tried to apply a 10% blanket price hike across all its brands in October to account for the plunging pound.

Tesco baulked and Unilever’s Marmite became the cause célèbre as pundits protested it was made in the UK from a brewing by-product.

But not everyone has dismissed this as a cynical corporate negotiation tactic. In fact, one

Even if their goods are made artisan producer can see Unilever’s in the UK, many producers buy in side of the argument. raw ingredients and materials from Richard Larkin, Rococo overseas or have some form of Chocolates managing director, import costs. believes cries of opportunism and “Whether it be packaging profiteering were harsh because the “UK-produced” argument is “a simplification”.

Other issues, such as packaging, have to be factored in.

In the case of STEFANO CUOMO, MACKNADE FINE FOODS Birds Eye, reported to be hiking prices or ingredients there are, in most by up to 12%, Larkin says: “It’s production lines, some form of costs not just to do with the fish itself that arise in another currency,” says or the breadcrumbs or the frozen Jonathan Watson, chief analyst at peas, but fuel, packaging and other Foreign Currency Direct. elements.”

There’s much more awareness from the general public of the impact that the falling pound is having on the cost of food

And, he adds, someone will have to pick up those higher costs somewhere along the production line.

Between the referendum and the beginning of November, sterling had fallen 15% against its main trading partners. This drop affects prices sooner or later because the UK imports more than it exports, says Watson.

Speciality producers could be at a disadvantage to the supermarkets and big wholesalers, many of which have managed to avoid any big sudden price hikes because they have bought their currency in advance.

Watson says that, sensibly, many big importers will forward purchase Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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finefoodnews “what they're saying about...” ...the falling pound

Roasters are increasing their prices as the cost of green coffee beans rockets, says Coffee Sense MD Bob Patrick

their currency to lock in the price for future payments.

“These contracts can be booked up to two years in advance with an agreement on the rate fixed,” he explains. “This means some importers will have time to mitigate any price hikes. But the longer the pound remains low the less chance there is of these contracts helping solve the problem of the weak currency.”

David Cheetham, analyst at markets trading platform XTB, says the ongoing price war between the major supermarkets and discounters will go some way to dispelling fears of a sharp increase in mainstream retail prices but the impact of this on smaller independent retailers and speciality food halls, such as Harrods and Selfridges, is not so clear.

Such outlets may be more sensitive to a downturn in sales if the underlying economy suffers.

Battlefield 1403, a farm shop, butchery and deli in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, “naively” thought the falling pound would not affect it, says its managing director Jeremy Jagger.

“Move forward a few weeks and we are getting some of our suppliers saying there is going to have to be a hike.”

Coffee is a particularly prominent increase, but Jagger says the margin is so good anyway that his business should be able to absorb any increase.

That said, he fears increased packaging costs will impact the price of ready-meals and home-cooked products that Battlefield 1403 sells.

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issue has been the speculators that have poured into commodities instead of property since the Brexit vote, which has pushed green bean prices up 40-70%.

“Before the vote we were paying roughly £2,000 a tonne for Brazilian beans. We are now paying £3,200.

Most coffee company roasters have put their prices up 8-12% to try to compensate for that.”

Coffee Sense pre-bought 90% of its green beans for the year at a fixed price in the spring so Patrick has not raised prices.

“The problem comes when we have to buy one-offs because then we are buying on the spot market,” he says.“Things like decafs that you only use now and again – we are paying over the top for them.

“At the moment, I’ve absorbed it but within the next few weeks it will have to go up. You can’t suddenly have a 50% increase in your raw material cost and not pass it on.”

JONATHAN WATSON, FOREIGN CURRENCY DIRECT Foreign Currency Direct says that with sterling looking likely to remain in the and smaller businesses to be able to doldrums food prices are expected to pass on price increases. increase further in future.

“We’ve tens of thousands of “Businesses likely to find products and a decent amount of themselves on the wrong side if local stuff but a major part of what sterling falls lower, or remains low, we buy is coming from abroad – should be speaking with suppliers either some of the ingredients or the and customers now to try to work whole product.” out solutions to avoid potentially Some of the cheeses imported bigger problems,” says Foreign direct from Italy, for example, will Currency Direct’s Watson. have to be marked up, Cuomo says.

All these comments came just Coffee suppliers have also been days before Donald Trump stormed feeling the impact, particularly as to victory in the US. Now, to add to green coffee beans are traded in US Brexit, there is one more uncertainty dollars. the industry will need to factor into Bob Patrick, managing director their equations. of Coffee Sense, says the biggest Stefano Cuomo, managing director of Macknade Fine Foods in Kent, says some of his suppliers who buy from Europe have put prices up. Where Macknade is importing directly, it is having to adjust its prices because of the exchange rate.

Some suppliers have already changed their pricing structures – those from Spain and Italy, for example – but Cuomo says there are other factors at play, such as a bad olive harvest, so it is hard to strip out the causes.

“With the battle Tesco and Unilever had on pricing, there’s much more awareness from the general public of the impact that the falling pound is having on the cost of food,” he says. “That’s making it much easier for the independent

Whether it be packaging or ingredients there are, in most production lines, some form of costs that arise in another currency

We have very recently had to put a price increase through on our Continental cheese because, although I bought forward to an extent, I’m not covered for the whole of Christmas so had to put up prices 5-15%.

A lot of what I buy comes from overseas so I pay euros.

But some I get from UK wholesalers and, in the last month to six weeks, I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t put up their prices.

Ros Windsor, managing director, Paxton & Whitfield Some of the small or mediumsized European importers have taken the position of increasing prices across the board by 10%.

It is going to have an ongoing impact. In our sector, we are providing an added-value product anyway. It opens up an opportunity to underline the difference between independents and generic supermarkets.

Stefano Cuomo, managing director, Macknade Fine Foods The prices [of coffee] have gone up to wholesalers so within the next month you will get prices going up in the shops.

The big boys like Nescafé, Douwe Egberts and others buy direct from the grower so they are not going to be hit as much by price increases like the smaller people because they’ve cut out the middleman, and it’s the middleman who has put up the prices.

Bob Patrick, managing director, Coffee Sense

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cheesewire world cheese awards

news & views from the cheese counter

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A glamorous location, a truly global array of cheeses and judges, and one very emotional finale. The 29th annual World Cheese Awards had it all. MICHAEL LANE reports.

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s this year’s Super Jury approached the very last cheese of the competition in San Sebastian, a tie for the World Champion trophy was looking increasingly likely.

A packed house at the Kursaal Congress Centre in the Basque Country city, was braced for a tasteoff between two regional Spanish cheeses. No one saw what was coming next.

A grey-rinded blue cheese was distributed among the panel – which included experts from France, England, Mexico, Japan and South Africa – and within moments a flurry of 5s were held aloft.

The gasps in the audience were broken by one man roaring jubilantly, arms aloft.

Whisked onto the stage through a media scrum, Gunnar Waagen was soon posing for photos with the jury and the World Champion trophy for a cheese called Kraftkar.

Waagen is part of the small team at Tingvollost in mid-Norway that produces just 2,000 of these cheeses every year using milk from a 50-strong herd of native breed Norwegian Red (NRF) cows.

“I have no words. It is marvellous. I don’t believe it,” said a tearful Waagen. “We’ve made cheese for about 10 years. We are a little family in the middle of Norway

trying to do our best every day. We get up early and sleep late.”

It had looked as though a Spanish cheese would be taking the top honour at the event on November 16, organised by the Guild of Fine Food and co-sponsored by the Basque Government and Idiazabal co-op Artzai Gazta.

Arteserena’s torta-style Cremositos Del Zújar and the washed rind goats’ milk Cala Blanc (made by Lacto Industrial Menorquina) were both tied on a score of 67 before the panel awarded 71 points, out of a possible 75, to Kraftkar. Nick Trioros of Canada’s Olympic Cheese, who championed the cheese in the final judging sessions, said: “The mould in

this cheese is developed really nicely.

It’s very evenly distributed. On top of that, the texture is great: when it crumbles you get a soft creaminess.”

This year’s Super Jury included Whole Foods Markets global cheese buyer Cathy Strange, Selfridges deli chief Adrian Boswell and Suzy O’Regan, cheese specialist at the Woolworth’s store chain in South Africa.

The Norwegian blue had made it through a judging process that started with more than 3,000 cheeses and in excess of 250 judges (see below for full details) but that wasn’t even the end of Kraftkar’s journey.

Thanks to its win, the cheese

was then entered into a special Champion of Champions event that pitched it against 21 of the previous World Champions. And for the second day in a row it wowed a panel of international experts and won that trophy, too.

Gunnar Waagen had already returned to his cheesemaking duties in Norway so Ingulf Galaaen, from fellow Norwegian cheesemaker Røros, accepted the award on Tingvollost’s behalf.

The World Cheese Awards was held in conjunction with the International Cheese Festival staged in San Sebastian on November 16-18. www.gff.co.uk/wca www.internationalcheesefestival.eus

WCA 2016 – key facts and figures The 29th World Cheese Awards saw a total of 3,021 cheeses entered from some 31 different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, South Africa and the USA as well as the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

As always, every single entry was a cheese, so there were 0 yoghurts, butters or milks.

These entries were assembled across 66 tables in a dedicated area at the Kursaal Conference Centre in San Sebastian, as part of the International Cheese Festival being held in city.

The entries were then tasted, assessed and scored during a two-and-a-half-hour session by 266 food professionals from 26 countries. Judges came from across the UK and Europe and as far afield

as Japan, Brazil and South Africa.

Judges worked in teams of four, identifying any cheeses worthy of a bronze, silver or gold awards based on their assessments of the appearance, texture, consistency and, above all, the taste of each cheese.

Each table then nominated a Super Gold cheese and these 66 progressed to a second stage where the Super Jury of 15 experts rejudged and choose one cheese each to proceed to the final session.

In the end, 16 cheeses were discussed by the panel in front of a live audience of several hundred (and more watching across the globe via a broadcast on the World Cheese Awards webpage) and each judge gave a score out of five for every cheese.

With a score of 71 from a possible 75, Tingvollost’s blue Kraftkar took the World Champion crown.

Kraftkar is made from milk produced by a herd of just 50 cows in mid-Norway. Each cheese weighs 1.9kg and is matured for up to 11 months.

They made it happen This year’s Exceptional Contribution to Cheese Award went to the professionals who helped to realise the ambition of bringing the World Cheese Awards to San Sebastian in 2016.

John Farrand (MD of the Guild of Fine Food, organiser of the World Cheese Awards) presented the trophy to Mexican cheese expert Carlos Yescas, Luisa Villegas, Pablo Basterra (both from Idiazabal cheese co-op Artzai Gazta), Oskia Yaben (founder of events company Kultur Atelier) and Basque cheese authority Victoria Urresti.

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world cheese awards

Judges from 26 different countries congregated at the Kursaal Centre in San Sebastian on November 16. The Super Jury, whose deliberations on the top 16 cheeses were broadcast live, included experts from South Africa, France, Japan, England, Mexico, Brazil and the Basque Country.

