FFD May 2016 by Guild of Fine Food

www.gff.co.uk |

@guildofﬁnefood

COBBLE LANE CURED 21 Co-founder Mat Atkinson on the British approach to charcuterie

May 2016 · Vol 17 Issue 4

SELFRIDGES 14 Buyer Adrian Boswell says staff training will be key to keeping deli counters alive

TOP OF THE SHOPS We meet Sally Bendall of Suffolk’s Hollow Trees farm shop, newly crowned FARMA retail champion

SOCIAL MEDIA 10 It makes sense to plan your tweets and posts around images, not words, says Laurra Davis

CHOOSING BLUE CHEESES SPECIALITY OILS SWEET & SAVOURY BISCUITS BEERS & CIDERS CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE MATCHING

CHEESE WHICH SELLS ITSELF O

UP T

£5TI0NG

TAS CE WAN O L L A

We’re making it even easier to introduce your customers to

the fabulous Le Gruyère AOP Cheese from Switzerland.

you’ll receive everything you need including: A high quality counter-top sampling tray Recipe leaﬂets, product info sheets and other branded POS

A cash allowance for up to £50 to cover

the cost of the Le Gruyère AOP cheese for customer sampling And if that’s not enough to tempt you, all cheese shops taking part will be entered into “Le Gruyère AOP Cheese Counter 2016” with the chance of being whisked off to Switzerland with accommodation and travel included.

“

WIN

AN EXCITIN G SWISS ADVEN TURE!

The promotional pack was great for promoting Le Gruyère AOP helping us to sell lots of this wonderful cheese. Winning this prestigious award has generated lots of positive publicity which in turn has attracted excited new customers into our shop which has been great for business.

HOW DO I APPLY?

”

Rhuaridh Buchanan, Le Gruyère AOP Cheese Counter of the Year 2015

This fantastic promotion takes place between May-July 2016 and you can run it at any stage during that period. Get ahead of the game and contact us now! It’ll only take a few moments and within a few days you’ll have everything you need.

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

e4605 Guild of Fine Food_Le Gruyere Ad (5).indd 1

2/29/16 11:05 AM

contents news

interview: Selfridges cheesewire selling blue cheese cut & dried

p14 p17 p19 p21

pairing charcuterie and cheese sweet & savoury biscuits speciality oils beers & cider shelf talk deli of the month

p23 p25 29 35 p41 p46

opinion IN MARCH I REPORTED ON THE PREDICTION of “global trends consultant” Christophe Jouan that the next 10 years would see shoppers get far more fussy about provenance and demanding an end of “fake authenticity”. I remember wondering if I could use the shorthand “futurologist” to describe Jouan’s job. But it seems he’s more of a presentologist, given the enjoyable hoohah that kicked off, just weeks after his City Food Lecture in London, about Tesco and its faux farm labels. If you missed it, the multiple has launched a range of fresh produce and meat branded with farm names like Boswell, Woodside, Rosedene and Nightingale. They could be straight out of an Enid Blyton story-book. Which is to say, they’re fictional. As The Guardian put it: “While the retailer says every product in the range, which includes vegetables, fruit, salad, pork, chicken and beef, is from ‘known farms’ it has chosen to label them with fake ones.” Turns out some of these quintessentially English-sounding ‘farms’ aren’t even in Europe. The Mail Online went all News at Ten about the scam, with a series of bullets: • [Bonggg…] “Supermarkets ridiculed for selling produce under made-up farm names” • [Bonggg…] “Tesco created seven fake farm names, such as Rosedene and Nightingale” • [Bonggg…] “Despite idyllic British names, products imported from Morocco and Chile” • [Bonggg…] “But Tesco is not alone in using what critics have called ‘legal deception’” The mighty Mail then flagged other fairytale sources made up by multiples, like Ashfield Farm (Aldi) or Birchwood Farm and Strathvale Farm (Lidl). One of my favourites is Lochmuir – not a novel by Sir Walter Scott or an ITV3 comedy drama, but a name made up by M&S for all its Scottish salmon. According to a clearly moderated entry for Lochmuir on Wiki: “The name was chosen by a panel of consumers as it represented and reinforced the concept that the salmon was from Scotland.” Yeah, right. The reason I like Lochmuir is it reminds me of Glen Marnoch, a very acceptable Islay single malt whisky that made it into last year’s Great Taste Top 50. Several of us raved about it at the final tasting day, and postjudging, when I took a sneaky peak under the cardboard sleeve covering its label, I joked: “This will probably turn out of be from Lidl.” I was close – it’s from Aldi, and, of course, Glen Marnoch cannot be found on any map. It’s all good fun, this, and the more our friends in the national media can make a mockery of it, the more it helps those of us who prefer fact to fiction.

Tesco’s farm names could be straight out of an Enid Blyton story-book. Which is to say they’re ﬁctional.

MICK WHITWORTH, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

editors’ choice MICHAEL LANE, DEPUTY EDITOR

Willy Chase’s Fit Corn www.willychases.co.uk

p41

Yes, it’s another new popcorn brand. But before you accuse me of being behind the times, consider the one thing that this range has and all the others out there don’t – William Chase. Everyone knows him as the man who successfully built and sold the pioneering speciality crisp brand, Tyrrells. He’s since made a success of his Chase Distillery as well. Now he’s turned his Midas touch to a new health-conscious brand. The ﬁrst Willy Chase’s products follow his tried and tested formula: use local ingredients, make the product on the farm, sell it exclusively to independents. The varieties we tried were all well-seasoned – pungent goats’ cheese, spicy Bloody Mary and slightly tangy cider vinegar – without overpowering the corn. And less than 50 calories per bag. He’s proved he can do snacks and premium spirits, so would you bet against William Chase conquering healthy eating, too? I reckon he’s probably onto another winner. Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

finefoodnews Scots farm shop drive stirs up Defra response EDITORIAL editorial@gff.co.uk

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

© The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2016. Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

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

BY ANDREW DON

Defra has stood its ground over criticism that the Scottish government is more committed than the English to promoting and supporting farm shops. Recent comments from Richard Lochhead, Scotland’s rural affairs minister, have given the impression of a more hands-on approach and strong personal regard for the sector. But Defra told FFD that it wanted English farm shops to become “worldleading” and pointed to a number of funding streams available to retailers. On a visit to new retailer Grewar’s Farm Shop near Dundee, Lochhead said he believed there was an opportunity for more farm shops in Scotland and he was keen to look at how the government could help. The shop’s co-owner Peter Grewar said: “He saw on Twitter that we were supplying Scottish and he said he’d love to see us and

Hands-on with farm shops: Richard Lochhead want to see more rural retailers in Scotland

what we were doing was great. “He’s very supportive of farm shops and the retail branch of farming which I think is going to be a growth area.” Michael Mack, managing agent at Farma, the UK farm shops and farmers’ markets trade association, said Defra could do much more to promote and support farm shops south of the border. “In the UK we don’t have lots of initiatives coming out of central

BY ANDREW DON

Sourced’s second coming Sourced Market has now opened its second permanent site in London’s Marylebone area, in addition to a revamped version of its flagship store at St Pancras station. Part financed by a £750,000 crowdfunding campaign, the Wigmore Street premises will feature more than 100 small artisan suppliers from across the country. www.sourcedmarket.com

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Elizabeth Truss, Defra secretary, announced last November that 2016 would be the “Year of British Food” to celebrate the best in British food across the country and overseas. Jonathan StauntonBurrell, co-owner of Hockeys Farm Shop in South Gorley, Hampshire, said Defra was more supportive of farming than shops per se. “We’ve been running this for two-and-a-half years and I’m not sure that anything Defra has done that directly affects us.”

Supermarket squeeze hitting small producers

Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB United Kingdom

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

government to drive them,” he said, adding that the Scottish government’s measures, including the First Stop Farm shop campaign, are more efficient than efforts south of the border. A Defra spokesman told FFD: “We are ambitious for the industry and want it to be world-leading. “Farm shops can apply for the LEADER, Countryside Productivity and European Innovation Partnership schemes, enabling them to become more productive and innovative.”

A supermarket obsession with price threatens to deal a massive blow to small producers that supply farm shops and delicatessens, a food expert at one of the UK’s top-10 accountancy firms has warned. Moore Stephens said the ongoing demise of small food producers, a large number of which it estimates turn over less than £10m a year, will ultimately erode the number of products available to specialist food retailers. The accountancy firm reported that 162 food manufacturers became insolvent last year – more than treble the 48 in 2010 and 11% more than a year ago.

Duncan Swift, partner and head of food advisory at Moore Stephens, said some of these companies had been forced to squeeze their own margins too hard due to demands from the costcutting supermarket chains they supplied. Producers suffered from “a trickle-down” effect, he said, even if they did not supply the supermarket chains, especially in scenarios whereby they supplied other producers or vice-versa. He added: “Indirect suppliers fall foul of supermarket bullying tactics if their direct supplier falls over because a supermarket has pulled contracts at short notice or not paid their bill on time.”

finefoodnews “What they're saying about...” Brexit “I am sitting on the fence. Previously, I would have said I’d run a mile from Europe but now that I run my own business, I’m not so sure. There are positives and negatives – some things will go up in price if we leave, some won’t.” John Rice-Lewis, The Langport Stores, Somerset “Trade within the EU is remarkably simple compared with trading with other countries – no health certificates, certificates of origin, certified invoices and the like. Those with memories of pre-EU days would not want to go back to them.” John S Whitehead, director, Food & Drink Exporters Association “In theory it shouldn’t make any difference at all. If you produce a good product that people want, Continental Europeans will buy it whether you are a member of the EU or not. Ask the Chinese! It is likely the EU could introduce an import tariff on UK goods, but if they do, it would be a very small one.” Daniel Connolly, New Alliance “We have debated it a lot, but no-one has a clear idea of what will actually happen. With regard to labelling, for those of us in the jam industry the red tape and bureaucracy has tied us up a lot and a lot of that has come from the EU, so exiting may free things up.” Barbara Moinet, Kitchen Garden

Fortnum’s hires Hardy for new food buyer role BY ANDREW DON

Fortnum & Mason has cited the “pace of change” in the food industry as the reason for the creation of a new role in the business – head of food buying. Industry veteran Brigette Hardy – who began her career at the retailer’s flagship store in Piccadilly – is the first person to be appointed to the highprofile position, reporting to Tim French, buying director. The company said the new role had been created because food was at the core of the business. “The brand has a rich heritage of innovation and is investing to ensure it continues to innovate, curate and create outstanding food that delivers a sense of pleasure for its everchanging customers,” said a spokeswoman. “The pace of change is different now and Fortnum & Mason is shaping up the team accordingly.” Customers are demanding “more, faster” and Fortnum’s is trying to satisfy this both in its stores and online, she added. Hardy is no stranger to the upmarket retailer, having

Brigette Hardy has returned to where her career began as Fortnum’s new head of food buying

started her career in the grocery and hamper buying department there in 1981. Since leaving Fortnum’s in 1986, Hardy has held positions at convenience store chain Cullen’s, since bought by Tesco, and

Sainsbury’s as well as working as a food consultant for Canary Catering, Selfridges, Waitrose and small start-ups. Tim French said food was at the heart of the group’s offering and

Elveden Food Hub buyout working for Thomas Ridley after slow start BY ARABELLA MILEHAM

Wholesaler Thomas Ridley Foodservice is merging its fine food and local & regional offering, 18 months after it acquired the local food section from Eleveden Food Hub. The distributor has recently completed a review of the section, admitting that there had been challenges in integrating producers in the initial few months. However, multi-channel manager Darren Osborne said the company had enjoyed “notable success” with some of the producers

it acquired via the Elveden Food Hub, which forms only a small part of its wider foodservice business. “It is a much smaller percentage than the main core business, but my remit has been to increase the sales of fine, local and regional food,” he said. Although the company had cut some of its smaller suppliers, others had been added, including Barabell Delights, Yum Yum Brothers and East Coast Chilli Company. Several suppliers who had transferred over to Thomas Ridley said orders

in the last few months had more than doubled compared to the same period last year and the outlook was looking far more positive after a rocky start. But not every producer has been pleased with the new arrangement. “We have been passed around a bit, and both producers and retailers feel a bit unloved,” one supplier told FFD. “If I’d been Elveden or Thomas Ridley, I’d have been crawling all over customers to make sure they stay with it, but it feels alien.”

