Best Brands 2020-21 by Guild of Fine Food

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s d n a s d r n B a s r d n B a r B 2020-21

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FINE FOOD DIGEST

“Pandemic or not, the truth is that consumers still want to buy wellpackaged, great-tasting food and drink – possibly even more than before” Michael Lane, editor, Fine Food Digest EDITORIAL Editor: Michael Lane Assistant editor: Tom Dale Art director: Mark Windsor Contributors: Nick Baines, Lynda Searby, Patrick McGuigan

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Given the year that our small-but-industrious corner of the food industry has had, we all need a little bit of a break. I’m not suggesting anyone should be ignoring what’s due to come in 2021, but this special edition of FFD is meant to be a pause to celebrate some of the good things that happened this year. While it’s not an entirely COVID-free zone and you may spot the odd Brexit mention, the focus of Best Brands is a positive one. By all means, keep that context in the back of your mind. No one in our sector will be able to forget how so many independent retailers excelled themselves in this most bizarre of years. Most delis and farm shops have consistently managed to stay open and continued selling food and drink to the public while the country has been in a constant flux between shutting down and opening up. The supply chain, too, has endured and been part of what I see as a major achievement. To a certain degree, it has been business as usual. The results of our survey (now in its tenth year!) hint at this. There are plenty of returning champions and runners-up. And the differences compared to previous results don’t seem to have anything to do with coronavirus. Pandemic or not, the truth is that consumers still want to buy well-packaged, great-tasting food and drink – possibly even more than

before. And retailers have had continued success in selling them exactly that – even if it’s been a little trickier getting the product physically into their shopping baskets If you’re after some potential new listings, then there are plenty of prospects in Best Brands. We’ve rounded up a host of national and regional awards’ results (see pages 43-47) and we’ve tried to give you a bit of steer as to what might be claiming gongs in years to come – via both the FFD editorial team (page 63) and some retail buyers (page 33). For those of you reading this that want to feel some pre-COVID nostalgia, we’ve got a full report on the winners of the Guild of Fine Food’s Shop of the Year competition (starting on page 20). You’ll be pleased to hear that these retailers are all still very much surviving and thriving since they picked up their awards in early March. We’ve also tried to do a bit of forwardthinking (I know, I said we need a break). Have a look at some of the advice consultants and successful producers have for brands striving to improve in 2021 (page 37). Or cheer yourself with a piece about some of the environmentally friendly and sustainable changes being made to packaging (see page 51). Whether you’re reading this special edition straight after Christmas or later in 2021, I hope it proves a welcome and useful distraction – even just for a moment.

Inside:

Best Brands 20-21 was produced in association with

© The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2020. 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.

FINE FOOD DIGEST

2020 Best Brands Survey results

Shop of the Year

Emerging brands

Improving your brand

Award winners

The changing fabric of brands

Deli of the Month ‘must-stocks’ 57 FFD’s Pick of the year

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n a c u o y s r e i l p p u S y b k c i t s

For the tenth year, Fine Food Digest has surveyed independent retailers to uncover what the best-selling products are in the speciality food sector. Here are the results of our 2020 Best Brands Survey, along with some further detail on our findings this time around. Analysis by Michael Lane Surveys compiled by Stephanie Hare-Winton and Sophie Brentnall

How does it work? Every brand ranked in this section is here because independent retailers put it here. We asked buyers in delis, farm shops and food halls around the country to name their top-selling lines in around a dozen categories. The survey was conducted by email and telephone during October and November 2020. The top-scoring brands in each category â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in other words, those most mentioned by FFD readers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are revealed here. Where brands achieved very similar scores we have given them a joint position. 4 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

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1st Peter’s Yard 2nd Miller’s Damsels (Artisan Biscuits) 3rd The Fine Cheese Co 4th Border Biscuits 5th Island Bakery

Analysis After seeing a rise in the number of sweet biscuits getting the nod from the retailers we surveyed last year, crackers for cheese seem to be in the ascendency again. Peter’s Yard’s Swedishstyle sourdough crispbreads (recently rebranded) retained the top spot but

there was a strong twopronged challenge from The Fine Cheese Co and sister business Artisan Biscuits. The former brand’s Toast For Cheese range remains an independent retail staple and Artisan’s Miller’s Damsel cracker line-up showed a resurgence this year. That’s not to say there weren’t plenty of votes for sweeter varieties. A sure bet every year, Border and its Dark Chocolate Gingers are still doing the business for plenty of shops and fellow Scottish producer Island Biscuits made it into the rankings, thanks in part to its Lemon Melts, which received several mentions. BEST BRANDS 2020-21 5

y r u o v a S Snacks 1st Pipers 2nd Torres 3rd Burts 4th Brindisa 5th Eat Real 6 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

Analysis: After last year’s result appeared to indicate a changing of the guard in the competitive ‘hand-cooked’ potato crisp market, it hasn’t materialised in the latest survey. Some former stalwarts are conspicuous by their absence, but Pipers remains on top for another year and Burts has returned to the top five after a hiatus last year. It is probably safe to say, after several years of strong showings in the survey, that Spanish brand Torres (bestknown for its truffle-flavoured crisps) is a staple line for many independents now.

Vegetable snack brand Eat Real is now also a confirmed regular in this category of the Best Brands Survey, having ranked for three years in a row. While it imports Torres crisps, Brindisa has made the rankings based on the popularity of its own bagged snacks, including its Marcona almonds. Drilling further into the data, it’s clear that there are plenty of smaller potato crisp brands out there doing well for independents, with multiple namechecks but not enough to make the rankings. It will be interesting to see how this category shapes up next year. FINE FOOD DIGEST

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1st Seggiano 2nd Brindisa 3rd Honest Toil 4th Willy’s ACV 5th Olive Branch

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Analysis:

Seggiano’s run at the top of this category continues for another year, with plenty of votes for its Lunaio extra virgin olive oil and its balsamic vinegars. Greek oil brands Honest Toil and Olive Branch have also maintained spots in a set of rankings that is starting

to develop a degree of familiarity. Last year’s assessment – that strong branding and provenance is the key to success – still very much rings true. Although, it might be a surprise to see its name pop up in this category (for a variety of Spanish olive oils), Brindisa also fits this profile. As does Willy’s ACV,

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with Will Chase’s brand looking like it has gained a significant foothold as the independents’ cider vinegar of choice. Rapeseed oil remains a best seller for many shops, and the survey bears this out. But given the regional nature of this product, no one brand won enough votes to make it into the top five.

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nine times by readers of Fine Food Digest

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1st Tony’s Chocolonely 2nd Summerdown Mint 3rd Seed & Bean

Over the course of Best Brands’ history, this category has had more different winners than any other. And there’s been a good deal of shifting again, after a few years of relative stability. A lot of the widely distributed brands that tend to float about in the rankings are gone and there seems to be more of an

ethical edge to those that garnered the most votes. Dutch brand Tony’s is on a mission to eradicate slavery and poor labour practices from chocolate-making and Seed & Bean has all the right credentials – from organic sourcing through to recyclable wrappers. What both of these companies – along with British peppermint specialist Summerdown – also have is

Coffee 1st Taylors of Harrogate 2nd Little’s 3rd Grumpy Mule / Miles / Extract

Analysis It’s ‘all change’ in the coffee category this year, but only in terms of the names you see on this list. Taylors of Harrogate’s Rich Italian blend has proved as much of a crossover hit as its sister product (see Yorkshire Tea’s triumph on FINE FOOD DIGEST

striking, colourful branding. It surely hasn’t hurt during a year where consumers have had less dwell time in shops. The only thing consistent in this category every year is the array of different names – many of them local or smaller suppliers – that get one or two mentions. It seems that confectionery is one of those categories where lots of retailers do their own thing entirely.

page 16) and drove the brand’s success in our poll. Devon-based instant coffee producer Little’s also makes a return to the Best Brands rankings after a few years off. This increased number of votes for both brands in the 2020 data can’t really be attributed to any kind of COVID-19 phenomenon, though. After all, neither are total newcomers (it’s only Extract that can claim that). The wider data for this category looks broadly the same as it has in previous years. Coffee, particularly the retail side of it, has never really been an aspect of independent retailing that is dominated by just a handful of brands. From the plethora of different names in the results this year, it seems that many delis and farm shops continue to go with a smaller and/or local roastery for their brews and beans. BEST BRANDS 2020-21 11

s k n i r D Soft

1st Fentimans 2nd Belvoir Fruit Farms 3rd Cawston Press 4th San Pellegrino / Luscombe / Breckland Orchard

Analysis

This category might possibly be the most consistent across the Best Brands Survey and the merry-goround of names has had another spin this year.

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All, that is, except Fentimans which has retained its top spot – not to mention its cross-channel appeal – for another year with its traditional sodas. In terms of its breath of coverage and popularity Belvoir has been achieving a similar feat with its cordials, for many years, too. This year the Leicestershire-based producer moved up to 2nd in the poll, from 4th last year. The survey results were also full of mentions for different suppliers of apple juice, as always, and this

drink’s continued popularity is part of the reason for Cawston Press holding steady in 3rd for another year. Nestlé-owned San Pellegrino has dropped to 4th place but it’s heartening to see Luscombe and Breckland Orchard both maintaining a presence for smaller producers. Various kombuchas were mentioned across the results but whether it’s a product that can scale-up or satisfy enough mainstream tastebuds remains to be seen.

Beers, wines & spirits

While FFD continues to survey retailers about this category, the data is too fragmented to report a ranked list of names. What is does show is that those independent retailers with a license are using this category as a real point of difference. And the spreadsheet of answers for this question is a veritable off-licence: British and Continental wines, craft beers and cider. The gin wave still doesn’t appear to be crashing yet, either, if the responses are anything to go by.

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1st The Cress Co 2nd Cotswold Fayre 3rd Holleys Fine F oods 4th Carron Lodge

Analysis The Cress Co extended its winning streak for another year, with Cotswold Fayre, Holleys and Carron Lodge all returning to the rankings too. And in another repeat of the 2019 survey, there were a few bits of encouraging feedback (about service) thrown into the responses.

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There were also a lot more names mentioned – both of wholesalers and of direct suppliers. There were even less occurrences of “n/a” or blank spaces in the answers this year and, for the first time, there was not a single choice word from respondents about deficiencies in service. In fact, the variety of names in the 2020 survey data and infrequency of negative answers reflects the overall (if anecdotal) feeling that the COVID crisis has forged stronger relationships between retailers and the supply chain. So, some good things have emerged from this year despite the hardship.

& s e l k c Pi s y e n t u h C 1st Tracklements 2nd Rosebud Preserves 3rd The Bay Tree 4th Mrs Darlington’s

Analysis Tracklements has made it nine wins in a row in the pickles & chutneys category – and it’s the only brand to win its category every year since the Best Brands Survey’s inception in 2011. Where respondents did mention them, the mostnamed item was the Wiltshirebased producer’s chilli jam. The Bay Tree and Mrs Darlington’s both retained their positions in the FINE FOOD DIGEST

top ranking, and voters namechecked a variety of different products from their ranges. But these two stalwarts have had to make way for Rosebud, which has also done well as a runnerup in the sweet preserves vote (see page 19). Although it has featured in previous years’ results, the Yorkshire producer’s range seems to have hit the mark for cheese specialists in particular during 2020. As is often the case, a good deal of the vote was fragmented in this category. Lots of retailers cited smaller, local producers – or even their own in-house versions – as their pickle or chutney of choice.

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e s e e h C Tea British 1st Snowdonia Cheese Co 2nd Colston Bassett Stilton/ Baron Bigod (Fen Farm Dairy) 3rd Montgomery Cheddar 4th Godminster

Analysis Snowdonia’s flagship cheese Black Bomber has swooped in again for the victory in this category and it continues to be unanimously liked by consumers wherever they’re buying their cheese. Colston Bassett’s Stilton is also a regular high-ranking

product in the Best Brands survey and Baron Bigod (made by Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk) is slowly cementing its place as a cheese counter must-stock. It will be interesting to see how both of these cheeses perform post-Brexit, especially the latter because of its status as the British alternative to Brie de Meaux. It’s been a while but Godminster – with its own version of waxed cheddar – is back in the rankings and Montgomery has also returned after a few years out of the limelight. Of course, the data also contained plenty of namechecks other for farmhouse cheddar-makers, as well as host of modern British varieties.