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In total, 3,000 cheeses from 31 separate countries were entered into this year’s event, which was organised by the Guild of Fine Food and co-sponsored by the Basque Government and Idiazabal co-op Artzai Gazta.

The awards were staged alongside the San Sebastian International Cheese Festival.

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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cheesewire Artisans take a stand Unsung heroes against labelling regs

news & views from the cheese counter

HIDDEN GEMS FROM BRITISH PRODUCERS

BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

EU nutrition labelling regulations, which come into force this month, pose a major threat to the future of artisan cheesemakers in the UK and across Europe.

That’s the stark warning from the Farmhouse and Artisan Cheese and Dairy Producers European Network (FACE), which represents artisan cheesemakers across the EU. It says the costs of new mandatory labelling requirements for pre-packed foods will be too much for many of its members to bear.

Under the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulations, which were first introduced in 2014 but become compulsory this month, cheesemakers will have to list the energy value, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugar, protein and salt content of their cheeses on pre-packed products.

In a move supported

Food Information to Consumers regulations become compulsory for all pre-packed food in the EU this month

by Britain’s Specialist Cheesemakers Association, FACE has launched a petition urging the European Commission to exempt small cheesemakers, arguing traditional methods

Funds raised as Errington fights ban

BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

Scottish cheesemaker Errington and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) remain at loggerheads as the cheesemaker launched a crowd-funding campaign to help it battle the ban on its cheeses.

As previously reported, Errington Cheese has been linked by FSS to an E-coli 0157 outbreak, which resulted in the death of a three-year-old girl – a claim that the raw milk cheesemaker vehemently disputes.

All of its cheeses are currently banned from sale despite the company finding no trace of E-coli following its own extensive testing with leading laboratories in the UK and Europe.

However, FSS says that its tests have found clear evidence of the pathogen in Errington’s cheese.

The company plans to

fight the ban with the help of a £50,000 Just Giving campaign, which was set up with food journalist Joanna Blythman. As FFD went the press, it had raised more than £17,000.

Errington had also lodged a case for a judicial review into FSS’s order to destroy all of its stored cheeses, but the food authority subsequently rescinded the order and agreed to pay legal costs.

“This [case] puts the reputation and future of the whole British artisan cheese industry under threat,” said Errington in a statement.

“We have the irony of unpasteurised French cheeses such as Roquefort being imported into Scotland and freely available for sale, while a ban exists on our own indigenous cheese.” www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/joanna-blythman

of production and natural variation in the composition of raw milk make it hard to standardise products.

“The nutritional content of the final products varies,” said FACE in a statement.

“To be able to provide meaningful nutritional information, producers would have to check the nutrient content of their products at several moments in the year, and use different stocks of labels according to the results. Most would not be able to bear the costs.”

Around 700 people had signed the petition as FFD went to press including Kristen Schnepp of Peckham-based Gringa Dairy, who said: “As a very small cheesemaker, we are struggling to comply with these guidelines.

While our cheeses are sometimes ‘pre-packed’, they are not packaged foods produced in a factory under standardised conditions.

These regulations have good intentions, but in practice are doing nothing more than placing a burden on small suppliers.”

To view the petition, search ‘artisan cheese’ at www.change.org

Brock Hall shuts down dairy for good Cheese lovers rushed to buy Brock Hall Farm’s last remaining goats’ cheeses after award-winning cheesemaker Sarah Hampton revealed she had decided to stop production.

The Shropshire-based company, which won the Very Important Producer Golden Fork award at Great Taste 2015, sold its last piece of the washed rind Dutch Mistress cheese at the Local to Ludlow Market in October, after consumers came from far and wide to buy the company’s remaining stock.

“This was the first place

I ever sold our cheese and it will be the last,” said Hampton on Instagram. “I was bowled over by the enthusiastic purchasing by my many loyal Ludlow customers.”

Hampton was unavailable for comment as FFD went to press, but said on Twitter that stopping production was a “positive decision to strike out in pastures new”.

SINODUN HILL In a nutshell: Less than a year old, Norton & Yarrow makes its Sinodun Hill from raw goats’ milk using a slow lactic coagulation and matured for up to 21 days.

Flavour and texture: Similar to Pouligny, the cheese has a delicate white rind with occasional blue and grey moulds. The core is smooth and dense with a rich buttery flavour that is also herbaceous and slightly nutty.

History: Set up in 2014 by project manager Fraser Norton and English teacher Rachel Yarrow, the company’s cheeses are made at Nettlebed Creamery, using unpasteurised milk from their own goats and another local herd.

Cheese care: Keep wrapped in wax paper below 8°C or unwrapped at high humidity (over 80%). Turn regularly.

Why stock it? Raw milk goats’ cheeses are relatively rare in the UK, while the pyramid shape helps it stand out.

Perfect partners: A tart Sauvignon Blanc is an obvious choice, but the creaminess of the cheese is complemented by the fruitiness of a Taylor’s First Estate Port.

Where to buy: Paxton & Whitfield FFD features a different ‘unsung hero’ from Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association members each month. To get involved, contact: patrick.mcguigan@gff.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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cheesewire

Cave of Italian wonders If you were looking to buy some of Italy’s most artisanal cheese, then your first port of call probably wouldn’t be an industrial estate in south west London. But that’s exactly where PATRICK McGUIGAN went to meet the founder of esteemed importer Vallebona.

Stefano Vallebona supplies Italian artisan cheeses to some of the country’s top restaurants but also welcomes consumers into his Earlsfield warehouse

T

here are hidden gems and then there is Vallebona. The Italian food specialist’s chic warehouse shop wouldn’t look out of place in a hip neighbourhood of Milan or New York, but is actually tucked away on an industrial estate in Earlsfield, surrounded by scaffolders and car mechanics It’s not the sort of place you walk past by accident (unless you are getting your car serviced), but that hasn’t stopped Vallebona becoming a serious foodie destination in south London.

The site attracts a steady flow of customers during the week that builds to a deluge on Saturdays, and there are regular pop-up supper clubs, tastings and demonstrations.

The whitewashed space is filled with displays of wine, antipasti, truffles, chocolates and prosciutto, but at the heart of this secret den of good taste is the fragrant walk-in cheese room. Vallebona supplies restaurants and delis with around 70 cheeses from across Italy, and the entire range is available to the public to buy at the warehouse.

Stefano Vallebona, who set the business up in 1997 and today runs it with his Japanese wife Naoko, comes from a family of food entrepreneurs – his grandfather used to supply restaurants with bluefin tuna and lobsters caught in the waters around the Sardinian island of San Pietro where the family is from.

Vallebona came to London on holiday and never left after spotting a gap in the market for authentic

Italian food. “The food revolution was only just beginning in Britain,” he explains. “You had chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Giorgio Locatelli and Michel Roux Jr, who you could just call up and visit. There was really no competition. I had London for myself.”

Bottarga (dried mullet roe) was his first star product and remains a signature line today, but it was a trip to the Bra cheese festival in Piedmont that sparked a life-long fascination.

“I got lucky and met a great affineur, who works with tiny farmhouse cheese producers – some of them making just three cheeses a day,” he says. “I was living in a one-bedroom flat in Wandsworth at the time and the first batch I couldn’t fit in my fridge, so some had to be wrapped up and stored on the balcony.”

It didn’t stay on the balcony for long, with restaurants queuing up to buy cheeses that were previously unheard of in the UK. Today the company still supplies top restaurants, such as Le Gavroche, River Café and Bocca di Lupa, but has also developed an impressive retail customer list, including Paxton & Whitfield and Fortnum & Mason.

Tasting my way through the cheeses with Vallebona, it’s easy to see why the company has such illustrious customers. There’s a remarkable Pecorino Sardo, which

is aged for 12 months and has a complex flavour that is both floral and meaty, and a harmonious Taleggio that is sweet, buttery and earthy. But there are also unusual cheeses that are rarely seen elsewhere, such as ‘in Vinaccia’ formaggi, which are aged in wine and grape must, a toma wrapped in seaweed and a super-aged Caprino Neto goats’ cheese that combines notes of hazelnuts, pepper and chocolate.

“I’ve spent 20 years building up incredible connections, so I’m able to buy cheeses direct from Italy that you just wouldn’t be able to find here otherwise and at really good prices,” he explains. “We buy cheeses that

A lot of importers are using Brexit as an excuse to increase their prices by 10-20% but it’s too early to understand the consequences don’t really have names because the dairy is so small. They are village cheeses and we have to translate them in a way that people will buy here.”

As we talk, he offers me a squidge of Gorgonzola Dolce, which is rich and creamy with a pleasant funky note, and it takes on an almost truffle-like intensity with a splash of a mosto d’uva – a syrup made from concentrated grape must.

Matching cheeses with other

flavours, from truffle honey to sweet sake, is something that Vallebona is passionate about, providing pairing sheets and POS material to his customers to help boost sales.

“Delis are finding it hard at the moment – there is a lot of competition and pressure is growing – so they need to add value to their products,” he says. “They need to create flavour matches and let their customers taste them.”

New strategies to boost sales are only going to become more important if the pound remains so weak against the euro with prices of Continental cheeses likely to go up, although Vallebona says he has not yet increased his trade prices beyond a few minor adjustments.

“A lot of importers are using Brexit as an excuse to increase their prices by 10-20%,” he says. “But it’s too early to understand the consequences. At the moment our sales are the same as last year with delis and cheese shops in central London definitely busier, while outside London it is a bit quieter.”

Vallebona’s own warehouse shop is proof that concerns over Brexit haven’t hit consumer confidence just yet with growing orders for corporate platters and hampers, plus a busy roster of foodie events lined up, including a lavish five-course Christmas dinner party with matching wines.

The only thing that south London’s foodies will have to bring is an appetite, and possibly a map. www.vallebona.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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From the milking of the cows to the maturing of the cheese, every process of the Parmigiano Reggiano production takes place in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy The PDO status awarded in 1996, protects the producers as well as the consumers across the world.

Made today as it was nine centuries ago in approximately 350 dairies within the region.

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A taste of the Outer Hebrides

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

Multiple award-winner

8VEHMXMSREPP] WQSOIH ½WL meats and cheeses created [MXL TEWWMSR TVMHI ERH GEVI For our wholesale price list contact Andrew: 01580 879601 info@wealdsmokery.co.uk | wealdsmokery.co.uk Search Weald Smokery @wealdsmokery

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

making more of british & continental charcuterie

cut&dried

Small producers hardest hit by salmon price hike

BY ANDREW DON As a key selling season for smoked salmon approaches, smokehouses are reeling at the dramatic rise in the price of farmed fish.

FFD has been told of 100% price hikes in the past year as fish farms in Europe and South America have fallen foul of catastrophic disease.

The crisis has disproportionately hit small artisan smokehouses that buy at spot prices, unlike the bigger mainstream smokers who forwardcontract.

The prices at which the supermarket groups are selling salmon belie the crisis. Discounter Lidl has been selling whole salmon for £4/kg.