Hardy brought with her “a wealth of food buying and product development experience from a vast array of food retailers and manufacturers”. She would be a “key driver” across innovation at the company, ensuring it continued to meet the “diverse and ever-changing needs” of its customers across all channels. Fortnum’s said Hardy’s specialist skills were in the identification of food trends, sourcing regional and artisan products, “novel retail concepting” and product innovation and development. Hardy said Fortnum & Mason had a long and prolific history of “dynamic, exciting product production and sourcing”. “I’m looking forward to being able to contribute to, and build upon, this incredible legacy,” she added. Having traded from a single site since 1707, Fortnum & Mason opened a second outlet at London’s St Pancras International Station in 2014, followed by stores in Dubai and Heathrow Terminal 5.

in brief l Dorset-based

biscuit producer Thomas J Fudge’s has been sold. The Fudge family’s shares in the business were bought by private equity firm Livingbridge together with current directors Paul Vita and Vickie Best, who will become joint managing directors.

l The

Real Bread Campaign is encouraging independent retailers to take part in its annual fortnight celebrating traditional and artisan bread. Real Bread Week will run from May 14 to 22.

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

finefoodnews

Eat 17 meals ready for retail BY ARABELLA MILEHAM

Award-winning London retailer and eatery Eat 17 has launched a range of ready-meals specifically for the independent sector. The five-strong range was developed by Eat 17’s restaurant chefs to sell in the company’s two shops, but retail director James Brundle saw a gap in the market and decided to launch them to the wider independent trade. “There is nothing like it when I was looking for something to supply our own shop, so we decided to make them available to select stores,” he told FFD. “The philosophy is restaurant quality food, created by chefs, at a reasonable price. “ The range is launching with five lines – slow-cooked shepherd’s pie, tarragon chicken with chickpea & fennel, slow-cooked beef chuck & ale, aubergine ragu with orecchiette pasta, and veggie & lentil curry – which will retail for under £5 (trade £2.90-£3.20).

In brief High street retailer BHS is set to roll out convenience food in a bid to rival Marks and Spencer. It will launch a food offering in 25 of its larger stores.

Iain R Spink’s Original Arbroath Smokies and Arbikie Highland Estate have scooped the top Artisan Food and Artisan Drink awards at the Scottish Rural Awards this month.

l ‘Superfood’

enriched chocolate company Doisy & Dam has smashed a crowdfunding drive to fund the expansion of its capacity. It raised £220,000 from investors on Crowdcube in only 48 hours.

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Eat 17 to wholesale ready-meals to other independents

“Selling them for under £5 gives the retailer a good margin and keeps the product at a level that sells well,” said Brundle. “We are fortunate as we can experiment in our own store, so we know what the best price point is and we’ve kept our margin reasonably tight on it.” The range will be altered seasonally, and more dishes may be added in due course. But Brundle is keen to keep production in-house at the company’s large Hackney kitchen – even though he admits

outsourcing has worked very well for the highly successful Bacon Jam brand. “The whole thing is getting our chefs to make them so we need to be conscious about not going massive and we definitely only want to market it to independents,” he said. “We will be treating it as a small business and growing it as such, although there is no ‘set’ goal in mind. There will come a time when there may be a limit, but it will be something we want to be doing ourselves.” www.eat17.co.uk

Indies get Great Taste via new distributor A new fine food distributor has entered the market to supply independent retailers with a range picked exclusively from Great Taste award winning products. Taste Distribution’s catalogue – which features a range of ambient lines that have won one-, two- or three-star awards – is strictly open to independents. The launch range includes chocolate from Åkesson’s, soft drinks from Breckland Orchard, Fairfields Farm Crisps, Hebridean Sea Salt, Hill Farm Oils, Saveur Du Maroc, Scarlett & Mustard and Asian ingredient supplier SeeWoo. “Our producers are some of the very best in the country,” said MD Alec

Taste Distribution’s full catalogue is online

Paterson. “25% of the products in stock are either three-star or Top 50 award winners in Great Taste, and in other cases they represent the best results in their category. “Because of that, I’m confident in saying that we have the best salt, pepper, chocolate, oil, mayonnaise, soy sauce and crisps available in the country today.” www.tastedistribution.co.uk

Comment BOB FARRAND, CHAIRMAN, GUILD OF FINE FOOD “I CAN’T SEE ANY OF YOUR FAVOURITE Wookey Hole cheddar,” said a posh lady to a teenager with braces on her teeth, standing at the cheese counter in our local Waitrose. Mrs F and I needed to feed four unexpected guests, which is how I found myself standing alongside this mother and daughter. “It’s over there,” I said, helpfully. “Oh yes, thank you – they must have moved all the cheeses around,” the posh lady said. “They’ve separated all the cheeses made using unpasteurised milk from those made from pasteurised milk,” I said. Now I’m retired, I have time for conversations like this. “It’s for pregnant people,” said a helpful middleaged counter assistant, adding earnestly: “You mustn’t eat cheeses from the unpasteurised section if you’re pregnant.” “Are all pasteurised cheeses okay for pregnant people?” I asked, playing Devil’s advocate. “Even blue cheeses and soft cheeses?” “Oh yes,” the helpful assistant replied, “they’re safe. It’s just the unpasteurised cheeses.” Posh lady looked bemused. “When I was pregnant, I craved cheese for nine months. I ate them all. “Your daughter looks quite normal to me,” I commented, with what I hoped was a cheeky grin. Teenage daughter asked: “What’s pasteurised?” “They heat the milk to kill all the bacteria in it,” said helpful assistant. “And there was me thinking all cheese had bacteria,” said puzzled posh lady. “Does it change the taste?” “I think it does,” I interrupted. “Most people who really love cheese believe those made using unpasteurised milk generally taste better.” “But are they safe to eat?” asked teenage daughter. “Every cheese in this counter has been tested by the cheese-makers and I’ll warrant they’re all perfectly safe,” I answered. “As I understand it, the Food Standards Agency recommends people at risk, such as pregnant ladies and old people, should avoid all soft and blue cheeses, regardless of what milk they’re made with. “Those cheeses have more moisture, so their acidity level is lower which may conceivable make them more vulnerable to unwanted bacteria.” As an afterthought, I added: “Hard cheeses made using unpasteurised milk are perfectly safe for everyone, including pregnant women. “If that’s true,” asked posh lady, now clearly confused, “why aren’t all the soft and blue cheeses in the dangerous section and the hard cheese made using unpasteurised milk in the… safe section?” “None of these cheeses are dangerous,” I said. “It’s health & safety gone mad.” Middle-aged assistant looked daggers at me and said. “I’m only telling you what I’ve been told. Anyway, when I was pregnant, my doctor told me I mustn’t eat any unpasteurised cheeses.” “I’d change your doctor if I was you,” I said as I walked away. • Bob Farrand is the founder of the Guild of Fine Food, Great Taste and the World Cheese Awards

Most people who really love cheese believe those made using unpasteurised milk generally taste better

30 Years and still going strong... but how on earth do we do it .. well..? It’s Great Tasting Cakes

It’s Great Customer Service

D OO R B R

The Woodall family has been innovating using traditional curing and smoking methods to produce authentic, unique British charcuterie since 1828. Today, we continue to innovate and this spring are excited to add 3 new salamis to sit alongside our Cumberland Salami. OUR SALAMI RANGE Cumberland Salami Black Pepper & Garlic Salami Norfolk Mustard Salami Spicy Cumberland Salami

NEW

And it’s Happy Bakers making the edible taste incredible But if you really want to see how we do it, click on www.youtube.com and look for Just Desserts Yorkshire and see the Bakery Elves in action. t: 01274 590698 e: Sales@just-desserts.co.uk w: www.just-desserts.co.uk Station Road • Shipley • West Yorkshire • BD18 2JL

NEW

Order online by the end of May and receive 20% off with discount code:

MAYSALAMI @Woodalls1828 0161 706 0000 www.woodallscharcuterie.co.uk

AVAILABLE AS WHOLE PIECES, SLICED RETAIL AND SLICED CATERING PACKS

FROZEN IS THE NEW FRESH!

40% PROFIT MARGIN! POACH IN THE PACK, BAKE, GRILL OR ZAP!

Telephone: 01472 355217 contact@bigfishbrand.co.uk www.bigfishbrand.co.uk @BigFishBrand bigfishbrand.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

since 1983

our

STAND NO.161

are

SOURCED

the BEST

ARE selected

eq ui pm en t

TRAINING & SUPPORT

to HELP YOUR business THRIVE YOUR

EXPERT ROASTEDLY

FREE DELIVERIES

DOOR

EL SALVADOR MONTE SION ESTATE COFFEE 01756 794811 www.coffeecare.co.uk

4HǏ TAǢTǏ OF SUNǢHINǏ

Our

100% Pure Apple & Orange Juice 4 delicious juice drinks; Orange & Carrot, Apple & Blueberry, Cranberry & Raspberry and Tropical Preservative free 1RWKLQJ DUWLƬFLDO 400ml PET bottles

NEW Juice Range

@RadnorHills #DrinkRadnor www.radnorhills.co.uk

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

finefoodnews

Defra’s PFN drive raises doubts BY ARABELLA MILEHAM

Defra’s plans to ramp-up the number of products with protected food name (PFN) status may undermine the system’s credibility, according to a number of speciality food experts and businesses. The Secretary of State Liz Truss has set at target of 200 PFNs by the end of the current government – an increase of more than 125 over the next four years. Matthew O’Callaghan, chair of the UK Protected Food Names Association, told FFD the decision to raise the profile of PFNs was laudable but it would require dedicated resources, a proactive response and practical help for producers in order to achieve its goals. Gerry Danby of Artisan Law described the plan as very ambitious and warned the system was not working in the UK as intended already and a large boost risked undermining the system even further. He said that new PFNs need financial backing, but that this was only like to

In brief The explosion of craft breweries is raising awareness of consumers’ interest in the provenance of the beer they drink, a new study has found. The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) found that nine out of 10 consumers want to know more about their beer, with 53% stating it was important to drink British-brewed beer.

