June 2019 Volume 20 Issue 5 gff.co.uk
A weight on your mind? Read our guide to tackling plastic in your store
ALSO INSIDE Hawarden Estate Farm Shop The latest in jams & preserves Improve your breakfast offer
Introducing Our New Flavour Partner 4
June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
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CONTENTS 5 BIG PICTURE 7 NEWS
“Plastic-free” is rapidly becoming a normal consumer expectation but it doesn’t have to be a nightmarish prospect
12 SHOP TALK 15 CHEESEWIRE 23 CHARCUTERIE
By Michael Lane, Editor
25 CAFÉ CONFIDENTIAL 26 CATEGORY FOCUS: JAMS & PRESERVES, SOFT DRINKS, HOME BAKING 34 PLASTIC WASTE 41 SHELF TALK 48 DELI OF THE MONTH 53 GUILD OF FINE FOOD NEWS June 2019 Volume 20 Issue 5 gff.co.uk
They say you should never work with children or animals and I might add plastic waste to that list – after our most recent photoshoot here at FFD. You wouldn’t believe how tricky it is to marshal a handful of crisp packets, drinks bottles and yoghurt pots. They won’t pose, they won’t keep still and the slightest movement knocks them over. The aesthetes among you might say the end result – on our cover – is downright ugly, and we shouldn’t have bothered. Well, it’s all intentional. Plastic is a difficult and unpleasant problem and it is increasingly more visible. A year ago in this column, I flagged up the issue of plastic waste and how our corner of the market would not be immune to it. If you didn’t agree with me back then, I suspect you might now. There are a host of companies developing specific plastic alternatives for the food industry –
everything from insulated packaging to cheese wrap. What’s more, independent retailers across the UK (especially in Scotland) should be starting to shuffle nervously behind their counters as compulsory deposit schemes for all manner of recyclables looms (see page 11). But, most importantly, there is a groundswell of consumers (I referred to an “epic awakening” last year) looking to cut back on plastics and they want to shop in places that have the same attitude. We’re not talking about off-grid, conspiracytheorising, eco-activists here but regular Joe Public. And his wife. And his kids. They all want to do their bit for the environment, even if it’s just bringing their own lunch box in to carry home their purchases, refilling their water bottles from your taps, or buying items in easily recyclable packaging. Even compared to last year, “plastic-free” is rapidly becoming a
normal consumer expectation but it doesn’t have to be a nightmarish prospect for you. Our cover feature (starting on page 34) has been put together to get you thinking practically about what angle your shop might take – and there are many things you can do. Some of the ideas might even make you some money, too. At the very least, it’s a worthwhile cause to pursue while we hang out in political purgatory. If plastic is too scary a prospect, maybe consider working more with children. Hawarden Estate Farm Shop (Deli of the Month, page 48) has done this very effectively and has even taken them off parents’ hands for a few minutes – allowing more time for buying coffee and browsing. I suppose that just leaves animals to tackle but let’s not burden ourselves with any more morality today. Besides, there’s that mound of plastic we’ve got to sort.
EDITORS’ CHOICE Chosen by Lauren Phillips, Assistant editor
A weight on your mind? Read our guide to tackling plastic in your store
ALSO INSIDE Hawarden Estate Farm Shop The latest in jams & preserves Improve your breakfast offer
Cover photography by Michael Lane and Lauren Phillips
Saucybitch
Smokin’ Hot chilli sauce While I’m not a connoisseur when it comes to hot sauces, this BBQ slant on the chipotle sauce really caught my attention this month.
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Along with a nice thick consistency, Smokin’ Hot delivers a good whack of heat from the fermented chillies but still makes room for a treacly, smoky flavour from the molasses and liquid smoke. The branding is cool, clean and a refreshing change from the skulls, grim reapers, flames and profanities typically found on hot sauce brands. Read more about the full range on page 41. saucybitch.co.uk
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Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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THE BIG PICTURE
Reap what you sow Good retailing ideas don’t have to cost the earth to be a success… well maybe a little bit of soil. Take this ‘Little Growers’ sunflower competition by our Deli of the Month, Hawarden Estate Farm Shop (page 48). It turns the simple idea of growing a sunflower into an experience lasting a whole season. Not only does it teach children about seasonality, it gets them returning every week to see how their sunflower is getting on – while mum and dad are buying a jar of jam from the farm shop or a coffee in the café. Photograph: Lauren Phillips
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
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NEWS
Farm shop meat fakery shows butchery fraud still an issue By Andrew Don
Six years after the “Horsegate” scandal, the meat industry still has much work to do to convince the public of honest practices and sourcing transparency, experts have warned. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) told FFD: “Nothing much has changed” after a Warwickshire butcher was jailed for fraud for 33 months and fined £300,000 for selling foreign meat promoted as “Best of British”. Simon Drust, 50, who owned The Meat Shack in Studley, was selling mislabelled, and often outof-date, Dutch pork, New Zealand lamb and Brazilian beef, passed off as meat from Aberdeen Angus and Hereford breeds. Many more cases could go undiscovered because of what a CTSI spokeswoman
said was a lack of resources allocated to trading standards departments for carrying out spot checks and testing. David Lishman, chairman of the Q Guild of Butchers and owner of Lishman’s of Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales, said butchers who behave in this way damage the credibility of those retailers who are doing a good job. “You will always find rogue traders who are relabelling and rebranding just to make a quick buck,” he said. “I’m pleased to say I don’t come across this in the circles I move in.” “It emphasises the need for good traders to educate their customers about what they are doing right.” He said the horse meat scandal had been driven “purely by supermarkets demanding cheaper and cheaper meat, and
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT... SCHOOLS SHOWING CHILDREN PIG SLAUGHTER AND BUTCHERY OLIVER STUBBINS, FARM SHOP MANAGER, WELBECK ESTATE,
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute told FFD that meat fraud cases were still common
unscrupulous suppliers providing what the supermarkets wanted but made money from buying a cheaper alternative”. Rob Copley, chairman of the Farm Retail Association and co-owner of Farmer Copley’s in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, feared publicity about such practices could “take the industry down”. “The one thing a farm shop works on is trust and as soon as people step through my door they trust me because I’m a farmer, before
Hammond keeps the change
Food to go, go, go, go as Gloucester Services upgrades
The government has decided to retain all existing monetary denominations amid rising speculation about the onset of the cashless society. The Treasury said cash remained a dominant form of paying for goods for many people across the country and estimated about 2.2m people were still reliant on cash. Chancellor Philip Hammond said there would be no change to current coins and notes. All denominations, from the penny to the £50 note, would stay in circulation despite the way technology had transformed banking. “It’s clear that many people still rely on cash and I want the public to have choice over how they spend their money,” said Hammond. Natalie Ceeney, chair of the Access to Cash review, said: “Cash use is falling rapidly, but digital payments don’t yet work for everyone.”
Westmorland-owned Gloucester Services is beefing up its food-to-go offer on both the Northbound and South-bound sides of the M5. The service area features farm shops on both sides selling locally produced food, fresh meat and fish (on the southbound site only) as well as kitchens serving
home-made dishes with local ingredients. Now the company is investing “hundreds of thousands” of pounds in increasing its Quick Kitchen capacity on either side of the motorway to improve customers’ experience. “At peak times the place gets very busy so we need to disperse customers across the site,” said operations
they know anything else.” It is imperative shop owners are honest, he said, and criticised supermarkets that labelled their products as coming from fake farms and getting away with it. The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) National Food Crime Unit urged anyone who might know about those involved in fraudulent labelling to contact the unit via the FSA website, the Food Crime Confidential hotline or to speak to their local trading
director Paul Tidswell. It has increased oven capacity, upped the number of coffee machines, increased holding facilities for fresh food and opened outside serving counters. “The idea is we are opening a smaller version of what we do inside to help customers get served quickly with hot and cold drinks and food made on site,” said Tidswell.
WORKSOP, NOTTS
A large number of people don’t want to associate the animal with what they eat. It’s a good idea for children to look after pigs in preparation for slaughter but it’s not to everyone’s taste. Some children would be upset and not all religions eat pork. I think it might be a little bit too much for some. KARREN PRICE, OWNER
ANSTY FARM SHOP, ANSTY, SALISBURY
I think it’s a good idea. I believe children should know where there food comes from. I can think of no better way of doing it. They know the animal, they know what it’s been fed on, they know it’s had a happy life. I can understand why vegetarians wouldn’t approve.
GEORGIE JEARY, OWNER, MANGE 2 DELI, ALRESFORD, HAMPSHIRE
It’s a bad idea. I think anyone I ever ask why they’re vegetarian tells me it’s because they saw horrible videos at school. I think it’s very important for children to know where their food comes from. I think you can discuss it with them rather than having to show it to them when they are so young and impressionable. Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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NEWS
CYBER CRIME
Dobbies upping its food game with store re-fits and local tie-ups By Andrew Don
Dobbies Garden Centres is striving to make its branches more experiential and is developing local producer tie-ups to make its food halls destinations in their own right. The 69-store group, which includes 31 branches snapped up from rival Wyevale in April, is working through several food partnership trials, including new ice cream parlours set up with local suppliers. Archie Stewart, Dobbies head of buying, food & beverages, told FFD that, although the essence of Dobbies was plants and gardening, the business was evolving and customers were asking for more under one roof. Food is one of the divisions that is seeing growth and would continue to grow, he said. Stewart said the company had refreshed about 10 food halls in the past year and this had already had a positive effect on sales.
Existing food areas are being upgraded and new halls will be added to other Dobbies properties
He added: “We are trying to create an exciting shopping occasion that engages our customers.” Its Edinburgh store has linked with nearby S Luca, a “well-loved” ice-cream brand. “In the East of Scotland and East Lothian people go for day trips just to buy the ice cream, so we can bring that fun and enjoyment to Dobbies,” said Stewart. Stewart wants to develop
Food safety and hygiene offences have doubled New data shows the number of organisations sentenced for food safety and hygiene offences has soared since a new guideline was introduced in 2016. An impact assessment, published recently by the Sentencing Council, shows the number sentenced more than doubled from about 60 in 2013 to 130 in 2016 when the Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences guideline for England and Wales took effect. The research also showed that the average fine for organisations has increased by nearly £5,000 since the guideline’s inception. Further analysis by insurer NFU Mutual shows more than 10,000 organisations – or just over 2% – where food is 8
June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
supplied, sold or consumed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have a food hygiene rating of one, which means “major improvement necessary”, or zero: “urgent improvement is required”. In Scotland, where a different scheme of “pass” or “improvement required” is used, just over 8% of organisations require improvement. Food manufacturers or wholesalers are not included in either scheme. Darren Seward, food and drink sector specialist at NFU Mutual, said: “The vast majority of businesses work incredibly hard to meet their hygiene and safety obligation, and the irresponsible businesses which demean that are being held more accountable for poor conduct.”
more local relationships. While S Luca might go into two or three stores, other areas would link with different ice cream brands if Dobbies decided to add them. Its trial with upmarket retailer Booths, which started off last year in two stores, has now been extended to four stores in Scotland and a couple in England.
IN BRIEF “We are starting to see some great results there,” said Stewart. “It’s a fantastic partnership because they are premium and a respected brand. “We’ve got hopes of at least doubling the number. It’s about measuring the success before we expand it. We are selecting stores with the right demographic and desire for food hall products.” Stewart said the 31 former Wyevale sites purchased did not have a huge food offering. He said some might be fitted out with food halls, including deli and butchers’ counters, but not all of them would. He added that the degree to which food would be rolled out across the 31 sites would be confirmed within the next few weeks. “We are trying to increase the number of butchers in our food halls and, with that, looking at other in-store experiences. We are trying to do it bigger and better and provide a sensory element within each of the stores.”
NatWest has launched NatWest Tyl, a new platform which includes the usual payment settlement services but will also provide “smart data-led insights” to help its customer make informed business decisions. Blackbook has produced a London-made wine produced with grapes from the Capital. It claims to be the first to achieve this since Roman times and has named it Tamesis, after the Latin word for the River Thames. Kendal deli-café Pomegranate and Sage at Wainright’s Yard, in the Lake District, has closed after 15 months. Booths supermarket also operates from Wainwrights’ yard along with independent stores, high-street brands, cafés, restaurants and a bar.
The Seed Fund opens private equity door to this year’s Academy producers Fourteen food and drink start-ups invited to join The Seed Fund’s Class of 2019 intake will, for the first time, get the opportunity to pitch for funding from private equity investors. The 14 have won the opportunity to participate in the philanthropic project’s summer academy where top mentors will nurture them. They include start-ups producing organic bone broths; raw fermented foods; natural condiments; cold-pressed juices made from imperfect fruit and vegetables; snack bars made with grass-fed beef, fruits, herbs and spices; and dairy-free cheese. As well as having the opportunity to pitch to Piper Private Equity,
the entrepreneurs will participate in workshops, seminars, industry visits and one-on-one sessions with mentors, such as Renée Elliott, founder of Planet Organic, the Guild of Fine Food’s managing director John Farrand, Camilla Barnard, co-founder and brand director of Rude Health and Emma Murphy, commercial & innovation director at Sourced Market. The academy, run in
partnership with Great Taste, will cover branding, funding, finance, PR, social media and law during an accelerator programme designed to help the products get listed. A winner from the 14 academy participants will be separately selected for a further year of business support and brand development with an estimated value of more than £100,000.