“As a processor of a luxury brand we can’t buy our fish at that price,” said Justin Staal, MD of Staal Smokehouse, of Long Riston, East Yorkshire. He added: “You have to pass it

Craft smoker Justin Staal (above) says Lidl is retailing whole salmon at less than he is paying his suppliers

on to the consumer.”

Lance Forman, owner of Forman & Field, agreed: “That’s half the price that it’s being sold for in the wholesale market. It’s completely mental.”

Staal said his salmon costs had increased 125% since starting the business five years ago. This year the cost has climbed 38%.

A failed treatment for amoebic gill disease

claimed nearly 200,000 fish this summer at Scottish farms operated by Marine Harvest, one of about half a dozen global giants, affecting both availability and pricing.

Chile has been battling toxic algae bloom this year, thought to be a result of El Niño, which has also dealt a blow to salmon stocks.

And Norwegian farms have suffered from deadly infectious salmon anaemia disease.

At Forman & Field, one of London’s best know smoked salmon businesses, Lance Forman also blamed lack of competition in the industry for what he said were 100% higher prices than this time last year.

“You’ve got about half a dozen producers of farmed salmon that control the entire global supply.

When one of them puts their prices up the others do the same rather than trying to compete to sell more.”

Capreolus goes for gold with air-dried duck

BY MICK WHITWORTH Dorset-based artisan producer Capreolus Fine Foods is lining up its recently launched air-dried duck breast for entry into Great Taste 2017 after a strong showing in its regional awards this year.

“I only developed it in the spring,” said co-owner David Richards, “so it was too late for Great Taste 2016. But we did enter it into the Taste of the West awards, where it won a gold and was one of the top three charcuterie products submitted.”

Top product in the cured meats category at Taste of the West 2016 was a coppa from Cornwall’s Deli Farm Charcuterie’s.

Richards said Capreolus’s

Pancetta joins Broughgammon goats’ meat line-up A “unique” kid goat pancetta is the latest charcuterie launch from Northern Irish producer Broughgammon.

Made from goat belly, the pancetta is cured for three weeks in juniper, black pepper and garlic. It is processed on the Cole family’s 48-acre farm at Ballycastle on the Co Antrim coast.

Broughgammon has won a number of innovation awards for developing the market for ‘cabrito’, or goat meat, since starting its own herd on the farm in 2011.

Its hand-reared goat kids are raised on a mixed diet

of milk, haylage and cereals, yielding a lean, tender, delicately flavoured meat that is low in cholesterol and marketed as a sweeter alternative to lamb.

The Cole family also rears Holstein bull calves for veal, as well as harvesting seven different types of seaweed from the shore near the farm.

Broughgammon director Millie Cole said: “Our strategic focus is on maximising the potential of our animals through the creation of new products which will encourage consumers to try cabrito and rose veal – meats which don’t usually feature

on dinner tables in Northern Ireland and the Republic.”

She added: “We’ve also seen an encouraging growth here in charcuterie meats over the past year.”

The pancetta is being launched initially at country markets across Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Recent plaudits for Broughgammon include a Best Snack Food trophy in the British Street Food Awards 2016, for a goat taco with chorizo and bacon crumb sold at outlets such as the iconic St George’s Market in Belfast. www.broughgammon.com

The air-dried duck took gold in this year’s Taste of the West awards

Broughgammon is finding new ways to get goats’ meat onto Irish plates

new product was made with breasts from free-range ducks bred, raised and slaughtered by Dan Mason at Sladesdown Farm near Ashburton in Devon.

The breasts are drycured with black pepper, rosemary, thyme and juniper berries, then fermented before being air-dried.

“The fermentation alters the fat and makes it melt in your mouth,” Richards added, “so it has a really silky mouth-feel.” www.capreolusfinefoods.co.uk

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Scotland’s Speciality Food Show for food that sells

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Bringing the best of The Mediterranean to you To register for your free entry badge and for further information please visit

scotlandsspecialityfoodshow.com 30

De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

For more information or product sales please email info@fragata.co.uk or call Fosters Traditional Foods on 01858 438000

www.fragata.co.uk

chocolate & confectionery

Candy crush

products in brief

LYNDA SEARBY’s speciality confectionery round-up is choc-full with creamy fudges, raw chocolate bars and seasonal releases.

Two Northern-Ireland based mums – Wendy Campbell and Tracie McFerran – have turned marshmallow making into a business that fits around bringing up their autistic children. Besides developing super-soft marshmallows with natural ingredients for children, Camran Marshmallows has branched out into adult mallows, resulting

Cottage Delight has introduced new fudge gift boxes in three flavours: Mince Pie with luxury mincemeat, After Dinner with chocolate & mint and Cherry & Kirsch. RRP £3.32 per 200g pack.

O

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Launched earlier this year, Benjamin Chocolatier’s ‘wicked & wonderful’ chocolate bar library has outsold individual bars as a gift item. Trade price is £12.95 (RRP £22.95) for the six-bar library, which is on sale in Harrods. www.benjaminchocolatier.co.uk

www.cottagedelight.co.uk

Fifth Dimension Chocolates used the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in September as the launchpad for two new travelinspired filled chocolates: ‘Sydney’ mint & miso and ‘Cape Town’ curry & raisins.

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www.5dchocolates.com

Scream Retail has enlisted the help of Hamilton’s Chocolates to translate its toffee-vodka spirit into chocolate format. Thunder toffee vodka truffles have a wholesale price of £7.50 (RRP £15) for a 12-piece box.

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in creations like lemon meringue, strawberry & Champagne and orange, mango & gin mallows.The start-up is in discussions with Dunnes Stores as a result of winning Small Producer of the Year 2016 in the Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards. Trade price is £2.75 for 150g; RRP £3.95.

O Printing company owner James Taylor and chefchocolatier Dan Bennett have joined forces to create a new brand that stands for handmade chocolate and confectionery presented in luxurious but ethical packaging.Taylor +

Bennett launched last February, with a line-up that includes chocolate bars and cinder toffee, packaged in board that contains 10% recycled cacao husks – a by-product of the chocolate making industry. Wholesale price for the bars is £4 for 60g (RRP £6).

O Within four months of launching in April, Absolute Black became a best seller for Montezuma, tapping into a health-driven demand for darker chocolate. It is the

first 100% cocoa bar that is sugar- and gluten-free, organic and suitable for vegans and has an “earthy and smooth taste”. RRP £2.59 for 100g.

O Buttermilk’s Cornish Collaborations range of fudges celebrates the ingredients local to its Bodmin kitchen through link-ups with regional producers. Earlier this year, Tarquin’s gin & pastis fudge came out of a collaboration with Tarquin

RRP for both is £3.89 for 70g and they are available to the trade via CLF, Marigold and The Health Store.

Also active in the raw chocolate space is Gemini, whose organic, raw and dairy-free bars are sweetened with palmyra jaggery. The latest addition is a bar called Sunrise, in which a rich coconut filling is sandwiched between two layers of 80% cacao dark chocolate.

Wholesale price is £2.50 for a 90g bar; RRP £4.99.

Another brand in this area, iQ Chocolate, has treated its bars to a new look and made its pricing strategy

more competitive – targeting an RRP of £1.99 and giving retailers a 33% margin. iQ Chocolate’s main point of difference is that its superfood bars offer “validated health benefits”.

Raw talent Tapping into the raw chocolate trend is Dutch label Lovechock, with two new lines that are raw, organic and vegan, as well as soy- and glutenfree. Mylk, available in almond & mulberry and cranberry & buckwheat varieties, is the Amsterdam producer’s vegan take on a milk chocolate bar.

Hazelnuts lend creaminess and the raw cacao bar is sweetened with coconut blossom nectar.

For puritans who like their chocolate raw and dark, Lovechock has a 93% cacao tablet.

www.geminichocolate.com www.iqchoc.com www.lovechock.com

Leadbetter, founder of Southwestern Distillery, and an Earl Grey fudge box uses produce from Truro-based Tregothnan Tea. RRP £3.99 for a 150g box. 2017 will see the release of a gift box range, priced at £6.99 for a nine-piece box, and £9.99 for a 16-piece box.

These showcase a selection of chocolate coated fudge flavours including caramel sea salt, very berry, and triple chocolate. www.nigoodfood.com www.taylorandbennett.co.uk www.montezumas.co.uk www.buttermilk.co.uk

www.thundervodka.com

Bonny Confectionery says consumers can recreate the campfire experience at home with its new marshmallow toasting kit.

RRP £14.95.

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www.bonnyconfectionery. co.uk

Belgian confectionery brand Barú hopes its filled chocolate hippos will appeal to “kids of all ages”. They come individually wrapped in three flavours – milk chocolate honey almond, dark chocolate sea salt caramel and milk chocolate hazelnut truffle – in 60g and 510g packs.

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www.baru.be

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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chocolate & confectionery

product update

How we stock it…

CHRISTOPHER O’ CONNOR, CONFECTIONERY BUYER AND SHOP MANAGER, RUMWELL FARM SHOP, TAUNTON, SOMERSET

We have an entire room dedicated to confectionery and the main lesson we’ve learned over the years is to keep it full.

We have a huge unit that houses bags of retro and traditional sweets from Bon Bons. There was a time, four or five years ago, when sales slowed and we thought we would have to get rid of it. A rep from the company came and said that because the display wasn’t full, it didn’t look appealing.

We’ve kept it full ever since and we’ve never

had a problem with sales.

In fact, their caramel & sea salt fudge is our top selling confectionery line, following the salted caramel flavour trend.

A lot of the lines we stock are from companies we have worked with for a long time, and many are local, like Nutcombe Chocs.

These work well alongside favourite brands that people know and trust. For example, we source Belgian chocolates and truffles from House of Sarunds.

Niederegger marzipan is another strong seller – and

products in brief

The wrappers of Coco Chocolatier’s chocolate bars have been redesigned and now feature designs inspired

by Scottish landscapes.

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www.cocochocolate.co.uk

Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy tubes filled with shaped chocolate

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O Rococo’s Autumn Couture Collection takes chocolate lovers on a voyage around the world, using seasonal ingredients from Europe, Australasia and North America. The UK is represented by malted barley & sourdough, then there is the Australian-inspired macadamia gianduja smooth, the Costa Rica coffee

not just at Christmas. It is a very high quality marzipan with a 70% almond content and is nothing like Christmas cake marzipan.

We target a range of price points, from

99p items through to a large marzipan selection box that retails at £50, although we sell more in the higher price bracket at Christmas, when we expand with extra displays.

praline and the US popcorn ganache. RRP £17.95 for a 12-piece box and £6.50 for a four-piece one.

Rococo Chocolates has also joined in with the Roald Dahl 100 festivities, creating a special range of bars to celebrate the children’s author.

O Fudge Kitchen claims its new ‘fudge fondues’ are a market first. They combine handmade Belinda Clarke marshmallows with a jar of

liquid fudge and come in two flavours: sea salted caramel and rich chocolate. RRP £4 for 80g.