The owners of Fordham Farmshop are fronting the Community Business Weekend, alongside lotteryfunded charity Power to Change, to get more people involved in their local rural businesses.

Critics question whether PFNs should benefit big business

come from big corporates. “The only way in which their target could be met is to undermine the whole purpose and credibility of the EU protected food names,” he told FFD. “Big corporate and dairy interests are abusing and exploiting it simply for marketing purposes. PFNs should make a difference to small producers.” Independent retailer Henry Mackley of Harp Lane Deli said there is merit in the system but agreed that the symbol was in danger of being “hijacked” by big business to bolster exports. “I would be fascinated

to see the list of things that Defra would like to see approved,” he said. “I can’t imagine who needs protecting in that way, and the huge danger is that it will not be as well policed [even] as it is even now.” Jemma Pheasey of The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop said more small businesses would apply for PFN status if they didn’t have to divulge secrets. “We did go for it a few years ago, but backed out because Defra changed the rules and wanted us to stipulate all the ingredients, which Cornish pasties didn’t have to divulge.”

Apley gets active with new kids’ centre tie-up BY ANDREW DON

Apley Farm Shop has linked with two children’s centres to provide summer holiday clubs and kids activities on the Shropshire estate in which it is located. The separate initiatives with Activ8, a holiday club provider, and Educating Kids Outdoor, a specialist outdoor learning organisation, will provide children with access

Activ8 will provide holiday clubs at Apley Farm Shop

to the Apley Estate’s Pigg’s Playbarn and outdoor activities in the grounds at Stockton. Lady Harriet Hamilton, Apley Farm Shop’s marketing manager, believes the tie-up will capture the public’s attention, given the media focus on childhood obesity, and may also lead to extra revenue. She said 20 extra customers of the Pigg’s Playbarn might spend £20 each in the farm shop when dropping off and picking up their children. “But it’s more about increasing general awareness, attracting new customers and encouraging existing customers to return more often,” she added.

“If I’d known then what I know now” SUSANNAH HEWETT EGGS TO APPLES, HURST GREEN WHEN THE LAND where my parents had originally set up shop to sell seasonal fruit and veg came up for sale in 2012, my husband Craig and I were living in the Middle East with our two children and looking for an opportunity to come back for. We put together plans and bought the land. We knew we would open a farm shop based on my parents’ principles of fresh, local and seasonal, but with a more comprehensive offering. We deliberated about whether we should call ourselves a farm shop. We don’t grow or produce anything, other than our own apple juice. But we wanted to leave the growing and production to the experts and provide a marketplace for producers, who otherwise have to rely on farmers’ markets and farm gate sales. Working with lots of small suppliers is one of our unique selling points but it’s time intensive. On a weekly basis we deal with 50-70 suppliers, of whom many don’t have the systems in place that larger producers might. The other difficulty is finding producers who are ready for retail. They can be making a fantastic product, but might not have the packaging or the ability to supply regularly. When we entered our second year, we reviewed our suppliers one by one and evaluated whether they were economically viable but we now vet suppliers at the outset. One of the aspects of this job I love is the buying and getting it right – for example, when a customer brings in an Ottolenghi recipe and can get everything from us. The flipside of this is getting stock levels right, particularly with lower margin perishable items. We try to instil in our staff that if you throw one leek away, you have to sell three more to get back to the same point before you can even start making a profit. It would have been easy to give up on fresh fruit and veg and sell a few more boxes of chocolate instead, but fairly priced, quality fresh produce is one of the reasons customers come to us. We benchmark our pricing against the supermarkets. If our goods are more expensive it is usually because they are higher quality or available in limited quantities. Sometimes we’re cheaper – we’ve sold a lot of cavolo nero in recent months and ours is 40% cheaper than Waitrose because it hasn’t been shredded, washed and packaged. The biggest reassurance that we were going in the right direction came when we were awarded Best Newcomer at the Sussex Food & Drink Awards this year. Once we’d been shortlisted we were visited by the judges. We thought they would look around the shop and say how lovely it was but they spent two hours going through our books; this award was about businesses that have the potential to be sustainable. Fortunately, our figures stood up to their scrutiny. We turned over £600,000 in our first year, and were profitable after six months.

We try to instil in our staff that if you throw one leek away, you have to sell three more to get back to the same point before you can even start making a profit

INTERVIEW BY LYNDA SEARBY

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

finefoodnews

Cornish food hall partner selected BY ARABELLA MILEHAM

Cornwall Food & Drink, the organisation behind The Great Cornish Food Festival, has been signed up to run a new food hall which will be co-located alongside a 15,000 sq ft Waitrose store in Truro. The 5,000 sq ft Great Cornish Food Store and its partner supermarket will be part of the £40m Truro Eastern District Centre development on the outskirts of city that includes a new park and ride, a household waste recycling centre and 98 new houses. Last month FFD confirmed that Waitrose was in “advanced” talks with new partners, after pulling the plug on its relationship with Taste of Cornwall, the consortium of local farmers and food producer who were instrumental in getting the controversial plan off the ground. The scheme was in planning for several years before it was given the goahead in 2012. The shop will be set up as an independent company

The Great Cornish Food Store (above) will be run by a team including Ruth Huxley, Claire Vickers, Paul Ripley and Angie Coombs

which will be owned, managed and operated as a separate entity from Cornwall Food & Drink. Around 20 new jobs will be created in the move, which has been led by Cornwall Food & Drink’s managing director Ruth Huxley. The 5,000 sq ft store will be managed by Angie Coombs – previously general manager of the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery and Café and head of food group Taste of the West’s Cornwall operation – with Claire Vickers of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall handling marketing and chef Paul Ripley overseeing the instore café, deli and food-to-

go area. Launceston butcher Philip Warren, who was a shareholder of the Taste of Cornwall team, will oversee the shop’s fresh meat supply. “For the first time, a comprehensive range of local produce will be available to people as they go about their regular supermarket shop,” said Huxley. She pointed out that this was not “a tiny local food concession within a supermarket” but an opportunity to make “buying local” a part of the weekly shop and more accessible thanks to the food hall opening seven days a week.

Turnbull’s ClicBox to roll on after pilot

Revival not closure for Old Oak Barn

BY ANDREW DON

A village farm shop in Kent that had been losing customers has relaunched under a new owner and beefed up its wares in a bid to win back shoppers. Hayley King took over the Old Oak Barn Farm Shop last December, as the 30-year-old shop was on the brink of closure. “I had a look at it and I thought I could make something of it,” she said. “It’s a quirky old shop and we’ve been trying to win back the villagers.” King has built new shelving from reclaimed pallets, installed a small coffee shop and added £20 fruit and veg boxes for free local delivery. She also plans an outside eating area.

Cheesemonger Charlie Turnbull, who set up customised online shops for independent food retailers last November, is moving out of the project’s pilot stage and plans a variation of the theme. DeliShop, launched through Turnbull’s ClicBox, has seven retailers online and 12 suppliers feeding products to participating retailers. All products can be for home delivery or click-andcollect. Suppliers offer their products for participating retailers to stock in the virtual shops which retailers can elect to sell or not as they see fit. Turnbull said the second

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

phase of the project would “probably” be able to deliver more functionality than independents could afford on their own. Plans are also afoot to launch a business-tobusiness site for small producers and retailers, using the same platform and technology but with trade access only, wholesale prices and a different charging model. www.clicboxshop.co.uk

Advice LAURRA DAVIS, BRILLIANT SOCIAL MEDIA THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT A PHOTO that can convey so much more than even the most carefully chosen words, so it pays to plan your social media content around the visual first and the written word second. As people we’re generally more interested in the why and how rather than the what, buying into brands with our eyes and emotions initially before our tastebuds take over. So although images of your products are a must, it’s the ‘everything else’ photos that can end up being your biggest asset. Capturing images of the things that go into creating your product, the people, the places you visit. We’re interested in you, your story and the many little things that make your brand individual. Even the things that you might think no-one would be interested in – but we are. Think of your social media channels as a visual story book. What would a potential customer’s impression be if they only saw the images you currently post? Would they get a true representation of everything you do and personality of your product, or just a snapshot of what it looks like from lots of different angles? If photos aren’t your thing then Instagram has made it possible for even the most reluctant photographer to produce images that shine. Trust me, there isn’t a photo out there that a fancy filter can’t make look half decent. Aside from Instagram, free apps like VSCO and Snapseed allow you to take a photo, glam it up a bit and then use those images across Facebook or Twitter. The images you capture don’t have to be perfect, they just need to show a moment in your day, a piece of the story that makes what you do unique. www.brilliantsocialmedia.co.uk

• Laurra Davis is founder and creative director of Brilliant Social Media, a specialist agency helping food and drink brands tap into the potential of social media

Samways signs up sustainable salt Samways Fine Food is now distributing a brand of sustainably produced Icelandic sea salt throughout the UK. Nordur & Co makes all of its salt using a traditional, centuries-old method at its facility on Karlsey Island in Breidafjordur Bay, north west Iceland. Every stage of production is powered using geothermal energy and the product’s packaging is entirely free from glue. www.samways.uk.com

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re expanding & looking for new outlets & distributors for our fabulous ice cream!

at briddlesford

>LÂ»]L ILLU THRPUN ZVTL VM [OL UH[PVUÂ»Z Ã&#x201E;ULZ[ PJL JYLHTZ ZVYIL[Z MVY TVYL [OHU `LHYZ \ZPUN VUS` [OL Ã&#x201E;ULZ[ UH[\YHS PUNYLKPLU[Z ^L JHU Ã&#x201E;UK @V\Â»SS [HZ[L [OL KPMMLYLUJL Â¶ [OL Q\KNLZ HS^H`Z KV Ã&#x2026;H]V\YZ WHJRLK PU L]LY` ZPaL MYVT TSZ [V SP[YLZ MVY MVVK ZLY]PJL YL[HPS .YLH[ ;HZ[L (^HYKZ )LZ[ )YP[PZO :WLJPHSP[` -VVK Add a little Minghella magic to your business!