14 small food and drink producers will be part of this year’s mentorship programme
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
NEWS
Concerns for all UK indies as Scotland makes recycling scheme compulsory By Andrew Don
The Scottish government’s decision not to exempt small retailers from its forthcoming deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks cans, glass bottles and PET is worrying news for many independents as the rest of the UK prepares to follow suit. Scotland’s new DRS will require shoppers to pay a 20p deposit as part of its plans to combat climate change. This will be refunded when a container is returned to a retailer. Michael Gove, environment secretary, told MPs last month: “It is absolutely vital that we make sure [DRS] works UK-wide.” Westminster is currently reviewing responses to its own consultation on the issue for the rest of the UK. Small shops group the ACS warned such a scheme would not be “safe, clean or practical” for small retailers
Calling chefs and foodservice professionals Whether you are interested in sourcing new products, learning more about foraging or just shooting some clays, the 8th annual Universal Cookery and Food Festival offers this all in a single day. Open to all chefs and foodservice professionals, the event is being staged by The Craft Guild of Chefs on Tuesday 25th June at Farrington Oils in Northamptonshire. Tickets to the show include all food and refreshments and access to all of the show’s features, as well as a live stage featuring talks from Philip Martin (Blanco Niño), Adam Gray (The Devonshire Club) and Paul Foster (Salt). Book your ticket now for £99+VAT using code FFD99. cookeryandfood festival.co.uk
Scotland will not exempt small retailers from its deposit return scheme for cans, glass and plastic
in terms of lack of space to store returned containers, hygiene issues, queuing and disruption. Diane Brown, who owns Provender Brown in Perth, Scotland, called the plans “ridiculous” for small shops. “What are we meant to do with them? It’s impractical, unhygienic and we haven’t got room for them. Do we leave
the counter to take them somewhere?” Joanna Harper, joint owner of Top Barn Harvest Shop in Worcester, said: “I can imagine it’s a pain in the backside for most small businesses but we could cope with it because we already ask our customers to bring their packaging back to us for composting because we have compostable takeaway
DOWN ON THE FARM
The latest from farm shops across the country
The Exe Valley Farm Shop is now under new management and has also been granted planning permission for an extension of the farm shop, cafe and fresh meat counter – almost doubling the size of the premises. In addition to this, the farm shop shall be launching its own tea room, offering freshly brewed tea & coffee alongside homemade
cakes, making this an ideal meeting place. exevalleyfarmshop.co.uk Torworth Grange Farm Shop in Retford, Notts, is now hosting a weekly baby morning every Wednesday, 9.30am-11am. Customers are invited to turn up with their children (0-8 months), touch base with other local parents and, of course, buy a coffee or two. torworthgrange.co.uk
IN BRIEF
packaging.” The store has also established a crisp packet recycling scheme. Harper said the downside was that a 20p deposit on drinks containers could result in lost sales because of the higher purchase price but one of the pros was the customer comes back. Colin Borland, Federation of Small Business’ director of devolved nations, said: “A bottle deposit scheme is undoubtedly a popular idea. But it is understandable that those that run the very smallest shops have concerns about storage. “Ministers need to explain to those that run the smallest shops how this scheme will work for them.” A Scottish government spokesman said: “We have declared a climate emergency. We want to act now and we would hope the UK government will share our ambition in terms of the scope of materials.”
Thorne’s Farm Shop in Crediton, Devon, is currently undergoing an extension to its licensed, farm shop cafe. The café will remain open during building work and still offers a full menu, including full English breakfasts and Thorne’s famous hotfilled baps, as well as and themed evening events. thornesfarmshop.co.uk Veteran farm shop owner Ashley Goodhew (pictured left) has put Sandhurst Farm Shop, in Kent, on the market for £495,000. He wants to retire after nearly 40 years running the business. The shop comes with about five acres and an agricultural barn with planning potential. BTF Partnership is marketing the property. btfpartnership.co.uk
Selfridges has announced it is now completely palm oil free – across all 280 products in its Selfridges Selection branded range which includes chocolates, biscuits and Christmas products. It said it had achieved the milestone nine months ahead of target. French food and wine shop Les Garrigues has reopened in Norwich after crowdfunding raised £14,641 in just 28 days to help with the costs of renovations. The premises has more than doubled its size, with a wine tasting room and more kitchen space. The Food Standards Agency has advised MPs that more extensive food labelling, with increased allergen information on pre-packed food for direct sale to consumers, should be mandatory.
Farmers Eric and Ann Scott, who run West Mathers Farm in St Cyrus, South Aberdeenshire, are awaiting a decision from Aberdeenshire Council’s planning department on their proposals for a farm shop and restaurant to cater for the local community and visitors as a leisure and tourism attraction. The design statement said there would be no retail impact on existing farm shops. Lester’s Farm Shop, in Flintshire, is awaiting the verdict on its survival plan to combat tight margins in its fresh food business. A council decision on its plans to open a garden centre – featuring a greenhouse, on-site car parking and a nursery for growing plants – is expected early this month. lestersfarmshop.co.uk
In association with
Fabulous Farm Shops fabulousfarmshops.co.uk
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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SHOP TALK IF I’D KNOWN THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW... DEBBIE JONES, co-owner, Forest Deli, Coleford, Gloucestershire Coleford is one of the few towns that hasn’t been infiltrated by the supermarkets. It has a thriving independent community, with three butchers, two bakers and the most amazing greengrocer. Virtually the only item we couldn’t buy in town was my favourite blue cheese, Perl Las, which led us to open a deli here, in March 2018. We’re both originally from the South West and moved back four years ago to escape the corporate world. I had relocated my food photography business but my husband Simon was fed up with the M4 commute. A unit became available on the market square and we set about converting it. Then, two weeks before we were due to open, a pipe burst and the shop was flooded. The floor had to be lifted and everything dried out. We only had 36 hours to dress the shop prior to opening rather than two weeks. On the plus side, it happened the day before the fridges were due to be delivered. The refrigerator company – MJS in Gloucester – was brilliant. They held our fridges in a warehouse for two weeks while we got sorted. This vindicated our decision to pay a bit more for equipment from a local supplier rather than buying online. We opened for Easter weekend last year. We wanted the cheese counter to be the heart of the shop, generating approximately 70% of turnover. We always have more than 30 cheeses on the counter; at Christmas this increased to 55. We are still learning about which cheeses sell. Morbier seems to be popular at the moment, and the Welsh and local cheeses always do well. We deal with all of our producers direct, which is time consuming, but our business backgrounds have helped with the book-keeping aspect. We are very on top of our finances – we manage cashflow every day and invested in a cloud-based EPOS system at the beginning, as we knew it would be difficult to do retrospectively. Christmas was a big learning curve. One wholesaler convinced us to put in a Christmas order in July. This committed a lot of cash up front and some of the items we ordered were Christmas novelties – things we wouldn’t dream of stocking usually – and with good reason…they didn’t sell well. And the knowledge that we had two large bills to pay prevented us from buying other stock. I never want to see another chocolate Santa! Hampers, on the other hand, did really well. This Christmas I want to push them with local businesses and at other times of the year we’re hoping to increase tourist footfall by offering welcome hampers with local produce to people who are self-catering in the area. Interview Lynda Searby Photography Stuart Key
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
CONFESSIONS OF A DELI OWNER ANONYMOUS TALES FROM BEHIND THE COUNTER THE CHANGES WE HAVE HAD to deal with in our businesses are beyond what our grocery forebears could have imagined, and phones are top of that list. I don’t know why we still call them phones – talking through them is the last thing they are actually used for. I was at a seminar recently and someone suggested we “connect” on LinkedIn with each other. She made us open our apps, click on a find-people-nearby-type thingy, and most of the people in the room popped up. We all gaily stopped talking to each other and communicated via our screens. Don’t get me wrong this was useful. But what I really wish is I had something similar for customers. Nothing, and I mean nothing gets your customer in a good mood to buy like you knowing their name. Surely customers wouldn’t mind? It would be like they all had name badges and sales would double every day! So, whether we speak into them or not, phones are splendid. Except in the hands of a 17-year-old. They have been so sucked in, that they risk never understanding the value of a face-to-face conversation.
MODEL RETAILING
During the interview, her phone bleeped. She held up her hand at me and proceeded to answer it. My favourite cautionary tale is about a young girl who came up to my counter, all smiles and enthusiasm, and asked for work. At some point during the impromptu interview, her phone bleeped. She held up her hand at me (HELD UP HER HAND!) and proceeded to answer it. As galling as this was, it was a godsend. Phones are banned on our shop floor, you
see, but I’m less rigid backstage. One of our team has had four children during her time with us, and needs to be contactable (Top tip: Being flexible with parents always get paid back). And the other staff? Well, in the old days they slipped out for a fag break. Now it’s a phone break, to lean against a wall and presumably scroll through social inanities and pictures of kittens. This ban only extends to staff, though. Customers can do no wrong with their phones. If they want to check their kittens over while slurping one of my coffees, then I welcome them with open arms and try to sell them some cake “to go with that”. This modern condition has saved me some money, too – I no longer subscribe to any newspapers. What really gets me is that, in my heart, I think it might be me who is missing out. But I don’t even know what I am missing out on. The designers of apps seem to play on those insecurities, so maybe we’re all susceptible to something on these phones. Hey, have you seen that video of a cat slicing brie?
SOLVING EVERYDAY SHOPKEEPING DILEMMAS. IN MINIATURE.
Hi there. Jenny here from Dodgy Deli Supplies. Just calling because we’ve got a great deal on short-dated fresh lines but it won’t last long. I’ve got other shops taking 20 cases of this stuff and it’s flying off the shelves. Absolute bargain. Didn’t want you to miss out. So, what do you think?
THE NEXT DAY…
Where do you want this one, mate?
Oh dear!
Hmm. I’ve never heard of her... but it does sound like a good deal.
FFD says: Be wary when someone offers you a “bargain”. Even if the numbers do stack up, don’t forget it’s all got to be stored alongside your usual stock and sold before it goes off. It’s much better to build relationships with suppliers – both wholesalers and producers – and then you’ll get what you actually need.
With kind permission of Geobra Brandstätter Stiftung & Co. KG, Germany. PLAYMOBIL is a registered trademark of Geobra Brandstätter Stiftung & Co. KG, for which also the displayed PLAYMOBIL toy figures are protected.
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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A SPECIALIST FOOD WHOLESALER WORKING WITH AWARD WINNING LOCAL FOOD PRODUCERS THAT OFFER A UNIQUE TASTE
We share our passion for locally sourced food. APPLEBYS
TRADITIONAL CHEESE HANDCRAFTED O N O U R FA M I LY FA R M
From our family farm in West Limerick, we produce a range of handcrafted, artisan, award winning cheeses, including: Cahill’s Original Irish Porter Cheddar, OF HAWKSTONE 1.4_GREAT BRITISH FOOD 17/01/2018 15:36 with Page 1 Whiskey, Cahill’s Irish Whiskey Cheddar Kilbeggan Cahill’s Ardagh Red Wine Cheddar, Cahill’s Blueberry and Vodka Cheddar. The cornerstone of our business is that each cheese is individually made and APPLEBYS OF HAWKSTONE 1.4_GREAT BRITISH FOOD 17/01/2018 15:36 1 that is invariably handcrafted thus retaining the subtletyPage of flavour absent from the mass produced product.
E:info@cahillscheese.ie, Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @cahillscheese, www.cahillscheese.ie +353 6962365
Thinking about food-miles: we only deliver across Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire.
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www.britishfoodbox.co.uk 14
June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
email: dairy@applebyscheese.co.uk | 01948 840221 For more information please contact us either by email or by phone.
CHEESEWIRE
news & views from the cheese counter
Roving producer launches ‘cheese at events’ campaign By Patrick McGuigan
The event catering sector is a huge and potentially lucrative market for British artisan cheese, according to the organiser of a new campaign to improve cheeseboards at corporate functions, conferences and dinners. The Campaign for British Cheese at Events was launched last month at Vintners Hall by Francis Gimblett, a Hampshirebased cheesemaker who runs a corporate tasting events business and recently visited 100 British cheesemakers in 100 days as part of research for a new cheese guide. He is urging events caterers to do more to support British artisan cheesemakers and improve the
quality of their cheeseboards. “We have always made a point of serving British cheeses at our tasting events, but I see little evidence of them on venue cheeseboards, and when I do it is often mass-produced,” said Gimblett, who will donate his time to help events organisers, caterers and venues select great British cheeses. “This is the equivalent of serving bag-in-box supermarket wine at an important conference or networking event.” There are around 6,500 players in the £1.4bn events catering sector, with corporate functions accounting for around half of all events, according to researcher IBIS World. There are also opportunities for delis and farm shops to profit, said
Francis Gimblett, who recently visited 100 British cheesemakers in 100 days, is the driving force behind the campaign
Gimblett. “There is 100% a gap in the market for smaller businesses, who naturally have a focus on cheese quality and provenance,” At Kenilworth-based Farmers Fayre, owner Nicola Reece said that catering for functions, conferences and private parties was an important part of her business. “We’re known for our cheese counter and we get clients who choose us because of that,” she said. “We’re investing in our building so we can host dinners here with space to seat 120 people.” The UK’s oldest events catering company Searcys, which hosts events at 25 landmark venues, was recognised as a Champion of British Cheese at the campaign’s launch event. The company only serves British artisan cheese, sourced within 48 miles of each venue, including Oxford Blue, Ticklemore and Doddington. “When we bid for customers we will talk about ways we can add value, and cheese is part of that,” said MD Matt Thomas. “Really good cheeses, served at the right temperature with the right accompaniments is so desperately simple, I’m confused as to why more people aren’t optimising it.” tasteofthevine.co.uk/ campaign
NEWS IN BRIEF
Bath Soft Cheese was named Supreme Champion at this year’s Artisan Cheese Awards in Melton Mowbray. The soft, organic cow’s milk cheese, which is made at Park Farm, beat more than 400 entries to the title last month.
Chabis
Sussex-based Golden Cross is best known for its eponymous ashed goats’ log and the sheep’s-milk Flower Marie. But the company also makes a young cone-shaped cheese called Chabis (in homage to the classic French fromage Chabichou) using raw milk from its herd of 220 goats. Aged for just a few days, it’s a simple soft cheese with a light texture and fresh flavour.
Seaweed In France, little goats’ cheeses are given extra pizazz with a sprinkle of paprika or herbs. A pinch of dried seaweed flakes works in the same way – providing a burst of green colour, which contrasts with the brilliant white cheese and adds interesting salty and mineral notes. Try Japanese Green Nori Sprinkles from Clearspring. Pomegranate Molasses Chabis blends bright acidity and palate-coating creaminess, and a dash of pomegranate molasses turbo-charges the whole experience. It adds a much racier sharpness, but also sweetness and fruity notes, not to mention the visual drama of its garnet colour. Belazu’s pomegranate molasses won a three-star award in Great Taste 2017.