Also new from this confectionery stalwart is a Best of British fudge selection. RRP £9 for a ninepiece box.

O House of Sarunds’ loose chocolate offer features some new lines from artisan chocolatiers across Europe. These include new chilli pepper, Amaretto and blueberry flake truffles from Belgian flaked truffle specialist Confiserie Elise (trade price £12.95 to £14.95 per kg), and a new range of chocolate galettes from Van Coillie, in flavour

pieces are among the novelties in Chococo’s 2016 Christmas collection. RRP £5.95 for 100g.

combinations such as dark chocolate galette with salted caramel crisp and white chocolate galette with strawberry, all priced at £16.95 kg.

O Retailers looking for new gifting lines should check out Choc Affair’s new One Shots gift pack and Library Collection. The One Shots gift pack (RRP £6) provides a taster of three drinking chocolate flavours –

Colombian dark single origin, salted caramel and raspberry & rose – each packaged in it’s own keepsake tin, whilst the Library Collection (RRP £12.50) brings together four flavour infused chocolate bars in a hand-crafted claret box sleeve.

O Newcomer Ms Cocoa, aka Christine Foster, is taking advantage of local ingredients following a move to Cornwall from London.

www.chococo.co.uk

William Santus, the maker of Uncle Joe’s mint balls, has introduced its extra strong sugar-free compressed mints in liquorice & aniseed and peppermint flavours. The Wigan company also has plans in the pipeline for a sugar-free version of its mint balls.

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www.uncle-joes.com

She is using Tarquin’s gin in her gin truffles (RRP £17 for a box of 12), and tea leaves from Tregothnan in her Earl Grey chocolates (RRP £15 for a box of 12).

Swedish artisan chocolate producer Malmö Chokladfabrik is targeting the UK market in earnest after exhibiting at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair for the first time. Minimalist and modern Scandinavian styling should ensure its bars, selection boxes and cones stand out from other more traditional British lines. www.malmochokladfabrik.se

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

www.rococochocolates.com www.fudgekitchen.co.uk www.sarunds.co.uk www.choc-affair.com www.mscocoa.co.uk

Award-winning crumbly fudge made using traditional methods in our Roly’s Fudge Pantries

New! CHOCOLATE TASTING SET

Our creamy, melt-in-your-mouth fudge is handmade every day in our fudge pantries across the country. We use the finest quality natural ingredients in our variety of fudge flavours.

Discover six fabulous flavours in a box of 12 little bars, all individually wrapped to cherish and share Includes flavour notes, a chocolate guide and the Divine story with Kuapa Kokoo cocoa farmers from Ghana

Vanilla Clotted Cream Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Sea Salt Fudge, Lemon Meringue Fudge

Vanilla Clotted Cream Fudge, Maple and Walnut Fudge

Honeycomb Fudge

Vanilla Clotted Cream Fudge, Sea Salt Fudge

Salted Maple and Pecan Fudge

Vanilla Clotted Cream Fudge

Available all year round

Farmers receive 44% of

Divine profits

SERIOUSLY GOOD CHOCOLATE

To find out more about our wholesale and corporate gifts visit: rolysfudge.co.uk/wholesale-and-corporate-gifts

Fine quality cocoa from Kuapa Kokoo farmers in Ghana Fairtrade No palm oil

www.divinechocolate.com

No GMO’s

100% pure cocoa butter

Vegetarian

No artificial colours, flavours & preservatives

Steve@divinechocolate.com

+44 (0)207 378 6550

s F ’ ud y b u

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25/11/2016 15:06

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info@caledonianconfectionery.co.uk · www.caledonianconfectionery.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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At Sweet Virtues we believe eating should be an entirely healthy and indulgent experience. All our chocolates are made with organic ingredients chosen primarily for their taste and QXWULHQW SUR½OH VR WKH\ DUH QRW RQO\ GHOLFLRXV EXW JRRG IRU you too. This makes for truly guilt-free snacking and with our H[TXLVLWH SDFNDJLQJ WKH SHUIHFW JLIW DV ZHOO

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

product update

chocolate & confectionery

Retailers looking for lines with quirky back stories should check out Lick the Spoon’s ‘The Bish’ 12-piece chocolate box (RRP £11.95). It was inspired by a meeting between co-founder Diana Short and Bishop Rachel Treweek on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, during which the Bishop disclosed that her favourite chocolates were caramel and praline. www.lickthespoon.co.uk

O Devon fudge maker Roly’s has introduced a new salted maple & pecan fudge and banished glace cherries from its cherry bakewell fudge recipe. Replacing the glace version with the real thing means that this fudge flavour – like the rest of the range – is now free of colourings, preservatives and additives. The company has also created a Continental fudge for the festive season, inspired by German Spekulatius biscuits. Trade prices are £4.50 + VAT per box and £2.50 + VAT for bags (minimum order 25 units).

O Little tins of chocolatecoated almonds are the latest confectionery line from Spanish importer Brindisa.

Made by Chocolate Amatller in Barcelona, the toasted, caramelised Marcona almonds are coated with white chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder. RRP £7.20; case price £32 (10 x 65g units).

O As the name suggests, simplicity is the key to Wee Sweetie’s Naked fudge, which was awarded two stars in this year’s Great Taste awards. Donna Bradley, who makes the fudge in her Dumfries home kitchen, combines local Scottish ingredients and Fairtrade sugar to make a “buttery and creamy fudge…that doesn’t catch the back of the throat with

heavy sugar”. Trade price £2.20 a bag (RRP £3). This Scottish start-up launched in 2015 and also makes toffee and boiled sweets such as Roobarb N Custard and AppleMint.

O Holdsworth Chocolates has added two new ranges to its portfolio of quintessentially English

chocolates, handmade in Derbyshire and stocked by the likes of Harrods, Partridges, Selfridges and John Lewis.

Venezuelan milk chocolate buttons (RRP £4 for 175g) and fudge bonbons (RRP £5 for 150g) are among the five lines in a new ‘treat bags’ range. These launch alongside a trio of gifting chocolate boxes: peanut butter caramel truffles, English fruit creams and dark chocolate rose & violet creams (RRP £8 for a 12-piece box).

O Abraham Seaforth, the South African founder of Seaforth, is embarking on a new chocolate venture that

marries his love of sailing with concern for the planet.

Launching at the start of 2017, Ocean Creed is a chocolate made from cocoa that is shipped transatlantic emission-free. The first products will be a range of four 40g bars branded Pacific, as they will serve as fuel for Lia Ditton during her attempt to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific.

O Choc Amor has moved into a bigger chocolate making studio and launched three new flavours - all of which have been awarded Great Taste stars. Dark Milk 50% blends house dark and milk chocolates; Chipotle & Sea Salt is “sweet and salty with a fiery hit” and Three Pepper infuses three pepper varieties into

handmade chocolates at his school Christmas fair.

His aim, in founding Chocolates of Glenshiel, was to showcase Highland produce, which he does through concepts such as a salted caramel made with Isle of Skye sea salt and a cream liqueur made with Edradour liqueur from Scotland’s smallest traditional distillery in Pitlochry.

The chocolates come in three-, 12- and 15-piece boxes, with

A tasting set of 12 little bars of milk, dark and white chocolate (RRP £5.50) is one of Divine Chocolate’s new lines for Christmas 2016.

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www.divinechocolate.com/uk

Goupie – the chewy, crunchy chocolate, fruit and nut confection made by Simpson’s of

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Hawkhurst in Kent – has relaunched in a new trapezoidal box. www.goupie.co.uk

Worcestershire cottage industry Ruby’s Kitchen has redesigned its fudge packaging and added two festive flavours to its lineup: Christmas pudding

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and brandy & cranberry.

RRP £3.50 for 125g or £7.50 f0r a 250g box. www.rubysfudge.co.uk

a house blend of Belgian & Columbian dark chocolate, giving a lemon flavour profile with a peppery hit. www.rolysfudge.co.uk www.brindisa.com www.weesweetie.com www.holdsworthchocolates.co.uk www.seaforthco.com www.chocamor.co.uk

This autumn saw the launch of Champion & Reeves’ nougat in four-piece snack bars targeted at those “looking for a smaller, daily indulgent treat”.

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www.championreeves.com

Sweet seventeen Finlay Macdonald is just 17 years old, but has already established a chocolate making business that supplies the Caledonian Sleeper train service from London to Scotland.

After learning the art of chocolate making during a work experience placement in a hotel pastry kitchen, the teenchocolatier debuted his

products in brief

Three of BoojaBooja’s organic, dairy-, gluten- and soya-free chocolate truffles – Fine de Champagne, hazelnut crunch and almond salted caramel – are now available in portion sized twinpacks with an RRP of £1.19 for on- -the-go consumption.

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respective RRPs of £3.95, £10.95 and £12.95. www.chocolatesofglenshiel.com

www.boojabooja.com

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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co S se m IA CO e u e & on LITY TLA s at st FO ND’ an O S d D m SH 9 OW EC

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Traditional hand-blended Dukkah specialist Our dukkah is a traditional Egyptian blend of roasted nuts, seeds and spices. Packed full of almonds and hazelnuts it’s nutritious and very nutritious.

Use as a dip, marinade, dry rub or sprinkle.

We still hand-bake our shortbread to Helen Dean’s exacting standards using her very own recipe and traditional ingredients.

It’s the Dean’s way and as far as we’re concerned, it’s the only way to ensure our baking tastes just as good as my mother used to make.

Bill Dean

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

deans.co.uk

Call or email 07496 905520, customerservices@dukkahdelights.co.uk

www.dukkahdelights.co.uk

speciality vinegars

product update

Entering into the spirit LYNDA SEARBY distills the latest introductions on the speciality vinegar scene.

Faversham-based MightyFineThings has raided the Garden of England’s natural larder to develop four new vinegars that use local fruit and honey. Faversham raspberry vinegar, apple & honey spiced balsamic vinegar, Faversham damson vinegar and wild elderflower vinegar are already being supplied to retailers, restaurants

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and bars – for use in cocktails and mocktails.

Wholesale price is £3 for a 250ml bottle or £10 for a gift-set of three bottles.

O Coconut expert Cocofina has found a sustainable way of

Introduced last month, 1.25 Balsamic is the tangy cousin of Belazu’s Great Taste award-winning 1.34 density. It is made

by Modenese balsamic producer Nero Modena from just two ingredients: not-fromconcentrate cooked grape must and red wine vinegar.

The difference is that 1.25 spends less time in the barrel, making it “bold and fruity with a pleasantly acetic finish” – ideal for glazing meat and vegetables, dressing salads or adding depth to stews.

O Gourmet Spice Co has added blueberry & vanilla and strawberry & mint to its range of aged balsamics.

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Produced and packed in South Africa’s Cape winelands, the Froggit range of red wine vinegar reductions is now available in the UK via exclusive distributor Old Town Gourmet.

Froggit’s red fig & vanilla balsamic reduction and its garlic-infused red wine reduction will add unique flavour to meat and chicken dishes while fish and salads can be enhanced by citrus balsamic pearls.