s Golden Fork Wale

WINNER OF THE GOLDEN FORK FOR WALES

WWW.APPLECOUNTYCIDER.CO.UK

Get in touch today: 01983 883545 minghella.co.uk Briddlesford Road, Wootton, Isle of Wight PO33 4RY

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

By reducing electricity usage and reducing yield losses

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

finefoodnews

Premium push could be latest threat to indies “What they're saying about...”

news analysis BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

... WAITROSE

“We don’t have a Waitrose in reasonable travelling distance of us, but if one opened on the edge of Ludlow it would be direct competition. Retailers like us are vulnerable to Waitrose.” Jon Edwards, MD, Ludlow Food Centre

As supermarkets look to counteract the rise of the German discounters, will their latest ownbrand efforts also have an impact on independents?

ressure from the discounters and growing demand for premium foods are pushing the supermarkets to develop new ranges that bring them into greater competition with delis and farm shops. Both Tesco and Waitrose have launched major new own-brands recently, which draw heavily on speciality and local food trends, to fend off competition from Lidl and Aldi. Last month Waitrose introduced a new own-brand called Waitrose 1, which will be used across more than 500 of its very best products. New additions, such as sloe gin-cured ham, beetroot and nigella seed oat biscuits and wild rabbit pork

The launch of the Waitrose 1 brand is aimed at increasing sales of premium lines while Tesco has unveiled a series of ﬁctional farms to brand its fresh lines

pie, have been launched under the brand in response to the success of the discounters, which have lured shoppers away with their own luxury ranges. According to research company Kantar Worldpanel, supermarket premium own-label sales grew by

Farm shops’ stories are much stronger than supermarkets and we have to compete aggressively on that MICHAEL MACK, FARMA

Designer’s eye on Waitrose 1 FRAN VILLANI BRANDING AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER, NOVELLO

Waitrose 1 doesn’t exactly scream premium, probably due to the relatively characterless typography, lack of detailed finishing and generic pack formats. The successful features are the tasteful single-colour palette for each product and the elegant illustrations to tell the product’s story and heritage. Most premium ranges opt for a dark foundation colour and white is almost exclusively used with value products, so Waitrose has been quite routine in selecting a black backdrop. Naming an own-brand is a tricky business and the “1” is flexible in interpretation. It could mean that it’s a number one product or a consumer’s first choice. Waitrose typically leads the way in supermarket packaging with compelling, beautiful designs. But I feel this range is too safe and straight-forward. For a range of luxury own-brand products, I don’t think they work hard enough to have the shelf stand-out in a supermarket full of premium names and niche brands. www.studionovello.co.uk

6.6% in the 12 weeks to the end of March, well ahead of the overall grocery market, as customers benefited from low petrol prices and confidence in the economy returned. Aldi and Lidl’s premium lines grew more than twice as quickly as the rest of their ranges. “The discounters are now benchmarking themselves against Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose and it is having an effect,” said food industry consultant Jane Milton. “People shop around more now and are going to Aldi and Lidl for the kind of luxury treats they would have previously bought in Waitrose.” As supermarkets move further into deli territory to get away from the discounters, independents are having to work harder to stay ahead, said Elizabeth Meath Baker, a partner at Walsingham Farm Shop in Norfolk. “We’re currently developing new branding to crystallise what we stand for and to create a point of difference in the face of serious competition from the supermarkets,” she said. “No sooner have we come up with something new than it’s been grabbed by much bigger retailers.” Tesco has also launched a new own-label initiative in a bid to compete with the discounters. The new fruit and meat ranges use the names of fictitious farms, such as Rosedene Farms for apples and Boswell Farms for beef, when products are actually sourced from suppliers all over the UK and Europe. Aldi and Lidl use similar made-up farm names on their products.

...TESCO’S FAKE FARMS

“Long may Tesco continue making these crazy marketing mistakes because it’s easy PR for us. People aren’t fooled by what Tesco has done, so it just plays into our hands. I can show our customers our cows, where the meat is hung for 28 days and our artisan butchers.” Rupert Evans, co-owner, Denstone Hall Farm Shop, Staffs ...SUPERMARKETS TIERING PRODUCTS INTO VALUE, MID-MARKET AND PREMIUM

“It’s a way of getting people to pay more for essentially the same thing, which is why we don’t do it. I want our customers to be conﬁdent that everything in my shop is the best.” Sangita Tryner, owner, Delilah, Nottingham

However, Tesco was widely criticised for the move by farming groups. “A fabricated brand that implies a degree of provenance could be viewed by some as misleading,” said Phil Bicknell, the NFU’s head of food and farming. Michael Mack, managing agent at farm shop association FARMA, said supermarket attempts to trade on the popularity of farms meant farm shops had to do more to get their message across. “We have to be conscious we have the real story to tell and we have to maximise that connection every time so the customer has no doubt. Farm shops’ stories are much stronger and we have to compete aggressively on that.” Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

finefoodnews

In charcuterie particularly, the ability to explain different cures, textures and age profiles is essential

Saving counter service from grab-and-go With demand for convenience forcing a rethink even in high-end outlets, upskilling staff to sell the virtues of premium cheese and charcuterie could be saviour of the serveover, according to Selfridges deli buyer Adrian Boswell Interview BY MICK WHITWORTH

wo bold, capitalised words – ‘NEW and ‘EXCLUSIVE ‘ – crop up frequently on price tickets in Selfridges’ Oxford Street food hall. In recent years, the retailer has outgunned its main department store rivals to become probably the single biggest launch-pad for speciality food start-ups in the Capital, often as a quid pro quo for short-term exclusivity with the new supplier. This focus on the new and unusual is not all about quirky packaged brands. The urge to refresh its offer is nowhere more visible than in Selfridges’ cheese and charcuterie counters, which have recently been rejigged to create a single walkaround island fixture for those two key chilled ranges.

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

“The whole deli was a bit squashed before, and the salamis and hams were condensed into one window [of the chillers],” says Adrian Boswell, cheese, deli and luxury fish buyer, whose remit includes the retailer’s growing charcuterie offer. “We’ve now moved fresh pasta out, so all the meat is displayed together and it looks more like a Continental deli.” Just glancing at the newly configured chillers, it’s easy to spot some of the newcomers, like an Italian L’Umbriaco, or ‘drunken’, prosciutto made with wine marc (grape pomace); a kid goat salami, made in Hackney by Blackhand Food; a wild boar saucisson and cured, smoked duck breast from France; and the Irish goats’ brie Knockdrinna Snow. “With the Selfridges brand comes the expectation of something new, something different, something innovative,” says Boswell. “Our ethos is ‘surprise, amaze and amuse’,

and we try to work within that. So it’s important I’m doing something different from everywhere else.” This is sometimes about sheer depth of range. “We’ll always have our traditional categories, like cured meats, but how many people will stock 10 different kinds of cured beef?” Over in the cheese chillers, meanwhile, a 36-month Comté has recently “gate-crashed the top 10

In farm shops and delis outside London there seems to be more passion and closeness to the product. It’s a question of how we reproduce that in bigger food businesses.

sellers”, he says, as has a truffled Gouda. While pork continues to dominate the charcuterie section, Boswell says alternative meats have become a focus: not just beef and, latterly, goat, but turkey, duck, buffalo, and game meats such as venison. “I don’t know if it’s because we have such a big Middle Eastern clientele, but there’s a definite shift to people not wanting pork.” Biltong is a rising star for many specialist outlets and it’s another area where Selfridges has led the way, with an offer ranging from jalapeño beef to buffalo and ‘sliced game’ and branded bags from Laverstoke, Billy Franks, Raging Bull and Meat Bites. “Biltong and jerky are massive categories,” says Boswell. “We do them loose behind the counter, for those who want the experience of being served, and we have a wall of pre-packs for people who just want to grab and go.” Selfridges has been particularly

supportive of new British charcuterie makers – “I’m a big fan,” says Boswell. A couple of years ago it gave a valuable Oxford Street window display over to Borough Marketbased wholesaler Cannon & Cannon, described by Boswell as “the Neal’s Yard of British charcuterie”, and it is also working with Cobble Lane Cured (see p21 of this issue) on a range of pre-packed Continental-style meats. While Boswell has grown the charcuterie range, continuing to trial anything “new and different”, he says lack of consumer awareness can be a big hurdle, especially with British charcuterie, which is usually made on a more artisanal scale – and is therefore dearer – than Italian or Spanish equivalents. “It’s easier in restaurants, because people aren’t looking at the price point [to the same extent]. Coming to the counter, if you have a British bresaola and an Italian one, the perception is that the Italian version is more authentic. So why should they pay £20/kilo more for the British one? “The challenge is ensuring that (a) we have the right number of staff on the counter and (b) that they are the right kind of people to sell it.” At the charcuterie counter, the ability to talk about each product – the different cures, the age profiles – is essential. “And that’s all about the staff.” Boswell is touching on an issue he says affects the whole of speciality retail, but particularly the Capital’s main prestige stores. “It’s a challenge for us, for Harrods and for all our competitors to improve the level of staff.” While Selfridges has been strong on its “service proposition” it may not have focused enough on its “sales proposition”, he says – that is, ensuring staff can talk in detail about specific foods and explain their points of difference. “It doesn’t matter what new lines you bring in, if your customer-facing staff have not been equipped to sell them then how are they going to generate any volume?” The “minimal” details given on a price ticket that is only two-thirds the size of an iPhone are hard for shoppers to read, especially through glass, he points out. “The onus is on staff to give that information, because it’s all part of the experience and the customer journey.” This is where provincial stores and smaller, specialist outlets often out-perform their big-name peers, he suggests. “In farm shops and delis outside London there definitely seems to be a bit more passion and closeness to the product. And if you go into Neal’s Yard, you know what to expect and you know they will understand the product. “It’s a question of how we reproduce that in bigger food businesses.” As well as sending staff on Guild

Selfridges has recently reconfigured its main deli counter as an island unit, with more space for charcuterie

of Fine Food courses and despatching them on study visits to producers and wholesalers, Boswell is strongly behind attempts currently underway to establish a UK Academy of Cheese (AoC). Some of the industry’s leading figures, including cheese-maker Mary Quicke, wholesaler Paxton & Whitfield and the Guild, hope to set up a dairy equivalent to the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and the revered Master of Wine qualification, with a range of learning opportunities building to a “Master of Cheese”.

While much of the groundwork has been done, what the project so far lacks is serious funding from major industry sponsors. Boswell would like to see all the big UK cheese retailers working together to drive the AoC forward for the good of the whole sector. Among other outcomes, it could lead a new generation of thoroughly well-informed counter staff who can use that knowledge to enthuse their customers – and ensure the continued health of the speciality cheese market.

Our ethos is ‘surprise, amaze and amuse’, so it’s important I’m doing something different from everywhere else.