Suffolk-based Fen Farm Dairy, which makes the raw milk Brie-style Baron Bigod, has completed a £500,000 expansion at its premises near Bungay. The new cheese-making building was part-funded with a £152,000 grant from the EU Leader programme and will take capacity up to around 100 tonnes a year. Cheesemaking looks set to continue at Sleight Farm in Somerset, where the late-Mary Holbrook made cheeses for more than 40 years. The farm is currently advertising for a full-time cheesemaker to continue production of goat’s cheeses including Tymsboro and Cardo. Holbrook passed away in February, aged 80. For more information, see: nealsyarddairy.co.uk/ blogs/jobs/cheesemaker-sleight-farm
THREE WAYS WITH...
Cheeses made with bacteria from the armpits, ears and belly buttons of five celebrities will be displayed at a new exhibition at the V&A, called FOOD: Bigger than the plate. The bacteria has been used to make starter cultures to create Cheshire (Alex James), Comté (Heston Blumenthal), mozzarella (Professor Green), Stilton (Ruby Tandoh), and Cheddar (Madness frontman Suggs, pictured). The cheeses are part of a project called Selfmade, which highlights the importance of bacteria to health and food.
Gin & Tonic A match made for summer, the aromatic notes of gin and the bitterness and bubbles of tonic create a refreshing counterpoint to the earthy richness of Chabis. Look for gins with a hint of lavender (such as Aber Falls Welsh Gin) and serve with lemon and a sprig of rosemary. A perfect combo for a Mediterranean-style aperitif. Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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CHEESEWIRE
news & views from the cheese counter
Ballybrie production ends with Fivemiletown closure
BEHIND THE COUNTER TIPS OF THE TRADE
By Patrick McGuigan
Dale Farm’s decision to close Northern Irish speciality cheesemaker Fivemiletown has been slammed by the local union and lamented by the country’s artisan cheese sector. The large dairy cooperative, which bought Co Tyrone-based Fivemiletown in 2014, plans to close the site this month when the lease comes up for renewal, arguing that production there was “no longer feasible”. The company has offered Fivemiletown’s 18 staff transfers to other locations or redundancy packages, but union Unite described the decision as “a body-blow to the local agri-food economy” and “a blatant case of assetstripping”. Fivemiletown can trace its history back to 1898 and was one of the country’s first speciality cheesemakers, well-known for soft cheeses Ballybrie, Ballyblue and oaksmoked Ballyoak.
CHEESE IN PROFILE with Smoked Gubbeen What’s the story? The Ferguson family has been farming at Gubbeen Farm in West Cork, Ireland, for five generations. The pastures
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
Dom Pulsford, Two Belly, Bristol
Northern Ireland’s famous Fivemiletown Creamery brand will be no more after owner Dale Farm decided to close its Co Tyrone premises
These products will all now be discontinued, with only goat’s cheese production moved to Dale Farm’s facility in Cullybackey, Co Antrim. “It’s a real loss and is going to leave a gap in our counter,” said Mark Brown, owner of Belfast-based Arcadia Deli. “Ballybrie was one of our best sellers and we used it a lot for wedding towers.” Northern Irish food writer Sam Butler described the closure as a “big blow” of this 250-acre coastal farm are bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Mount Gabriel on the other. The cows graze all day and all night in the summer months, coming in to be milked at 6am. The cheeses are made with the milk from their own herd and the whey from cheese production is fed to pigs adding vital flavour to the farm’s cured meats. Milk: Pasteurised cows’ milk How is it made? Using the same base cheese as the farm’s eponymous semi-soft washed rind cheese, Smoked Gubbeen is created using traditional cold-
to Northern Ireland’s artisan cheese scene. “Fivemiletown made the first blue brie in Ireland and the first oaked brie in Europe. They were very innovative.” Dale Farm saved the creamery in 2014 when it bought Fivemiletown’s brands from Glanbia Ingredients, after Glanbia acquired the cheeses along with the creamery’s milk supply from owners Fivemiletown & Brookeborough Co-operative.
smoking techniques similar to those used for sides of salmon. The cheeses, all made with animal rennet, are selected at 5-days-old, then brined and dried before going into the smoker for four days. It is then coated in a thin layer of black wax from Holland called Ceska. This keeps the smoke in, yet still lets the cheese breathe as it matures for about 5 months. It comes in three sizes: 400g, 1.4kg and 3.5kg. Appearance & texture: Smoked Gubbeen has a very gentle smoked flavour and a semi-soft pliable interior dotted with small ‘eyes’ or holes and the distinctive black waxed rind.
Dom Pulsford stocks around 40 ciders at his Bristol shop and is a vocal advocate of cheese and cider pairing, but this wasn’t always the case. “Like a lot of people, I’d had bad experiences with cider, but then started getting interest in the new craft movement. Now, I’m a complete convert.” Pulsford recommends starting with a few key styles: light and crisp ciders (he recommends local producer Pulpt) match well with young goats’ cheeses, while more accessible medium-dry styles (eg, keeved products from Pilton) work with Cheddar. ‘Low intervention’ ciders (eg, Oliver’s Fine Cider) are made with wild yeasts and have funky flavours that pair well with washed rind cheeses. Two Belly always has a draught cider, which is used for tasters, and hosts cheese tasting events, where cider will feature. “It’s about breaking those barriers, getting people across the threshold and getting them to put a glass of cider to their lips, then they are sold.”
distinctive in any counter or on any cheeseboard. The Fergusons pride themselves on making a cheese with a smokey flavour and not a smoked product with cheese flavour! Pair it with smoked salmon or jerky and a dry cider. Variations: Gubbeen (original unsmoked) Cheesemonger tip: This Irish cheese has a great story and would be
Chef’s recommendation: This is a great melting cheese, so use it in a gratin with smoked haddock and potatoes or for smokey mac & cheese.
Whether you have a professional or personal interest in cheese, the Academy of Cheese is a not-for-profit organisation, providing a comprehensive industry recognised certification. Level One courses are available across the UK. Visit academyofcheese.org to start your journey to Master of Cheese.
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Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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Thelma’s Original, The Cheese that founded the business. Fresh tasting and creamy with a lemony after taste. Awarded PGI status and a recent Gold Award Winner in 2019. Available with major wholesalers, please contact us for further information. Email: cheeseorders@cawscenarth.co.uk
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
CHEESEWIRE
news and views from the cheese counter
We want cheese to be an everyday thing, not something just for the weekend
Streets ahead Provisions has achieved the right balance of retail, foodservice and wholesale – all from a modest spot in North London Interview by Patrick McGuigan
When Hugo Meyer Esquerré’s business partner Ben Proctor first took him to North London’s Holloway Road to look at a site for their cheese and wine business, he was distinctly underwhelmed. “It was a bit depressing,” admits Esquerré of the derelict shop they looked round. “But Ben knew the area and was telling me about the demographic. That we were surrounded by big houses and that it is a wealthy place.” Other arguments in favour of the site included cheap rent, no premium and little in the way of competition. “There was no cheese on the Holloway Road, no bread, no cured meats and no beer, but there was high footfall,” says Esquerré. “It took me a bit of time to get convinced but we decided to go for it.” The shop was transformed into a cool stripped back space and Provisions opened in November 2015, selling around 80 French, Swiss and Italian cheeses, and 100 wines, imported directly from producers. The shop also doubles as a wine bar serving cheese and charcuterie platters with seating for 26 people. On busy nights, they will serve upwards of 70 people. “Since we started, a lot of restaurants have opened nearby,” he says. “We get a lot of people coming before or after their meal to have a glass of wine and a plate of cheese.” Esquerré and Proctor, who are from Normandy and Brighton respectively, met while working at Borough Wines, but cheese has always been close to their hearts. The Frenchman’s family
are from Neufchâtel, where “cheese was always on the table”, and he is a strong advocate of raw milk producers. The pair regularly travel to the Continent to visit producers, a policy that has helped build a strong line up of fermier cheeses, from pretty, soft goats’ cheeses – such as Losange, Pélardon, and the boat-shaped Gabarre – to Bleu de Gex, Etivaz, and St Nectaire (see box right). The shop accounts for half of sales with the rest coming from a burgeoning wholesale operation to around 30 restaurants and outlets, which is run from the shop. There are also plans to open a second site with more wholesale storage space later this year. “I like talking to chefs there’s an instant pleasure of tasting cheese, and they have that curiosity and focus on quality,” says Esquerré. Moving into foodservice hasn’t come without its problems, however, with the company left sitting on 100kg of Bleu d’Auvergne after one account suddenly decided to switch suppliers. “For a small company like us, it’s a big deal, but in some ways it was a good experience. If ever I do a deal like that again, I’ll make sure there’s something written to say we need a month’s notice.” Fortunately, the company was able to shift the blue cheese through its other wholesale customers and the shop, which has become a destination for the Capital’s French residents. Londoners are also discovering the joys of fermier thanks to many cheeses priced at a reasonable £22-24/kg. “We want cheese to be an everyday thing, not something just for the weekend, so we make lower gross profits than our competitors,” says Esquerré. “The idea was to create a space where people would feel comfortable. They can get close to the cheese; smell it and taste it like they are at a market.” It’s certainly not depressing on the Holloway Road anymore. provisionslondon.co.uk
CROSS
SECTION
Fromagerie Guillaume St Nectaire 1
The Guillaume family has been maturing St Nectaire in the town of Montaigut-le-Blanc in the Auvergne since 1924. The company takes young cheeses – from around a dozen farmhouse producers, which use raw milk, often from Salers cows – and matures them for a minimum of four weeks.
2 The cheeses are aged in old wine cellars. The damp caves have a natural humidity of 95% and a constant temperature of 10°C, plus natural air vents. The cheeses are washed in brine once a week to help create the distinctive rind.
3 Beneath the velvety grey rind, the paste has a pudgy texture that becomes almost like custard as it matures. There are aromas of hay and damp cellar, which carry through in the flavour, where they combine with hints of artichoke, mushrooms and a yoghurt-y tang.
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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The Guild of Fine Food’s training arm, the School of Fine Food, sees over 1,000 delegates a year learn everything from the basics of cheese and deli products to the detail of running an independent retail business. BUSINESS Our Retail Ready two-day training programme is designed to equip managers or owners of prospective, new or developing delis & farm shops with the business essentials of fine food & drink retailing CHEESE RETAIL Our one-day course is designed to help independent retailers capitalise on customer interaction, ensure they have the correct range and guarantees that you and your team talk intelligently about cheese to your customers ACADEMY OF CHEESE The Guild is a founding patron and training provider of the Academy. It’s trusted and structured learning provides an academic pathway for anyone in the business, and equally cheese-loving consumers. It does for cheese what the Wine & Spirits Education Trust does for wine
PROGRAMME 2019 ACADEMY LEVEL 1: £195 inc VAT Day course 20 June (London) 18 September (London) 6 November (London) Evening course 18.30-21.00 11 June (London) 18 June (London) 25 June (London) RETAIL CHEESE: MEMBERS £100 + VAT NON-MEMBERS £195 + VAT 12 June (London) 16 July (London)
10 September (London) 17 September (London) 1 October (Gillingham, Dorset) 8 October (London) 29 October (London) 12 November (London) DELI COURSE: MEMBERS £100 + VAT NON-MEMBERS £195 + VAT 11 June (London) 28 October (London) RETAIL READY: Contact Jilly Sitch for further information and course fees. 24-25 September (London)
For more details of all School of Fine Food programmes, courses, fees and dates, visit gff.co.uk/training or contact jilly.sitch@gff.co.uk, +44 (0)1747 825200
gff.co.uk/training | academyofcheese.org
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Organic Indulgence from the Hebrides www.islandbakery.co.uk
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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Founded by Iain and Suzie Millar in 2017, the Scottish Bee Company is a business with a social and environmental purpose; to save the beleaguered pollinator population through the sale of premium bee related products. To date they have committed c 23 million bees to Scotland, have provided work for 3 artisan beefarmers and started Scotland’s first beefarming apprenticeship. Every jar comes with a packet of wildflower seeds for the customer to scatter to help save the bees. Scottish heather honey has also been found to be ‘the same if not better than Manuka’.
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
mat
CUT&DRIED
making more of British & Continental charcuterie
Rebrand underway as Capreolus Hay’s on a roll with gets set to attack retail ‘with gusto’ new deli salamis By Mick Whitworth
Capreolus Fine Foods will reveal a new brand identity and its first serious retail packaging this summer after building its reputation in mid- and higherend foodservice outlets. Karen Richards, who runs the multi-award-winning business with husband David, said the couple recognised they had been missing a huge potential market in retail. A move into slicing and modifed atmosphere packaging means they can now attack the sector “with gusto”. “We haven’t encouraged retail customers to date because it’s been hard to slice and pack
in a cost-effective way,” she said. The new packaging is still at the final design stage, but will incorporate a new strapline of “English charcuterie”. “We’re very excited about the new concept,” said Richards. “It will be a complete change to our current branding. “We hope the packs will offer good shelf life and an easier-to-serve option for the end user, and the packaging should shout from the shelves of our retail customers.” Maturing room space at Capreolus’s base in Beaminster, west Dorset, is being increased Basic format with gold edges to handle “rapidly growing demand”, while drying room
CAPREOLUS
- ENGLISH CHARCUTERIE -
capacity is also rising 60% with the delivery of a new temperature and humidity controlled room. A multiple winner at the Taste of the West awards – it took Champion Product trophies in 2015, 2018 and 2019 – Capreolus has again won gold for 2019 with its Dorset coppa and a gold at the British Cured Meat Awards for its duck confit. New products for this year include Dorset Red Post salami, colourfully named after the red road signs around the region where a hangman’s gallows were once located. A new truffle salami is also on its way. Karen Richards can be heard talking about the evolution of Capreolus Fine Foods on the Humans of Hospitality podcasts by Mark Cribb of Urban Guild (search for Episode 16). capreolusfinefoods.co.uk humansofhospitality.co.uk
Standard format with gold edges and descriptor line
First taste of cured meats from native Irish Dexters
PRINT APPRO
development: Final logo concept
VA L
P.4525
P.188
Black
DANIEL BEE
ARTISAN ENGLISH CHARCUTERIE
Ireland’s Killenure Castle, home of the world’s largest herd of pure-bred Dexter cattle, has released the first charcuterie made from the diminutive beef breed. Killenure’s owner Eavaun Carmody has spent years researching the Dexter to confirm its roots in Co Tipperary, where it was developed as a small, tough “poor man’s cow” by crossing Kerry cows, Anglesey Welsh and the local free-roaming mountain cattle. Working with other local farmers, she has built up a herd of around 800 animals and begun developing a range of luxury Dexter products, from a highly marbled beef that she has dubbed “Irish wagu” to leather goods made from the tanned hides. Her Killenure Castle single-estate Dexter salami and chorizo are her first venture into charcuterie, produced for her by Olivier Beaujouan at On The Wild Side in Dingle. killenure.com
Herefordshire producer Hay Charcuterie has produced a new paper-rolled version of its grab-and-go chorizos as it seeks out more retail trade customers. The range, which owners Rod and Rachael Lewis sell for around £5 at farmers’ markets and food festivals, also includes several new flavours added since the micro-business was featured in FFD in March.