1st Taylors of Harrogate 2nd Teapigs 3rd Clipper/Brew Tea Analysis Yorkshire Tea one of those products that has hit the jackpot of being able to sell anywhere and to any demographic. What else could the explanation be for Taylor’s of Harrogate’s latest victory in this category? In a year when more cups of tea were drunk at home than ever before (you would 16 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

assume), it is also no surprise that good old English Breakfast dominates in terms of the most-named types of product. These were the blends that maintained Brew Tea’s stay in the rankings and Clipper’s return to them this year, contributing heavily to both brands’ tallies. That said, a variety of Teapigs’ line-up was named by voters and it has climbed back up the rankings to 2nd place this year. Fans of Earl Grey needn’t fear, though. Plenty of retailers still count one version or another of this classic blend as their topselling tea. FINE FOOD DIGEST

Simply The Best

Mrs Darlington’s Voted One Of The Best Preserves Brands! We are thrilled, once again, to be nominated one of the Best Preserves Brands by Fine Food Digest readers. Mrs Darlington started making her unique Lemon Curd in her farmhouse kitchen more than 40 years ago, and we have never looked back. We now have more than 90 delicious family favourites from which to choose. 2020 has been an extraordinary and difficult year for us all, so we are extremely grateful for the continued support of our loyal customers.

To find out more please visit our website at www.mrsdarlingtons.com 4 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

   FINE FOOD DIGEST

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Analysis

As was the case in 2019, FFD has decided to report on the results in this category without a ranking. In some years, there have been enough votes in the data for one particular brand of a classic cheese style (you may remember Rouzaire’s Brie de Meaux gaining enough in its own right a few years ago). Brie de Meaux is by far and away the most popular Continental cheese among independent retailers, even though many didn’t name a specific maker. It was a similar case for the famous Alpine cheeses,

especially Switzerland’s Le Gruyère AOP, which received plenty of mentions but often without a specific maker or affineur being stated. Interestingly, Gorgonzola Dolce was more prevalent in the responses than usual and it joined another extremely popular soft blue Montagnolo Affiné, which seems to make it into the upper echelons of vote totals almost every year. The former World Cheese Awards Champion is also the only modern branded Continental cheese that registers consistently in the survey.

s e v r e s e r P t e e w S & s m Ja

1st Mrs Darlington’s 2nd Rosebud Preserves / Tiptree 3rd Single Variety Co / The Cherry Tree Analysis

No change at the top, with last year’s winner Mrs Darlington’s taking this category again – propelled by strong support for its flagship lemon curd, and Tiptree close behind. The big difference was the emergence of Rosebud Preserves to break up the two-horse race. The Yorkshire producer’s strong performance in the survey (it FINE FOOD DIGEST

also features on the savoury side of things, see page 15) was driven by the success of its marmalades, chiefly the Seville Orange variety. And this reflects a much larger number of marmalades being voted by retailers as top sellers. In fact, every producer that made these rankings owes their positions in part to votes for marmalades. It’s only speculation but could it be that more people have rediscovered the joy of breakfast because they’re spending more time at home? As always, there’s still plenty of consumer demand for the old classics, like raspberry and strawberry jams – both of which contributed to debuts (along with marmalades) for Single Variety Co and The Cherry Tree.

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Shop of the Year

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Run by the Guild of Fine Food, the Shop of the Year competition puts a host of the UK and Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top independent shops through their paces. Here are the delis, farm shops and food halls that impressed the judges most of all in the 2020 competition. Interviews by Lynda Searby & Tom Dale

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Shop of the Year

sponsored by

Andreas of Chelsea Green Chelsea, London

As Andreas Georghiou, owner of Andreas of Chelsea sits down to speak with FFD he has recently finished unpacking a year’s stock of pasta, jarred tomatoes and the shop’s famous olive oil – by himself. Weighing in at around three tonnes in total, this enormous order is part of the London retailer’s Brexit stockpiling plan and just another example of the “hard yards” he has put in over the years to ensure that the shop is no ordinary greengrocer. While Georghiou shies away from adjectives such as ‘exclusive’ or ‘high-end’, there are no better terms to describe the shop’s offer. Its large, personally-curated range spans hard-to-find fruit and vegetable varieties and other quality groceries from all over the world. It’s the result, he says, of 26 years of hard work, travelling, searching and negotiating, which has led Andreas to “fit into a category of one”. “My speciality is buying," he says. "We don’t focus on what others are doing or on market trends we just buy the best possible quality, having spent a lot of years doing the hard yards to ensure we have the best marques and the best growers available to us.” Andreas also sells several lines which are ordinarily only sold in select restaurants. “We cheekily ask these people if we could get in on their supply chain, and I think the reputation of the shop makes people want to do things that are out of their general scope,” says Georghiou. Given the grocer’s location in one of the Capital’s most affluent areas, such an elite line-up of products may be expected but Georghiou doesn’t just rely on his ranging. Customer experience is also paramount. Whether its the colourful, towering displays of produce or the “old-fashioned” attentive service customers receive from clued-up staff, Andreas delivers an experience and its owner values this over the bottom line. “Money and margins are important, but they’re not our gods,” says Georghiou. “I’d much rather do a better job at a lower margin, with really high-quality produce that we want to sell, than be driven just by profit. When you come into our place you meet me or my team and there’s a lot of laughter, we’re on first-name terms with a lot of our customers – and clearly, what we're doing works.“ And after 26 years of successful trading in one of the nation’s most prestigious districts, who can argue with him? andreasveg.co.uk FINE FOOD DIGEST

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 27

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Shop of the Year

SPECIALIST CHEESE SHOP

The Courtyard Dairy Settle, North Yorkshire

“For cheese-lovers, this is as good as I have seen. There is not one cheese that doesn’t deliver.” That's what one Shop of the Year judge had to say about Andy Swinscoe’s cheese shop, The Courtyard Dairy. The shop is set up in old stone farm buildings on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. sponsored by It seems a fitting base for Swinscoe and his wife Kathy’s mission to showcase the best of British farmhouse cheese – albeit with a few Continental exceptions. The whole retail area is kept at a cool 12ºC so cheese can be merchandised in the open. Whole cheeses tower behind the staff and the selection sprawls across the counter, with each cheese accompanied by helpful and detailed signage. There is also a café and a cheese museum that could be seen as an unnecessary addition on a site with relatively little retail space, but Andy Swinscoe stands firmly behind the concept, saying it encourages both dwell time and boosts purchases by adding to the sense of expertise. Even before the Swinscoes demonstrated their commitment to farmhouse cheese during the first COVID lockdown this year, the judges found the owners were unwavering in their desire to source and support the very best cheesemakers in the country. “Andy knows what he wants,” they said, “and completely believes in his way.” thecourtyarddairy.co.uk

FOOD HALL

Jarrold Norwich, Norfolk

It's been a tough year for department stores but this Norwich institution certainly had its food offer in good shape when COVID struck. Set in an old printworks, the store underwent major refurbishment work in 2017; it kept the old-fashioned customer service it was known for while introducing a modern twist. sponsored by And something must have worked for Jarrold’s basement food hall, as takings went from £188 to £3,000 a week. This turnaround certainly impressed the Shop of the Year judges. The clean and vibrant retail space packed with a wide range of high-end deli items entices customers in to purchase, but it’s the “hard work, foresight and determination” of the staff that gives the food hall the edge, according to the judging team. Its floor space was expanded in the refit and now boasts a busy deli counter with a cheese and charcuterie bar, complete with a whole Spanish ham for some added theatre, offering tastings from its wine department, which often leads to sales. The cheese counter proved so successful in 2019 – it couldn’t keep up with Christmas demand – that the department store was thinking about expanding it. One area that was a particular standout was Jarrold’s own-brand range which is a curation of products made by local producers and adorned with branding reflecting the printing heritage of the store. jarrold.co.uk/departments/the-deli 28 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

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Emerging Brands

Kate Forbes Co-owner, The Trading Post, Somerset

BATH CULTURE HOUSE

Lucie Cousins and her team make the most amazing fermented products from their base in the Mendips. We sell their Kimchi and Sauerkraut, which comes in Turmeric & Ginger and Seaweed versions. But they also do vegan Cheases (yes, that is how you spell it!) and now we’ve added their kombuchas, in Jasmine, Hisbiscus and Turmeric & Ginger varieties. bathculturehouse.com

LAND GIRLS COFFEE

Sarah Metcalf, Grocery buyer, Fortnum & Mason

RIVESCI CASHEW CHILLI CRUSH

My new favourite product. Made with Irish rapeseed oil, Irish honey and Irish sea salt, this Cashew Chilli Crush can be added to lots of dishes to add some flavour. Try it on top of poached eggs or mixed into your stir fry. rivesci.ie

REMPAPA SPICE CO SPICE PASTES

Emma Brown is a Rutland-based farmer who sadly didn’t have her tenancy renewed, so she decided to put all her efforts into supporting other women farmers across the globe. Her first product is Land Girls Coffee, which showcases two single-origin coffees (from Peru and Sumatra) that have been grown solely by female farmers. This brand has been unbelievably popular since its arrival on our shelves and I know Emma has more products up her sleeve for 2021. land-girls.co.uk

Based in the Capital, Rempapa aims to provide consumers with easy cooking solutions for “time-pressed Londoners”. The products have been developed from family recipes and render South East Asian pastes without any of the effort. rempapa.com

s s e n t a e r g r o f Tipped

NPD hasn’t stopped despite a difficult year, so FFD spoke to some retailers and buyers to find out about the gems they’ve discovered and will be filling their shelves with in 2021

Iain Hemming Founder, Thyme & Tides and The Food Forager, Hampshire

Nicola Reece, Director, Farmers Fayre, Warwickshire

HEPPLE GIN

GIMME FOODS

A brand of gin (yeah, I know, yawn) but this one from Northumberland is head and shoulders above the rest. Juniper grows freely around where it is distilled so the brand uses both dried and green juniper. The team behind it studied the perfume industry for a method to get the most out of their botanicals and now uses ultrasonic sound waves to shake out more of the aromatic compounds, and the result is fantastic. I wasn’t a massive gin fan before I tried this, but it’s become an almost-too-regular tipple. The brand has also released a collection of pre-mixed cocktails, which is fantastic. hepplespirits.com

THE WOOLF’S KITCHEN This one is hot off the press. The lady behind the brand is Dominique Woolf, who has a background in theatre but has taken a sidestep to produce these sauces – and they are certainly punchy. She launched in June this year with a Hot & Sour sauce, a Tamarind Ketchup and Jalapeño & Lime sauce which is really good with smashed avo’. The branding is very striking as well, which as we all know, counts for a lot. She’s just launched a range of flavoured nuts as well. thewoolfskitchen.com FINE FOOD DIGEST

This brand has created a complete s’mores kit in a box, and you can purchase their food-friendly burner on the side if you don’t fancy lighting a fire. It’s a fab idea and has been one of our top-selling gift items this year. They come in lovely packaging and are really tasty (trust me, we have tried them) and Gimme is adding some new lines to the range in the New Year, too. gimmefoods.com

TAPP’D COCKTAILS These ready-made cocktails have come to the retail market after the closure of pubs and restaurants this year – and they’re already a big seller for us. I’m not usually a big fan of cocktails because they’re usually too sweet and lacking alcohol content. However, Tapp’d Cocktails are made with organic fruit and they’re vegan, gluten-free and made with craft spirits. We are waiting for branded shakers to sell alongside the cocktails but currently sell the full range with bar blades and glassware. tappdcocktails.com BEST BRANDS 2020-21 33

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Junta de Castilla y León

Big country: the cheeses of Castile and León Spain’s largest region is a land of contrasting terrains and climates, which is reflected in by an exciting mix of traditional cheeses.

IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND a place properly, then get to know its cheeses. This is particularly true of Castile and León in the North West of Spain, which is made up of rolling plains, rivers and Medieval towns, surrounded by impressive mountain ranges. It’s a diverse landscape that is home to a remarkable collection of cheeses, each one of which tells the story of the region’s geography and history. “It’s a really big place - 94,000 sq km with a lot of different areas, but the climate too is quite extreme with hard winters and very hot summers, and it doesn’t rain much,” explains Oriana Peña Neira, export manager at cheesemonger and maker Quesería Cultivo/ Granja Cantagrullas. “There are cows and goats, but it’s probably best known for sheep, which can survive well in the environment. Castile and León is known in Spain for its cheeses.” In the UK, the best known of these is Queso 34 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

de Valdeón – a mixed milk blue, also known as Picos de Europa after the stunning mountain range where it is made. “I would describe this area as paradise on earth,” says Leticia Alonso at Queserías Picos de Europa, which was founded by her grandfather Tomas Alonso in 1978. “Our surroundings are incredible limestone peaks, lush forests of beech, oaks, birch, chestnut trees, plus meadows and rivers, with long winters filled with snow and short, cool summers.” Queserías Picos de Europa is the only company to produce the spicy blue cheese, which is protected by a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and is made with raw and pasteurised milk from Alpine brown cows, and Alpine and Murcian goats. “Since they practically only eat grass and flowers, it creates a special taste in our cheese, which makes it one of a kind,” says Alonso. The cheeses are wrapped in maple leaves

and aged for around two months until spicy and crumbly. Cheesemaking has taken place in this way for many generations in the limestone peaks, says Alonso. “In the old days, cheese was made in all the households of our valley when the shepherds came up the mountain pass to take care of the animals. To conserve the milk, people made cheese in their houses and cured it in the nearby caves and would return months after to pick it up.” While blue cheese suits the misty mountains, the arid terrain of Zamora in the far west of Castile and León is better suited to sheep’s milk cheeses. It’s an area that is full of contrasts with gently-sloping valleys, high moorland and steep hills, plus an arid climate. Much of the land is given over to hardy sheep, which graze the dry pastures and farmland stubble. Their rich milk is used to make Zamorano – a hard-pressed cheese that has held FINE FOOD DIGEST

Castile and León. “One of our main goals is to boost production of quality sheep’s cheese from the region using time-honoured traditional methods,” he says. Sheep farming has been a key industry in the region since the 16th century when the milk was transformed into cheese by shepherds to feed their families and to sell at local markets. Castile and León remains the largest producer of sheep’s milk in Spain today, accounting for 61% of production, says Palermo. “The farms in our region are small to medium size, but always meet the highest quality criteria - we take our job very seriously. The region is home to a wide range of aromatic plants - lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, oregano - whose aromas are transmitted to the cheese when they are eaten by the livestock.” Preserving and protecting cheese traditions is also a focus for cheesemakers in North Western Salamanca, where the Douro river has carved hundreds of kilometres of ravines and canyons to create granite cliffs and rugged countryside known as Las Arribes. Here, shepherds have grazed their sheep on natural pastures for generations, making hard, aged cheeses with raw milk. These traditions were enshrined in 2002 by a ‘Marca de Garantía’ (Guarantee Mark) for ‘Queso Arribes de Salamanca’, which covers sheep’s milk cheeses made on farms located in the area. Five different cheesemakers are part of the scheme, which ensures all cheeses are made with raw milk and meet defined quality standards, while also allowing each cheese to express its own unique personality, reflecting the place where it is made and the people that make it. Back at El Pastor, David Palermo is confident the cheeses of Castile and León have a bright future in the UK. “There is a big opportunity for our products there, due to the close relationship between Spain and the UK,” he says. “It is well known that there are many British living in Spain and Spaniards living in the UK. Also, millions of holiday makers visit us every year and discover our cheeses, and want to keep tasting them when they return home.” For more information, contact: ice@jcyl.es

Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) status since 1993. The cheese must be made with milk from the traditional Churra and Castellana breed of sheep and is aged for at least 100 days, but can be matured for well over a year. “The cheese is quite hard and compact, buttery, with a hint of spice and lightly crumbly,” says David Palermo, export area manager at second generation cheese company Queso El Pastor, which makes around two tonnes of Zamorano each year. “The aftertaste is subtle and delicate, you will be able to discover a complex taste that will invite you to repeat the process.” The company, which was founded in 1967, also makes Castile & León’s most recently protected cheese Castellano, which received PGI status in 2019. Like Zamorano, the cheese is 100% sheep’s milk and can be made with raw or pasteurised milk, but the sheep breed is not specified and it can be made anywhere in FINE FOOD DIGEST

QUESO CASTELLANO PGI

Awarded PGI status in 2019, Queso Castellano is a hard pressed sheep’s milk cheese that can be made anywhere within the Castile and León region. Made in 3kg cylinders, the hard pressed cheeses are aged from two to 18 months, with flavours ranging from caramel to savoury and meaty. www.quesocastellano.es

QUESO ZAMORANO PDO

Made with milk from Churra and Castellana sheep breeds, Zamorano typically weighs 2-4kg and is aged for a minimum of 100 days, but often up to a year or more. Younger cheeses have an underlying sweetness, lactic acidity and rich, buttery notes, plus a firm and pliable texture. Older cheeses develop notes of lanolin, butterscotch, sweet cooked butter and dried fruits and nuts with the paste becoming granular. The zig-zag impression on the rind is a nod to the traditional ‘pleita’ moulds, made from woven esparto grass. www.quesozamorano.com

QUESO DE VALDEÓN PGI

Historically, small farms in the Picos de Europa mountains would make cheese with the milk from cows, goats and sheep, and mature it in caves where it would naturally turn blue. Today, the cheese is made by Queserías Picos de Europa in the beautiful Valdeón Valley using cow and goat’s milk (sheep’s milk is also allowed). Wrapped in maple leaves and aged for 2-3 months, the 2.5kg cheeses have a semi-soft texture and blue-green pockets of mould, plus an intense, salty, spicy and slightly sharp flavour. www.quesospicosdeeuropa.com

QUESO ARRIBES DE SALAMANCA MG

Cheeses from from five different producers are covered by this ‘Marca de Garantía’, which ensures they are made in the Arribes area of Salamanca with raw sheep’s milk. The cheeses of each cheesemaker have their own personality, but they are are characterised by a firm texture and lots of small, evenly distributed eyes, plus spicy and savoury flavours. www.quesoarribesdesalamanca.com BEST BRANDS 2020-21 35

Available from Sarah Gray’s Direct info@sarahgrays.co.uk or through our wholesaler The Cress Co 0845 643 1330

MADE BY ME ON OUR ANGUS FARM RASPBERRY JAM “A lovely set and a deep pink colour. An absolute blast of raspberries hits the nose and then explodes on the tongue. Lots of seeds add texture and are perfectly distributed within the jam, which we find irresistible. We felt we could not have got any closer to the raspberries if we had rolled in the patch ourselves.” A Great Taste Judge CHILLI JAM “Vibrant, sticky chilli jam with aroma from both the peppers and chillis. The sweetness of roasted peppers matches the spicy warmth of chillis. Well judged and well made.” A Great Taste Judge

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Distinctive gifting idea Excellent paired with coffee, teas, wine, and sparkling drinks l Great for an Afternoon Tea with a twist

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hola@margotandmontanez.com | @margotandmontanez www.margotandmontanez.com 36 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Best Brands

Even the most successful businesses are always trying to up their game but, given the year we’ve all had, there hasn’t been much time for reflection. FFD sought out both experts and businesses that have recently overhauled their own brands, to get some advice on the areas that producers can improve in.

"Who are you? What are you passionate about? What problem do you solve?"

Improving Brands

Mallika Basu Food communications consultant & co-founder of SIZL Spices Food producers often invest in developing their brand's look and feel, and they create beautiful images and videos to showcase it. The bit that falls by the wayside is the storytelling to support the brand and make a connection with consumers. Who are you? What are you passionate about? What problem do you solve? What are your struggles or bits of inspiration? These are all important elements of your narrative that help set you apart from your peers. My advice to any producer would be to develop the story that brings the brand to life and stick to it when you communicate with customers. That's how you get positioning in their minds, i.e. they remember you for something. And that, in turn, builds repeat purchase and brand loyalty. basuconsulting.co.uk

Hannah Carter Founder, Oggs Build a brand for your target consumer rather than building a brand that you like. Whether you personally like it is sort of irrelevant, it’s about the customer you’re trying to target. Start with the end consumer in mind, and work backwards, rather than from what you like as a founder and working forward. We were always trying to be an ethical alternative to everyday foods – we didn’t want to be overtly vegan. That was important when it came to designing our packaging and our branding. We wanted to appeal to anyone who cared about what they ate from an environmental and animal-welfare perspective – everyday people, who care about authenticity. Initially, we had an agency do our branding and it ended up being very stylised and very ‘cool’, and it just wasn’t us. So, we brought the branding in-house and decided to be accessible, authentic and use everyday language – they were the core ideas that we wanted to convey. loveoggs.com

“Get inside the buyer’s head, and see the shelves from their perspective”

“Start with the end consumer in mind, and work backwards, rather than from what you like as a founder and working forward.”

Jason Gibb, Food entrepreneur and co-founder of Bread & Jam Festival Buyers love a great brand story and an awesome product because, more often than not, they are food lovers. But at the end of the day, brand owners need to think much, much deeper than that. They need to get inside the buyer’s head, and they need to see the store shelves and categories from their perspective. They need to work out the ‘problem’ that the buyer has – where there’s a gap is in their range or a customer not being catered to – and how is their product is going to ‘solve’ it. As a producer, if that means tweaking your product or your messaging then that is what you need to do – whether it’s the packaging, size, nutritional claim or price point. But beware, there is a balance here. While you must be willing to adapt to appeal to the buyer, you also have to understand what your red lines are (whether it’s sustainable packaging or maybe an ‘all-natural’ claim) and make sure that any changes you make are going to be worth it financially and not just for a vanity listing. breadandjamfest.com

d l u o c If you . . . e g n a h c e n o e k a m

FINE FOOD DIGEST

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 37

38 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Brraannddss B Beesstt B

Improving Brands

“We decided to do something a little bit disruptive, and that’s reflected in the shape of the bottle, the label and the design.”

Francesco Majno Chief marketing officer, Small Giants Small Giants is a rebrand of Crické which was launched in the UK in 2019 to disrupt the EU’s healthy snacks market with insect-based products. In 2020, we decided to revamp the brand with a new identity to open consumers’ minds to the benefits of bugs with fantastic new flavours. So, wanting to smash a very stubborn taboo, the only way for us was to go bold! The new brand needed to be both visually and verbally striking to make people sit up and listen. By creating some giant cricket-based characters entirely covering the front of the pack, it’s very difficult not to grab people’s attention. We wanted to make the weird wonderful and the brand had to communicate exactly this:

Gemma Standeven Founder, Gattertop Drinks Co. We decided to rebrand [Gattertop has recently rebranded from Damson Tree] because, to date, we hadn’t really told our story or done the brand justice. The products are made on an ancient farm in Herefordshire called Gattertop and for years it’s been this haven where we’ve sourced the fruit and made the drinks, but we realised we have this amazing story that we had to tell. On top of that, we had expanded from the original damson vodka so wanted our brand to reflect that. We went back to the orchard and historical nature of the farm and then pushed the boundaries in terms of the brand. We have heritage, but we wanted to be pioneering as well – we didn’t want to do something safe, generic and on-trend. We decided to do something a little bit disruptive, and that’s reflected in the shape of the bottle, the label and the design. We looked at the sort of beautiful botanical imagery, which is popular, but we wanted something with more longevity. You can see that in the circular elements that we’ve created, reflecting the changing seasons on the farm and the time put into the products. gattertopdrinks.com

something quirky could also be amazing. Product-wise, we had a completely different approach, we want people to be reassured by the familiar shape, texture and taste of our snacks. We think the only way to tackle the ‘yuck factor’ is by giving edible insects a familiar form that can help anyone to try them a first time and understand that they are very tasty and extremely nutritious. eatsmallgiants.com

“Wanting to smash a very stubborn taboo, the only way for us was to go bold!” “In the mass of tiny lowpixel images that your customers are scrolling through online, your product has to stand out and sing.”

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Richard Village Strategy Director, Smith &+ Village Shelf impact for fine food and drink has always been about delivering the delicious anticipation of high quality, good taste and high enjoyment. In store, you have a close physical relationship with the product and all those cues that you get through colour, type, materials and design are much more immediate. But online, you need to make a first impression with a tiny cut-out picture of however many pixels, plus you need to be able to differentiate between different products in a range without the guidance of helpful staff. The qualities that make an item irresistible to share in the digital environment differ from those that capture attention in the physical store. The brand world you’re creating needs to be thrilling, coherent, utterly unique and, most importantly, completely seductive and desirable. In the mass of tiny low-pixel images of products that your customers are scrolling through, it has to stand out and sing. Conjuring the must-have factor online requires a strong sense of who you are as a brand, presented clearly and compellingly with sophisticated visual codes and arresting storytelling that speak of who you are and what you are about. smithandvillage.com BEST BRANDS 2020-21 39

Fish4Ever was founded on the idea of bringing organic values to sustainability in fish. Rated a world beating 89% by Greenpeace, our Skipjack isn’t only the best option in ethical terms, it’s also the best for quality. That’s because our little island factory in the Azores only works from whole fish rather than frozen pre processed loins and we only add really good, natural and organic ingredients. Using named, locally owned and operated pole and lines boats this is tuna you can trust for taste and sustainability

www.fish4ever.co.uk sales@organico.co.uk // 01189 238760 40 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 41

Dark Woods Coffee is a Yorkshire based coffee roaster, providing the very best retail and wholesale coffee to the independent trade, with equipment and hands-on barista training support.