With the inexorable move towards “convenience”, even in speciality outlets, Boswell believes the stakes are high. Pre-packs are already more prevalent in charcuterie, even at the high end, but in cheese, is it really possible to offer the best eating experience with products tightly packaged for grab-and-go? It’s a dilemma for any serious cheese outlet: how to satisfy time-poor shoppers without letting product quality slip by selling lifeless vac-packs. “There’s a big shift in the way people shop, because they have so little time,” says Boswell. “And while we want to offer the right [quality of] product, we also want to do it in a way that means we can all still hit our targets. “With charcuterie like Parma ham or bresaola, we stock a whole range of pre-packs, and while the taste may not be quite the same, the quality is still high. They’ve got much better at it in Italy, with different forms of packaging and more creative ways of doing things. “But that’s going to be harder to recreate in cheese, because it’s more inconsistent. Does Colston Bassett taste as good when it has been sat in a 200g wedge for two or three weeks? I don’t think it can.” While the world of food science moves quickly, and new forms of cheese packaging may arrive on the scene, Boswell believes the only way to protect traditional loose sales of both cheese and charcuterie – the products that lend so much theatre to every deli and food hall – is to upskill the people who sell them. That’s why he’d like to see all his competitors lining up with Selfridges to support better training and encourage more business from the serveover, rather than grab-and-go fixtures. “It’s to all our benefit to generate more sales,” he says. “Otherwise you could eventually see the death of counter products. And that would be a real shame.” Which is surely an understatement. www.selfridges.com www.academyofcheese.org Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

100

ra g e a c ro s

s th

r le

S C APLEOR CRANI E*

* Av e

% 20

om sa fr ole ay h M w n ly fi d of rien f ur

NEW!

LESS TH

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH

Come into the garden... and try these lovely new pressé drinks

home of nutritious nibbling www.munchyseeds.co.uk

UNLOCK THE FUSION FLAVOURS OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA

NEW HERITAGE RANGE

Savour Karimix’s tantalizing range of Curry Pastes, Relishes, Pickles, Fusion Sauces, Chilli Jams, Chilli Sauces, Marinades and much more.

Karimix UK Ltd, Stone Stile Farm, Shottenden Lane, Selling, Kent ME13 9SD

Soup Pastes and Sambal Chilli Pastes 16

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

T: +44 (0)1227 733 878 E: info@karimix.com

www.karimix.com

Folkington’s Juices, The Workshop, Endlewick House, Arlington, East Sussex BN26 6RU 01323 485602 - info@folkingtons.com

www.folkingtons.com

cheesewire Street food and cafés Unsung heroes fuel artisans’ sales

news & views from the cheese counter

HIDDEN GEMS FROM BRITISH PRODUCERS

BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

Artisan cheese-makers are receiving a significant boost to sales thanks to the rise of a new breed of specialist cheese cafés and street food traders. Several new cheesethemed businesses have opened in the past two years on the back of growing public interest in artisan cheese. These include London cheese toastie restaurants The Melt Room and Grill My Cheese, plus specialist cafés Homage to Fromage in Leeds, Champagne + Fromage with three sites in London and Cheese & Co in Liverpool, which opened last month. These have joined street food operators, such as The Cheese Truck, which trades from two converted ice cream trucks at markets and festivals. Mathew Carver, owner of the Cheese Truck, estimates he will buy around 15 tonnes of British artisan cheese from companies such as Keen’s, Rosary and

NORBURY BLUE In a nutshell: This raw cows’ milk blue is made near Dorking by Michaela and Iain Allam – the only cheese-makers in Surrey – using milk supplied by both her father and her son. It comes in 1.5kg and 3kg rounds and is matured for around 6-8 weeks. Street food operators like The Cheese Truck are buying large amounts of artisan cheese

Cropwell Bishop in 2016. Many artisan producers would not produce that amount in an entire year. Carver also plans to open two permanent sites in Deptford and Camden this year, called The Cheese Bar, serving dishes, such as mac n cheese, raclette and queso fundido, alongside craft beers and wines. “There are some

amazing cheese bars in the US that I’ve visited, such as Murray’s Bar in New York and Mission in San Francisco, and I think it will work here,” he said. “A few years ago, it might have been too niche, but I think that’s changed now.” Jamie Montgomery, owner of Montgomery’s in Somerset, which supplies Carver directly with

Ogleshield, welcomed the new trend. “I’ll get behind anyone with energy and excitement who is selling good cheese. People didn’t understand when Bill Oglethorpe [owner of Kappacasein Dairy in Bermondsey] started selling cheese toasties at Borough Market, but he’s still doing great business and so now are others.”

Yorkshire maker going soft

Great British Chefs launches online awards

Yorkshire-based Ribblesdale Cheese has moved into soft cheeses for the first time with the launch of three new goats’ milk products, which are proving popular with chefs. The company, which is based in Hawes, spent around nine months developing the new pasteurised cheeses after requests from customers. They include the 200g mould-ripened Valencay-style Jericho, a log-shaped version called Batty, and a 1kg semi-soft, washed curd cheese christened Sebastapol. “We’ve traditionally made hard cutting cheeses,” said Hill. “But people are also interested in smaller cheeses, which can be put on a cheeseboard or can be easily cut to use in recipes. We’ve had a good response from chefs.” The cheeses are listed by Michael Lee, Cheese Plus and Deli Fresh.

The organiser of the newly launched Great British Cheese Awards has said its online, “consumer-centric” approach will not clash with other more technical schemes, particularly the well-established and similarly named British Cheese Awards. Set up by food website Great British Chefs and crispbread-maker Peter’s Yard, the new awards will have 10 categories, including speciality cheese retailer, independent cheese producer and awards for different styles of cheese. “We think our awards are very different as they are consumer-centric and truly digital,” said Great British Chefs CEO Ollie Lloyd. “Unlike other cheese

awards, the Great British Cheese Awards is not about expert tastings at cheese shows. Our awards will bring together hundreds of thousands of online food lovers, industry experts, food writers and celebrity cheese fans to vote for their favourite artisanal cheeses.” Producers and retailers can enter directly and the public will also be encouraged to nominate, before the winners are announced in October. “Together Great British Chefs and Peter’s Yard have a social media reach of over 1.3 million and we want to utilise this platform to help promote British cheese talent,” Lloyd added. www.greatbritishcheeseawards. com

Flavour and texture: Fiery with a rash of blue veins, the cheese is not unlike Picos. Semi-soft with small holes and a mousse-like texture, it has a strong, peppery flavour with farmyard notes and a long finish. History: Former hairdresser Michaela set up the business in 2001 as a way of adding value to her father’s milk. The company also makes a cross between Caerphilly and brie called Dirty Vicar. Cheese Care: Shelf life is around four weeks after cutting. Cut faces should be covered tightly with cling film, but leave the natural rind exposed to enable the cheese to breathe. Perfect Partners: Great on a sweet Hovis biscuit and with a fruity sparkling white wine. Can also be matched with the zesty white Flint Valley from nearby Denbies vineyard. Where to buy: Harvey & Brockless www.norburyblue.co.uk FFD features a different ‘unsung hero’ from Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association members each month. To get involved, contact: patrick.mcguigan@gff.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

ced u d o r ly p , England d ou erset r P om S n

DEDICATED TO TASTE FOR OVER 25 YEARS Handmade exclusively from the milk produced by the ewes here on our farm. Available throughout the UK, also; North America, Europe and Asia.

• Super Gold 2013 World Cheese Awards • Best Modern British Cheese and Best Export Cheese at the British Cheese Awards • The James Aldridge Memorial Trophy • Excellence in Practical Farming; The Royal Agricultural Society of England.

info@berkswellcheese.com 01676 532203

www.berkswellcheese.com

in the dark about labels? T: 0116 264 5995 sales@advancelabels.co.uk

Blank & Pre-Printed Labels Stock Range of Food/Retail Labels Labelling Systems Thermal Ribbons Trade Enquiries Welcome Emergency Service Available

W: keenscheddar.co.uk T: 01963 32286 Available to buy online.

from £5.05/roll

from £6.00/roll

from £3.00/roll

from £5.95/roll

*Plain Label Special offers: 50x25mm £1.55/1000 75x50mm £3.85/1000 101x76mm £7.45/1000 *Standard 6” roll dia, 44mm core. Available to buy online.

T: 0116 264 5995

sales@advancelabels.co.uk

www.advancelabels.co.uk 18

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Bespoke digital labels from £49.00

cheesewire

blue cheese

Learn to be more vein When it comes selling blues, there will always be some go-to varieties but there are a lot of lessobvious cheeses retailers can stock. PATRICK McGUIGAN peruses the selection at The Cheese Plate in Herts and picks the “blue brain” of its owner.

here can’t be many cheese shops in the country that sell ‘stacked’ blue cheeses. In fact, there probably aren’t that many cheesemongers that actually know what a stacked blue is. For the uninitiated, these highly unusual cheeses are made by layering lumps of curd, which are sprinkled with blue penicillium spores, on top of each other. As the cheese matures, the blue mould grows in the cracks and crevices between the curds to create a marbled interior, completely different to the veins you see in spiked or pierced cheeses like Stilton. It’s testament to Toby Archer’s love of the blues that he stocks two different types of this rare style at his shop The Cheese Plate in the Hertfordshire village of Buntingford. These include a Swiss cheese (supplied by Jumi) called Mürgu, which is known as the “blue brain” because of its shape and colour, and a much larger Belgian cheese called Grevenbroecker from a cheesemaker called Catharinadal. “They’re good cheeses, but also something a bit different,” says Archer. “I love the way blue cheeses are all so spectacularly different. Our range goes from a strong crumbly cheese like Cabrales, which is a three-milk blend, through to something mild and creamy like Montagnolo Affiné. You just don’t get that in cheddar.” Of the 150-180 cheeses on the shop’s counter, around 35 are blue with other unusual options including La Peral from Asturias, the Italian drunken blue Rossini and a little-known raw cows’ milk cheese, called the Duke, made by the Cambridge Food Company to celebrate the marriage of Will and Kate (The Duchess was honoured with a washed rind cheese). The shop has also recently started selling Cropwell Bishop’s new Shropshire Blue-style Bassingfield Blue, made with animal rennet. Archer’s enthusiasm for veined cheeses translates directly into increased sales – blue cheeses are his best selling products, outstripping soft, goats’ and even cheddar. “I think that’s because we get people to taste it,” he says. “I have people coming in saying they can’t stand blue cheese but that’s because they are used to having dodgy

blues to choose Battlefield Blue This earthy, mushroomy individual cheese is cheese is named after the Battle of Bosworth Field where Lancashire defeated Yorkshire in 1485. Gooey when mature, this cheese is made by Jo and David Clarke, best known for their raw milk Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. www.leicestershirecheese.co.uk