A simple paper wrap has been used as a ‘green’ option
These include the Northern European inspired, oak-smoked Hawks Wood salami, with caraway and cumin, which is named after the woodland overlooked by the Lewis’s home-based production unit. There is also Firecracker, a special edition salami in celebration of the Chinese Year of the Pig, using Oriental spices, shaoxing rice wine, garlic & ginger. And the Lewises have renamed their Majorcan-style spreading sausage Sobrasada Rodrigo to reflect chef Rod’s own “secret spice blend”, including roasted peppers for a chorizo-style kick that almost reaches a mild ‘nduja heat. “We’ve introduced the rolled version mainly for delis and farm shops,” said Rachael Lewis. “It’s tricky, because we do have a ‘green’ ethos, so we’ve designed it around a simple paper wrap.” Hay Charcuterie was one of four producers visited in late May by senior judges for the British Cured Meat Awards. It was shortlisted for the new Grand Master Charcutier award, along with Wenlock Edge Farm, Tempus Foods and Cobble Lane Cured, who had all put in a strong showing in the first round of product judging. haycharcuterie.co.uk
The Pig Hotel group chef director visited Rod and Rachael Lewis while judging the British Cured Meat Awards this month
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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Cocktail Conserves from Tiptree with Love The Wilkin family have been farming at
Our
Tiptree, Essex, since 1757, and making
been inspired by classic cocktail recipes.
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
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CAFÉ CONFIDENTIAL
the secrets of smarter foodservice
The most important meal of the day Even if early mornings aren’t your thing, serving breakfast is a simple and effective way to attract new customers and showcase your stock. Michael Lane speaks to Sangita Tryner of Delilah Fine Foods. The billing that breakfast often gets is more than a little clichéd but, for deli-café operators, it rings true. You might think it means more effort and cost to open earlier but if you’ve got the footfall, breakfast service is relatively easy compared to other meal times and the profit potential, including cross-selling with your retail side, is good too. Delilah Fine Foods is an excellent example of how to make the morning meal work for your shop. “People want to eat breakfast in Britain all day long,” owner Sangita Tryner tells FFD. “We’ve always done breakfast because it’s a way of showcasing things we sell in the deli.” Delilah started off by just serving sausage and bacon cobs (insert your regional roll of choice here) but has now graduated to a full menu. It even
makes its own bacon and sausages, in partnership with The School of Artisan Food. Although Tryner’s overall turnover is 70% retail, breakfast is a “major driver” of trade. Whether the sales benefits are purely foodservice or there is a knock-on to retail depends on the day of the week. “At the weekend, customers will have a leisurely breakfast then
FROM THE DELI KITCHEN
buy our bacon and sourdough bread afterwards,” says Tryner. During the week, Delilah hosts business meetings (breakfast is the only service Tryner will take bookings for) which brings in spend from six-plus customers and an opportunity to attract them to come back and shop or eat at the weekend. When it comes to setting the menu, there are 12-15 options. These include gourmet Full-English style breakfasts (for meat-eaters and vegetarians), classic egg dishes, granola with yoghurt, and simple sourdough toast with a preserve. And, of course, there’s the hipster’s choice – avocado on toast. “It’s one of those things,” says Tryner. “It would be mad not to have it.” Delilah’s interpretation features poached eggs, spinach, tomato and the Middle Eastern spice dukkah.“It’s not that hard to squash an avocado but we sell so much dukkah off the back of it.” This twist is a vital element of breakfast. Tryner points out that pesto sales ahave gone through the roof since introducing green eggs & ham to the menu. She is also insistent that her chefs do not prepare their own Hollandaise for
Eggs Benedict, because they want to showcase the branded version sold on the retail side. Wastage is minimal because there is so much crossover of ingredients between the dishes (eggs, bacon, avocadoes) and most unused items can be shuffled on to the sandwich counter for lunchtime. Prep work is also an easy oneperson job, so Delilah doesn’t need a kitchen full of staff to get up and running in the morning. Of course, all of this is academic if your shop doesn’t have footfall in the morning. If you do, though, it might be time to set that alarm clock. A BREAKFAST FORMULA Check for morning footfall 12-15 items on the menu (some classics but use some retail products that you can cross-sell. And avocado.) Easy prep in advance (slice bread, pans up to temperature etc.) Price range of £9.95-£3.25 Margins at 70% £15 average spend (including high margin hot drinks)
Simple recipes to boost your margins. Sponsored by Tracklements
Golden beet salad with turmeric dressing Fresh turmeric is widely available and really versatile to work with. The fresh flavour is more subdued than the dusty golden powder of the dried variety. This salad would work with most raw veggies, sliced thinly. Think of it as a carpaccio of veg with a punchy dressing. Prep time: 10mins plus marinating Cook time: 0mins Makes: 2 portions
Sean Callitz
Ingredients: 2 00g golden, candy or regular beetroot 2tsp white vinegar 1tsp sugar ½ tsp salt
Method: • Wash, peel and finely slice the beetroot. • Toss the beet slices in the vinegar, sugar and salt and set aside for 20mins to marinate. If you prefer your beetroot cooked, blanch the thin slices for 2-3mins, drain and then toss in vinegar, sugar and salt. • Mix ingredients together for the dressing, season well. • Lay the beetroot on a plate with the watercress and spoon over the dressing. Top with walnuts. Recipe by Fine Food Digest
Transforming simple into scrumptiousness
For the dressing: 3tbsp crème fraiche 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (wholegrain or smooth) 1tbsp horseradish sauce 1-2tbsp roughly chopped dill 60g toasted walnuts, to serve Watercress, to serve Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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CATEGORY FOCUS
Jam packed
jams & preserves The Artisan Kitchen in Gloucester has raided the drinks cabinet for its new cocktail-inspired trio of marmalades. Negroni mixes sweet and bitter oranges with Campari, vermouth and gin; Espresso Martini combines sweet and bitter oranges, muscovado sugar, coffee, vodka and coffee liqueur; and Lime & Limoncello embellishing lemon and lime with a hit of limoncello. RRP £5 for 200g. theartisankitchen.co.uk
Breathing new life into spreadable butter is The Butterworks, with the creation of the UK’s first spread to blend butter with extra virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil. The Caerphilly butter producer has teamed up with Suffolk-based Hillfarm Oils to develop a spread that claims to offer cholesterol lowering and immune system benefits, thanks to the inclusion of rapeseed oil. RRP £2 (250g). thebutterworks.co.uk
The latest challenger in the nut butter space is Yumello, a British brand inspired by the flavours and ingredients of the Atlas Mountains. Already on shelf in Eat17, Raw Press, Harvey Nichols and Bayley & Sage, the line-up includes peanut and almond butters made with argan oil and salted dates. All butters are vegan and free from palm oil, refined sugar, dairy and gluten. yumello.com
Old Rectory Preserves has married the intense flavour of blackcurrant with the herbal botanicals, caramelised orange and delicate spices in gin-based Pimm’s, in a “jewel-coloured preserve” that is said to be fabulous with scones and thick cream. Also new from the Norfolk producer is raspberry, redcurrant & rose preserve and limoncello marmalade. RRP £4 for 220g. oldrectorypreserves.com
Janine Webster has traded in her nurse’s uniform for an apron, producing jams and preserves that “combine traditional cooking with innovation and originality” from her home kitchen in rural Lincolnshire. To date, The Jam Kitchen has mainly been sellling via markets but is starting to attract interest from retail stockists. RRP £4.25 for 360g. the-jam-kitchen.co.uk
Maison Francis Miot organic fruit spreads are now available in the UK via The Fine Food Forager. The London-based wholesaler says it has elected to carry these confitures to fulfil growing demand for organic jams. They are made the traditional way in cauldrons using fruits from South West France and the Basque country. RRP £5-6 for 340g; trade price £3.65. thefinefoodforager.co.uk
Peckish Kitchen has rebranded Shetland farm shop & itscafé rhubarb jam to become Mackenzie’s is now Yorkshire rhubarb & custard producing own-label jamsjam, and using local rhubarb grown within marmalades for wholesale. So the triangle of West far,rhubarb the range is being supplied Yorkshire. It is also launching to Northlink Ferries, Visit a new Raspberry Collinsand gin Taste jam, Scotland in Lerwick made with raspberries steeped in of Shetland’s online shop. RRP Divine £3.20.Gin. peckishkitchen.co.uk mackenziesfarmshop.co.uk
After reaching its first year of Rosebud Preserves’ founder business, Hungry Elspeth Biltoft and Squirrel her team has added mapleYorkshire pecan to its forage the North flavoured nutforbutters. Made with countryside the wild pecans, almonds, maple elderflower that goes intosyrup andproducer’s a hint of mixed the the latestspices, jam. The smooth butter has a trade jam price of gooseberry & elderflower £3.95£3.60, per 150g jar is(RRP £5-6). (RRP 227g) made with feedthesquirrel.co.uk 66g of fruit per 100g. rosebudpreserves.co.uk
Womersley Foods ishas now Coconut Merchant selling itsa vegan fruity jams in a newly sourced honey designed gift box. balance alternative from SriThe Lanka. Madeof herbsthe andsweet chillisap in the three jams from of coconut – raspberry & chilli, blackcurrant palm flowers, Organic Coconut & rosemary, strawberry & Nectar Honeyand Alternative is mintto– isbesaid to intensify said “caramel sweetthe and flavour ofRRP the £3 fruit. smooth”. for 250g; womersleyfoods.com £5.99 for 500g. coconut-merchant.com
FFD showcases the latest in jams & preserves to sweeten your shelf space, followed by new launches in soft drinks bubbling away on page 28 and home baking ideas putting the icing on the cake on page 31 Compiled by Lynda Searby
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>> Bullace butter has to be one of the rarest preserves around, with Trish Maunder of Somerset Membrillo currently the only known commercial producer. Her recipe for turning this member of the plum family into a preserve was awarded a three-star award in last year’s Great Taste and has won the approval of chef Mark Hix. Wholesale price is £6 a jar. somersetmembrillo.co.uk
How we stock it…
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Otter Vale is joining forces with several like-minded local artisans to develop new products, including a small batch, open pan lime & lemon marmalade with Exeter Gin. The marmalade, which launched at the Devon County Show last month, has an RRP of £3.50 for 315g (trade price £2.10). otter-vale.co.uk
The Olive Tree Delicatessen, Mold, Flintshire This high street deli in the North Welsh town of Mold sells “loads” of jams and preserves and has a clear strategy when choosing which lines to stock. “We always try to have a local brand and a nonlocal one,” says Richard Howell. “Our local range is from a producer we were approached by when we opened in 2016 – Mostyn Kitchen Garden. They have a great back story and they are always willing to give up their time to come and see us and do sampling.”