Zaatar & Pine Nut Sauce with Crispy Onions

Image. Crow Tree

Panama La Huella "Cafe de Panama" Red Honey

Repeat 2-Star GTA Winner Herby, Nutty, Crispy, Crunchy & Scrumptious

HOLME MILLS . WEST SLAITHWAITE ROAD MARSDEN . WEST YORKSHIRE . UK . HD7 6LS info@darkwoods.co.uk tel . +44 (0)1484 843141

–

DARKWOODSCOFFEE.CO.UK

www.terra-rossa.com +44 (0)20 8661 9695

Winner of 68 Great Taste Awards in 15 years

28 Gr

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A BIG THANK YOU FROM THE PEPPERMINT PEOPLE

We’re proud to have been voted one of the top three chocolate brands by Fine Foods Digest readers. For 25 years we’ve been bringing the taste of the finest English peppermint to your shelves, from our family farm in Hampshire. Find out more about our award-winning chocolates and teas at www.summerdown.com

42 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Onto a r e n n i w

To ensure you fill your shelves with the best of the best in 2021, Fine Food Digest has brought together a raft of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national and regional award winners. We kick things off with Great Taste 2020...

Brraannddss B Beesstt B

Award winners Nigel Barden Heritage Award, sponsored by Dunbia Money For Old Rope 4.8% Stout Bespoke Brewing Co. bespoke brewery. co.uk

GREAT TASTE 2020 greattasteawards.uk

Supreme Champion Free range pork shoulder Redhill Farm redhillfarm.com Golden Fork from London & the South East, sponsored by Stoke Park Royal Albert Dock Honey Bermondsey Street Bees bermondseystreetbees. co.uk Golden Fork from East Anglia Blackcurrant Fruit Cream Ice Alder Tree alder-tree. co.uk

Golden Fork from Ireland, sponsored by Bord Bia Smoked Irish Organic Salmon Ummera Smoked Products ummera.com Golden Fork from Wales, sponsored by Food and Drink Wales Honey Vinegar with Raspberries Wenallt Hive wenallthive. wales Golden Fork from the South West, sponsored by Bishop Fleming Smoked Pancetta Capreolus Fine Foods capreolusfinefoods.co.uk

Golden Fork from the Midlands Free Range Pork Shoulder Redhill Farm Free Range Pork redhillfarm.com Golden Fork from the North of England, sponsored by Fine Food Show North Bloomsbury Blend The Lost Barn Coffee Roasters lostbarncoffee.co.uk Golden Fork from Scotland 1992 Raspberry Liqueur Tayport Distillery tayportdistillery.com Golden Fork from Northern Ireland, sponsored by Invest NI Black Garlic & Porcini Sea Salt Craic Foods craicfoods.com

Terry and Jane Tomlinson of Redhill Farm with their 2020 Great Taste Supreme Champion free range pork shoulder

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Golden Fork for Best Imported Food, sponsored by Speciality & Fine Food Fair Anchoas Hazas | Anchovies (Spain) Anchoas Hazas anchoashazas.com

Charcuterie Product of the Year, sponsored by Fine Food Digest Jamon de Bellotta â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 100% Iberico Pata Negra Jamones Juan Pedro Domecq jamonesjuanpedro domecq.com/en

Great Taste Startisan of the Year, sponsored by Partridges Hilltop Heather Honey Mountain Honeys mountain honeys.com Small Artisan Producer of the Year Standout Chocolate standoutchocolate.com

Ambient Product of the Year Pine Honey with Chios Mastic Melira melira honey.gr

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 43

Best Brands

Award winners

TASTE OF THE WEST 2020 tasteofthewest.co.uk

Champion Vegan Product Raspberry Rose Delight Hollychocs hollychocs.com

Champion Non-Alcoholic Hot Drink Clipper Peppermint 25 Tea Bags Clipper Teas clipper-teas.com Champion Non-Alcoholic Cold Drink Cornish Red Grape Juice Trevozah Trevozah.co.uk Champion Wines, Spirits & Liqueurs Bristol Vodka 40% The Bristol Spirits Collective bristoldrygin.com Champion Cider Kirthenwood St Ives Cider stivescider.co.uk Champion Beer Island Street Porter Salcombe Brewery Co. salcombebrewery.com

Champion Confectionery Cherry Bakewell Fudge Roly's Fudge rolysfudge.co.uk

Champion Ready Meal Slow Cooked Chicken with Whole Spices & Coconut Milk Eat West Country eatwestcountryfood.co.uk

Champion Snack Mr Filberts Moroccan Spice Almonds Filberts Fine Foods mrfilberts. com Champion Free From Product House Granola Weeke Barton Ltd weekebarton.com Champion Sauce & Accompaniment Smoked Chilli Peanut Butter Butter Bike Co butterbike.co.uk Champion Sausage Large Pork Sausage Veyseys Butchers veyseysbutchers.co.uk Champion Bacon Dry Cured Smoked Streaky Bacon Denhay Farms Ltd denhay.co.uk

Champion Cured Meat Game Salami Good Game good-game.co.uk Champion Burger 6oz Westcountry Premier Beef Burger R.D. Johns Ltd rdjohns.co.uk Champion Fish Oysters Porlock Bay Oysters porlockbayoysters. co.uk Champion Cheese Cornish Kern Lynher Dairies lynherdairies.co.uk Champion Dairy Product Trink Milk Trink Dairy trinkdairy.co.uk Champion Sweet Preserve Lemon Curd Devon Orchard Ltd littlebowhay. com Champion Pickle/Chutney Hot Sweet Pickle Relish Cedrics cedricssomerset.co.uk Champion Meat & Poultry Dartmoor Goose Dartmoor Poultry Company dartmoorpoultry.co.uk Champion Savoury Bakery Fruity Sausage Roll Ashburton Delicatessen ashburtondelicatessen. co.uk Champion Sweet Bakery Honeycombe Brownie Bake Me Crazy bakemecrazy.co.uk Champion Chocolate Dark Chocolate Rum & Raisin Bar Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium ilfracombechocolate emporium.co.uk Champion Ice Cream & Sorbet Salted Caramel Gelato Baboo Gelato baboogelato.com

44 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

WORLD BEER AWARDS 2020 worldbeerawards. com World's Best Dark Beer Aroeira Barley Wine Wäls wals.com.br World's Best Flavoured Beer Double Tempest Amsterdam Brewery amsterdambeer. com World's Best Ipa Drunken Sailor CREW Republic crewrepublic.de World's Best Lager Kloster Starkbier Alpirsbacher alpirsbacher.de World's Best Pale Beer La Saison du Tracteur Micro-brasserie Le Trou du Diable troudu diable. com

WORLD CIDER AWARDS worldcider awards.com World's Best Flavoured Cider Apple Pineapple Cider Lonetree Cider lonetree cider. com World's Best Keeved Cider Bio La Chouette lachouette cider.com World's Best Rosé Cider Rosé Ecusson agrial.com World's Best Sparkling Cider Cider Kühbrein kuehbrein most.at World's Best Speciality Cider Châtaigne La Chouette lachouettecider.com World's Best Still Cider Malvern Gold Malvern Cider Co. malvernciderco.co.uk

World's Best Sour & Wild Beer Vieille Brune Queue de Charrue World's Best Speciality Beer Niubic Riesling Sour NBeer World's Best Stout & Porter Export Stout McGargles mcgargles. com World's Best Wheat Beer Blanche de Chambly Unibroue unibroue.com

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Live Organic Ropegrown Mussels The UK’s first organic mussels cultivated in St Austell Bay, Cornwall

10% off on your first order. Contact us for prices for our Organic Mussels or Fresh Scallop Meat on 01726 833043

sales@foweyshellfish.com | www.foweyshellfish.com

AWARD-WINNING CHEESE At Snowdonia Cheese Company, we craft our award-winning range to perfection, using the ﬁnest natural ingredients to create outstanding textures and ﬂavours.

@snowdoniacheese

FINE FOOD DIGEST

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 45

For the First Time in a Long Time Venezuelan Coffee is here! Exported and Imported by “Don Miguel U.K.” Our Bourbon, Criollo and Caracas Blue varieties of pesticide-free Arabica beans from the Andes regions of Merida, Trujillo and Barinas. Highly traceable from long established farms. Roasted in the U.K. and available to order. Wholesale roasted and green beans also available. info@donmiguelsfood.com | 07462 649818

www.donmiguelsfood.com strictlyCOFFEE® is a registered brand of Don Miguel UK

Winner of eight great taste 2020 awards & two taste of the west 2020 gold awards

smoked pancetta

pancetta

air dried beef

lardo

Smoked Duck

duck confit

LARDO

Smoked Duck

pastrami

dorset warmer salami

A family owned West Dorset charcuterie producer working with chefs and retailers since 2009 www.capreolusfinefoods.co.uk 46 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Best Brands

Award winners

WORLD’S ORIGINAL MARMALADE AWARDS

Large Free From & Vegan Cauliflower Pizza Base Venice Bakery venicebakery.co

Best Brewed Product Speakeasy Champagne Beer WooHa Brewing Company woohabrewing.com

dalemain.com

NORTH EAST SCOTLAND FOOD & DRINK AWARDS

Best Foodservice Product Traditional Smoked Salmon cured with Glenglassaugh Torfa Whisky Sutherlands of Portsoy sutherlandsofportsoy.scot

nesfoodanddrink awards.co.uk

TASTE OF KENT AWARDS

Best in Show ‘Dark & Chunky’ Aylesbury Vale dalemain.com International Marmalade Heda Tachibana Marmalade Enami Farm enamifarm.com

Best Retail Product (small businesses) Handcrafted Artisan Gelato & Sorbet Forest Farm, The Organic Dairy forestfarmdairy.co.uk

Taste of Kent Award winner Kingcott Blue

tasteofkentawards.co.uk Kent Food Product of the Year Kingcott Blue Kingcott Dairy kingcottdairy.co.uk

Best Distilled Product Broich Single Estate Gin The Teasmith Spirit Company teasmithgin.com

Best Traditional Marmalade Lemon and Lime Marmalade Perfectly Preserved perfectlypreserved.info

Crawford Rock Seaweed Co crawfordrockseaweed. co.uk Best Artisan Product Lightly Salted Butter Irish Gourmet Butter irishgourmetbutter.ie

FREE FROM FOOD AWARDS freefromfood awards.co.uk Dairy Free Velvet Chocolate Tigernut Ice Cream Ruby & Grace rubyandgracelondon.com

Kent Beer of the Year Pale Ale Mary Northdown Brewery northdownbrewery.com Kent Cider or Perry of the Year Curious Apple Curious Brewing curiousbrewery.com Ambient Product of the Year Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil Morghew Park Estate morghew.com

IRISH FOOD AWARDS / BLAS NA HÉIREANN irishfoodawards.com

FINE FOOD DIGEST

(Teeling Whiskey) Ten Watch Chocolates facebook.com/tenwatch chocolates

INTL. CHOCOLATE AWARDS – BRITISH CHOCOLATIER COMPETITION 2020 GOLD AWARDS internationalchocolate awards.com

Supreme Champion Pain de Maison Boule The Bretzel Bakery bretzel.ie

Flavoured dark chocolate ganaches or truffles Lady Lavender Realm Of Cream realmofcream.com

Best New Product Seaweed Seasoning Garlic & Rosemary

Flavoured milk chocolate ganaches or truffles Irish Coffee Bonbon

Spreads with dark chocolate (no milk powder) Luxury Hazelnut and Chocolate Spread Lauden Chocolate laudenchocolate.com Flavoured ganaches or truffles with combination coating or filling Banana Caramel Lauden Chocolate laudenchocolate.com

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 47

Multi-Award-Winning Free Range Eggs Ethically Produced Husband and wife team from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, producing free range eggs since 2002 and launched the Cavanagh brand in 2012 to satisfy consumer demand for a quality artisan free range egg ethically produced. We grade and pack multi-award-winning free range eggs from 75,000 birds in 7 flocks across 4 separate sites. Our flocks and Packing Centre are all British Lion Accredited and are rotated to ensure a constant supply of the various sizes all year round for foodservice and retail. Awards include Great Taste, Blas na hEireann, Irish Quality Food Awards, Family Business of the Year 2018, Poultry Farmer of the Year 2017 and 2018, Delicious Produce Award Winner 2018 and Made in Northern Ireland Food and Drink Producer of the Year 2018.

www.brecklandorchard.co.uk

For enquiries email eileen@cavanagheggs.com www.awardwinningeggs.com

Provenance and savoir-faire COLLECTOR’S EDITION Featuring iconic Steven Brown Art designs, Dean’s range of beautifully presented gift tins are filled with melt in the mouth, all butter shortbread.

www.deans.co.uk T: 01466 792086 48 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