Rosethorn Blue Two Hoots in Berkshire is renowned for its award-winning Barkham Blue, which is made with rich Channel Island milk. But they also make a blue using milk from Friesian cows. Lighter and less dense than Barkham, Rosethorn has a soft, creamy texture, gentle spiciness and mellow tang. www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk

The Cheese Plate has some 35 different blues on its books

Brindisa. “You should see people’s faces. They’re just amazed. It’s the sweet and the savoury and then a little bit of orange at the end. You think it’s not going to work, but it just does. “Then we get them on the dessert wine – a Spanish Moscatel, or the new iced cider from the Somerset Cider Brandy Company.” It’s no coincidence that Beuvale is one of the shop’s best sellers, along with super gooey Gorgonzola, Bassingfield Blue, Hebridean Blue and Rossini. The fact TOBY ARCHER, THE CHEESE PLATE that Stilton doesn’t make the top five shows just how he explains, so that he can direct effective The Cheese Plate’s tasting them to cheeses they don’t know policy can be. as well. It’s also an opportunity to “In our first Christmas we did suggest accompaniments. about 85 baby Stiltons. By the next One of his most successful year, customers had fallen in love combinations is a slice of Beauvale with Yorkshire Blue or Beauvale and – a creamy, Continental style blue so that was what they ordered at from Cropwell Bishop – on an Christmas instead.” orange-flavoured torta de aceite (sweet olive oil cracker) from www.thecheeseplate.co.uk Stilton when they were younger. There are some value blues out there in the supermarkets that are just not very good – harsh and metallic.” Rather than leaving a plate of tasters out for people to try, Archer always cuts directly from the cheese and offers over the counter. It’s a better way to start a conversation about someone’s likes and dislikes,

I have people coming in saying they can’t stand blue cheese but that’s because they are used to having dodgy Stilton when they were younger

Blue Stones Lowna Dairy on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds makes this pasteurised semi-soft blue with goats’ milk from its own

100-strong herd. It is smooth and firm when young, but becomes softer and creamier as it ages. Mellow, mild and slightly floral with bite from the blue at the end. www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk

Blue Cow This new pasteurised cows’ milk cheese from Stinking Bishop creator Charles Martell officially launches in May. A spoonable gorgonzola-style cheese, it has a squidgy, unctuous texture and mild, mellow tang. A sheep’s milk cheese called Blewe is also being trialled. www.charlesmartell.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

sweet, creamy and artisan Sample packs available with your first order Find out about stocking our cheese for your Deli or Farm Shop

SUPREME

CHAMPION 2010

Colston Bassett FFD Ad 100w x 141.5h 11/04/2016 12:24 Page 1

01579 362416

cornishcheese.co.uk

Anglia & Midlands Golden Fork East

Shropshire Blue

Stilton

Multi-Award Winning Cheese from a co-operative of farmers since 1913 www.colstonbassettdairy.com e: stilton@colstonbassettdairy.com | t: 01949 81322 : @colstonbassett | : colstonbassettdairy

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Great tasting British Cheese made the traditional way Cropwell Bishop is famous for its cheese, and we have been producing delicious Stilton for three generations from our village creamery. We handcraft our cheese the traditional way, using milk from carefully selected regional farms. Beauvale, the TOP 50 2015 winner at this year’s Great Taste awards is made from pasteurised cow’s milk and this blue cheese was applauded for its “creaminess and crumbliness without being curdy” Find out more about our range of cheese, and what makes it so tasty, at www.cropwellbishopstilton.co.uk Call us on 0115 989 2350 or follow us on twitter @YummyStilton

cut&dried

making more of british & continental charcuterie

Changes up the lane Now well-established in London’s restaurant and food market scene, Cobble Land Cured is seeking more retail stockists. ARABELLA MILEHAM speaks to co-founder Mat Atkinson about educating consumers, developing new lines and the perils of vac-packing.

Islington-based Cobble Lane Cured has improved its packaging as part of a new drive for more retail listings

shop online at a variety of local independents and receive their goods in one home delivery. Atkinson describes this as a hugely interesting and well-run concept that provides a great route to market while removing the “logistical headache” associated with running your own e-commerce operation. “It’s a great way of putting customers in touch with smaller shops and making it convenient for

“The beauty of supplying restaurants is that they know how to handle the products, but retail products need more information on pack about how to store, handle and use them,” he says. “Due to the nature of the products, people don’t know so much about it, especially whole products.” Pre-sliced product might get around this problem, but Atkinson says he is yet to ﬁnd best option

dried ham that can rival the best of Spanish Iberico. For a genuinely comparable product, Atkinson says a well-marbled pig is a key and the company is working with a rare breed farmer to develop an animal that will provide the best ham. Currently they are looking at around 75% Duroc, which gives succulence and marbling. “It is a very exciting project, and potentially gives us greater control from the beginning, but we are at a very early stage.” There is, he says, an emerging British style of charcuterie, even if it is still “tricky” to pinpoint exactly what that is – he likens it to English sparkling wine in that respect. “There isn’t a coherent or identiﬁable British style, but British charcuterie is different to Italian or French, even though we use seasonings, spices and herbs inspired by the Continent. “The process will be slightly different, the environment and the meat itself,” he adds. “And we’re not tied to a tradition in the way a French charcutier is. It’s a new strand of butchery and we pick and choose from the different traditions – which is a classically British characteristic.” www.cobblelanecured.com

The Cobble Lane team: (l-r) Adam Brudnowski, Matt Hill, Lucy Hill and Mat Atkinson

SIGNATIO

N OF

ORIGI

TECTED

MAT ATKINSON

O PR

We’re not tied to a tradition in the way a French charcutier is. We pick and choose from the different traditions – which is a classically British characteristic.

without compromising quality. “Vacuum-packaging can dry it out and squash the product which makes it more difficult to handle, and we don’t have the space for large equipment like modified atmosphere packaging,” he says. “So, we are still working on it.” Until then, education, sampling and recipe ideas are key and this is where the new Cobble Lane Cured website will come in. “The idea is to point people to our website, to find out about the products and how to use them,” he says. “We haven’t done as much as we need to and should do, to be honest, but it is one thing we will be doing more of. “Using charcuterie is a very costeffective way of boosting the flavour of a dish, while actually reducing the amount of meat itself.” And Atkinson says this is something UK consumers are increasingly finding out. He highlights the popularity of N’duja – its spreadable, soft fats making it incredibly versatile – while bresaola, coppa and spicy smoked kabanos are also attracting a lot of attention. “People are learning more about them all the time,” he adds. “There’s a huge amount of interest.” One product the Cobble Lane team is working on is a British air-

•

the customer,” he adds. Much of Cobble Lane’s output is sold into retail as whole salamis, which are sliced for the customer on the deli counter. Atkinson says keeping the product whole for as long as possible is the way to deliver the best quality – he is not a great fan of vac-packed slices – but it has has to be backed by better labelling to help both the retailer and the end customer.

•

fter meeting at Jamie Oliver’s barbecue steakhouse, Barbecoa, it is perhaps not surprising that the butchers behind Cobbled Lane Cured – Matt Hill, Mat Atkinson and Adam Brudnowski – built their business supplying London gastro-pubs and restaurants. However, with new customerfriendly branded packaging for their ﬁne Continental-style charcuterie in development and Hill’s wife Lucy now on board, the Islington-based producer is poised to boost its retail ambitions. It has also cut back on the number of London’s foodie markets it has been attending in preparation. “We were doing six or seven a week,” Atkinson tells FFD. “They were a good way to get our name out there, meet chefs, and pick up a lot of trade customers, but once you’ve created those relationships, you need to nurture them. And we’ve recently launched an online shop and started to supply Selfridges, Sourced Market and a couple of small London delis, so it’s an area we’re looking to move into.” The artisan business has also begun to supply Hubbub – the service that allows customers to

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

Award winning biscuits throughout our range

Sweet & savoury biscuits in both traditional recipes and those unique to McKenzieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biscuits baked to the highest standards. Now available throughout the UK and selected overseas markets Traditional butter biscuits and oatcakes. Our own UHFLSH KHUE Ă DYRXUHG VDYRXU\ ELVFXLWV LQ YDULRXV Ă DYRXUV LQFOXGLQJ WK\PH URVHPDU\ DQG EDVLO

GIFTS

Oatcakes

Stem Ginger Biscuits

mckenzie biscuits

Cheese Oatcakes

McKenzie quality biscuits A Scottish Tradition

01888 562459 | mckenzie-biscuits@smartone.co.uk

www. mckenzie-biscuits.com

Relish Â&#x160;

Ć&#x201D; the hawkshead rel i s h c o m p any Ć&#x201D;

Preserve a tasteful image...Just say Cheese!

FREE from additives, colourings, preservatives, nuts, gluten and suitable for vegetarians.

www.hawksheadrelish.com Ć&#x201D; 015394 36614 info@hawksheadrelish.com 22

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

making more of british & continental charcuterie

cut&dried

Getting it together Last month, specialist charcuterie wholesaler Cannon & Cannon and cheese supplier Paxton & Whitfield teamed up to demonstrate how cured meats and cheeses from Britain can be paired. Here are the results from the tasting session at Borough Market.

l Dorset Coppa with Ticklemore Both the coppa – pork neck fillet dry-cured by Capreolus with pepper, coriander, juniper and mace – and Devon-made goats’ cheese are subtle and herby so neither overpowers the other.

l Air-dried belly of pork and cave aged cheddar The sweetness of this air-dried belly from charcutier Native Breeds goes really well with the full flavour of the cheddar, matured for Paxton’s in the caves at Wookey Hole, Somerset.

l Cured leg of lamb and Cornish Blue The smokiness of Woodside Farm’s lamb needs a creamy, full-flavoured blue to stand up to it and Philip Stansfield’s Cornish Blue, made with traditional rennet, fits the bill.

l Seaweed & cider salami and Single Gloucester Richard and Fionagh Harding at Cornish Charcuterie are behind this uniquely flavoured, slightly salty salami, which goes well with Jonathan Crump’s creamy, buttery PDO Single Gloucester.

l Wild boar & caraway salami and Cerney The herby taste of this Native Breeds salami really complements the fresh, citrussy goat notes and mousse-like texture of the pyramid-shaped unpasteurised Cerney.

l Brawn and Gorwydd Caerphilly The fresh acidity and crumbly texture of this Caerphilly, made to a traditional Welsh recipe in North Somerset, provide the right backdrop for this complex pigs’ head salami cotto from Hugo Jeffreys (Blackhand Food).

l Blood, cocoa & red wine salami and Beauvale Trealy Farm’s combination of blood, dark chocolate and red wine makes for complex salami. Perfect for the creamy, slightly spicy Beauvale from Stilton-maker Cropwell Bishop.

l Air-dried Dorset loin and Windrush Capreolus’s loin resembles an air-dried ham and the melt-in-the-mouth wafer thin slices marry well with the sweetness of the fresh and mild goats’ milk cheese, made by Windrush Valley dairy in Oxfordshire.

l Pork & spiced Madeira salami and Spenwood Wigmore’s sweet, nutty sheep’s milk Spenwood helps to bring out the spiciness and the hint of Madeira in this Capreolus salami, inspired partly by the flavours of Calabria. Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

New Sweet Straws 4 flavours

THE TAST

E DESTIN

All Butter Organic Biscuits FROM THE ISLE OF MULL

ATION

A great alternative to traditional biscuits!