The deli’s non-local brand is currently The Cherry Tree, although this is sometimes interchanged with The Fine Cheese Co’s range. Howells says the deli has tried nut butters and chocolate spreads, but demand was too low to make them viable. “We were only selling 1-2 units per month. Whereas jams and preserves go hand in hand with our emphasis on cheese and charcuterie.” olivetreedeli.com
Ayako, the latest marmalade from Nino’s Confiture, is named after founder Seiko Ninomiya’s 90-year-old mother, who has been making marmalade for over 70 years from natsumikan (summer orange) grown in Ehime, Japan. This old citrus variety isn’t widely grown anymore, and yields a taste profile that is very different to that of the more common sweet citrus fruits, according to Ninomiya. This latest recipe joins other marmalade varieties in the Nino’s Confiture collection, which has been on sale at Fortnum & Mason for the past year, and includes flavour combinations like yuzu, ginger & honey. RRPs are from £12.95-£15. ninosconfiture.com
chris@segmant.co.uk
Richard Howells, owner
Lightly set jam with a refined subtle tang
Castell Howell has launched its own brand of jams and marmalades under the Celtic Preserves banner. The Welsh wholesaler says the range, which takes in 14 jams and marmalades made in Llandeilo to traditional recipes, was created to cater to the growing demand for “authentic, regional produce with a homemade feel”. Trade prices start from £2.29 a jar (RRPs £3-3.50). castellhowellfoods.co.uk
The Garden Pantry is harnessing the craft gin trend though a collaboration with fellow Norfolk producer Black Shuck Gin. The local gin features in two new marmalades: Blush gin marmalade and grapefruit & passion gin marmalade. RRP £3.50. thegardenpantry.co.uk
Colchester’s Thursday Cottage has got creative with curds, introducing what it claims is the category’s first blood orange curd as well as a “taste bud tingling” ginger curd. Made in small batches from freerange eggs and country butter, both curds have an RRP of £2.95 and a trade price of £13.26 for 6 x 310g. thursday-cottage.com
Cotswold producer Kitchen Garden has teamed up with Gloucestershire-based Dunkerton’s Cider to launch a cider jelly with calvados. The jelly can be paired with baked camembert, a cheeseboard or cold meat. RRP £3.70. kitchengardenfoods.co.uk
There aren’t many jams that can double up as an accompaniment to both duck and a cake filling, but Lakes stalwart Hawkshead Relish maintains its new sour cherry & prosecco jam does just that. A dash of prosecco is said to give this lightly set sour cherry jam “luxurious depth of flavour” and “refined subtle tang”. RRP £2.99; trade price £11.80 for 6 x 225g jars. hawksheadrelish.com
Honey is no longer out of bounds for vegans, following the launch of bee-free alternative Hunny from Dalton Moor Farm. The County Durham small holding is making vegan honey from both locally grown rowan berries and dandelion flower. RRP £4.50. jenny@daltonmoor.farm Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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jams & preserves
>>
Harbinger rhubarb, Flair strawberries, Ben Starav blackcurrants and Alphonso mango are the latest varieties to be showcased by the Single Variety Co. The London company, whose stockists include Harvey Nichols, Whole Foods and Fenwicks, has introduced four new preserves, all with a higher amount of fruit and less sugar than a traditional jam. RRPs from £5-6.50. singlevariety.co.uk
Taking inspiration from distillers and their focus on flavour infusions and expressions, Franklin & Sons has created a range of non-alcoholic flavoured sodas. Fragrant guava & Persian lime with root ginger, exotic pineapple & aromatic cardamom with cracked cubeb pepper, and succulent pomegranate & floral hibiscus with delicate rose are the three flavours in the line-up. franklinandsons.co.uk
Buckinghamshire’s My Fruit Orchard is a new entrant onto the farm-pressed juice scene. Hand-picked fruit is cold-pressed on Atkins Farm, which has a history of fruit pressing that stretches back to the 18th century. In its first year, the start-up won Great Taste stars for its apple, pear and pink discovery apple juices. RRP £2.29 for 330ml; £3.79-3.95 for 750ml. myfruitorchard.co.uk
Gusto Organic, the soft drinks company created by Green & Black’s founder Craig Sams and family in 1990, has just launched a lemonade featuring ontrend Japanese citrus fruit yuzu. A blend of organic Sicilian lemon juice, fresh yuzu juice, cold-pressed yuzu peel and spring water, the drink is sweetened with Fairtrade agave, Fairtrade apple and grape. drinkgusto.com
“Unsweetened still drinks with secret botanicals and enchanting herbal extracts” is how newcomer Elfie Drinks describes its zero-alcohol, no added sugar proposition. The venture is the brainchild of marketeer Chris Collis, whose previous successes include Yazoo and Alpro, and he has national ambitions for this fledgling brand. There are two flavours: rhubarb & gooseberry and raspberry, nettle & meadowsweet. RRP £2.35 for 275ml. elfiedrinks.co.uk
Greek producer Iamvi has added four new lines to its range of sweet preserves made from fruit grown in the Peloponnese region. Spoon Sweet Quince made with Corinthian quince, Spoon Sweet Bitter Orange Peel based on Achaeon bitter oranges, applecinnamon marmalade and apple, carrot & ginger marmalade are the four new additions. iamvi.gr
Botanic Lab looks set to make waves with the first cannabidiol (CBD) botanical tea drink. Its makers are keen to emphasise that although its Dutch Courage drink contains CBD – a compound found in the cannabis plant – it won’t get you high. It may, however, reduce anxiety. RRP £2.503.99 for a single serve can. botanic-lab.co.uk
Organic wine merchant Vintage Roots is now carrying a range of ‘Pri Secco’ drinks from exwinemaker Jörg Geiger. Made in Germany’s Swabian region using heritage organic meadow fruits (apples and pears) blended with herbs, spices and flowers, the wine alternatives are said to be as complex and versatile as the finest sparkling wines. RRP £6.50-6.99 for 37.5cl; £8.50-8.99 for 75cl. vintageroots.co.uk
Rude Health has entered the fermented drinks fray with an unpasteurised kombucha that is made via a long fermentation and is naturally low in sugar. Owner Nick Barnard says it was a natural move for Rude Health, where kombucha has been brewed and enjoyed in the office for years. Stockists include Planet Organic, and RRP is £2.50 for 250ml. rudehealth.com
Last month saw the introduction of two new real fruit, non-carbonated drinks – limeade and blackcurrant & lime – from no nasties soft drink brand We Made. What started as a lemonademaking coursework project in a student house in Southampton has graduated into a commercial venture with UK-wide distribution. RRP is £1.75; trade price £9 for 12 x 300ml bottles. wemadedrinks.com
Belvoir Fruit Farms has become the latest soft drink producer to bring a craft mixer offering to the table. The 100% natural mixer range takes in four classic varieties: elderflower tonic, Indian tonic, low calorie tonic and ginger ale. belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk
This summer sees the arrival of a quintessentially British fruit combination from Fentimans, the botanically brewed drinks maker. Apple & blackberry launches in the brand’s recognisable 275ml bottle (RRP £1.25), as well as a 750ml sharing format (RRP £2.90). fentimans.com
LA Brewery has enlarged its kombucha range with a new citrus hops flavour in which the fermented health tonic is infused with aromatic Citra and Cascade hops. The resulting taste is said to be “complex and fresh with floral and citrus notes and a delicately bitter finish”. labrewery.co.uk
Lime & mint is the latest addition to the Hullabaloos line-up of no nasties lemonades. Like the rest of the range, this flavour combo is based on real, fresh fruit juice rather than concentrate. RRP £2-3.25 for 330ml; £3.25-3.95 for 750ml. hullabaloos.co.uk
Raydale Preserves has combined two on-trend ingredients to create a blood orange & prosecco marmalade, as well as launching a classic lemon curd. Both have an RRP of £2.89 and are handmade in Hawes, North Yorkshire. raydalepreserves.co.uk 28
soft drinks
June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
Marmalades & JAms packed with incredible flavour perfection preserved with over 50 great taste awards our preserves have be awarded over 250 fine food accolades since 2011
Mini-fill Compact, versatile, accurate and with a low cost of ownership, the electric volumetric filling machine for depositing preserves, chutneys, sauces and pastes Easy-to-use, hygienic design, with recipe driven colour touch screen for control, efficiency and consistency For further process solutions, see our website
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find out more about our micro batch preserving kitchen at
www.theartisankitchen.co.uk
Since 2003
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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Raydale Preserves The Thursday Cottage range has two new Curds to brighten up your retail shelves this summer. Blood Orange Curd and Ginger Curd both go nicely into a Victoria Sponge or Cheesecake to add a bit of fruity sweetness or warming flavour.
All our products are handmade in the Yorkshire Dales.
Tel: 44 (0)1621 814529 jams@thursday-cottage.com www.thursday-cottage.com Charlotte Brown’s Handmade
Artisan Preserves and Relishes
Passionate about Preserving Sarah Gray’s is a husband and wife team who make jams, marmalades, curds, and chutneys, they have as much fun making their range as they do eating them with their family.
01241 860221 | sarah@sarahgrays.co.uk | www.sarahgrays.co.uk 30
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What is it that makes Charlotte Brown’s products so good? Charlotte would say that fresh, high-quality ingredients, mastery of traditional methods and great attention to detail are what make the difference. Her growing band of devoted return customers rate her new Blackberry & Apple Jam as the most authentic taste of the quintessentially English hedgerow!
Tel 02380 671047 / 07826 835127 charlottebonney@hotmail.com
www.charlottebrowns.co.uk
soft drinks
home baking Retro Scottish soft drinks brand Bon Accord has released two new ‘vintage’ soft drink lines, in line with its strategy of putting healthier twists on the classics. Bona cola and cream soda are naturally sweetened, with no refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, and have a fruit juice content of 30% or more. RRP £1.75 for 275ml. bonaccordsoftdrinks.com
Bringing some creativity to the cordials category is Fiovana, the brainchild of two former Innocent employees, David Folkman and Craig Jones, who have pledged “to make water more interesting”. The brand has just released its fifth cordial: elderflower, lychee & green tea, which, like the rest of the range, is made from natural ingredients and contains no added sugar. fiovana.co.uk
Matthews Cotswold Flour says its new stoneground wholemeal flour responds to the current trend for healthy, artisan baking and heritage brands with high provenance values. The flour is stoneground, rather than rolled, which the Oxfordshire miller says results in a distinctive crumb and crust and increases the bioavailability of the micronutrients in the grain. RRP £1.99. fwpmatthews.co.uk
Bakedin is hoping that the introduction of ‘everyday premium grocery kits’ will make baking kits a regular basket item. The company says these new kits use the same ingredients as its gifting ranges, but at a £3.50 price point. The recipes are “fun modern classics” developed with Michel Roux and include chocolate cheesecake brownies, salted caramel cupcakes and iced cinnamon buns. bakedin.co.uk
Alcohol-free offerings that imitate the wine experience are on a roll, and one such brand is Botonique, pitched as “the botanical dry drink for wine lovers”. Following the succcess of its original crisp dry white, Botonique has just launched a Blush variety, said to be “reminiscent of a dry rosé prosecco”, in time for summer. Blush also contains a blend of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that are said to deliver anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hydrating and detoxifying benefits. RRP £7.99 for 750ml. botonique.com
Kefir cultures are widely used in dairy-based drinks, but husband and wife team Gavin and Catriona Monson are using them in a different way – to convert sugar into vitamins and organic acids, which are then blended with pure juices. Marketed under the Middle Way brand, the lower sugar soft drinks come in three flavours: apple & ginger, cherry and lemon. RRP £1.80-2 for 290ml. middle-way.co.uk
Biddenden Vineyard’s Clearly Juice collection is sporting a new look that better reflects its positioning as a wine alternative and grown-up take on farm-pressed juice. As part of the revamp, the single and varietal Kentish apple juices have moved into 75cl bottles with a wine-style screw cap closure. RRP £3.30; trade price £22.25 per case / £1.85 per bottle. biddendenvineyards.co.uk
Emmer and einkorn are the next ancient grains tipped for revival, according to Craggs & Co, which has just added these wheats to its retail range of ancient grain flours following the success of its white and wholegrain spelt flours. Emmer flour has an RRP of £3.50, whilst einkorn has an RRP of £3.40. craggsandco.co.uk
Choco sugar and orange sugar (RRP £2.25 for 120g) are two new additions to Steenbergs’ organic flavoured sugars range. Originally designed as a pudding topping, Choco sugar blends cane sugar, cinnamon and cocoa, whilst orange sugar combines the citrus sweet flavours of orange with unrefined cane sugar. steenbergs.co.uk
Peckish Kitchen rebranded Blending Arabicahas coffee beans itswith rhubarb jam to become British semi-skimmed Yorkshire rhubarb & custard jam, milk, Shaken Udder’s new using local rhubarb grownpacks within Ooh La Latte milkshake the rhubarb triangle of coffee West a strong and creamy Yorkshire. is also launching punch. ItItalso contains less athan new gin jam, 5% Raspberry sugar andCollins is a source of made withRRP raspberries steeped in calcium. £1.35 for 330ml. Divine Gin. shakenudder.com peckishkitchen.co.uk
After reaching first year Building on theitssuccess of of its business, Hungry Squirrel cold-pressed fruit and vegetable has added to its juices, Irishmaple brandpecan SiSú has flavoured nut Made with introduced twobutters. functional shots. pecans, almonds, maple shots syrup are The ginger and turmeric and a hint via of mixed spices, the preserved HPP (high pressure smooth butter has a trade price of processing) to retain the taste, £3.95 per 150gand jar nutritional (RRP £5-6). quality, colour feedthesquirrel.co.uk value of the original ingredients. sisu.ie
Womersley Foods now of Last month, saw the is launch selling its fruity jams inhealth a newly a new trio of sparkling designed giftRejuvenation box. The balance of waters from herbs chilli inhydration+, the three jams Water.and Branded –the raspberry & chilli, blackcurrant waters are flavoured with & rosemary, and strawberry & botanical extracts and enriched mint – is said amino to intensify with protein, acidsthe and flavour of theRRP fruit. electrolytes. £1.39 for a womersleyfoods.com 250ml slimline can. rejuvenationwater.co.uk
Reminiscent of a dry rosé prosecco
The latest kiddies’ baking kit from Bake with LiLi and Dex is Chocolate Orange Foxy Fancies. The pack contains all the pre-weighed ingredients needed to make six cupcakes decorated with orange frosting, marshmallows and chocolate drops. RRP £6. bakewithlilianddex.co.uk
Doughlicious has developed three new vegan and gluten-free ‘bake at home’ cookies that it claims “taste better than your classic cookie”. The Chocolate Chip, Sprinkles and Double Chocolate & Espresso cookies come in dough ball form (six to a box, RRP £3.99), ready to bake. doughlicious.co.uk Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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THE STORY OF SOME WILD IRISH POACHERS The inspiration for the Poacher’s range of premium natural mixers was found in a centuries old spring located on a 250-acre estate in the heartland of beautiful agricultural County Wexford.
Poachers TASTE YOUR SPIRIT WITH POACHERS
The crystal-clear water from a spring deep in the native woodlands on the farm was treasured for its purity. The woodland itself was harvested by poachers as a rich source of wild game. The spring used to quench their thirst.
TASTE YOUR SPIRIT WITH POACHERS
The spring, known as Toberafinn - The Well of Finn - was named
Our portfolio ranges from our lower in sugar high quinine Classic Our portfolio ranges from our lower in sugar high quinine Classic from Finnofthe legendary Irish andorange hunter.and Irish Dry Tonic with a hint Irish thyme to ourwarrior popular Dry Tonic with a hint of Irish thyme to our popular orange and Irish He lived on the edgeThe of society a maverick and a rebel yetTonic calledis rosemary Citrus Tonic. wild elderf lower in our Wild rosemary Citrus Tonic. The wild elderf lower in our Wild Tonic is upon by kings in times for his wisdom and counsel. hand cut in Macreddin Village in Wicklow and the organic apples hand cut in Macreddin Village in Wicklow and the organic apples in our Ginger Ale hail from the Highbank Orchard in Kilkenny. Our in our Ginger Ale hail from the Highbank Orchard in Kilkenny. Our It was Finn that defined our inspiration in creating the Poacher’s Irishrange Soda of Water is renowned for mixing with premium spirits. premium natural drinks. A new range of premium Irish Irish Soda Water is renowned for mixing with premium spirits.