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FINE FOOD DIGEST

Best Brands Eco Brands

Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses and Pieminister have all upgraded to more easily recyclable packaging

While a great-tasting product and good-looking artwork are key to the success of a brand, the materials used to deliver these things to the end consumer are becoming increasingly important. Nick Baines explores how and why food & drink brands are turning to reusable, recyclable and compostable packaging. There’s a lot to wrestle with when it comes to packaging. Beyond the fundamental criteria of preservation and protection, producers also have to consider production and shipping efficiency, on-shelf prominence, and costs. Now it seems that sustainability is joining that checklist more and more. Environmental and social responsibility remains important to the conscious consumer and brands big and small are investing in new technologies in an attempt to lighten their footprint on the planet. It is estimated that more than 40% of all plastic is produced for packaging and that around 91% of plastic waste is not currently recycled. “It’s about making it easier for the end user to recycle responsibly,” says Jim Cregan, founder of Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, a business that is currently in the process of moving away from Tetrapak. “Tetrapak is quite a difficult product to recycle and there is only one major facility in the UK that can process it. However, recycling points for metal cans can be found abundantly on both the high street and in every household recycling bin.” The ready-to-drink iced coffee brand has recently been transitioning to cans and will shortly unveil a new aluminium vessel, the first in the UK market. “It’s a move that’s required investment, but one that’s ultimately the right thing to do. Tetrapak is a very easy vessel to get into as far as production goes, but it doesn’t transport very well, particularly when considering new markets. With the can we get a lot more durability and they can be recycled easily and

infinitely. This year alone we will have saved around nine million plastic caps being made on our products.” Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses, producer of Blacksticks Blue, has also taken steps to simplify the recycling process for its customers. Plastic packaging for cheese is often made of mixed materials which can include several different polymers, making it incredibly difficult to recycle. To tackle this, Butlers has employed a single polymer packaging that is used for both the label and the barrier, which means the polyethene can be recycled with carrier bags with no need for separation. “The consumer wants this,” says Mathew Hall, owner of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses. “Our customers care and it’s an important part of what a brand stands for.” But plastic is still very much a public enemy – in large part because it can only be recycled just a handful of times. Plant-based bioplastics have become a popular choice for a lot of brands looking to deliver plastic-free packaging. The most common applications for these bioplastics are takeaway boxes, trays, cups and cutlery for foodservice operators, and liners and films for pre-prepared meals. However, there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to the real-life compostability of these materials. According to environmental organisation City To Sea, we don’t currently have the infrastructure here in the UK to compost bioplastics effectively. While many products claim they can be composted in commercial composting environments, the reality is

Consumers care and it’s an important part of what a brand stands for

FINE FOOD DIGEST

BEST BRANDS 2020-21 51

Vintage Organic Cheddar from the Heart of Somerset

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52 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Brraannddss B Beesstt B Eco Brands

that most food waste processing plants will detect bioplastics as contamination and they are subsequently fished out before the process is completed. These materials need to be composted at high temperatures for a long time, meaning bioplastics have to come from closed environments, which in turn requires specific dedicated collection points. Currently, there are only 18 of these bioplastic composting sites in the UK. This is the problem that Pieminister faced while working towards its own plasticfree packaging. Consumer insights had shown that customers wanted to be able to see the product inside the box, but replacing the clear plastic window was a hurdle. “We explored many wood-pulp bioplastics for our window, but settled on Clarifoil,” says Romany Simon of Pieminister. “The material is home-compostable and meant that our product packaging could be certified as plastic-free. “It’s a step in the right direction, but after learning that the waste management process can’t see that the bioplastic is any different to normal plastics, we went back to the drawing board and got rid of the window altogether.” Pieminister is now rolling out 100% recyclable cardboard boxes and leading its consumers in a new direction. Without the window, the brand now has more space to tell customers about the quality of ingredients and the awards its pies have won. Unit by unit, the move to 100% cardboard packaging will actually deliver a saving, proving that sustainability moves don’t have to increase costs. Further up the supply chain, packaging materials are also being reconsidered. Cornwall’s Flexi-Hex produces an incredibly strong, protective and flexible packing material made from paper. The expandable honeycomb material was originally developed to replace the protective polystyrene and bubblewrap used when shipping surfboards but is now being used across several sectors. “We have ended up with packaging that is not only a great alternative to the industry standard plastic version, but one that works even better,” says Hannah Lamiroy of FlexiHex-adopter Tinkture Rose Gin. “We have not had a single breakage since switching to them.” Beyond the practical nature of turning to alternative packaging, the switch to Flexi-Hex has also been key to customer experience. “There is that really interesting ‘reveal’ as the bottle is pulled from its protective, cardboard cocoon,” adds Lamiroy. “It’s functional, environmentally considered and fundamentally beautiful. To a small business like ours, that means the world.” Meanwhile, Riverford Organics has adopted numerous sustainable materials for

delivering its veg boxes, including Woolcool, a natural and reusable thermal packing material. “We have a closed-loop delivery system,” says Robyn CopleyWilkins, packaging technologist at Riverford. “The old cardboard boxes and Woolcool come back with the drivers, are cleaned and go back into the loop. The really exciting thing with Woolcool is that when the product is at the end of its life or becomes contaminated, it gets sent back to be processed and reused.” Riverford is at the end of a two-year-long project to ensure all its packaging is homecompostable. This feat means everything can go on the garden heap, rather than in specific, niche composting environments few people have access to. “Films and bags are needed for leafy vegetables and anything that will dehydrate,” says CopleyWilkins. “We found it really difficult to find products that could be collected and processed in kerbside collections, and invested in those that can either be composted at home or sent back with the delivery driver to be composted with the organic matter here at the farm.” The company sources punnets made from wood fibre and recycled cardboard from Parkside Flexibles, and home-compostable films and bags from Tipa. There’s a tectonic shift taking place in the realm of packaging, one that’s being felt across all sectors. With the surge in direct-toconsumer businesses, bolstered by the mailorder flight of 2020’s lockdown restrictions, companies like Woolcool have seen a steady uptake in the past twelve months. As well as appealing to the rising demand of the conscious consumer, brands are now considering the end-of-life reality when it comes to the materials their products are sold and arrive in. So, it’s ever-more important that the packaging doesn’t leave a nasty taste in the mouth.

We found it really difficult to find products that could be collected and processed in kerbside collections

FINE FOOD DIGEST

jimmysicedcoffee.com butlerscheeses.co.uk citytosea.org.uk pieminister.co.uk wearetinkture.com flexi-hex.com riverford.co.uk woolcool.com

Alternative sustainable packaging options include Woolcool, paper-based Flexi-Hex and home-compostable plastic film BEST BRANDS 2020-21 53

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s t n e i d e r g n i l a t i T he v dients e r g n i l vita

Brraannddss B Beesstt B Must-stocks

Circumstances in 2020 mean there weren’t quite as many Deli of the Month visits by FFD this year, but the team still managed to take in a broad spectrum of retailers. Here’s a recap of the lines that have kept things ticking over for them.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY

DELI OF THE MONTH

It’s perched on the edge of Dartmoor – a place famous for changeable weather – but this Devon deli is just as susceptible to the precarious conditions on the high street. Nevertheless, Canadian ex-pat Jeremy Clevett has guided Wildmoor through the good and the bad times.

Wildmoor Fine Food & Drink Bovey Tracey, Devon wildmoor-deli.co.uk

Interview by Michael Lane

A fine food balance YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD of an American in Paris, or perhaps the Englishman in New York, but how about a Canadian in Bovey Tracey? Jeremy Clevett has lived and worked in a lot of places all over the world – including New Zealand, France and his native Alberta – but he has settled in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor. And you would have to say he’s taken to his current environment much better than the aforementioned clichés. Clevett has run Wildmoor in the centre of Bovey Tracey for the best part of five years and he is very much the seasoned small town deli owner – as preoccupied with local parking and traffic problems as he is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about cheese and wine. He is also battling against the dwindling footfall that so many shops face on the UK’s high streets.

“You can’t rest on your laurels on any high street in this country,” Clevett tells FFD. And he is speaking from experience. When he took over what was then known as Mann & Son – a shop with nearly 150 years of history as a food outlet under one family’s ownership – in March 2015, it was a very good proposition in a town with a steady flow of customers who wanted to use their local shops. “Our biggest setbacks since being here were the loss of every bank in Bovey Tracey and the opening of a Co-op with a parking lot down the road,” he says. “Those challenges happened quite early in our rebuilding and rebranding of the business.” Not long before the first bank was closed, Clevett had remodelled the interior of the shop, painted the walls a shade of heather as a nod to

Dartmoor and renamed the business Wildmoor (another option, Edgemoor, was already taken). He says the rebranding makes the possibility of eventually expanding to other locations a little easier. The changes were more than cosmetic. He had been stripping back the range from previous “treasure trove” levels to allow a bit more space for the many ambient lines he did keep stocking, some indoor seating and, most importantly of all, putting cheese and wine centre stage. It has been a bit of a balancing act. Clevett candidly admits that a few locals stopped shopping at the deli when he took it over – purely because they didn’t like the change. But he has managed to retain a great deal of that long-serving customer base by continuing to stock the whole foods and cooking ingredients

VITAL STATISTICS

Location: 43 Fore Street, Bovey Tracey, Devon Turnover: £300,000 Average basket spend: £7.50 Average margin: 38% No. of staff: 6 50

that the deli has always been well-known for. Local food is a vital part of the product mix at Wildmoor, too. “We’re a Devon, edge-of-the-moors deli and our locals really want West Country products, whereas a deli in Exeter could get away with the ‘best of fine food around the country’,” he says, adding that his roster is just as appealing to the numerous tourists visiting the area. He might be slightly bound by geography but Clevett is effusive about how fortunate the region is in terms of scope and quality – citing a producer like Claire’s Preserves which he has virtually on his doorstep – and he very rarely needs to source anything east of Dorset or North of Somerset. The flipside of this is Clevett’s approach to his cheese counter. “As a Canadian, I get asked so often ‘Why’d you come here?’ And there’s a lot of reasons behind it but from a food point of view, it’s cheese. I think a lot of British people take for granted how lucky they are to have the plethora of cheese – not only in the UK but also from Europe.” Spurred on by this, he supplements a comprehensive local selection with a couple of guest cheeses from wherever takes his fancy. Although some fail to shift, several have ended up being regular fixtures. These include Harrogate Blue from Shepherds Purse and Isle of Mull cheddar, which happily sits alongside other local cheddars. Wine is the other big passion of Wildmoor’s owner. He has worked in wineries in both Canada and Australia and his knowledge and understanding are borne out in a selection that swells to nearly 120 different lines at times, even though it seems like a low-key corner display. All of them are sourced from suppliers who deal mainly with restaurants, so none of his bottles are available in supermarkets. All manner of countries are represented but

highlights include a Roche de Bellane Carignan (that he once couldn’t get hold of because No.10 Downing Street had bought the wholesaler’s entire supply) and a sparkling Shiraz that Clevett recommends religiously to customers for having with Christmas dinner. Coming from a country where alcohol is only sold from specialist shops, Clevett is frustrated by the influence that supermarkets have on British consumers’ attitudes to wine and its pricing but he is adamant that more delis should be embracing selling it. It is, after all, a key part of his successful strategy for counteracting the difficulties of the British high street. “Where we might have far less footfall than five years ago, our average spend is miles up,” he says. “And that was always my business model. Let’s get people coming to us for specialist stuff. We know footfall is going to drop off. We used to have clientele that would pop in and buy a pie for lunch, whilst they wait at the bank. They don’t have that to go to any more so they’re not going to come in.” The average spend at Wildmoor is a curious thing. Even though Clevett has more than doubled the figure (£3) from when he first took the reins, £7.50 seems a touch low for a deli. “It’s because we have a lot of older people who will come in and use us as a convenience,” says Clevett. “They’ll buy one slice of ham, so that’s 45p.” Compare that to the local foodie customer FFD witnessed buying £12-worth of items from the deli counter or a holiday-maker that spends £50+ stocking up on cheese and wine on the way to their holiday cottage on Dartmoor. While Wildmoor remains predominantly a retail operation (it accounts for 80% of turnover), the tourist element has also proved to be useful to the café side of the business that Clevett introduced.