The brand, which is based at the Anura (‘frog’) vineyard, also makes a chocolate chilli balsamic reduction that works well with ice cream or fruit. sales@oldtowngourmet.com

adding value to coconut water – turning it into vinegar.

“When we were producing our organic coconut oil, we looked into how we could use the water from mature coconuts in

www.froggit.co.za

a sustainable way,” says founder Jacob Thundil.

The vinegars come in natural, nutmeg and chilli flavours, for use as a salad dressing or a replacement for traditional vinegars. RRP £4.99.

its raw organic unfiltered cyder vinegar in response to customer demand. The unfiltered vinegar has a retail price of £2.79 for 500ml. Cases of 6x500ml cost £11.10.

Meanwhile, Cornwall’s Fowey Valley Cider has started making cider vinegar from its vintage cider. The first batch (wholesale £2.70 for 250ml and £7.50 for 750ml) is made from the 2012 vintage, which has been aged for nearly four years before bottling. www.aspall.co.uk www.foweyvalleycider.co.uk

O Womersley

has introduced four fruit vinegar gift sets in botanically-themed boxes in time for Christmas.

All have an RRP of £20 and contain recipe cards developed by Peter Sidwell, the founder of Simply Good Food TV.

www.womersleyfoods.com O Vallebona’s

berry balsamic and truffle balsamic glazes have new labels following a rebranding exercise for the Italian and Sardinian food and wine importer’s entire range. www.vallebona.co.uk O Wisdom

of Nature has opted for an innovative spray bottle format for its new line of sweet vinegars with fruit.

The organic grape vinegars are made from Greek grape varieties that grow on the company’s organic vineyards in Nemea. www.sofiatisfisis.gr

O La

Cà dal Nôn, a fourth-generation vinegar producer, is looking to break into the UK with its 12- and 25-year aged PDO Modena balsamics, and cooked grape must products Saba and Balsabamo.

Another side to cider vinegar The natural health community has long been extolling the virtues of cider vinegar containing ‘mother’ strands of protein, enzymes and friendly bacteria, claiming that it can help with everything from weight loss to blood pressure reduction and sore throats.

Now there are signs that this remedy trend is going mainstream, with several labels introducing raw, organic and unfiltered variants.

Suffolk’s Aspall says it has introduced

products in brief

www.cadalnon. com O Wild

Unlike many infused vinegars, these don’t contain any added sugars and are made from genuine aged balsamic vinegar imported from Modena. RRP £7 for 100ml.

Irish Foragers’ ‘wild shrubs’ vinegars are now available in 11 varieties, including gorse petal, rowanberry, wild damson and haw & ginger.

www.wildirishforagers.ie

www.mightyfinethings.co.uk www.cocofina.com www.belazu.com www.tastespice.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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Seaweed Biscuits Award-winning Seaweed Oatcakes and Water Biscuits

Made using sustainably sourced Hebridean Seaweed.

www.islandbakery.co.uk

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

For more on the Seaweed range, contact our bakery in Stornoway: Tel: 01851 702733 www.stagbakeries.co.uk sales@stagbakeries.co.uk

show preview

Who’s going to Glasgow?

Scotland’s Speciality Food Show celebrates its 10th anniversary next January at the SECC in Glasgow with the customary mix of new products and established suppliers

N

ew is very much the theme as Scotland’s Speciality Food Show returns to the SECC in 2017, with nearly a third of its exhibitors making their debut at the Glasgow event.

The three-day show, which is co-located with Scotland’s Trade Fair, will present visiting buyers with some

140 stands to source food and drink from, as well as a seminar theatre to sharpen their business practice.

Established exhibitors returning for another year include Crystals Shortbread, balsamic dressing producer Little Doone, Stewart Tower Dairy, Orkney Food & Drink and Great Glen Charcuterie.

The Launch Gallery This section of the show is the place for new, young companies and this year’s line-up includes:

Persie Gin This Perthshire start-up, created by the distiller behind the touring Gin Club, has three flavours of gin for different palates and is taking the artisan gin market by storm.

Meanwhile, condiment specialists Tracklements and Manfood will both be at the show for the first time while soft drinks company Franklin & Sons is also making its first foray to the trade show north of the border.

There is also a strong contingent of native newcomers, such as Mhor Bread, Perthshire Preserves and Island Organic Bakery. Orkney Distilling will be sampling its new gin, Kirkjuvagr, while McQueen Gin will be showcasing a variety of flavoured gins, like chocolate mint, mocha and smokey chilli.

Buyers seeking out start-ups should visit The Launch Gallery (see box) and sample some of Scotland’s newest food and drink.

To complete the visitor

experience, the Seminar Theatre features industry experts talking on subjects such as social media for business, maximising your business through Google, gin tasting, retail advice and much more.

The Best Product Awards will also be judged on the opening day and offer retailers a snapshot of the top lines on show.

“With many food retailers reporting a buoyant summer season, we are hoping for a good attendance and strong orders,” says show director Mark Saunders. “We are now firmly established as one of the top food and drink buying arenas and we aim to make that buying experience as easy, efficient and inspiring as possible – this year will not disappoint.”

Rawnchy The Glasgow-based company will be showcasing its handmade raw vegan desserts.

TartanIce

Information for visitors Dates: January 22-24 2017

A new brand of luxury Scottish ice cream, free from any artificial flavourings, colourings, preservatives and gums.

Venue: Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Glasgow.

Sri Spice

How do I get there? The nearest airport is Glasgow International Airport, a 20-minute taxi ride away or only two stops by train from the low level of Glasgow Central Station (the SECC has its own railway station 'Exhibition Centre'). Alternatively, you can

Sri Lankan-style curry kits, made by hand to unique recipes in Fife. All kits are naturally gluten-free, dairyfree, vegan-friendly and can be used with meat or fish.

Lessadds Syrups Lessadds has a range of homemade syrups, produced from pure and natural ingredients without any additives in Dumfriesshire.

travel to Glasgow Prestwick airport, an hour away by train. For drivers, the SECC is well signposted from all directions and there is ample parking in the multi-storey car park at the east end of the SECC. Leave the M8 at junction 19 and follow signs to the SECC. How do I register for tickets?

Entry is free for food retailers and members of the trade, but you need to register online via www.scotlandsspecialityfoodshow.com Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

39

Seeing is believing

Give us a call on 01274 685566 to join us and experience the KPɈLYLUJL MVY `V\YZLSM ^^^ UH[PVUHSÅL_PISL JV \R

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If you slice, Bizerba will save you £££’s By reducing electricity usage and reducing yield losses

Contact us for slicing consultancy or a free trial on 01908 682740 or info@bizerba.co.uk 40

De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

focus on

equipment & services

Time to tool up A round-up of the latest products available to assist retailers and case studies of how suppliers are making them work

Display flexibility

On a mission to bring the crate concept to life, Linkshelving has developed a number of new products this year.

These include inserts, hook displays, and a variety of small, medium and large designs for fruit, vegetables and bakery displays.

The collection is based around a simple, modular design concept for wall runs and central spaces. Units are easy to move and modify and arrive fully assembled for speedy installation l Earlier this year, Smiths Retail Designs was brought in by Cornwall’s Philps Pasties to completely re-design and refit its store in Hayle.

The installation took just eight days and included gutting the shop before tiling the walls, laying flooring, and installing

Orbis Tech has introduced the Cielo Move all-in-one system so retailers can take the sale to the customer.

It says the Move system – featuring a fully connected tablet and smart dock – is perfect for fast-paced establishments looking to provide quick service or to help queue-bust during peak times.

l

www.orbistech.net

new counters, ceilings and lighting. l When Suda Delicatessen & World Kitchen in Nottingham converted from a health food outlet into a deli, it took advantage of the paved precinct on its doorstep to deploy tables and chairs outside. To complicate its EPoS needs further, it also offers evening dining.

An Open Retail Solutions system allowed it to manage these differing

only see the results, but clients have increasingly been asking CRS to help them display the process in full view. Recent projects include displays made with Himalayan rock salt (below) and a full meat hanging unit for Godfreys in North London.

CRS has also recently helped Keelham Farm

La Polenteria, a completely gluten-free Italian restaurant in London’s Soho, came to WBC to help it create a retail space in its entrance area that could be moved and altered daily.

WBC deployed the two-tier trolley unit from its modular BRIX range, so the restaurant can entice customers for afternoon tea with a display that is then easily wheeled away for evening service.

The trolley unit could also help retailers looking to shift slowmoving stock, says WBC, or it could also be used for creating a ‘product of the day’ corner or hot-spot to encourage impulse purchases. www.wbc.co.uk/brix

areas while also being able to comply with the new food labelling standards that require it to supply nutrition content on scale labels. l Usually the meat-maturing process happens in back rooms and customers

For those about to start...

Dutch company Boska has developed a Starter Kit for new delis or those revitalising their cheese counter. The kit features a Dutch Cheese Knife for tackling large hard cheeses and a Cheese-O-Matic cheesewire, which can handle young, old, soft, hard or crumbly cheeses.

The supplier also has a range of colour-coded knives so staff can easily avoid cross-contamination

and it even carries a range of replica cheeses to spruce up counters without

the worry of wastage or damage to stock. www.boska.com

Shop install a heat recovery system – to harness waste heat from refrigeration units – at its newest outlet. The system can generate more than 500 litres of free hot water per hour. www.linkshelving.com www.smithsretaildesign.co.uk www.openretailsolutions.co.uk www.creativeretailsolutions.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

41

REFRACTOMETERS

FOR QUALITY

CO N T RO L www.RefractometerShop.com sales.bs.uk@xyleminc.com

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

Epos systems for farm shops and delis 01159 677439

www.openretailsolutions.co.uk

A promotional feature for Highlands & Islands Enterprise

A spotlight on seafood from the Highlands and Islands At the Highlands and Islands Enterprise we understand the importance of continual innovation in sustaining a business and maintaining competitive advantage. However, we know that implementing new ideas can be a tricky process. That’s why we have created a dedicated Innovation Team and the Innovate Your Business support programme. Both resources help businesses in the Highlands and Islands develop new ideas into commercially viable opportunities.

T

he seafood sector in the Highlands and Islands provides a great example of this. Whilst it might be built on tradition, it also boasts young talent who are truly leading the way and driving innovation in the industry. Here’s a flavour of the innovation demonstrated by seafood businesses across the Highlands and Islands.

Loch Duart Ltd

For award-winning, independent salmon farmers Loch Duart Ltd, a happy salmon is a tasty salmon.

Years of experience in observing salmon behaviour encouraged hatchery staff to introduce coloured plastic balls and artificial kelp into enclosures to enrich the environment and reduce aggression in the dominant fish. This has significantly improved fish welfare, reduced fin damage and enhanced quality in this salmon

Company, now run by Rosie and Sally, daughter and granddaughter of the founders. Sally Swinbanks is a former winner of the young star of the year award in the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards and has been instrumental in the recent success of the company.