Poacher’s is popular within lively bars, restaurants and high end hotels who appreciate lower in sugar mixers bringing out the best in their spirits.
For more information or to order please call +353 (53) 910 6000 for Ireland, for UK enquiries contact www.importonics.co.uk or +44 (0)1388 205252 or email info@poacherswell.com
#poachersirishmixers www.poacherswell.com 32
June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
drinks that are bold and adventurous andrestaurants yet rooted in a Poacher’s is popular within lively bars, commitment to nature lower and theinland. and high end hotels who appreciate sugar mixers bringing out the best in their spirits. Ireland’s first and only premium natural mixers company with a vision for the future and a commitment to excellence. For more information or to order please call For more information toIreland, order please callenquiries +353 (53) contact 910 6000 for +353 (53) 910 6000orfor for UK Ireland, for UK enquiries contact www.importonics.co.uk www.importonics.co.uk or +44 (0)1388 205252 or email info@poacherswell.com or email info@poacherswell.com or +44 (0)1388 205252
#poachersirishmixers www.poacherswell.com
NE W mixers
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FOCUS ON
plastic waste
In the last couple of years, plastic and how to dispose of it sustainably has become a mainstream concern. Independent retailers are no different to any other food business in the challenges they face but the next three pages should help you get to grips with them – and there might even be commercial benefits. Compiled by Nick Baines and Lauren Phillips Retailer interviews by Andrew Don
A heavy issue
In certain areas of the shop it’s really easy for us because we get all of our vegetables locally from the farmer, loose, in wooden boxes. With a lot of our in-house salads we encourage people to bring their own packaging because we are passionate about trying to do our bit for sustainability. We use compostable Vegware. We struggle to replace clingfilm. We have a cheese counter and to find an alternative is almost impossible. We offer a beeswax paper to customers to take their cheese away but the challenge is to stop the bigger blocks of cheese drying out overnight. Week on week we seek more people coming in with their own packaging. We are working on new initiatives to give back to people who do this, and save them money. LAURA ANNE BRADLEY, CO-DIRECTOR INDIE FÜDE, COMBER, CO DOWN, NORTHERN IRELAND:
7 STEPS TO A GREENER BUSINESS Bring in reusable incentives Incentivising the use of reusable coffee cups is nothing new, but it does help to motivate regular users and, in turn, reduce the amount of disposables you need to reorder. This incentive of offering a small discount to those bringing their own containers could be expanded upon to include cheese, charcuterie and fresh meat and fish.
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Become a collection point Some big brands have rolled out collection and recycle schemes, most operated by Terracycle, a global organisation that pride themselves
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on being able to recycle “anything”. Becoming a collection point for certain types of tricky plastic packaging like baby food pouches or coffee bags could help stimulate return visits and keep these materials in recirculation. Revise thermal packaging The chilled supply chain is rife with polystyrene, but there are a number of more sustainable alternatives. London-based Aeropowder has launched Pluumo (pictured below), a thermal packaging made from feathers trapped within a compostable liner, while Staffordshire’s Woolcool makes a similar product utilising sheep’s wool.
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>> PRODUCTS WITH ECO-FRIENDLY PACKAGING Ethical chocolatier and toy company PlayInChoc uses only recycled, recyclable and compostable materials in its packaging and toys. Nonplastic recyclable stickers seal the boxes, while the mini chocolate bars are flowwrapped in 3-month homecompostable film made out of wood pulp and cellulose. playinchoc.com
TACKLE THE PROBLEM AND MAKE MONEY Ditching plastic is not just good for the environment. There are potential commercial gains from trying to cut back, too. Reducing plastic consumption can offer more than just environmental benefits. More and more consumer purchasing decisions are based on sustainability, so carrying items that boast “earth positive” credentials could have wide appeal and increase sales. Conscious consumerism is on the rise and savvy retailers should get in there quick while the supermarkets slowly react. So, whether it’s changing packaging and suppliers (to recyclable or, even better, non-plastic options) or transforming the way you tell the story of your eco efforts, there’s a growing number of customers who are ready to listen. You can be quite direct. Anywhere selling fresh food and drink has an opportunity to upsell reusables – from coffee cups, straws and water bottles, through to insulated food canisters and wax wraps for holding cut cheese and deli meats. Becoming a refill point for household items like shampoo, washing detergent and washing up liquid can also tap into loyal followings of eco brands. Refilling allows you to expand your dry goods offering, and often returns better margins than if sold in individual packets. Clingfilm alternatives Ditching clingfilm can help save the environment, and save you money, but food needs to be kept fresh. At the end of each day, cover bowls of fresh food with a plate or a clear reusable lid, while cheese and charcuterie can be kept fresh with waxed cotton wraps.
6
Benefits of bulk buying There are often great savings when buying in bulk, but it also reduces the amount of plastic that enters your business. By ordering things like hand sanitizer and soap in larger containers, you can refill your dispensers and cut down on small format refills. On the shop floor, as dispensing becomes more popular, you can bulkbuy dry goods and sell by weight to a growing customer base of eco warriors.
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A better approach to tastings We all know the importance of sampling and disposable forks and spoons can be highly convenient. However, bulk-buying teaspoons and popping them in the dishwasher is not only a relatively simple act but, over the course of just a few months, will also deliver savings in contrast to disposables. When sampling your product offsite, consider cutlery made from wood and other natural, easily compostable materials.
4
Rethink takeaway Food-to-go can be an incredibly healthy revenue stream, but the vessels you send food and drink out in can easily be switched to compostable alternatives. Although these products need to be placed in a council-collected compost bin (which is not necessarily where they’ll end up) it does reduce your reliance on plastics. This is another area that an incentive for customers bringing reusables would work well in.
5
Herefordshire start-up Two Farmers offers its crisps in 100% compostable packaging. Each packet is made from cellulose and eucalyptus trees, so it will biodegrade in a home-composting environment in 26 weeks. twofarmers.co.uk Primrose’s Kitchen switched to environmentally-friendly packaging across its whole breakfast range in September last year. Each product (including its new pear & apricot bircher) comes in recycled cardboard boxes and home compostable bags – which can be added to compost and food waste bins – a first for UK cereal brands. primroseskitchen.co.uk
The worrying thing is it seems that more people require products in smaller portions and packages. People don’t, on the whole, want to buy cooked meat sliced at the counter and put into greaseproof paper because when you get four slices and you put one back in the fridge, it curls. “I’m finding we are using more plastic than we are comfortable with because of the convenience required by the customer so we are looking at various formats. I think we will replace the black plastic ovenable dishes with foil trays. At the fresh meat serve-over if it’s a bloody joint you can’t be packing it in brown paper like in the 50s because it will seep through the bag. Black polystyrene trays can be replaced with a bamboo-type product but that will increase the cost. One packaging company told us that everybody’s waiting for the supermarkets to move. Then the quantities will be so great that the price will come down. DAVID LISHMAN, OWNER OF LISHMAN’S OF ILKLEY, WEST YORKSHIRE:
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inginius
CLASSIC LIGHT CITRUS LIGHT BERRY LIGHT AROMATIC LIGHT
s c i n o T
New lower calorie blends of our award-winning tonics, sweetened with fruit sugars 18 calories per 100ml serving with no artificial sweeteners or flavourings
inginius.com Inginius Classic Tonic
For all enquiries email
andrew@inginius.com
Inginius Citrus Sweet Tonic
‘The perfect mixer to enjoy with premium and small-batch gins’ - Great Taste Awards 2018
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FOCUS ON
plastic waste
ARE YOU RECYCLING PLASTICS PROPERLY? Not all plastic is created equal and while avoiding this controversial material completely is an impossible task for businesses, through a better understanding of plastics, we can recycle more efficiently and make more considered choices at a purchasing level. Since 1988 manufacturers and producers have used plastic identification numbers to help consumers to recycle more effectively. Here’s what they actually mean for you.
PETE/PET Polyethylane Terephthalate Plastics that carry this code are easily recycled and include items like single use plastic drinks bottles, as well as those used for olive and vegetable oils. It’s also the material used for most fresh berry punnets. Widely recycled at kerbside
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HDPE High Density Polyethylene Your plastic milk bottles fall into this category along with some yogurt pots. Most of your cleaning supplies are likely to be made from HDPE too. However, try to avoid black plastics as these can’t be sorted correctly at recycling centres and end up in landfill piles, even though they are technically recyclable. Widely recycled at kerbside
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PVC Polyvinyl Chloride Thankfully you won’t come across this material often, though some of the cheaper, less structurally sound yoghurt pots are made from PVC. This material is not easily recycled so you may want to check what those clear food lids on large format yoghurts are made from as well as your take-out food containers. Avoid – very limited locations for recycling
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LDPE Low Density Polyethylene The plastic around multipacks of sparkling water, the rings that hold a 6-pack of cans together, that’s all LDPE and it can be recycled along with bread bags and other, stretchy clear plastic wraps. This can all go into the carrier bag recycling points at supermarkets, or you shop could become a collection point for your local community. Recycled at specialist collection points
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PP Polypropylene Most microwaveable plastic containers are made from this one, as well as drink bottle tops and spreadable butter tubs. Unfortunately this material is not collected at all kerbside schemes and so you’ll need to contact your local authority to check, or find out where your nearest collection point is. Limited collection in UK, seek advice from local authority
PRODUCTS WITH ECO-FRIENDLY PACKAGING Newcomer Lost Sheep Coffee claims to have produced the “world’s first” compostable Nespresso-compatible capsules for the speciality coffee market. Made from Lignin (a waste product of the paper industry), the plantbased capsules are certified biodegradable. Without plastic or glue to create an air-tight seal, compostable capsules had a very short shelf life, however Lost Sheep has achieved a shelf life of a minimum of 12 months. lostsheepcoffee.com Earlier this year, Novus Tea introduced plastic-free retail packs in 20 of its most popular whole leaf teas and infusions. Each retail pack contains 15 individual Natureflex© wood-pulp biodegradable pyramid bags, while the outer carton is FSC-certified. novustea.co.uk In keeping with its commitment to sustainability, Pieminister’s latest range of patty snacks (including a vegan chana dhal and a pulled pork variety) come in 100% plastic-free packaging. The retail two-packs are made with recycled card and a transparent substrate called Natureflex© made from wood pulp. The patties come in carton pouches that are fully recyclable. pieminister.co.uk
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PS Polystyrene This material is a major contributor to micro plastic pollution, but if you handle products that have come through a refrigerated supply chain, then it’s very likely that you will see a lot of this stuff. At the very least, look to reuse chilled packing where polystyrene is being used, or seek more sustainable alternatives. Avoid or reuse – extremely limited recycle locations
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OTHER Mixed Materials & Film Mixed materials, such as packaging with foil lining, are incredibly hard to recycle. Most coffee bags are made from mixed materials, though some producers operate collection schemes through Terracycle, which also operates the Walker’s crisp packet and Ella’s Kitchen recycling schemes. Film also falls into plastic code seven and is the packaging used around a lot of pre-packed produce in the supermarket and tends to split when torn. Extremely limited options – specialist collection points only
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I care an awful lot about the issue. I’m looking at my children and starting to think about their children having children and we need to make some massive differences. To start off, replacing plastic is easy – changing veg bags to paper, re-using cardboard boxes that product comes in, and changing drinking straws from plastic to paper. Then it gets a bit more difficult. Paper is not a satisfactory alternative to a plastic carrier bag because they are triple the price and customers won’t pay the difference. A thousand paper bags take up a tremendous amount of space compared with the same quantity of plastic bags. What do you put the meat in? Greaseproof paper is not plastic but it’s still not the best. Much better to get customers to bring containers and we put the meat straight into that but you won’t get every customer doing that because a lot of them didn’t even realise they would buy meat when they walked in. ROBERT COPLEY, CO-OWNER OF FARMER COPLEYS, PONTEFRACT, WEST YORKSHIRE Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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Bergamo will provide the setting for an epic gathering of cheese and cheese people at the fourth edition of our thriving FORME event, during our time as a UNESCO Creative Cities candidate.
As the World Cheese Awards continues to shine a spotlight on small cheesemakers in every corner of the globe, I’m excited to be with the team as it takes its powerful event to Italy.
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Cathy Strange, global cheese buyer at Whole Foods Market, USA
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WCA at FORME – Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 October 2019, Bergamo, Italy The World Cheese Awards has been at the heart of the global cheese community for over three decades, bringing together cheesemakers, retailers, buyers, consumers and food commentators in a unique celebration of all things cheese. Visiting Italy for the first time in 2019, the competition will be hosted by FORME in Bergamo, joining forces with a bustling consumer cheese festival and the brand new international dairy trade show, B2Cheese.
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SHELF TALK
Hot sauce retailer channels USA for new range By Lauren Phillips
An online chilli sauce retailer has developed its own brand of fermented hot sauces in the hope of emulating the success of American brands. Walthamstow-based Saucybitch has its own branded range of five flavours: Hot Stuff (classic), Golden Nugget (honey & mustard), Smokin’ Hot (chipotle), a Special Edition with black coffee, and a Special Edition with pomegranate molasses. Each 150ml bottle has an RRP of £5.95 (trade price £3) and retailers can source the range directly from the producer. The hot sauces are made from chillies that have been fermented for 2-4 weeks with Kosher salt and garlic before they are blended. “It’s very simple, organic, vegan and fermented,” founder Dean Smith told FFD. “It ticks a lot of the 2019 trends boxes.” With a background in PR and marketing, Smith first set up Saucybitch as an online retailer sourcing hard-to-find artisan American hot sauces, after discovering many small brands (virtually unknown in the UK) in delis in New York and Los Angeles while travelling back and forth to the States for his job. “In US supermarkets you’ll see a whole aisle dedicated to 30 hot sauce brands in the same way there are a number of mayonnaise and brown sauce brands over here,” said Smith. “But these American delis were stocking small brands local to their area that weren’t even in
the supermarkets.” Smith now hopes to replicate the same success of American hot sauce brands in the UK with his own range, with some of the flavours influenced by food culture on the other side of the Atlantic. The Special Edition with black coffee was inspired by a breakfast hot sauce commonly eaten with eggs and served with a black coffee. “I didn’t want to be known as a brand that just makes an extremely hot sauce using ghost peppers,” said Smith. “I wanted to be more experimental and clever with flavours.” saucybitch.co.uk The London-based hot sauce producer was inspired by US artisan brands for his range of flavours
Goupie goes completely vegan friendly and gluten-free By Lauren Phillips
Confectionery company Goupie can now categorically say its products are completely dairyand gluten-free following an overhaul at its factory and modification of its recipes. The Kent-based producer – which produces 18 varieties of free-from chocolates – said the factory itself is now not allowing any dairy or gluten onto the premises in a bid to minimise risk of cross-contamination. They have also created a new testing schedule to periodically test their products at random, giving further confidence to the consumer. Brand manager Grace Simpson said the decision was a natural progression for the company in its bid to become
a market leader in affordable, luxury confectionery. “Nowadays, labels can feel very confusing,” said Simpson, “with ‘may contain’ warnings and loopholes in labelling requirements, which means that even vegan products can contain traces of dairy. “Instead of ‘may contain’ warnings, we now clearly state what our factory does and does not handle,” she added.