MUST-STOCKS Il Tauro – Salice Salentino Riserva (red wine) Roche de Bellane – Carignan (red wine) Peter’s Yard Crackers Lynher Dairies – Cornish Kern Käserei Champignon – Montagnolo Affiné Claire’s Preserves (full range) Miller’s Damsel crackers Midfields wheat-free granola Olives Et Al – Classic loose olive mix Find & Foster cider Papillon Gin Queenswood whole foods range Barnaby’s Brewhouse organic pilsner Vicky’s Bread sourdough

CONTINUED ON PAGE 53

January-February 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 1

Vol.21 Issue 1 | January-February 2020

Il Tauro – Salice Salentino Riserva (red wine) Roche de Bellane – Carignan (red wine) Peter’s Yard Crackers Lynher Dairies – Cornish Kern Käserei Champignon – Montagnolo Affiné Claire’s Preserves (full range) Miller’s Damsel crackers Midfields wheat-free granola Olives Et Al – Classic loose olive mix Find & Foster cider Papillon Gin Queenswood whole foods range Barnaby’s Brewhouse organic pilsner Vicky’s Bread sourdough

MARCH

DELI OF THE MONTH More than a decade on Warwickshire’s Stoneleigh Park and 20 years in retail have helped Nicola Reece fine-tune Farmers Fayre’s offer to please multiple audiences – whether that’s with a Sunday carvery, an antiques section or a farm shop that majors on convenience.

Farmers Fayre Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire farmersfayre.co.uk

Interview by Mick Whitworth

Park life I’M HALF WAY up the M5, on my way to Farmers Fayre in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, when I drop director Nicola Reece a quick email. “Just stopped at Gloucester Services. Should be with you about 10.15.” I get a four-word reply: “Our breakfast is better.” I’ve interviewed Reece at length before for FFD’s special supplement on café operations in Spring 2019 – so a bit of banter is to be expected, and the joke still has legs when I reach the store. Reece is wrapping up a meeting, but a colleague directs me to a comfy chair, brings me a menu and deadpans: “Nicola thought you might like the full English?” Breakfast 'bants' aside, while the M5’s game-changing Gloucester farm shop and services had been unusually quiet at 8.30am,

Flower & White Merrangz Punjaban curry sauces Garlic Farm easy garlic Mrs Darlington’s lemon curd Local honey Cottage Delight caramelised onion chutney Choc Affair Gin Bar Selection Mighty Fine honeycomb bars Snaffling Pig pork scratchings Cottage Delight gin & lemon curd Per Las & Perl Wen cheese Snowdonia Black Bomber Bath Pig chorizo Midland Chilled hand-raised pork pies

VITAL STATISTICS

Location: National Agriculture Centre, Stoneleigh, Kenilworth CV8 2LG Turnover: £1.3m (main Stoneleigh site) Restaurant covers: 150 Retail floorspace: 2,000 sq ft Gross margin – shop: 35-40% Gross margin – restaurant: 65-69% 50

The Derbyshire farmers behind Tori & Ben’s have developed a robust business model based on provenance, sustainability, customer service and a particularly special breed of cow.

Taking a shop by the horns

VITAL STATISTICS

Location: Kings Newton Lane, Kings Newton, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 8DD Turnover: £500,000 Staff: 6 Average margin: 30-40% Average basket spend: £35 52

April 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 3

FINE FOOD DIGEST

success for more than half a decade, in 2016 the Stanleys got the opportunity to take on the tenancy at Park Farm on the Melbourne Park estate, owned by Lord and Lady Ralph Kerr. This also saw them move into bricksand-mortar retailing with a shop on the estate, before they eventually took on the current premises on the outskirts of the market town of Melbourne in 2017. It is still small for a farm shop but the space allowed the Stanleys the room to run a sizeable butchery counter along one side and a classy meat hanging cabinet at the far end. The other two walls contain a variety of shelving and chillers housing a range expansion into deli items – from Ottolenghi-style salads made in store through to a selection of mainly British cheeses supplied by Rowcliffe, as well as ambient sauces and local gin. There are also

Nicola Reece

Only 20-30% were coming specifically to Farmers Fayre from outside. “Now it’s 60% on site, 40% off site from Monday to Friday, and at weekends 80-90% of customers come from off site.” A loyalty card system, linked to the firm’s Open Retail Systems EPoS package and offering Boots-style cashback on purchases, has proved crucial in understanding who is using the shop and tailoring the offer accordingly. “Every category of customer has different requirements,” says Reece. “The loyalty card tells us where they’ve come from – whether they’re working in an office on site, whether they’re here for an event, whether they’re locals. We do have a big category of ‘others’ that we still don’t fully understand, but monitoring customers means we can maintain flexibility, and we change daily, weekly, monthly and yearly in terms of what we buy and the style of service we offer.” Office workers shop here Monday to Friday, she says, and typically buy two lunches a week, with an average spend of £7.50-£8.50. “They’ll pick up the odd thing from the farm shop – a loaf of bread, a lump of cheese, a steak and maybe a bottle of wine on Friday.” It’s important to keep these clients happy, she says, because word – good or bad – travels fast in the self-contained community of a business park. Events visitors and exhibitors are a different kettle of fish. “We have a lot of people from London, and they think we’re ridiculously cheap. They’re in awe of it, and will spend a lot of money in the shop to take stuff back with them. They’ll have a much bigger average spend in the restaurant – £10-11 on their business expense accounts – and then do a personal shop that’s a mix of food and gifts, depending on where they’ve travelled from.” This is also where the “style of service” comes in, she says. When FFD visits, Stoneleigh is hosting the DairyTech show, which will

bring in farmers from all round the UK. Reece has already talked to her shop floor staff about “hand-holding” these customers to ensure a smooth visit. There are several categories of local shopper, too. Young mums come in for coffee and cake, or to bring the kids to events like Crazy Kiln pottery painting. There’s a more mature customer, with no time pressure and generally a higher disposable income, who Reece says “will go for quality rather than quantity when they’re making their purchases in the shop." Finally there are the weekenders. “Saturday is all about big gatherings and family groups,” she says. “Saturday brunch seems to be the thing. We’ve developed a very nice brunch and burger menu, and people will spend quite a bit of time here and quite often have a bottle of wine too – the average spend is high, at £11-15.” Topping off the week is the Sunday carvery, originally developed as a loss leader to bring people to an often-deserted Stoneleigh Park at the weekends. “It can be like a ghost town here when there are no events on,” says Reece, “so we started the carvery at £7.95 a head, just to get people onto the park. We’ve got a five-door AGA cooker here, so we branded it an ‘AGA carvery’ to give it authenticity. “Now we’re charging £13.95 and it’s become our biggest day of the week, with up to 400 covers in three sittings. The average spend is £23, made up of main course, dessert, bottles of wine and shopping, too, because Sunday is the day people will buy bigger pieces, like the antiques.” Antiques? Those are the part of the third part of the Farmers Fayre’s offer: non-food gifts. Blending seamlessly into the business’s own giftware line-up is an in-store concession for Millington & Hope, a collectables and decorative homewares business run by Tracy Delaney.

MUST-STOCKS Flower & White Merrangz Punjaban curry sauces Garlic Farm easy garlic Mrs Darlington’s lemon curd Local honey Cottage Delight caramelised onion chutney Choc Affair Gin Bar Selection Mighty Fine honeycomb bars Snaffling Pig pork scratchings Cottage Delight gin & lemon curd Per Las & Perl Wen cheese Snowdonia Black Bomber Bath Pig chorizo Midland Chilled hand-raised pork pies

CONTINUED ON PAGE 53

March 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 2

Vol.21 Issue 2 | March 2020

Tori & Ben’s Melbourne, Derbyshire toriandbensfarm.co.uk

Interview by Michael Lane

shop’s whole local ethos is anchored by one product in particular – English Longhorn Beef. Stanley and her husband Ben are a farming couple and first began selling meat at markets in 2006. Ben’s parents had Longhorns on the family farm, and he and his wife decided that they wanted to carry on farming them, building their own herd (as well as a flock of sheep) nearby. “The Longhorn is the most commercially unviable breed,” says Stanley. “It’s slowfinishing, it’s on the planet for an extra year potentially – normal beef is 14 months, this is 24. That slow-growing puts fat all through the meat, and with the marbling you get this incredible flavour.” Although selling their beef and lamb at London Farmers Markets (they were just geographically eligible) at weekends proved a

Tenants range from the National Farmers Union to the Pony Club and Kennel Club, and while Farmers Fayre’s immediate neighbours include the Charolais, Shorthorn and Simmental cattle breed offices, the site is also a venue for annual shows as varied as the City of Birmingham Dog Show, World of Park & Leisure Homes and the Christian festival Catalyst. Along with regular shoppers coming in from Kenilworth and elsewhere, this means a seriously mixed clientele arriving in hard-toforecast numbers. Reece goes the extra mile to understand this customer base and how it’s changing, especially since Farmers Fayre has steadily become a destination it its own right. “When we first opened,” she says, “70% of our business was coming from people on site: office workers, exhibition visitors, show people.

APRIL

DELI OF THE MONTH

TWO WEEKS IS a very long time at the moment. In the fortnight between my trip to Tori & Ben’s farm shop in Derbyshire and getting in touch with co-owner Tori Stanley just before FFD goes to press, she is serving her customers in a very different way. There is a ‘one in, one out’ policy for customers visiting the shop and Stanley and her team are flat-out preparing deliveries and orders for collection. Despite all of the changes, a point she made in a pre-lockdown conversation with me holds firm. “With all of this coronavirus thing and the raiding of supermarket shopfloors – we as local producers will not run out of food. So support your local shop, local butcher, your local farm shop.” Regardless of the current situation, the

I find Farmers Fayre buzzing. And given its unusual location that’s no mean feat – especially in early February. Neither a high street shop nor a typical farm-based operation, it sits in the heart of Stoneleigh Park, formerly home to England’s annual farm shindig, the Royal Show, and is not exactly on the main road to anywhere. Just getting to Farmers Fayre means passing through the often half-closed security gates of Stoneleigh’s main entrance – off-putting on your first visit – but that hasn’t stopped the shop and restaurant racking up sales of around £1.3m here in the past 12 months. The 800-acre Stoneleigh site is now a business park for “rural industries” as well as housing the National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre.

fresh produce displays both inside and outside. “We’ve made it so customers are buying their meal,” she says. “We don’t sell bits and pieces, we sell a meal.” And meat is very much centre stage of those meals. Even when FFD visits on a Tuesday –when the shop is being replenished for the week ahead – there is an impressive display in the counter. Everything is carcassbutchered on site, both the Stanleys own beef and lamb, as well as the pork and chicken supplied by Packington Free Range just up the road in Lichfield. The shop’s butchers cure their own bacon and the natural skinned sausages are flavoured with fresh ingredients. It’s a proper operation and the meat’s pricing reflects that. A rib of beef will set you back £40-£60. “Dry-aged Longhorn rib of beef is our absolute number one seller. So if they’re buying that and some sausages you’re immediately allowing a customer to spend a big amount.” With average spend at a whopping £35, it’s clear that the proposition is working for Tori & Ben’s. “People are choosing to buy well and invest in their food. If you can provide pure provenance and don’t try and fob them off, people don’t mind spending – if it’s a treat. Or so we’ve found.” Although her customers are clearly on board, Stanley does have a bone to pick with those who query the cost of food generally. She believes people should not be asking why something is so expensive, but instead

questioning why something is so cheap. “To produce food is expensive, globally. If the food is cheap it means somebody somewhere is cutting corners to produce it cheaper. “The sooner we understand that, the sooner the supermarkets will stop this price war, using food – bread, milk, meat, eggs – to get people in and flog them ready-meals for 8 quid a pop.” Stanley is equally as scathing about the faux provenance of meat that is used to sucker consumers. “Everybody says ‘our pork’s from a local farm’ or you go into restaurants round here and it says ‘Derbyshire beef’ on the menu. Well, so what? Is Derbyshire a quality food standard? Why is it good? People read that and think that’s local so it’s the best.” Given the affluence of the area (Melbourne has an average house price of £300k and regularly appears in ‘Top 10 Places to Live’ lists), you might think that Tori & Ben’s exists in a bit of a bubble but it does serve a diverse range of customers. Yes, there are lots of visitors that roll up in Range Rovers with plenty of disposable income. Stanley says this type of customer only visits at the weekend, though. Throughout the week, there is a steady flow of retired couples and individuals, as well as younger demographics and even vegetarians and vegans. Many of these visitors are drawn in by

MUST-STOCKS Rib of beef (English Longhorn) Traditional pork sausages Dry cured bacon Côte de boeuf (English Longhorn) Minced beef (English Longhorn) Packington Free-Range chicken Beef burgers (English Longhorn) Colston Bassett Stilton Baron Bigod Hambleton Bakery bread Burleighs Gin range Deli salads (made in store)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

Vol.21 Issue 3 | April 2020

Rib of beef (English Longhorn) Traditional pork sausages Dry-cured bacon Côte de boeuf (English Longhorn) Minced beef (English Longhorn) Packington Free-Range chicken Beef burgers (English Longhorn) Colston Bassett Stilton Baron Bigod Hambleton Bakery bread Burleighs Gin range Deli salads (made in store)

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Thank you To all of our customers for your continued support. We look forward to delighting your tastebuds with every bite. From everyone at The Bay Tree

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FINE FOOD DIGEST

Best Brands Must-stocks

AUGUST

DELI OF THE MONTH

The Camden Grocer North London thecamdengrocer.com

Since it opened in one of London’s most famous markets in December 2018, The Camden Grocer has been run by Matt Bunch and Scott Winston with a very flexible model. This has allowed it to cater to a varied and changing customer base, navigate COVID-19, and now emerge with a fresh approach. Interview by Michael Lane

Adaptation, adaptation, adaptation

Dark Woods Coffee – Under Milkwood Bermondsey Street Bees – rooftop honey Bottlebrush Ferments – ‘The Red One’ sauerkraut Fix 8 – Triple ginger kombucha Capreolus Guanciale Turner & George ‘Breakfast Pigs’ sausages Turner & George rib steak for two Graham’s mustard for steak La Tua Pasta – braised wild boar tortelloni Bonallack gluten-free granola Double Dutch tonic water Half Hitch Gin (distilled in Camden Market)

SEPTEMBER

DELI OF THE MONTH The Stokes family has been running Farndon Fields Farm Shop for more than three decades, making changes to the business only when it was right for them. That was until coronavirus forced them to react quickly.