The Tobermory Fish Company is famous for wonderful produce using only the finest natural ingredients.

Either a long, slow cold smoke or a faster hot smoky roast is used with carefully crafted recipes to achieve an exceptional taste in trout, salmon and shellfish. The gold award-winning Tobermory Trout is only one of the many foods that can be supplied directly from this amazing location. www.tobermoryfish.co.uk

which is sold all over the world. This innovation is currently subject to a full study by The University of Stirling to assess this contribution to fish welfare.

Gigha Halibut

fun way to bring high quality seafood, caught locally and responsibly and delivered nationwide direct to the customer’s door. The company has also recently begun to supply products to delis and independent retailers.

Gigha Halibut is the only business in the UK producing halibut. Based on the Scottish isle of Gigha, a dedicated and skilled team monitors the wellbeing of each individual halibut.

This process begins with egg hatching and continues through to hand rearing juvenile fish until they grow to market size. An excellent product, Smoked Gigha Halibut scooped Best Scottish Product in the 2015 Great Taste Awards.

www.fishbox.co.uk

www.gighahalibut.co.uk

www.lochduart.com

Coast and Glen

Young fisherman Magnus Houston has built a very successful business by spotting a gap in the market.

Local restaurants and hotels were struggling to put locally caught fish and shellfish on the menu because most of the daily catch was destined for mainland Europe. In 2011 he set up Coast & Glen in Inverness, a business that supplied local restaurant and hotels with seafood landed by local fishermen. It now supplies over 300 establishments in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Michelin star restaurants in London. He recently diversified the business to create Fishbox – a convenient, nutritious and

Shetland Mussels

Shetland Mussels is a family business where father Lollie Tait works with sons Michael and Richard to grow mussels on some of the wildest and most beautiful sites in the Shetland Islands.

Their approach has harnessed a natural way of growing mussels with a diet of the plankton found in the pristine waters. The mussels are rope grown which leads to a grit free and thinner shell so the consumer can enjoy more meat from the mussels. Shetland Mussels is certified Marine Stewardship Council and Friends of the Sea, and all products are sold through the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, the UK’s leading supplier of rope-grown mussels and cultivated Pacific oysters. www.shetland-mussels.com

Isle of Barra Oysters

Isle of Barra Oysters is another example of pioneering, innovative techniques and the unpolluted natural environment combining to produce fantastic seafood. Seed oysters are hand-reared in stacks of trays suspended from rafts in the pristine waters surrounding this beautiful island in the Outer Hebrides, taking advantage of sheltered areas around the coast. Each individual oyster is cared for to ensure its optimum health and wellbeing. The oysters feed on the rich plankton from the sea and the team uses its extensive knowledge to adjust the growing conditions to produce the finest oysters. This young company is not only producing a delicious, quality product but is also providing great employment opportunities on this remote island. www.isleofbarraoysters.co.uk

Tobermory Fish Company

Another great example of a family business that has continued to innovate and produce exceptional quality products is the Tobermory Fish

www.hie.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

43

HO, HO, HOW ABOUT...

A GLUTEN FREE CHRISTMAS? Traditional Christmas foods are not great for the gluten-free diet, but our award-winning range of frozen fish fillets has some lovely Gluten Free options that are ideal for the festive season.

And now there’s even more reasons to stock up with our Christmas offer! Just order four cases of any variety and receive three of our lovely BigFish Brand cooler bags with every case!* Why not use them to encourage your customers to buy and take home more? We suggest one free cooler bag per four packs of BigFish Brand purchased.

Our range is easy to cook, perfect for Christmas entertaining and always delicious. Our BigFish Brand Plain, Garden Mint and Piri-Piri salmon and our new Trout Fillets are all certified gluten-free.

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

seafood

focus on

Scale model

the fishmonger’s must-stocks l Brindisa

Keep it small and have an expert behind the counter. Those are among the secrets to selling seafood successfully in a deli or farm shop, as Wiltshire fishmongers Ashley and Ruth Major told MICK WHITWORTH.

A

fter six years selling fresh fish as part of Thyme & Tides deli in Stockbridge, Hants, you’d expect Ashley and Ruth Major to have an idea or two about selling seafood in a deli environment.

In fact, Ashley’s career in the fish trade stretches back much further – he started out on the markets in Manchester 23 years ago, and ran his own stall there for some time.

Ruth is no novice either. Trained as a chef at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co Cork, she went on to be head chef at another iconic Irish food establishment: Doyle’s seafood restaurant in Dingle.

It’s the ideal combined skill set for buying, prepping and selling fish, advising customers on how to use it and adding value to off-cuts.

That’s what the pair have been doing since opening their own outlet, The Fishmongers, in Tisbury, Wiltshire, in April of this year.

The years spent working alongside Iain Hemming of Thyme & Tides were “a stepping stone to where we are now”, says Ruth. “Iain had a dream that he wanted a fresh fish counter, and then he met Ashley.

“It definitely worked and was great for us personally too. It helped us figure out the business side of a shop, and to find suppliers in the south of England.”

Selling fresh fish is not for the faint-hearted. It’s about the most perishable of produce. But you don’t need a huge range to make money, and if you can find an ex-fishmonger to work with you – perhaps more viable in a busier farm shop – you can add theatre and a new point of difference to the store.

So what advice would Ashley and Ruth offer?

Buy direct

Ashley: The main guy we buy fish from is Richard Newman of Starfish in Looe. He’s an ex-trawlerman who now buys direct from the boats. In the old days he would have sent it to a wholesaler, but there aren’t many left, so he couriers it direct to us. It doesn’t take much fish to get to his minimum order, and we’re getting a good price because we’re not paying a wholesaler’s margin.

And there are plenty of other people now doing what Richard is doing – five or six in Looe alone.

Buy in skills if you can

Ashley: You can always bring in ready-cut fish. But if you want it

garlic confit mayonnaise: “Great with prawns and lobster, but also works really well with BBQs and white fish.” l Heiploeg brown shrimp: “Customers are buying them to make a sauce with, or stir into a hollandaise – or to make potted shrimp, of course.” l GastrOcean lemon butter sauce: “We like to sell warmthrough sauces like this because they make for simple suppers.” l Shellfish South West crab pots: “We have pasteurised white crab or Nippy Crab 50:50 brown and white meat. It’s cheaper than the handpicked fresh crab, and we say: ‘If you want to make crab linguine use the white, or for sandwiches use the 50-50.” l Herpac boquerones: ”Lovely in canapes or just with some crusty bread.” l Atkins & Potts ambient sauces: “A&P do a multitude of different ambient sauces to suit every occasion and every fish.”

Ruth and Ashley Major: combining talents at their Wiltshire shop

to be ‘part of the show’ you need someone in the shop who knows how to cut fish and knows how to keep it – someone that can instil confidence in the customer, not just weigh fish and wrap it.

Bespoke it

Ashley: Ruth makes ready-meals to order, but she also does poached and dressed salmon for buffets, and fruits de mer – seafood platters – that are designed by the customer.

Ruth: The other day someone asked me for a really classic starter – a salmon timbale stuffed with mousse.

Others will ask me to make them a mayonnaise or a hollandaise.

We all love fish fingers…

Ruth: We’re not set up for a lot of catering, so I’m mainly making ready-meals for the shop freezer: fish fingers, fish cakes, fish pies, fish curries, fish stews. We use up all our

trimmings – just like a butcher uses off-cuts to make sausages or sausage rolls. Any food retailer should use their scraps to make a profit – they’d be daft not to.

I make a lot of single portions, which mostly sell for about £4.25.

Fish fingers really fly. Everyone likes them: families with kids, little old men looking for something easy.

We charge £3 for 200g, which is 4-5 cod fingers or 5-6 plaice fingers.

…and fish cakes

Ruth: I make a lot of different fish cakes, depending on the trimmings: salmon & caper; tuna, lime & chilli; cod & pancetta... I’ve done red mullet & sun-dried tomato, too. We charge £3.50-£4.50 for two – enough for a main course or two starters.

Keep it simple

Ashley: I got into the industry about the same time that [TV chef] Keith

Floyd came along. He made fish look more interesting, but it was Rick Stein and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall that really demystified it for the foodie.

I’ve been lucky enough to work to work with some really good chefs, but I’ve heard Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall say that the simplest thing to do with fish is just stick it in the oven – and it is.

Ruth: People respect the quality that we provide here, and with quality fish you can keep it simple. You don’t need fancy French sauces.

Keep it small

Ashley: Our counter is only 1800mm.

The last thing you want to do is open a 3m or 4m counter.

You don’t need to sell a lot of fish to make it work financially. We keep surprising ourselves because we’ve made quite a lot of money when we don’t seem to have sold a big volume. www.thefishmongers.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

45

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

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shelf talk

packs, promotions, people

New distiller puts waste fruit to work

BY ANDREW DON

A new craft distiller that supports farms by using rejected fruit has secured a listing for its first two spirits within just a few weeks of launch.

It is early days for Greensand Ridge Distillery’s London Dry Gin and Raspberry Ghost Eau de Vie, but founder Will Edge, who has been a cider-maker and brewer for 15 years, aims to produce 300-400 bottles of London Dry a week and also plans to produce an apple brandy every year and a honey rum.

The distillery in Shipbourne, in the Weald of Kent, is already supplying 35 local pubs as well as Macknade Fine Foods.

Edge said he would talk to wholesalers in the new year to supply more speciality food retailers and offlicences.

Edge pays farmers

who can support farmers and if they have a year with a lot of waste then I can step in and be a client for them.”

He also collects bins of waste from local packing plants that would normally pay to get rid of it.

“People are drinking less but drinking better and the price people are prepared to pay for spirits is going up when they know it’s coming from a local, craft or highquality producer.”

The gin’s RRP is £35 and the Raspberry Ghost £35.50.

The apple brandy which will be in barrel for a couple of years is expected to cost “a bit more” to reflect the extra work that goes in. www.greensanddistillery.com

Belvoir creates wine ‘without the hangover’

Tigg’s turns up the colour Tigg’s has rebranded its four-strong range of dressings, theming each one in the style of a ‘lonely hearts’ advertisement.

The range – sweet original, beetroot, basil & pea and pepper & mustard – now features an assortment of bright labels, designed to make the most of each product’s bold natural colours. The dressings,

for their ‘waste’ fruit either directly or from a percentage of profits because he says he wants it to be worthwhile for them.

“I want to be someone

what’s new...

Bad Boy does good

www.badboychilli.co.uk

Belvoir Fruit Farms has developed a range of non-alcoholic wines, including Shiraz, rosé and Chardonnay.

The move comes in response to the rising trend in abstaining from alcohol, with one in five adults in the UK now being teetotal.

The wine “without the hangover” range includes a rosé made from white and red grape juice that's blended with raspberry, orange blossom and jasmine.

The Shiraz incorporates elderberry and blackcurrant

Looking for suppliers accredited by the Guild of Fine Food? Follow the logo

An organic coconut & pineapple snack bar is the latest line to join Cocofina’s range of indulgent treats.