Featured flavour: APPLE & CINNAMON

Brought to you by the modern West Coast Bakery. Tel: 01851 702733 sales@stagbakeries www.stagbakeries.co.uk

www.islandbakery.co.uk

E 21 Y NG 15 I 0 2 T BRA1994 CELE

Discover Baking 'LVFRYHU WKH MR\V RI EDNLQJ ZLWK RXU DUWLVDQ EDNLQJ JLIWV DQG DZDUG ZLQQLQJ OX[XU\ EDNLQJ PL[HV

5% off a ll ÀUVW RUGH UV

www.bakeathomekits.co.uk May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

ESTABLISHED 1994

Hand-made Great Taste Award-winning oatcakes & biscuits contact kenmorebakery@hotmail.com or call 01887 830556 Also available from Ochil Foods www.ochilfoods.co.uk

bake@bakeathomekits.co.uk

ARS

• Oatcakes: 1-star 2008, 2011 2013 & 2015 • Millers Crunch: 1-star 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015 & 2-stars 2010 • Kenmore Shortbread: 1-star 2009, 2015 & 2-stars 2010 • 6KHLOD·V *LQJHUV: 1-star 2010 • Traditional Scottish Tablet: 1-star 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2-stars 2010

biscuits

product update

Cupboard love

products in brief

From cookies to crackers, LYNDA SEARBY munches her way through the latest biscuit innovations biscuit maker Prewett’s claims to have developed the first gluten-free version of the chocolate-coated biscuit bar. Like its mainstream rivals, Chocoful is positioned as a lunchbox snack, and comes in a multipack of individually wrapped bars. Also new from Prewett’s is an all-butter gluten-free cookie, available in dark chocolate & ginger and oat & raisin varieties (RRP £2.50 for 150g). Both ranges are carried by RH Amar. O Czech artisan bakery Pekarstvi Villa is keen to break into the UK market with its ‘festive biscuits’ made by hand from ‘honest’ ingredients and with generous fillings. New lines for 2016 include Jin-Jang Twin Flame – heart shaped butter biscuits with an orange marmalade filling (RRP £3.85 for a 110g box) – and Chia Crescents, made with chia seeds and hazelnuts (RRP £5.15 for a 160g box). O Since buying Taste of Yorkshire last year, former chef Keith Pollitt has taken the company in new directions, growing its stockist base to include Fodder, Fenwicks and Keelham Farm Shop, and creating a four-strong retail range of savoury biscuits. At launch, the line-up

Botham’s of Whitby has launched a trio of ‘morsels’ – miniature biscuits to accompany tea, coffee or desserts. The oatie, shortbread and ginger morsels have an RRP of £1.30 for a 150g pack.

O Gluten-free

www.botham.co.uk

Aberdeenshire biscuit manufacturer Dean’s has created a gluten-free version of its iconic shortbread. The Coeliac UK-certiﬁed shortbread comes in three varieties: all butter, choc chip and choc chip & stem ginger. RRP £2.79 for 150g.

www.deans.co.uk

NISI’s has launched three of its biscuit varieties in ﬂow-wrapped 30g twin packs, which it says are ideal for deli cafés. The three lines available in the new format are all-butter shortbread, currant garibaldi and dark chocolate all-butter oat biscuits.

Image on Food, known for its hand-decorated gingerbread and vanilla biscuits, is extending its gifting offering for kids, with new safari and nursery rhyme themed designs. The biscuits are individually wrapped in clear cellophane and have an RRP of £2.40. www.imageonfood.co.uk

consisted of three varieties of ‘cheesy nibbles’ and celery & black pepper oaten biscuits (wholesale price £1.80; RRP £2.95). Last month, the bakery added a new tandoori cheese ﬂavour and a multipack for the gifting market (RRP £4.75).

www.nisis.co.uk

Lanark-based Border Biscuits has introduced a 400g variety pack containing six varieties from the Classic range, and added a dark chocolate ginger variety to its mini packs range.

www.rhamar.com www.pekarstvivilla.cz/en/ www.tasteofyorkshire.uk

New to savoury biscuits… Highland Crackers

www.borderbiscuits.co.uk

Paxton & Whitﬁeld’s new Cracker Bakes are suitable for those on a gluten- or wheat-free diet. There are two varieties: multiseed & cracked black pepper, for hard cheeses, and apricot, date & sunﬂower seed, for blue cheeses.

Having perfected cordialmaking, Donna Peacock has branched out into seeded crackers and judging by the response, she’s cracked them too. Highland Crackers have already picked up two awards, been served with game terrine at the Scottish Rural Awards in March and established a loyal customer base across the Highlands. This month, with new packaging and a distribution agreement with The Cress Co in place, this newcomer

has UK-wide expansion in its sights. The appeal and

originality of the crackers lies in artisanal production methods and an emphasis

on Highlands and Islands ingredients. Beremeal ﬂour (an ancient grain harvested and milled in Orkney), Cullisse cold press rapeseed oil from Tain, Ross-shire, and Hebridean sea salt all feature. There are three sesame and linseed packed varieties – original, chilli and ‘original with no ingredients containing gluten or dairy’ – all with a wholesale price of £1.75 for a 100g box; RRP £2.55.

www.paxtonandwhitﬁeld. co.uk

www.highlandcordials.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

biscuits

product update

Showing that shortbread doesn’t have to be sweet, The Flavoured Shortbread Bakery has developed a new savoury range. The three varieties of shortbread rounds (cheddar, rosemary & chilli; Stilton, cranberry & walnut; and Parmigiano, ﬁg & tarragon) are available via Samways Fine Foods and have wholesale price of £3.25 per pack (RRP £4.95). www.theﬂavouredshortbreadbakery.com O The

traditional Spanish ‘ship’s biscuit’ has been updated with the addition of chia seeds, often touted as a superfood. Bakeries in Galicia have long made these dry biscuits to last during long voyages and now Brindisa is importing a chia seed variety of the olive oil biscuits from Daveiga, a bakery in the province of Lugo in Galicia. The biscuits have a twoyear shelf life. Wholesale price is £15.95 for 10 units; RRP £2.95 for 200g. O Black Forest Gateaux, mint choc chip, orange & lemon St Clement’s, banana & custard cookies, strawberry & Champagne, mixed berry, spiced cookies and

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

sherry triﬂe are the latest additions to Abbey Foods Northwest’s biscuit line-up. The Blackburn biscuit maker offers over 30 handmade biscuit varieties, available in retail trays, boxes, tubes and twin packs as well as loose boxed for wholesale.

looking for contemporary biscuits for gifting should check out Nila Holden’s 2016 allyear-round cookie collection, which features edible tea cups, birdhouses and daisy cookies. The Bedfordshire bakery, a specialist in decorative cookies and cakes, is a supplier to Fortnum & Mason and Not on the High Street. O Nairn’s is riding the super seed wave with two new on-trend oatcake varieties:

fruit & seed and super seeded organic oatcakes. Featuring brown flaxseed for flavour and fibre, fruit & seed oatcakes

are the first product in a new ‘on the go’ range. Super seeded oatcakes are said to be packed full of flaxseeds, chia seeds and sunflower seeds, providing a fibre boost and a protein fix (RRP £1.39). O After 78 years in business, third generation Dutch bakery Van Strien has made its foray into the UK market, represented by Wiltshire-based Healthier Foods Limited. Dutch shortbread, lemon cookies and butter romeos (RRP £2.09 for 140g) are among the bakery’s sweet offerings, whilst savoury lines include cheese palmiers and curry & cashew biscuits (RRP £2.69). The range is carried by Holleys Fine Foods, Infinity Wholesale, Queenswood, Suma and Tree of Life. O Kent-based gluten-free bakery Artisan Bread Organic (ABO) has introduced three new

tigernut cookies and a beer & seaweed cracker. The cookies are based on the root vegetable tigernut and sweetened with date syrup, which makes for a high ﬁbre, naturally sweetened cookie. The three varieties – gingersnap, carob chip and chocolate chip – have an RRP of £3.95 for a small pack (165-185g) or £7.98 for a large pack (370-400g). The use of organic gluten-free beer instead of water gives the beer & seaweed crackers shine and a bitter sweet ﬂavour that complements the paprika heat, says ABO. RRP £2.10 for a 40g can. www.brindisa.com www.abbeybiscuits.co.uk www.nilaholden.co.uk www.nairns-oatcakes.com gordon.leatherdale@ healthierfoodslimited.co.uk www.artisanbread-abo.com

O Retailers

Stag Bakeries has given the cheese straw a sweet twist, launching four fruit-based varieties that can be enjoyed with yoghurt and ice cream. Marketed under the Stornoway company’s West Coast brand, the hand-baked straws come in apple & cinnamon, blackberry & basil, raspberry & chocolate and sour cherry & vanilla ﬂavours. RRP £2.30 for an 80g box. www.stagbakeries.co.uk

Baked in small batches, using only matured authentic cheeses

OVEN

BAKED

We really enjoy good food! New nal artisa design

Goat's cheese crumbles

Cheddar biscuits

Gruyère biscuits

Sun dried tomato & cheese baguettes

Gouda & chive biscuits

A Family Bakery since 1958

At Buiteman we emphasize the importance of ingredients of the highest quality. Our biscuits are prepared in small batches, according to family recipes with love and attention for traditional craftsmanship. For our biscuits we source a selection of the best authentic cheeses available in Europe. There is no room for guessing (www.buiteman.com).

Full range available at T 01494 530200 | F 01494 472076 | E sales@rhamar.com

“The best biscuit for cheese out there” 2015 Great Taste Awards judges

In the 2015 Great Taste Awards, our original crispbread were - awarded the maximum 3 stars - judged to be in the top 50 brands out of 10,000 entries

www.petersyard.com Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

c yo u p i Handmade Oatmeal Oatcakes with Seeds

Handmade Bite-Sized Highlanders

Handmade Oatmeal Shortbread (Wheat Free)

Fife Mix Muesli

Award-winning, handmade oatcakes, shortbread and breakfast cereal

When we say “Handmade” this is what we mean:

Handmade in Fife, Scotland. Tel: 01738 622851 Email: contact@yourpiecebakingcompany.com

www.yourpiecebakingcompany.com

3 ( . $ ĕ 6 7 9 Ì 9 , / / $ ® Award-Winning Biscuits, Mr. Villa´s Festive Cookies – Vanilla Crescents: These attractive butter handmade crescent-shaped biscuits, generously dusted with icing sugar, are particularly popular during Christmas, but can be enjoyed year-round as a tea-time treat.