Farndon Fields Farm Shop Nr Market Harborough, Leicestershire farndonfields.co.uk

Interview by Lauren Phillips Photography by Richard Faulks

Preparing a Plan C(ovid) FARNDON FIELDS FARM SHOP of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, is an impressive enterprise. The shop has been running for more than 30 years and, in that time, it has grown from a converted garage into a sizable mock barn-style outlet with a turnover of £4.9m. It’s little wonder it earned the title of Farm Shop of the Year in the Guild of Fine Food’s Shop of the Year awards 2020. The business was founded by Kevin and Milly Stokes in 1985 and since then the pair have slowly developed the operation into what it is today – but on their terms. “Over the years, my parents have gained the confidence and experience to know that doing something their way is the best way and not to feel pressured by competition or the economic climate to act quickly,” their daughter Nicola Squires (née Stokes) tells FFD.

In 2018, her visionary parents completed a major refit of the shop floor, which was spearheaded by Milly, a former interior designer for department stores and restaurants across the Midlands. It took two years of planning before the project could start, with the family even creating a chart outlining each step of the development. “We were trying to mitigate as many things as possible going wrong and reduce stress for our customers, staff and the builders working on the project,” says Squires who, after growing up with the business, joined full time in 2013 as marketing and branding manager. But a global pandemic can pull the rug from under even the most seasoned retailers, and the subsequent nationwide lockdown in March left little room to prepare for every eventuality.

“We had about a week to plan what we were going to do before lockdown officially kicked in.” Like many retailers at the beginning of the outbreak, Farndon Fields’s had to do the opposite of what it had done for the last 35 years – react quickly to an ever-changing situation and pivot the entire operation overnight. The Farmer’s Kitchen was forced to close, with café staff redeployed to the shop floor or the home delivery and collection service that was swiftly set up in response to consumer demand. On the shop floor, protective screens were installed at the tills, hand sanitiser was made readily available, and a one-way system was implemented. Instead of face masks, all staff across the business began wearing clear plastic face

VITAL STATISTICS

Location: Farndon Fields Farm, Farndon Road, Market Harborough, e esters re Turnover:

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Nicola Squires

shields. “It was important that customers could still see their faces and smiles,” says Squires. “It can be unnerving for customers if all the staff are wearing masks.” One of the busiest areas on the shop floor is the deli counter which, aside from prepackaged and cut-to-order artisan cheeses and cured meats, also offers a selection of pork pies, sausage rolls, pasties, and salad bowls prepared by the shop’s production kitchen. There is also an eye-catching display of desserts, fudge, and macarons made by the in-house pastry chef. It’s this offering – plus freshly made sandwiches, rolls, and wraps – that has attracted a busy lunchtime trade to the deli counter. Demand has grown during lockdown, too, driven by the café’s closure and an increase in local customers (now working from home) visiting the farm shop on their lunch breaks during the working week. “People’s work-life balance has changed in lockdown,” says Squires. “40- to 50-year-olds, who would normally commute to and from London in the week, are visiting us Monday to Friday – not just on the weekends.” Balancing customer demand at peak shopping times with social distancing has been a challenge, though. The farm shop has tried to navigate this with signage and floor markings encouraging the two-metre distancing rule at the deli counter and across the entire retail space. But now, Squires says, they have had to accept that there will always be some sort of queue at the deli counter during busier times of the day. “We have had to compromise on serving time,” she says. “There is now usually a queue for the deli because we’re only able to serve one person at a time, but most customers have been patient and understanding.”

Not only has the lunchtime trade grown, but sales of essential items have skyrocketed during lockdown. From mid-March to the end of May, the Stokes family saw a 360% increase in sales of milk, a 188% increase in sales of eggs, and a huge 4,800% increase in flour sales. The farm shop’s average basket spend has risen, too. From mid-March to mid-August this year, the average spend was £33.50. For the same months last year, it was £18.60. This is not just generated by existing customers, either. New customers, who were let down by supermarkets struggling to keep up with demand, have been discovering the farm shop for the first time. The Stokes have been able to measure the number of new shoppers through the shop’s loyalty card scheme. Since March, around 700 customers have signed up for the card – the biggest increase since the scheme was introduced. “There were quite a few people using our home delivery service, but they didn’t really know us,” says Squires. “After the panic settled down, they felt confident enough to come into the shop and find out about what else we do and what we offer.” Exclusive member-only events, which run twice a year, encourage shoppers to sign up to the scheme and the farm shop ran its first one this summer to celebrate its 35th anniversary. During these events, loyalty card members can get special offers on products and redeem double the points they’ve earned. “We only do two a year so we have enough time to plan with our suppliers and make it more exclusive for customers,” she says. “If we did it often it wouldn’t feel as special and I don’t think the system would feel as valued.”

MUST-STOCKS Freshly squeezed orange juice Farndon Fields homegrown strawberries and raspberries Previns Naan Breads Local Leicestershire honey Farndon Fields strawberry jam Stokes Real Mayonnaise RJ’s Licorice Brixworth paté Farndon Fields homemade pork sausage roll Farndon Fields homemade pork pie Diforti Italian pastries Heygates flour Farndon Fields homemade fruit scones Langton Brewery Inclined Plane Bitter Favola Prosecco

CONTINUED ON PAGE 86

September 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 8

Vol.21 Issue 8 | September 2020

Freshly squeezed orange juice Farndon Fields homegrown strawberries and raspberries Previns Naan Breads Local Leicestershire honey Farndon Fields strawberry jam Stokes Real Mayonnaise RJ’s Licorice Brixworth paté Farndon Fields homemade pork sausage roll

THE LAST TIME FFD ran a Deli of the Month (several issues ago), it was visiting a business on the cusp of the nationwide lockdown that has shaken the UK and still continues to reverberate. This issue, the feature is back – although it was visited via Zoom – with a shop that has navigated the coronavirus crisis particularly nimbly. Since March, The Camden Grocer has gone from being a deli-café in a bustling area of North London to shutting its doors entirely and becoming an online delivery service. And for the last month, it has been easing itself back into being a bricks-and-mortar operation again. “It didn’t seem like a big deal for us at the time,” co-founder Matt Bunch tells FFD. “But you look back at it now and you think, ‘We actually completely changed the business’.

Location: Camden’s Stables Market, a ar oa o o H Turnover: Retail area

The threat of Brexit to imported goods – in the form of price rises and bureaucratic hoops – could be seen as a step too far for a deli whose sole focus is on one European nation. But David Pavon, owner of Bristol’s El Colmado is certain of the value of his concept, his curation, and perhaps most importantly, his customers.

Continental confidence

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December 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 10

FINE FOOD DIGEST

MUST-STOCKS Dark Woods Coffee – Under Milkwood Bermondsey Street Bees – rooftop honey Bottlebrush Ferments – ‘The Red One’ sauerkraut Fix 8 – Triple ginger kombucha Capreolus Guanciale Turner & George ‘Breakfast Pigs’ sausages Turner & George rib steak for two Graham’s mustard for steak La Tua Pasta – braised wild boar tortelloni Bonallack gluten-free granola Double Dutch tonic water Half Hitch Gin (distilled in Camden Market) Quicke’s Goat Cheddar Fen Farm Dairy – Baron Bigod Bungay Raw Butter Cacklebean Farm eggs

CONTINUED ON PAGE 63

August 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 7

Vol.21 Issue 7 | August 2020

Quicke’s Goat Cheddar Fen Farm Dairy – Baron Bigod Bungay Raw Butter Cacklebean Farm Eggs

DELI OF THE MONTH James and Nicola Grant established cheese & wine specialist No2 Pound Street back in 2010 and have remained true to their commitment to stock only British artisan cheese ever since. Now, in light of the threat to the industry posed by coronavirus, the owners have a plan to give a lift to the nation's cheesemakers. Interview by Tom Dale

Backing British MUST-STOCKS I ARRIVED IN WENDOVER, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, a little early for my visit to No2 Pound Street, so sat outside with a coffee in the sun awaiting co-owner James Grant’s return from running deliveries. Sat – socially-distanced, of course – on the same table was a regular customer. I was hoping for a cheese and wine enthusiast who frequented No2 for Grant’s latest finds and finest tipples but found no such customer. Yes, she bought the odd cheese box and wine for special occasions but, she said, her daily spend was just on “the best coffee in town”. It really was a good brew. And this was something I would learn was at the heart of the business: serving only the finest of everything.

From the global selection of biodynamic and organic wines and cheeses – which Grant travels the country in his car to uncover – to the sandwiches, crafted with the “best produce and the best bread you can get”, and coffee made by their trained barista, everything No2 does is about quality. Also high on the agenda at this British racing green-draped deli is supporting the nation’s artisan cheesemakers – and it’s not just lip service. Grant is building a cheeseageing and training facility in the midst of the pandemic to support the industry and give his business a lift. This is what you would expect from someone with food in their DNA, though. Grant has worked with some of the business’s

biggest names and at plenty of London's highend restaurants. In fact, he was in and around the foodservice business from the age of 10 – his parents owned a restaurant when he was a boy – and went on to manage such illustrious locations as Wiltons and Mark’s Club, among others. The common thread throughout his restaurant days, says Grant was “excellent ingredients prepared simply”. It is clear that Grant has a philosophy when it comes to food – throughout our conversation, words like provenance, sustainable, biodynamic and terroir keep cropping up – and No2, it seems, is an expression of this. “What we do is about quality over quantity

VITAL STATISTICS

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Number of cheeses: Gross margin – wine: Gross margin – cheese: 48

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together to ask what they think, it spreads.” And it shows. From the eager shop manager who swiftly came to the aid of a customer (who admitted she hadn’t a clue what she was looking for) searching for a leaving gift for a colleague, to the knowledgeable assistant offering their expertise during a whopping £85 phone-in cheese order, the team evidently care about the lines they are selling. And this care is what keeps the clientele coming back. “They’re a loyal bunch,” says Grant. No2’s customer base isn’t purely locals, though. Many come across the brand at one of its travelling market stalls which do the rounds across the home counties and then visit the bricks-and-mortar store “because they want to see what we’re doing here in the physical shop”. One draw is the platters, or tasting experiences, that the deli offers. “When I opened the shop, nobody in the UK was doing what we were doing – come in, taste some wine, taste some cheese, taste some meats, and then buy,” says Grant. “My inspiration was to be able to allow people to to taste and enjoy vastly superior produce, because it’s made properly by passionate people, and then convert them. That was the idea behind the shop.” Sadly, the capacity for these has been greatly reduced due to having to slash the number of covers in line with social distancing

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and the producers we look for have to hit that mark for us,” says Grant. With both wines and cheeses, he seeks out the artisans. “All the cheeses that we get have to have that quality, ideally farmhouse so it’s all their own provenance, their own livestock, their own animals, their own cheesemaking facility, and, as much as possible, is sustainable.” And these aren’t his only specifications; with cheese and charcuterie at least, No2 only buys British. Since the shop, which Grant runs with his business partner and wife Nicola, opened in 2010 it hasn’t stocked a single Continental cheese in its counter, he tells me with pride, although he does admit he was tempted by a Parmigiano-Reggiano at last year’s World Cheese Awards in Bergamo. “I thought to myself, why go across the water when we’ve got an abundance of exceptional cheese products here. Why can’t we promote those and make people aware of the great stuff we have in the UK?” And No2 has done just that. Ten years on, the business turns over £850k and employs around 10 people full time – all of whom exude the same enthusiasm for the products it sells as Grant. “Everybody here is passionate about what they’re doing,” he tells me. “At interview, we instil in them how much we love what we do and, while they work with us, they get more enriched and more passionate about it. "You feed one another, don’t you? If I come in excited by a new cheese and get the team