Approved by the Soil Association, each bar is made with dried organic pineapple, oats, coconut, rice syrup and rice crisps.

The low-calorie bars (146 kcal) are veganand vegetarian-friendly and will be launched in January.

The Shropshire Spice Company has added three new recipes to its ‘So Simple’ gluten-free spice blend range. Jambalaya, Stroganoff and Chilli have been created for people who don’t have the time to source a long list of ingredients.

Trade cases of 10x40g sachets cost £12.48 and each unit has an RRP of £1.79.

www.tiggitup.co.uk

BY NICK BAINES

www.lovecoffee.co.uk

www.cocofina.com

which all have a base of apple cider vinegar, come in 250g bottles with an RRP of £3.99.

Bad Boy Chilli has tweaked its branding to make it easier for consumers to understand its products. Each product in the range is colour coded and labels explain that the product is a purée made with 100% fresh chillies and each jar contains 15 servings despite its size. The producer has also introduced Bad Boy Chilli Shake, a sauce which is made from the habanero chillies and aged in oak whiskey casks.

Independent coffee roaster Martin Carwardine & Co has overhauled its label designs as it launches a newly refurbished retail website.

The redesign, which features illustrations created by woodcut printing and etching, harks back to the Bristol company’s 18th century heritage.

www.shropshire-spice.co.uk

alongside its red grape juice base, while the Chardonnay is made from white grape and peach juices, with elderflower and jasmine extracts.

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Fruit Farms, said that the wine alternatives have also been developed to emulate the texture and sensation of drinking wine.

“We think that as more people adopt a healthier lifestyle the demand for drinks like these will grow,” he added.

Tea specialist The Kettle Shed has two new Rooibos-based blends for winter in 100% biodegradable FUSO bags. Gingerbread has a kick of ginger and a smooth vanilla taste, while Eggnog offers the sweet and spicy tastes of the festive drink without alcohol or caffeine. www.thekettleshed.com

www.belvoirfruitfarms. co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

47

“Deep and mellow flavours. A clean distillation.

Packed with fruit” Great Taste judges

“A drink to sip and savour” - IWSC judges

DAPPA Supreme Champions in 2006, regional winners in 2009 and with continued success at Great Taste year on year, you can be assured of quality from Woodcock Smokery

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Primrose Herd pigs reach for the stars!

Gloucestershire Old Spots Belly Pork

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It’s Great Customer Service And it’s Happy Bakers making the edible taste incredible Salted Caramel Cake…

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

shelf talk

packs, promotions, people gift sets...

chef’s selection

Spice specialist Steenbergs has released a range of Christmas gift packs, including crackers filled with organic mulling spices.

The mulled wine (RRP £3.25), mulled cider (RRP £3.25), and fruity mulled spices (RRP £2.50) crackers all contain three muslin pouches of spices. The Yorkshire-based spice company is also offering small and large tea brick gift boxes (RRP £10 and £16.50 respectively), loose leaf tea tins (RRP £4.45) and Arabic spice gift boxes (RRP £10.00) – containing za’atar, dukkah, harissa with rose, and ras al hanut.

FOOD WRITER CLARE HARGREAVES INTERVIEWS TOP BRITISH CHEFS ABOUT THEIR FAVOURITE STORECUPBOARD PRODUCTS

Andrew Dargue

Chef-patron at Vanilla Black Andrew Dargue trained as a chef in Middlesborough, then became a cheflecturer at Middlesborough College. He set up Vanilla Black – a high-end vegetarian restaurant – in York in 2004, then relocated the restaurant to London in 2008.

www.steenbergs.co.uk

Northern Irish producer Burren Balsamics has developed a new line in festive packaging. The Christmas-tree shaped 200ml bottle is filled with seasonal cranberry with fresh orange zest flavour balsamic vinegar, which comes with a handcrafted dipping dish produced specially by Co Fermanagh pottery firm Baked in Belfast. Other Burren Balsamic lines are also available in gift boxes. www.burrenbalsamics.com

Alcohol-free cocktail producer Rocktails has released a set in colourful packaging (RRP £16), containing two 250ml pouches and a coupe glass.

Available in four flavours (Mockito, Sunset Sling, Thyme Collins and Cocoa Colada), the mocktail pouches are designed to be served frozen, but can also be poured ambient over ice. Each ready-to-drink variety is made without preservatives, flavourings, colourings or sweeteners and is only 90 calories per pouch. www.rocktails.co.uk

www.vanillablack.co.uk

Contadini Salento capers in sea salt Contadini preserves Salento capers in salt for three to four months, then drains them, adds sea salt from the Margherita di Savoia saltmarshes, and bottles them. At home, I love grinding the capers and spreading them on a slice of sourdough with a bit of olive oil then toasting it in the oven. They have a wonderful intensity. Capers in brine don’t work nearly as well. They are also good with a soft mild cheese like ricotta. www.icontadini.it

Cornish sea salt Some sea salts are too hard and almost need a grinder. But this one dissolves well when sprinkled onto food. I love it on salads and tomatoes – it’s wonderfully salty. It’s unrefined, which means it retains over 60 naturally occurring trace elements, including potassium, magnesium and calcium. It’s a far cry from table salt which is highly processed and contains anti-caking agents. At home, I sprinkle Cornish sea salt on aubergines with a bit of olive oil, before baking them in the oven. www.cornishseasalt.co.uk

Green curry paste (gang keow wan) Again, this is a product I enjoy using at home. It’s unusual in that it’s one of the few curry pastes that doesn’t contain fish sauce, so it’s useful if you don’t eat fish. It’s just made with green chilli, onion, garlic, galangal and lemongrass, and contains no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. I like to roast vegetables such as courgettes, broccoli, savoy cabbage and aubergine until they’re charred. I then use the paste to make a sauce to pour over the vegetables. I beef up the curry paste with a bit of chilli to make it hotter, and I might add some mint or basil for vibrancy. www.thaitaste.co.uk

Flashy flasks for fruit liqueurs

Ribblesdale sheep’s cheese We like to have produce that you don’t find everywhere else, and this sheep’s cheese is a winner. I discovered it through a wholesaler but now we buy it direct from Iona and Stuart who make it in Hawes in North Yorkshire. It tastes a bit like Parmesan – quite strong. We get Iona to mature it a little longer for us so that it’s really powerful, and we use it in a cheese soufflé. The cheese has true depth of flavour and being artisan-made, each one is unique. At home, I love Ribblesdale shaved onto a cracker so that you really taste it.

Sloemotion has geared up for seasonal selling with two luxury sets to showcase its sloe gin and fruit liqueurs. The first is a ‘shelf-ready’ bar-coded gift box housing its sloe gin with a hedgerow sketch design (RRP £21.95) and the second box (RRP £49) features a 35cl bottle of the chosen spirit plus a pewter hip flask, which has been handmade in Sheffield, adding to the ‘Crafted in Yorkshire’ philosophy of the brand.

The Ludlow Nut Company peeled tiger nuts I buy organically certified peeled tiger nuts from The Ludlow Nut Company to turn into milk. The milk is quite different from other nut milks. It’s particularly sweet and creamy and obviously very popular in Valencia where people drink it as horchata. I chill it, then pour it over our very popular chocolate dessert – and guests love it.

www.sloemotion.com

www.ludlownut.co.uk

www.ribblesdalecheese.wordpress.com

Looking for suppliers accredited by the Guild of Fine Food? Follow the logo

Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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shelf talk

packs, promotions, people

Free Spirit hits soft drink market with five ‘grown-up’ flavours

what’s trending NICK BAINES KEEPS YOU UP-TO-DATE WITH THE NEWEST DISHES, FLAVOURS AND INNOVATION IN FOOD AND DRINK

BY MICHAEL LANE

Ube Pronounced oo-bay, this purple yam is causing a stir and being used as a sweet filling in doughnuts and as a flavouring for ice creams. Used in Filipino cuisine – tipped to be a big thing in 2017 – ube is known for its bright colour and has been the focus of an Instagram flurry over in Brooklyn. You can find ube in a number of Filipino restaurants as well as popular London pop-up Adobros, which uses it in cakes and semifreddos.

Red wine hot chocolate Making hot chocolate with a healthy dose of red wine might sound peculiar, but recipes have been flooding the internet and the combo has been picked up as a winter trend by The Independent and the Metro. An easy one to put out for tasting on the shop floor during the Christmas crush, and a potential crossmerchandising opportunity.

drink, that Free Spirit describes as unusual but refreshing and smooth.

All five can also be used

Gin mist Earlier this year, alcohol alchemist Bompas & Parr created a bar filled with a cloud of gin. So far, so weird. But the business of aromatics in cocktails is serious and producer Silent Pool has created gin mist. The spray can be added to cocktails and creates a thin film on the top of the drink that’s intensely flavoured with ingredients like bergamot, orange and kaffir lime.

Fika and Hygge With a barrage of books being published on hygge (hoo-guh), a Danish word that means all things snug and cosy, consumer interest is sure to be focused in a very Scandinavian way. Cinnamon buns are regularly mentioned throughout these books, as are spiced cakes and soups. Fika is a similar Swedish term also being used with abandon in food and lifestyle magazines and has a strong focus on biscuits and tray bakes.

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as mixers with spirits and come in 250ml glass bottles with an RRP of £2.75 www.freespiritdrinks.com

Cotswold Fayre to hold its own shows

Newcomer The Nowt Poncy Food Company has released two certified gluten-free sauces suitable for coeliacs.

When tested by a UKAS lab, the tomato & basil and curry sauce both had less than 5 parts per million in their gluten analysis. Available in 350g jars (RRP £2.95), both are low in fat and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Cotswold Fayre will be holding a series of shows in January and February, to highlight the 250-plus new products and 35 suppliers that it will be launching in 2017. Retailers will have the opportunity to meet the distributor’s team and sample lines with the producers themselves.

Roadshows will be held in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bracknell, London and Bristol.

Visit the website for more details or to register.

www.nowtponcy.co.uk

www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk

Kris Kirkham

Things in bowls Bowls are the crockery-du-jour and the chosen vessel for everything, from Hawaiian poke to healthy salads. And this trend poses two opportunities; retailing large bowls (interest in independent pottery producers is growing), and putting together simple eat-in, or take-out salad or grain bowls – a healthy tick in the ‘wellness’ box. London’s 26 Grains is the benchmark for ‘things in bowls’.

Free Spirit, a new soft drink brand, is aiming to gain listings for its five “grown-up” flavours with independent retailers across the UK. The non-carbonated range – which is also being pitched to bars, pubs and restaurants – features blood orange, a Bloody Mary-style spiced tomato and an apple, mint & lime variety.

Completing the range is a lemonade flavoured with the Asian citrus fruit yuzu and a peach & watermelon

Nowt Poncy by name...

Vegan mayo and chocolate spreads among Mr Organic launches

BY MICHAEL LANE

Mr Organic has broadened its range considerably with the addition of 16 lines, including an egg-free mayonnaise, chocolate spreads, fruit conserves and a range of “add-in” sauces.