The company has also completely revamped its packaging and website to try to better inform its customers. The entire range is now presented in colour coordinated branding to be more easily recognisable. “Now we’re confident that customers will be able to tell at a glance what they’re buying,” said Simpson. goupiechocolate.com
Displays that pay PEP-UP YOUR SHELVES WITH THE GUILD OF FINE FOOD’S RESIDENT MERCHANDISING QUEEN JILLY SITCH You might not give them much thought during your own shopping trips, but your in-store shopping baskets need just as much consideration as that centre display. Firstly, make sure you have two sizes. You want bigger baskets for those relaxed shoppers at the weekend who are more inclined to fill up. Secondly, spread those baskets around the shop floor and not just at the front. There’ll always be those customers who pop in for one item and decide half way through browsing that they fancy some date molasses, a box of crackers and a sliver of Brie de Meaux, and if there’s no basket nearby, that’s a sales opportunity lost. Thirdly, be practical. Space-saving stackable baskets are ideal for small delis, but large farm shops have the luxury of providing trolleys to their customers - and even smaller ones for the kids to push around and fill up too!
WHAT’S NEW Far Side Coffee’s Rwanda and Peru Cold Brews have now been rolled out with an extended shelf life of nine months, as the brand looks to increase its distribution across the UK. The bottles can be stored ambient and then refrigerated for POS. RRP £3.20. farsidecoffee.com Honey producer Hilltop Honey has updated the packaging of its bee pollen product. The new packs now highlight the nutritional values of the small grains including its high-in-protein credentials (3g per 15g tablespoon serving). Available from Suma, CLF and direct. RRP £3.70, 125g. hilltop-honey.com Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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SHELF TALK My magic ingredient
WHAT’S NEW Tims Dairy has repositioned its Greek-style, bio-live lactose-free yoghurts with new contemporary branding and sleeve packaging design as it celebrates its 70th year. Now dubbed The London Collection, the three varieties – mango & turmeric, rhubarb & rose and chocolate & orange marmalade – come in 150g single serve pots with an RRP of £1 each. timsdairy.co.uk Cazcabel has changed the glass bottles for its line-up of premium tequilas: blanco, honey, coffee, and Reposado. Distributed in the UK by Proof Drinks, the new bottles are taller and thinner with an extended lip on the neck and embossed custom glass mould featuring a Mexican-inspired pattern. cazcabel.com OGGS cakes is a new egg- and dairy-free range from Alternative Foods. Consisting of zesty lemon, salted caramel, chocolate fudge, Victoria sponge and mini vanilla cupcakes, the range is made with OGGS aquafaba-based liquid egg substitute – which is also sold separately. Both the cakes and the liquid egg substitute are available via Cotswold Fayre. loveoggs.com
Henderson’s Relish PETE BROWN Author of Pie Fidelity: In Defence of British Food A few weeks ago, I asked Twitter what special ingredient people included in their spag bol (I would say ‘ragù’, but ragù is an Italian dish; spag bol is its entirely British offspring). The range of special additions was breathtaking, but the most popular secret weapon in a very wide field was Henderson’s Relish. To the uninitiated, ‘Hendo’s’ is simply a northern Lea & Perrins. But the recipe has some subtle differences: Hendo’s contains no anchovies, and has a different spice mix that includes cloves, placing its mercurial essence somewhere between Worcestershire sauce and brown sauce. This comfort blanket of umami can enhance pretty much anything savoury. It boosts any hash, stew, casserole or pie filling, and can be sprinkled liberally on sausage and mash, toad in the hole, anything from the chippie… in fact, in its native Sheffield, it’s probably easier to list the foods ‘reli’ cannot improve. Pete buys his Hendo’s at The De Beauvoir Deli, London N1.
This comfort blanket of umami can enhance pretty much anything savoury
Sauce brand’s new ‘squeezy’ range to take on big brands By Lauren Phillips
Stokes Sauces has launched four of its signature condiments and a brand new reduced-sugar ketchup in squeezable, recyclable bottles as it looks to challenge mainstream brands. Launching nationwide this month, the new “familyfriendly” range consists of Stokes’ tomato ketchup (485g), Real Mayonnaise (420g), BBQ sauce (510g) and brown sauce (505g), as well as a new reduced-sugar tomato ketchup (475g) – with RRPs ranging from £3.45 to £3.60. The Suffolk-based company said it introduced the new sauce – which has 30% less sugar – in response to consumer demand for lower-in-sugar condiments. The entire range is packaged in PET plastic squeezable bottles which are 100% recyclable and bespoke to Stokes, who says they are easier to handle than those 42
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used by larger brands. “97% of all ketchup bought by consumers in the UK is sold in squeezy bottles,” said MD Rick Sheepshanks. “Although people love our signature glass bottles, sometimes glass isn’t the most convenient, especially for families. “We know that we offer a higher quality and better tasting range of sauces than
the big brands and we really want to take on these big names,” he said. “Squeezy bottles dominate the sector and reduced sugar options are becoming more popular,” he added, “so we’ve invested in these new products to enable us to chase a bigger share of the market.” stokessauces.co.uk
Brindisa is now offering its well-known gazpacho (already available in 1 litre packs) in a new 330ml format in an attempt to appeal to the health conscious on-the-go consumer. Made using raw tomatoes, cucumber and peppers as well as extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar, the Spanish chilled soup is vegan and gluten-free. RRP £2.49. brindisa.com
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Organic/Vegan/Glass bottle/Kosher–KLBD/No added sugar/Nothing artificial/All natural Available through CLF, Essentials, Greencity, Hider Infinity Foods, Foods, Queenswood, Suma Wholefoods, Tree of Life. For more information contact us on; sales@steenbergs.co.uk or www.steenbergs.co.uk or call us on 01765 640088 Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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For enquiries email eileen@cavanagheggs.com www.awardwinningeggs.com 44
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SHELF TALK Just Desserts hopes to sweeten sales with Yorkshire-focused redesign Independent baker and pâtissier Just Desserts has undergone a brand new redesign in a bid to emphasise its Yorkshire roots and reach a wider audience. The Yorkshire bakery unveiled its new contemporary logo and redesigned product brochure last month with plans to roll out the new branding across its signage, delivery vans and product packaging and relaunch its website. Managing director James O’Dwyer said the branding was in need of a refresh to reflect its modern approach and appeal to a wider, growing client base. The new design was created by Leeds-based design agency Electric, who the company met at a fine food trade show last year and were impressed with their portfolio. “We wanted to work with a local agency to help us spread the word about our premier products and gave them [Electric] a redesign brief to see what they could cook up,” said
WHAT’S TRENDING NICK BAINES KEEPS YOU UP-TO-DATE WITH THE NEWEST DISHES, FLAVOURS AND INNOVATIONS IN FOOD & DRINK
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O’Dwyer. “We are delighted with the eyecatching new branding which aptly embraces both the character and quality of Just Desserts.” just-desserts.co.uk
WHAT’S NEW Penrhos Spirits has launched to market with its range of orchard-inspired gins. The brand was set up by two Herefordshire fruit farmers who have entered the booming gin sector with blueberry-infused London Dry and Herefordshire rhubarb fruit gin. The range will be available in a 75cl and 5cl miniature. penrhosspirits.co.uk English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Delicate Afternoon Tea, Green Tea with Jasmine and Peppermint Tisane are all part of a new range of loose leaf teas developed by Cartwright & Butler. All blends are RRP £9, except for the Afternoon Tea brand which is £10. cartwrightandbutler.co.uk
1 Craft butter The Guardian has tipped cultured butters to be a big thing this year and many restaurateurs are plumping for more boldly flavoured butter to serve alongside the bread basket. At Lyle’s in Shoreditch, Chef James Lowe imports Jersey and Guernsey cream, which he ferments, churns and salts in-house. For a little less effort, he could turn to Bloxs Butter in the New Forest who create batch-cultured butters for a slew of high profile restaurants, while Suffolk’s Fen Farm Dairy turns out the UK’s only raw cultured butter. 2 Drinking vinegars Promoting healthy gut bacteria is very 2019 and the age-old tonic of cider vinegar and water is being taken up a notch thanks to new readyto-drink products hitting shelves. The Picklery produce a bottled drink made from raspberry, apple cider vinegar and sugar, as well as one made from sand carrot and a Szechuan pepper vinegar. Meanwhile, Willy’s ACV has expanded on its core product to include a sparkling kombucha made with apple cider vinegar and ginger.
Turkish food specialist The Anatolian Olive Oil Company has extended its range beyond its Lycian EVOO, sourced from the country’s south west, to include a pomegranate molasses and a mulberry syrup. Both products are recommended for adding to any sweet or savoury Middle Eastern dish. RRP £10, 250ml bottle. anatolianoliveoilcompany.com Retailers looking for a new countertop impulse purchase product should consider Pandora Bell’s new Very Berry lollipop. Made using spirulina concentrate and carrot extract, the 80g lollipop is the latest in the producer’s confectionery range and joins its other lollipop flavours including strawberry, mint and lemon. The trade price is £1.24 and the RRP is between £2.50 and £2.70. pandorabell.com
3 Stuffed naans Naans seem to have quickly become the wrap-du-jour across street food vendors. Offbeat BBQ is the hefty Indian flat bread to 1utilising 16/08/2016 10:37 house slow-smoked meats and vibrant slaws of pineapple & coriander, as well as Korean chilli & kimchi. Curry on Naanstop has an onboard tandoor and serves more traditional fare in its naan wraps such as paneer and chicken tikka. Meanwhile, Dishoom continues to knock out a renowned bacon naan wrap across its bricks and mortar restaurants.
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DELI OF THE MONTH Hawarden Estate Farm Shop has cast off the gingham-clad image of yesteryear’s farm shops. Under the leadership of experienced retailer Alan Downes, it offers a contemporary ‘Instagrammable’ destination that’s all about the experience. Interview by Lauren Phillips
The experience factor THE WELL-KNOWN SAYING ‘never judge a book by its cover’ comes to mind when I arrive at Hawarden Estate Farm Shop. From the outside, the modest rectangular building – clad in weather-beaten wooden planks – looks more like an old shipping container. The inside, however, tells a different story. Neon pinks, greens and oranges pop out
VITAL STATISTICS
Location: Chester Road, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales, CH5 3FB Turnover: £1.25m (farm shop only) No. of staff: 40 (farm shop only including management) Average basket spend: £12
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from the contemporary fixtures and fittings of the high ceiling and shop floor. Framed vintage posters adorn the walls too, while an enthusiastic ‘Hello’ emblazoned on an orange sign is a welcoming beacon at the back of the shop. You’d sooner see all this in a London deli or eatery than a farm shop four miles from the Dee Estuary in Flintshire, North Wales. In fact, I can’t help but think this aesthetic
is the perfect backdrop for an Instagram photograph, which is exactly what the general manager of Hawarden Estate Farm Shop, Alan Downes, had in mind. “The world is becoming more ‘Instagrammable’,” he tells me. “People are taking pictures of their food and their environment for social media, so it’s about creating more of an experience and that’s what we want to show.” ‘Experience’ is a word Downes uses a lot, but everything from the contemporary, colourful decor to the choice of background music (a current mix including The Beatles, Bob Marley and Taylor Swift) does make visiting Hawarden an experience. “We’ve realised that you have to create an experience of exceeding people's’ expectations,” says Downes. “So that they want to come, sit here and enjoy our food. It’s modern, gives the people what they want and that’s what we want.” Current consumer behaviours and trends drive a lot of the decisions made by Downes and the staff at the shop and are vital to its business model. If this sounds a little more ‘supermarket-y’ than your average independent retailer, it’s no surprise given Downes’ background. A trainee butcher at 14 and shop manager of his local supermarket at 21, Downes spent the best part of 12 years working his way up from the fresh meat counter to ambient grocery buyer at Asda and then became general manager for the Walmart supercentre in Queensferry. He decided to swap the systems and processes of the supermarkets for the flexible and more artisan-focused food world of the farm shop after completing a dissertation on local food sourcing for an Open University course in business management.