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 51

October-November 2020 | Vol.21 Issue 9

Vol.21 Issue 9 | October-November 2020

El Colmado, Bristol elcolmadobristol.co.uk

Interview by Tom Dale

VITAL STATISTICS

a bad or unexpected thing. “We didn’t have – and we were honest with Camden Market – fixed preconceived ideas about what we hoped would happen here.” “What a lot of people that come in to opening shops get too preoccupied with is being very set on a fixed model that they maybe even decide on before they choose their location,” he says. “You have to be sympathetic to the environment that you’re in.” Winston adds that the floorspace and its units were designed to be moved around and repurposed so that they could respond to what customers were asking for. You might think that the flexibility of The Camden Grocer model was tested to its limits with the arrival of COVID, yet Bunch and Winston proved to be very nimble and decisive. They chose to shut down the shop completely a week before lockdown, morphing entirely into an online shop and delivery service. The shop itself became a picking and packing area and all the staff were retained to handle both the processing and delivering of orders – rather than being furloughed. At the height of lockdown, the team was making nearly 100 deliveries in a day and the average basket spend was sitting around the £90 mark. “Once we decided to concentrate on doing the online business it was very straightforward to keep that running,” says Bunch. “We were very lucky. We had a really regular and high returning customer rate online and we understood what people were looking for. "It was very easy to react to ranging and what products we want and then suddenly

DECEMBER

DELI OF THE MONTH

The shop bursts with colour – from the hand-painted mural behind the servover to the shelving adorned with vibrant ambient lines and smells that transport you back to holidays in the Spanish sun. And this is what the owner wants to cultivate for his fellow ex-pats and Iberophiles alike. The ethos of the shop, Pavon says, is to provide high-quality products, that are difficult or impossible to find in the UK, through his network of contacts and knowledge in Spain. Initially, the range was limited, relying on some British importers and some in Spain, but now the shelves are packed with products. “It was difficult but slowly, slowly we built up a base of producers and distributors in Spain to start bringing in all these products,” says the owner. And he means it – the majority of the

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to good use, sourcing and stocking a fairly generous cheese counter alongside an array of premium ambient lines. “We quickly learned that was operationally not the easiest thing to do when the customers aren’t really there to buy chunks of cheese or sliced ham,” says Bunch, adding that many cut to order items, like charcuterie from Dorsetbased Caprelous are now carried in prepackaged retail formats instead. “We had numbers from the market in terms of how many people move through there, but until you’ve set up and been trading, you have no idea what the successes are going to be.” Given that Camden is such a tourist hotspot, Bunch and Winston had always anticipated retail purchases being more in the gifting vein than full shopping trips made by local residents. But their product mix – which features high-end olive oil, honey made on the capital’s rooftops and premium pasta flour – was also devised to appeal to browsing foodies that appreciate quality staples and ingredients. But to really make the business work, The Camden Grocer has had to develop the foodservice side a lot more. The counter space became more occupied by food and beverages to eat in than deli items, chefs were hired to increase the prepped food offer and the preCOVID sales split was 80:20, in favour of café over pure retail. Still, the co-founders are clear that they don’t want to be café operators or compromise on keeping retail as a core part of the business. Often there is crossover – Dark Woods Coffee is a good example of a product that works well on both sides. Although The Camden Grocer may be a different operation to the one they first envisaged, Winston doesn’t perceive this as

Farndon Fields homemade pork pie Diforti Italian pastries Heygates flour Farndon Fields homemade fruit scones Langton Brewery Inclined Plane Bitter Favola Prosecco

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most importantly, his ability to “react and adapt”. When David moved to England from his native Spain in 2008 to study computing and information technology, owning Bristol’s first Spanish deli was not on the cards. But, finding limited access to high-quality Spanish products in the UK, he saw an opportunity. “We have a huge food culture that wasn’t present in England, apart from basic, low-quality ham and chorizo,” he says. “So, we decided to open the shop.” Seven years ago, he opened El Colmado – Spanish for 'the grocery store' – on Gloucester Road, Bristol’s hub of independent businesses. Following a ten-day closure due to both he and his only employee going into self-isolation, FFD visits the store. It is a visceral experience.

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No. 2 Pound Street Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire 2poundstreet.com

David Pavon, who runs Spanish deli El Colmado on the city’s trendy Gloucester Road, shows FFD a box of Padrón peppers and says that five months ago he was paying £9 per box, but now the quality has gone down, and the price up by over 50% to £14. “I don’t think there is as much produce coming into the country, so they’re buying a cheaper product and increasing the price because the logistics costs have gone up,” he says. But Pavon remains sanguine about the Iberian specialist’s prospects following the imminent end of the transition period – confident in his range, his customer base and,

with Taste Distribution, is well-known in the trade thanks to his previous roles as a buyer for the food halls of Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Selfridges. And it was an old department store connection of his that happened to be looking for a food retailer to take on a beautiful Grade-II listed unit in the revamped Camden Market. “It was a nice coming together of ideas and people with a shared experience of the food industry,” says Winston. By December 2018, the trio (although Paterson has since departed to focus on Taste Distribution, which has now merged with BoroughBox) were standing outside that building at the launch of The Camden Grocer, as its co-founders. The owners of the market wanted a shop with a “deli feel” and Bunch put his expertise

VITAL STATISTICS

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER

IF YOU WANTED evidence that Brexit is already having an effect on food importers in the UK, then the stark example from one Bristolbased deli owner could be it.

“We went from doing shop retail to being in a delivery van with a logistics operation. It felt like the last three months, we were running on adrenaline because we were having to adapt so quickly.” In truth, it’s been quite the journey of adaptation ever since the shop’s co-founders set out to open a retail venture in London. Bunch (whose CV includes managerial stints in retail and wholesale at Paxton & Whitfield), and business partner Alec Paterson had been running specialist wholesaler Taste Distribution together for several years when, in 2018, the pair decided to branch out into retail. They had identified a site near Borough Market but negotiations with the landlord fell through and they shelved the idea, until along came Scott Winston. Winston, who had already been working

MUST-STOCKS ero serra o a u

lines are sourced and imported by Pavon himself. “When I want a certain product, I pick three or four producers, go to the visit them myself and check the quality. “I want octopus, so I search for one that I like, and if I do, I’ll start stocking that,” he says, and adds that, always on the hunt for an improvement, he has recently found an even better octopus supplier and is now stocking that instead. “Everything that is in the shop is going to end up in my kitchen, so it needs to be good enough for me if I’m going to put it on the shelves,” he says. As Pavon is an importer and retailer of exclusively Continental cuisine, the conversation naturally steers toward Brexit. But, while he accepts the inevitable increases to costs and potential hit consumers’ pockets may take, Pavon is maintaining a relaxed outlook. “The reality at the moment is that we don’t really know anything for certain,” he says. Having had to repeatedly make plans, then screw them up when proposed deals changed, he is now waiting until things are finalised to make any definite plans and put any changes to the behind-the-scenes operations in place. He says until a deal has been struck – or not – and new tariffs and duties have been finalised there is little point figuring out the finer details. “It’s difficult because we are talking about fiction, not facts. I’m just waiting until we have a definite outcome to start making real plans, apart from stockpiling what we can,” he says. El Colmado’s next shipment from the Continent is going to be to cover the first four-to-six months of 2021, Pavon tells FFD, whereas he usually only orders for the coming month. “It’s a necessary move until I know exactly what I need to do,” he says. “The risk would be opening the door but with only half the products on the shelves. The idea is to have time to adapt to the new systems and processes.”

Confident in his range, and the continued survival of the deli, Pavon says that, although his premium lines may take a hit in sales, the demand will still be there. “We have always had a customer base that ranges from middle-class people to students and we’ve always had options for all of them – maybe the cheapest lines will have an increase in sales and the more expensive may drop, but we will adapt.” The way he has sourced the lines he stocks ensures the survival of the shop, he says. “You can’t find these things easily, maybe on the internet, but you can’t go to Tesco and buy it – and because of that, we will always have that niche. People will always be drawn to that.” And it is for that reason that he remains steadfast in his commitment to his current model of importing the goods himself. Brexit will be bad for any importer, big or small, he says, and the potential duties imposed will be affecting everyone in the same way. While there may be some savings in terms of freight for a large importer, he says if he began buying some lines from other UK-based importers, his own logistics costs would be relatively more expensive as he would lose volume, something he has spent years building up. “It would be like shooting myself in the foot,” he says. “At the end of the day, the price difference isn’t going to be so big that I will stop doing what I’m doing.” El Colmado stocks predominantly ambient lines and relatively long shelf-life chilled goods like charcuterie and cheese. The real worry is for fresh food importers, he says. He occasionally stocks seasonal fresh Spanish fruit and veg and the palpable change in price and quality of the aforementioned Padrón peppers is difficult to ignore. Fortunately, he says, these only

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

Vol.21 Issue 10 | December 2020

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TINTO ERRINGTON CHEESE Another lockdown cheese, Tinto is a goats’ milk Gouda-esque cheese made by pioneering Scottish producer Errington. It’s aged for 2-6 months and the result is sweet, pliable and earthy. erringtoncheese.com

MORETON KING STONE DAIRY Best known for Rollright, Gloucestershire cheesemaker David Jowett developed this Tomme-style cows’ milk cheese during lockdown. Aged for 3 months, it has a velvety coat and luscious interior, full of buttery mushroom flavours and lactic tang. kingstonedairy.com

Lynda Searby Feature writer CENTRES – HAZELNUT TRUFFLE OMBAR The speciality chocolate space is awash with ethical, raw, vegan, refined sugar free, bean-to-bar challengers. Ombar ticks all of the boxes without making any concessions on taste. In its Salt & Nibs bar, creamy, fruity cacao is the perfect foil for Kalahari Desert salt, while the latest addition to its ‘Centres’ range – Hazelnut Truffle – exudes luxury without being overly rich. ombar.co.uk

n o i t c e l e S m a Te

As keen readers will know, the FFD editorial team rarely passes comment or judgement on products in the magazine, but that doesn’t mean we don’t do it outside of work. Here are some of our favourite items from 2020. Michael Lane Editor

Tom Dale Assistant editor

ORGANIC SMOOTH HAZELNUT & CACAO SPREAD SEGGIANO

DELUXE VEGAN CHILLI SAUCE HOBROS Chilli sauce is often a winner with me, but they tend to fall into two samey categories: ‘fruity’ or ‘blow-your-head-off hot’. Hobros has clearly been reading my mind because the vegan version of its latest offering is something entirely different. The intensely flavoured Deluxe Vegan Chilli Sauce is, frankly, delicious. Utilising a range of spices as well as chilli gives the sauce depth and the inclusion of four types of mushroom provides a nuttiness and an umami lift. To top it off, the heat is just right. hobros.co.uk NEPALESE KATHMANDU CHOYLA HIDDEN STREET FOOD Let me start by saying that I’m not a fan of jar sauces and pastes – I much prefer the toil, mess and the self-satisfaction of making themw myself. But this little time-saver from Hidden Street Food is an exception. The balance of aromatic spices, fruitiness from the mango and tamarind tang in this choyla make a superb marinade for grilled lamb, and a great base for a curry. hiddenstreetfood.co.uk FINE FOOD DIGEST

Seggiano has a pretty good track record when it comes to top notch Italian products but this is a buyer’s dream. It’s vegan, organic and has none of the emulsifiers and litres of palm oil that feature in certain massmarket hazelnut spreads. Perversely, it also actually contains nuts – 31% of each jar is hazelnuts – which means it has bags of depth and a natural sweetness, spurred by cocoa and cane sugar. The flavour, and the otherworldly unctuous texture, will have you eating it straight from the jar. seggiano.com

CAFÉ DE PANAMA RED HONEY PROCESS DARK WOODS COFFEE Dark Woods Coffee has kept me going during lockdown. While the Yorkshire roastery’s everyday coffees – like Good Morning Sunshine and Arboretum espresso – have been on heavy rotation in my home office, I’ve also been putting the odd treat bag of beans in my orders. The company’s latest Great Taste 3-star winner, this Panamanian microlot coffee stuck with me because it was light but offered complex flavours, even a hint of something slightly vegetal about it. It’s just a really unique cup of coffee and totally worth the premium. darkwoodscoffee.co.uk BEST BRANDS 2020-21 63

62 BEST BRANDS 2020-21

FINE FOOD DIGEST