Its free-from mayo (RRP £2.79 per jar) contains no egg but the producer said it is still rich and creamy and “in a different league” to other vegan alternatives.

Milk chocolate, dark chocolate and Free From Chocolate (made without

dairy) make up Mr Organic’s gluten-free range of spreads (RRP £3.69-£3.99), while the fruit conserves range comprises Sicilian lemon,

Sicilian mandarin and Sicilian bitter orange (all £3.99) and elderberry (£4.69).

The company’s Italianmade grilled pepper, grilled aubergine and tomato & olive Add-Ins (£3.39£3.69) can be used as spreads, dips, as well as added to meals.

Distributors carrying Mr Organic lines include The Gorgeous Food Co, Hider, Holleys and Cotswold Fayre. www.mr-organic.com

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Celebrating 10 years as a distributor of: Fine Foods Spanish Ceramics Olive Wood and other quality products

www.divinedeli.com sales@divinedeli.com 01706 313 001 Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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shelf talk

Once housed in a glorified shed and nearly flattened in a road development, Weald Smokery’s outlet shop was reborn in 2014 as a classy rural deli-brasserie

Top of the Weald I

’ve picked November 21, a day of torrential rain across the south west of England, for the 190-mile drive from Devon to East Sussex to interview Weald Smokery owner Andrew Wickham. When I arrive at his shop and smokehouse – just off the A21, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – it’s clear the West Country is not alone in taking a hammering.

As Wickham is giving me a well-practised 30-minute tour of his traditional smokery, the air ripe with wood-smoke, he apologises for the black, tarry and now decidedly slippery floors around his brickbuilt cold-smoking kilns and steel hot-smoking ovens – all built to his specification when he expanded into new production sheds in 2003.

“When we moved here, one thing we wanted to achieve was to get the smoke out of the building,”

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Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICK WHITWORTH

he explains, pointing to the slats incorporated into the roof design.

“I’m agriculturally trained, so I know a bit about ventilating buildings. But the downside is that sometimes, when it rains, this happens…”

I’ve spent enough time in smokehouses on fish docks from Grimsby to Aberdeen to be unfazed

by Weald Smokery’s modest puddles.

Besides, the smell of duck breasts slowly smoking over an oakwood fire – an aroma released when Wickham opens one of his locally built ovens

– is enough to take my mind off the state of my shoes.

Wickham believes he is one of the few UK craft producers still smoking salmon, eels and poultry in a brick kiln, relying on a thermometer, watch, clipboard and the skills of the head smoker to manage the process.

Most smokehouses nowadays, and all the big ones, use computercontrolled stainless steel kilns, which are great in terms of efficiency and consistency but don’t impart the same character to the product.

When Wickham was told by his EHO to clean the tar off the bricks, he not only asked for evidence that it posed a health risk, but said he would rather close the business than comply. “In the context of smoking salmon, ’traditional’ means using brick kilns,” he says.

An old-fashioned smokery is a joy to behold, but today I’m here to talk

shops, not production. Because, in the 26 years since he took over this operation in the village of Flimwell, close to the East Sussex/Kent border, Wickham has gradually converted its original ‘factory outlet’ – a small shed alongside the slightly bigger one that housed the smoker – into a full-on fine food store.

The current shop building was erected in 1999, but two years ago it saw its biggest investment yet, with a £150,000 refit and rebranding that included the addition of a small café-brasserie. Together, the shop and eatery now account for around £350,000 of Weald Smokery’s total £850,000 turnover, which includes mail-order retailing but is led by sales of smoked salmon, chicken, venison and more to independent delis, farm shops and the foodservice sector.

The 1,000 sq ft interior of today’s revamped retail unit is

deli of the month vital statistics Floor space: 1,000 sq ft Average weekly sales: £5,000 in the shop, £2,000 in the café Average gross margin: 33% (ambient), 37-40% (deli) Employees: 3-4 full-time equivalent in shop and café

must-stocks O Vacherin

du Mont d’Or O Colston Bassett Stilton (animal rennet) O Benenden Sauce O Burwash Rose (Traditional Cheese Dairy) O Weald Smokery smoked salmon and smoked chicken O Jenny Wren Belgian chocolates O Ginger’s Kitchen ready-meals O Home Gurr’own pies and quiches O Coln Valley dill sauce O Tracklements chilli jam O Monty Bojangles Flutter Scotch fudge O Naked Spice dry curry mixes O The Quality Cake Company roulades and lemon tarts O Sussex Valley hollandaise O Anno Kent Dry gin “unrecognisable” compared with two years ago, Wickham tells me. For starters, the café, seating a dozen at tables and another five or six on bar stools by the window, has gobbled up a third of the previous retail footprint. “It was quite a decision to go down that route and lose the sales space,” Wickham says. “But the idea was that customers would be able to taste what we’re selling

declaring “Eat it…Like it….Buy it…”, which is consistent with the all-round excellent signage and product labelling throughout the shop.

Like others in the trade, however, Wickham has found that 18-20 covers is barely enough to make the café pay, once staff costs are taken into account. “A lot of people think a café is the be-all and end-all,” he says, “but you do need to reach

A lot of people think a café is the be-all and end-all, but you do need to reach that critical point where you’re fully utilising the staff in the kitchen in the deli, and not just the smokery products. Literally everything we sell in the café is available in the shop.”

This message is reinforced by a large blackboard in the café,

that critical point where you’re fully utilising the staff in the kitchen.”

Outside seating under a large parasol gives an extra 20 covers “but only for three months of the

year”, so he is already planning a café extension and is applying for a LEADER grant, under the Rural Development Programme for England.

“This will be my first grant for some time,” says Wickham, who is well versed in the support available to rural firms as he is also a Conservative county councillor for Kent. “A LEADER grant covers 40% of the project cost, and that could amount to £20-30k. I’m slightly dreading the cash-flow analysis – I might leave that to my accountant – but it’s well worth filling in the forms for.”

The 2014 revamp wasn’t just about adding a café. The shop, headed by long-serving manager Jo Nicholas, has also been transformed, to give a better balance of full service and grab-and-go. The former is focused very much on the shop’s strong range of cheeses sourced

largely from Neal’s Yard, The Fine Cheese Co and direct from the best cheesemakers in Kent and Sussex – The Traditional Cheese Dairy, Alsop & Walker, High Weald Dairy, Greenacres Farm (maker of Golden Cross) – and that’s where service, advice and product knowledge matter most.

“Serveovers are great for cheese and deli items,” says Wickham. “In fact, we pride ourselves on the fact we cut cheese on the counter – I don’t like to see it in pre-packs. But customers were having to ask for service, even if all they wanted was a packet of smoked chicken.

“The British are shy about having someone looking at them over a serveover. They feel inhibited. We felt if they were able to browse witheeout that slight intimidation they might buy more.”

What he didn’t want, however, was a self-service ‘deli’ that Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

53

Guild of Fine Food members and Great Taste To take advantage of Members’ Fortnight, a producer must have a valid membership until 31 January 2017.

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Available from January 2017 Contact us to reserve a brochure.

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De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

shelf talk

deli of the month

resembled an Esso forecourt shop, so he worked with designer Creative Retail Solutions to “furniturise” the self-service fridges, building them into timber surrounds painted with the shop’s new mid-green livery.

Another key shopfitting supplier was Linkshelving, whose mix-andmatch ‘artisan crates’ give Weald Smokery a range of display options for everything from wines (mainly English), craft gins (Chase, Durham, Brighton, Cotswold, Pinkster and the local Anno Kent Dry) and fresh bread (Lighthouse Bakery) to its carefully chosen ambient range.

Cotswold Fayre, Hider, Cress Co, Diverse and Moordale are the main wholesale suppliers here. But with many other Sussex and Kent delis and farm shops buying from the

not widely available elsewhere, and which fit our quality criteria. Local same catalogues, Wickham and his is good, but not a prerequisite. The team also source direct from as many quality has to be there. If we’re going local suppliers as they can to create a to do brie, it will be Brie de Meaux.” point of difference, like The Captain’s If may have taken 26 years for Cookies from the Zingiberi Bakery Weald Smokery to reach this point in Dover, jams from Martha & Ed’s but it’s worth pointing out that the Kitchen in Henley Down and Mini business has taken one especially Mouthfuls fudge from Battle. interesting turn. In 2007, Wickham Local is good, but not a prerequisite. took a “seven year The quality has to be there. If we do sabbatical” when a brie, it will be Brie de Meaux. the Highways Agency bought him out as part of a scheme to widen “We started out just selling the A21. Until construction started, smoked foods and morphed into the Agency was persuaded to let what we are today, which is more of Wickham’s then shop manager, a deli,” says Wickham. “But with so industry veteran Christopher Milns, little space, we have to be quite strict carry on Weald Smokery as a tenant. about what we buy and not go off Then, when the coalition government on a tangent. cancelled the road scheme, Wickham “We try to stock things that are

bought it back and set about his £150,000 redevelopment.

Milns, who dide leave for a while to run a nearby farm shop, is now back in the company, running trade and mail-order sales, and is now its longest serving employee.

Since returning in 2014, Wickham says business has got noticeably tougher. “From 1990 to 2007 I was making a good profit. I’m not saying we don’t make money still, but it’s a damned sight harder.

“I’m constantly having to think of new ways to have an edge on the supermarkets. We’ve got to give people a reason to come here.”

That means service, product knowledge, a few stand-out products from very small, very local suppliers.

And of course, Weald Smokery’s own products, which certainly won’t be found in a Waitrose near you. www.wealdsmokery.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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Veggie source of protein High in fibre Less than 145 calories per pack @TakingthePea

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Mike Leslie – Partisan Deli

Monsoon Espresso

The Truckle Cheese Company, home to award winning products including its farmhouse cheese truckles, is delighted to be working with Dorset-based, Ford Farm offering their cave aged products, traditional West Country Farmhouse Cheddars aged deep within the caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset.

Maturing cheese in Caves is a practice that dates back many hundreds of years. The cheesemakers at Dorset-based Ford Farm, have revived this art by ageing their traditional, hand-made farmhouse cheddar truckles in the historic caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset. The constant, yearround temperature and humidity offers the ideal conditions to create a cheddar that is deliciously rich, tangy and mature combined with the distinctive, earthy and nutty flavours from the Cavesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; unique atmosphere.

For more information please visit our website: www.trucklecheese.co.uk or email: enquiries@trucklecheese.co.uk For wholesale enquiries please contact us on office 01638 741588. or call Richard on 07961 197219 Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

57

2AǢPBERRY 0ITCHFORK Muddled Raspberries, Vodka, a splash of Framboise Liqueur, topped with Heartsease Farm Raspberry Lemonade.

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A full job description is available upon request.

Applicants should send their CV with a covering letter to jilly.sitch@gff.co.uk Closing date for applications 10 January 2017 58

De cember 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 10

classified

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Vol.17 Issue 10 | De cember 2016

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