MUST-STOCKS Provision Merchant milk Local honey Homegrown asparagus Homemade sausage rolls Calon Lan scotch bonnet chilli jam Doughnutology Rosie’s Cider Aber Falls gin Peter’s Yard crispbreads Provision Merchant piccalilli Caws Cenarth Welsh Brie Caws Cenarth Perl Wen
Downes even pitched this work to Asda – concluding that the supermarket should be offering a dedicated local food aisle in each store – but they rebuffed the idea. “10-15 years on, I’m vindicated. It was the right thing to do,” he says, adding that the rejection was the moment he realised that local food was where his passion lay. By August 2007, Downes had met Charles Gladstone, owner of the Hawarden Estate, and joined him to set up a farm shop on a 25-acre plot, providing the “nuts and bolts” side of the business like HACCP, environmental health, recruitment and management. Today, the Hawarden Estate Farm Shop has an annual turnover of £1.25 million and stocks thousands of different lines that are either produced on the estate, like its milk (sold under the shop’s sub-brand ‘Provision Merchant’), or supplied by local producers that the shop has worked with for years, such as Cheshire Chutney Co and Rosie’s Cider. Speciality food stalwarts like Peter’s Yard can also be found because they “nail both the branding and product”. But while championing local artisan food was enough to sustain a farm shop 12 years ago,
says Downes, today indie retailers are facing new challenges. Supermarkets are joining the local food movement and customers’ shopping patterns are changing, which is why retailers like Hawarden have to be on the front foot with current consumer trends to differentiate themselves from the multiples. “Once upon a time provenance and great food was people’s destination and there weren’t many places that were doing it,” says Downes, “Now there are many more. And customers have changed how, where and why they spend their money.” Recent alterations include expanding its foodservice operation (Hawarden’s cafe and takeaway section makes up 45-50% of the farm shop’s overall takings) and offering more dressed and prepared meals, such as readyto-cook stir fries, en croutes and marinated chicken breasts on its butchery counter to cater to the demand for convenience. The fresh meat area also has a grab-andgo section alongside the butchery counter stocking prepared meats that can all be cooked “in half an hour in the oven at 180°C”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 51
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Giving a voice and a helping hand to a membership of 1300 food & drink businesses
“Customers don’t want, or have less time, to cook those big cuts of meat like joints of beef or lamb,” says Downes. “What they want now is good quality food and provenance, but also to be able to pop in and out and buy what they want very quickly. And you need to try and design your business to cover all those things.” The biggest trend of the moment that the farm shop has adapted its model to is customers’ desire for a more experience-led shopping environment. This is more than making sure Hawarden’s customers can buy a coffee and a pastry while they shop in the food hall or having an outdoor play area for the kids. It’s offering activities and events like craft workshops, charity runs, zorbing, a mum-and-newborn fitness club, and a weekly makers’ & producers’ market, running every Saturday. “People create people,” explains Downes, “and when you have that, it helps the business to create an identity which connects with people. “Our mission statement used to be ‘real food and natural product’ and it still is to a certain extent,” he adds, “but our new brand is ‘Hawarden Estate Farm Shop: the experience’.” That’s not to say that the farm shop’s retail offering is being eclipsed by the desire to have an experience. It still attracts the lunchtime workers from Airbus (two miles up the road); the day-trippers looking for their nice packet
of biscuits and jar of jam to take home; and the traditional weekly shopper coming in for their Colston Bassett Stilton, homemade black pudding, half a pound of mince and half a dozen eggs – giving the farm shop a healthy average basket spend of £12. But families make up a big part of its customer base, bringing the shop’s highest footfall during the weekends and school holidays. “That’s when people have ‘dwell time’,” says Downes, “and when people have ‘dwell time’ we become a destination.” These busy times are the perfect opportunity to attract this customer group to buy into what the farm shop is offering, making it a part of their family time and – more importantly – get them returning regularly through the doors. Hawarden creates experiences out of things it readily has on the estate, and one example of this Downes gives is pumpkins. “You can go into a supermarket and buy a pumpkin for £1, hollow it out and then throw it away,” he says. “Where is the experience in that?” So, Downes and his marketing team came up with Plant Your Own Pumpkin (a part of the shop’s new Little Growers scheme and a followon from its Pick Your Own Pumpkin scheme) where children can grow their own pumpkin on the estate with the aim of getting families involved, talking to their friends about it and sharing it on social media.
Downes says it was an ingenious way of getting children learning about seasonality and encouraging repeat returns. The children visit their pumpkin to water it and see its progress regularly, while a relaxed mum and dad are spending money in the farm shop and café. “What you’re creating is this multi-layered attraction based on the simplest of things,” he says. “We’ve got the land to create this connection with young families to visit and do something, giving you the footfall and the return. It’s a very small outlay for such a big experience.” That same principle is applied to other produce and flowers throughout the year (the farm shop is holding a Little Growers sunflower competition during my visit), and an in-store junior sausage-making class on the butchery counter also encourages parents to have a coffee in the café while watching and photographing their children and sharing that experience with family, friends and online. “The café, the grounds and the experiences we offer here is the footfall driver,” says Downes. “How you make the rest of the business work is bringing that theatre and aesthetic, so that people want to be here and a part of it.” Regardless of its cover, Hawarden is a book with some exciting chapters and there's no doubt it has many more to come. hawardenestate.co.uk
What you’re creating is this multi-layered attraction based on the simplest of things. It’s a very small outlay for such a big experience.
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GUILD TALK
View from HQ
Why is getting your haircut or having a facial on such an up? Simple: you can’t get it online.
By John Farrand managing director
>>
news from the guild of fine food
YOU KNOW YOU ARE a grownup when all you can do in your local pub is talk about property, the mortgage that you need to buy that property, and discuss in depth the demise of your local shops. A middle-class cliché and a sitcom writer’s bread and butter. This mental image of bearded young adults with craft beer and extreme gin was blown apart as I read the Local Data Company’s Retail and Leisure Market Analysis
2018. Its key findings identified that banks had overtaken pubs to take the top spot as the fastest declining category. Estate agents were in the top 20 fastest growers in 2014. Last year they were the third fastest decliner. Our ‘top’ (but really bottom) three are therefore banks, pubs and estate agents. Which means mortgages, beer (or gin) and houses. What will we talk about in our 40-something huddles if they all vanish? It’s always hard to find ‘delis’ in these reports. That is, of course, my go-to stat. There’s a section on Niche Net Openings and so I flick to this. Vegan restaurants are up by 16 units, Jamaican restaurants up six and cheese shops also up six. No mention of delis, but I took heart that cheese shops showed a positive, when most of the report reinforced the fact that we all know: the high street is in a little bit of trading poo. Those that know me know that my pint of craft ale is definitely half full. So I scoured the 34-page
document for some food retail positives. It certainly wasn’t that Aldi was the fastest growing retail brand in 2018 or that Greggs was next. Bit more love for third place Cake Box. Egg-free cakes. Clever – appealing to the vegetarian wave. Perhaps there are more reasons to be happy in the Top 10 rising categories? What’s first? Barbers, up 813 units. Obvious when you know, isn’t it? Next comes beauty salons, up by 495 and then cafés & tearooms, with net openings of +214. That’s vaguely in our world. But why is getting your haircut or having a facial on such an up? Simple: you can’t get it online. And here’s the positive. Selling wonderful food is possible online, but it is difficult. There’s no tasting, there’s no one-to-one advice and there’s no real sense of discovery. Get your offer right, open a café section (next to a barber) and you’ll get that middle-class huddle discussing plummeting property prices in your deli because the pub has closed.
S IN TH ’ T
D
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The Guild of Fine Food represents fine food shops and specialist suppliers. Want to join them?
ETA IL
GIVE ’EM A CLUE You may understand the logic of your shop layout, but do your customers? Use signage and merchandising to make each section clear, especially where tall fixtures make it hard to see where to find what. And – short-term gondola-end promotions aside – keep stuff where shoppers expect to find it. It’s a shopping trip, not an Easter Egg hunt.
Want to be a Shop of the Year winner? Feedback from our expert judges reveals those retail details where crucial points are won and lost
GENERAL ENQUIRIES
Guild of Fine Food Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB UK Tel: +44 (0) 1747 825200 Fax: +44 (0) 1747 824065 info@gff.co.uk gff.co.uk
gff.co.uk
BE RASHER If you have a butchery counter, try to push boundaries with prepared lines and meal solutions. It's another section where ease and convenience of cooking are key, so ideas like Blacker Hall farm shop’s ready-to-cook Yorkshire Fettle, Chicken & Ricotta Roast can bring home the bacon.
KEEP UP TO DATE Keep websites current or take down old info on your events. Avoid two-year-old ‘news’, abandoned blogs and long-forgotten events, and – like Suffolk Food Hall’s page (pictured above) – be sure to showcase everything you’ve got lined up for next two or three months. If it’s on the schedule, shout about it.
WHO’S WHO AT GUILD HQ Managing director: John Farrand Marketing director: Tortie Farrand Sales director: Sally Coley Sales manager: Ruth Debnam
Sales executive: Becky Haskett Operations manager: Karen Price Operations assistants: Claire Powell, Emily Harris, Janet Baxter, Ellie Jones
• Compiled from feedback by retail experts and Insight6 mystery shoppers on visits to shortlisted stores in the Guild of Fine Food’s Shop of the Year competition. Visit gff.co.uk/soty for details.
Training & events manager: Jilly Sitch Events manager: Stephanie HareWinton Events assistant: Sophie Brentnall Financial controller: Stephen Guppy
Accounts manager: Denise Ballance Accounts assistant: Julie Coates Chairman: Bob Farrand Director: Linda Farrand
Vol.20 Issue 5 | June 2019
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June 2019 | Vol.20 Issue 5
news from the guild of fine food
The word on
Westminster By Edward Woodall ACS AS WE CONTINUE to wade through the Brexit process, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Government is putting all its attention into breaking the deadlock and has broadly forgotten about domestic policy. While our exit from the EU is still grabbing most of the headlines, there are plenty of rules and regulation changes to keep retailers occupied. It’s obvious that retailers are busy, and want to be spending their time running the shop, looking at ways to improve their business, and interacting with customers, rather than sifting through pages and pages of opaque Government guidance on regulation changes.
This is why the ACS is proud of the Assured Advice we provide for retailers, which gives easy-tounderstand best practice backed up by assurance from Surrey and Bucks Trading Standards. Some of our advice is more relevant to convenience stores – just as the Guild’s assured advice for charcuterie production is focused on the artisan sector. But much of it – for example, on health & safety - is relevant and available free to Guild member delis and farm shops.
One recent update to our Assured Advice follows the growth of online sales through companies like Deliveroo or Uber Eats Assured Advice has grown and changed since we launched it in 2014, expanding to more areas of the store, but also growing as retailers evolve their offer. It was born out of a need to provide simple advice to thousands of retailers who were rightly unsure about the minutiae of the food and other product regulations. Whenever
been widely discussed online. Some commentators forget the saying that “the dose makes the poison”. Other studies have even suggested saponins could have health benefits. Saponins are a group of soaplike chemicals that deter pests by making the seeds unpalatable. They’re also responsible for the froth seen during cooking. They are found in other foods, too, such as fenugreek, alfalfa and soya as well as vegetables including potato and beetroot. If they were on the surface of the quinoa, the taste Paul Thomas would probably put you off before any harmful effects were seen. They Technical and regulatory are also poorly absorbed in the gut. advice from the Guild’s These are differences in the deli helpline type of plants cultivated in Europe compared to South America and the Q: Is it safe to serve quinoa in my deli- saponin content of the seeds varies café? I’ve heard it can be toxic. between by around 3%, with the bitterness increasing in proportion. A: The seed of Chenopodium Some varieties with a saponin quinoa, native to the Andes in South content of up to 0.1% are marketed America, is sometimes referred to as as “sweet” quinoa. a ‘superfood’ and consumption has Post-harvest processing of the increased lately. grains, which can include hulling, The presence of saponins in washing and drying, is known to the seed coat is well known and the remove at least 95% of saponins ‘harmfulness’ of these chemicals has from the seed coating. Hulling
The deli doctor
something new comes in or where we get feedback from retailers about an issue that they’ve had with the enforcement community, we can adapt our Assured Advice to help. One noteworthy recent update follows the growth of online sales by retailers, either through companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats, or looking after sales and delivery aspect themselves. This is especially relevant to retailers in city centres and urban areas. Our Assured Advice now outlines the responsibilities of retailers when they sell age restricted products and how these may differ from selling to customers in store. We’ve also issued guidance on things like Digital ID, and the health and safety implications of handling food whilst serving customers – all driven by growth and change in the services that retailers offer and the technology that is opening up new opportunities in store. You can find all of our Assured Advice guides on our website, and if you ever have an enforcement visit where something that isn’t covered in the guides comes up, we want to hear from you. acs.org.uk
Edward Woodall is head of policy & public affairs at small shops group ACS
edward.woodall@acs.org.uk
removes saponin but also makes the seeds appear whiter. Un-hulled sweet varieties, including some grown in the UK, can be darker. Saponins are relatively heat stable and unlikely to decompose in normal cooking, which is why the froth is often removed manually. Quinoa seeds are usually cooked but can also be sprouted and eaten raw. Considering all of these factors – poor absorption in the gut, low levels after processing, and general low levels overall – the saponins on quinoa seeds are unlikely to pose a significant hazard. However, do make sure you follow any on-pack “conditions of use” – for example, some seeds may not be suitable for sprouting due to other microbiological hazards – and ask for specific guidance from the supplier’s technical department if you’re unsure.
Find top tips for pack design on Members’ Hub AS MANY GUILD producermembers will tell you, no-one knows a product better than the person who makes it. So why would they hand full control of their future packaging design to a consultancy, without wanting a say in the process? In a new article for the Guild Members’ Hub at gff.co.uk, Richard Chyzy of Guild associate member Blackhouse Creative says producers should be part of the creative process, adding: “Don’t just blindly trust your designer’s decisions.” Chyzy offers five bits of advice for speciality food & drink producers, aimed at giving their packaging an edge in a world where around two-thirds of purchasing decisions are made in-store. One tip is to keep your on-pack messaging simple and clear. That’s a challenge for specialist businesses keen to get every bit of their provenance and back-story across, but Chyzy says overdoing the detail can actually damage the chances of a sale. “On average, you have three seconds of your customer’s attention before they move on to looking at another product,” he says. “If they can’t understand what your product is in those first few seconds, they won’t be interested in investigating further.” Other advice from Blackhouse Creative includes investing in high quality photography and running a focus group to test the pack design before going live. If you’re a retailer or producer member, make sure you check the Members’ Hub regularly for more advice and inside news from the Guild. If you’re not a member, why not contact the Guild now to hear about the benefits of joining.
Dairy and food safety specialist Paul Thomas runs the Guild’s e-helpline for retailers with technical or regulatory queries. It can be accessed through the Guild Members’ Hub at gff.co.uk
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