Your resistance will crumble.

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

We are looking for buyers and wholesalers.

way and as far as we’re concerned, it’s the only

For wholesale enquiries please contact: Katerina Villa, tel: +420 776 855 077 e-mail: pekarstvivilla@seznam.cz

way to ensure our baking tastes just as good as

www.pekarstvivilla.cz/en 28

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

my mother used to make.

Bill Dean

deans.co.uk

speciality oils

product update

Fat of the land

products in brief Mr Organic has added toasted sesame oil (250ml) to its portfolio of oils. RRP £3.79.

LYNDA SEARBY extracts the latest news from the world of speciality oils Greek food and wine importer Maltby & Greek has become exclusive distributor of extra virgin olive oil from the Agrilia Estate on the Cycladian island of Antiparos. The oil is made from Koroneiki olives, which are organically farmed, harvested and sorted by hand. A recently purchased ‘state of the art’ two-stage press has dramatically reduced ‘tree to bottle’ time. It is available in 750ml bottles (RRP £11.10) or 500ml tins (RRP £7.20).

New to speciality oils… Lavish Luxury Oil Co

www.mrorganic.com

quality extra virgin oil gives a smoother and more rounded ﬂavour than a normal olive oil or rapeseed oil,” he says. The chilli, basil, mint & lime and roasted thyme & lemon infused oils use herbs and ingredients that are hand-picked from local farms in Dorset and Somerset, and infused the very same day. So far, Lavish is stocked by 10 delis around Dorset and London. The oils have a wholesale price of £6.95; RRP £9.95 for 200ml.

Dorset start-up Lavish is looking to raise the bar in infused oils with a range that is stylishly packaged and based on extra virgin olive oil. Italian designed bottles set the tone, and a high quality extra virgin olive oil imported from a family-run olive grove in Andalucia ensures the contents live up to this promise, according to Darren Shaw, who launched the business in February. “I have been infusing for many years and use a unique process of coldinfusing over time and heat-treating the herbs for maximum ﬂavour. A very expensive high

Following the success of its infused rapeseed oils, Suffolkbased Scarlett & Mustard has launched an extra virgin cold pressed English rapeseed oil in 250ml (RRP £3.49) and 500ml (RRP £4.99) sizes.

www.scarlettandmustard. co.uk

www.lavishoils.com

Olive Branch’s 5l tins of single varietal Cretan EVOO are now sporting full branding. Wholesale price is

Retailers looking for an affordable oil with provenance should check out Murat du Carta’s Cypriot EVOO. The oil is produced to organic standards from Mehmat Murat’s family groves surrounding the village of Louroujina in central Cyprus. Murat has become renowed for selling the oil alongside electical wares at his hardware store in Clerkenwell, but also supplies a number of stockists in the London area, including Ben’s House. RRP £6.90 for 500ml and £11 for 1l.

Home-grown talent

£23.75 per tin. www.myolivebranch.co.uk

Cooks&CO, carried by RH Amar, has become the latest brand to tap into the popularity of coconut oil, with a product that has an RRP of £6.49 for 300ml.

www.maltbyandgreek.com www.mroliveoil.com

www.rhamar.com

A Cheshire family farm has become the latest entrant onto the rapeseed oil scene, marketing its oil under the Calvia brand. Carol and Paul Wain are the fourth generation to farm at Great Tidnock Farm, in Gawsworth, near Macclesﬁeld. 18 months

ago they decided to diversify and launched a cold pressed oil from rapeseed that is pollinated by the farm’s population of bees. Calvia oil, which picked up a star in last year’s Great Taste awards, is available in a 250ml bottle (wholesale price £25 for 12 bottles;

RRP £3.25), and a 5l container (wholesale price £18.50; RRP £25). It is currently listed with a small number of local outlets, including Cheshire Smokehouse, The Hollies Farm Shop, Whitmore & White and The Eighth Day. www.calvia-uk.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

speciality oils

product update Marmorelle has introduced a single estate oil, under the OTTIMO label, from fruit grown on the company’s estate in Puglia, Southern Italy. RRP £15.95 for 750ml. The company’s ZERO oil has just been awarded gold in the New York International Olive Oil Competition. O Villa Magra Grand Cru, Franoio Franci’s ﬂagship EVOO, has been named “Best of the World 2016” in the Monocultivar Expo olive oil competition.

The Sicilian Sicilian born coffee shop owner Giuliano Nocera has launched his family’s organic extra virgin olive oil into the UK. After moving to England to be with his girlfriend Jackie McGarry, he opened a small coffee shop, Giuliano’s of Sicily, in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Then, last year, the couple started importing the olive oil produced on his family’s farm in the Agrigento region of Sicily. The oil is made from biancolilla, nocellara and ogliarola olives that are cold pressed without the use of final separator to preserve the flavour and nutrients. The 2015 harvest yielded a profile that is described as “bitter and spicy, with hints of almond shelled, the aroma of freshly cut wild herbs, apple and tomato”. The oil is available in 0.5l and 1l glass bottles and 5l cans.

Sicilian producer Bonolio has created a new brand of extra virgin olive oil called BONO, which it is selling in a 500ml bottle (RRP £8.50). Boniolo has been producing Val di Mazar olive oil for three generations and is responsible for more than 75% of total production of the DOP oil.

Portuguese oil Acushla, distributed in the UK by A Portuguese Love Affair, has launched two new editions of its Trás-os-Montes extra virgin olive oil. Acushla Gold uses the best fruit

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

from Quinta do Prado’s centenarian olive grove (wholesale price £5.50; RRP £13 for 500ml), while Acushla Sport comes in a reusable sports water bottle format to reinforce the oil’s healthy credentials. Wholesale price £7.60; RRP £15.20 for 400ml. O To celebrate its ﬁfth birthday, Northern Ireland producer Broighter Gold has created a special edition rapeseed oil infused with 24-carat edible gold ﬂakes. Balancing a “slight buttery

taste and sweet pea flavour”, the opulent ‘Liquid Gold’ oil is said to be perfect as a finishing oil for salads or fish or a dipping oil for bread. Wholesale price £6.99; RRP £9.99 for 500ml. O South Devon rapeseed producer Bell and Loxton has teamed up with Jay Allan of Hillside Foods to create an Indian spice blend oil, said to be great for Indian cooking and as a rub or marinade for meats. Wholesale price £30 for 12 units; RRP £4.95 for 250ml. O Spanish food importer Brindisa has taken on a new Mallorcan EVOO. L’AMO Aubocassa is a 70/30 blend of arbequina and picual olives produced on the Aubocassa farm, a 12th century estate in the town of Manacor. Wholesale price £9.30; RRP £14.95 for 500ml.

Two years after the launch of its inaugural product, ZERO, Tenuta

www.acushla.com www.broightergold.com www.bellandloxton.co.uk www.brindisa.com www.tenutamarmorelle.com www.districtsoﬁtaly.co.uk

Caviar, but not as we know it Spanish producer Azada has encapsulated two of its flavoured olive oils in pearls which pop like caviar to give an explosion of flavour in the mouth. The vegetarianfriendly agar-agar capsules contain flavoured oils which are made by pressing arbequina olives together with basil leaves or lemons. This is said to produce a depth of flavour that is more stable than infused oil.

The basil and lemon ﬂavoured pearls launched last month in the UK with Delicioso, and both products have been entered into this year’s Great Taste awards. Delicioso is anticipating particular interest from restaurants and delis selling to amateur chefs. Wholesale price is £67.95 for a case of 8 jars; RRP £12.95-13.95 per 50g jar. www.delicioso.co.uk

INFUSED EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS 250ml from Wildly Delicious速

Divine Deli are pleased to present the brand NEW Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Wildly Delicious now with new labelling. The trusted old-world mechanical top remains untouched. Each oil has a low acidity that you come to expect from an extra virgin olive oil while possessing a light fruitiness that is suitable for layering on flavour. Naturally infused with no additives or preservatives.

BASIL 250ml

LEMON & SUNDRIED TOMATO 250ml

ROASTED GARLIC 250ml

ROSEMARY 250ml

CHILLI 250ml

EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE FROM

Divine Deli Supplies The Pavilions, Bridgefold Road, Rochdale OL11 5BY Tel: 01706 313001 Email: sales@divinedeli.com

www.divinedeli.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

Natural Rapeseed Oil Rapeseed Oil with Lemon

Just Oil is a fine culinary oil grown, harvested, cold pressed, filtered and bottled on our farm in Staffordshire. Half the saturated fat of Olive Oil. High in Omega 3. Drizzle, Fry, Roast, Bake, Dress. Rapeseed Oil with Chilli

Just Oil is also available in a range of infused oils and salad dressings. Full details are available on our website. For more information visit www.justoil.co.uk, call us on 01543 493081 or email us on enquiries@justoil.co.uk

Visit our website for more information

www.brockandmorten.com 07739 188111

en s ip se C’s on’ Tr As BB as od o on & M h F s rry iti Te t Br a re

Celebrating 10 years of Yorkshire’s ﬁnest cold pressed rapeseed oil A delicious range of infused English rapeseed oils & unrefined speciality oils

Just add food! Grown, pressed and bottled on our family farm in the beautiful county of Yorkshire using traditional farming methods. Wharfe Valley Rapeseed Oils has half the saturated fat and 10 times more Omega 3 than Olive oil. With its subtle nutty ﬂavour our oil is ideal for salad dressings, marinades as well as excellent for frying and roasting. Try our range of ﬂavoured oils, dressings and mayonnaises.

(also available in 100ml)

www.scarlettandmustard.co.uk 01937 572084

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

| sales@wharfevalleyfarms.co.uk

speciality oils

product update

products in brief

RIP on-tap extra virgin 18 months have passed since the on-tap EVOO trade was killed off in the UK. With the prospect of an appeal unlikely, FFD finds out what impact the ban has had on the deli sector. The dust has had a chance to settle on the 2014 RPA (Rural Payments Agency) ruling that pulled the plug on the sale of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) via on-tap systems. It was a move that appeared to come out of nowhere with little explanation, throwing the sector into turmoil and causing consternation to those businesses who rely on on-tap oils as a source of revenue. The Larder at Burwash Manor in Cambridge was one of those affected. This delicatessen was doing a healthy trade in Greek EVOO from Olive Branch dispensed via an in-store station where customers could refill their empty bottles. “For customers it was a really good deal – it was a few pounds cheaper than the equivalent size of bottled oil,” says Kathinka Horn, deli manager at Burwash Larder. “For us it was a nice sideline that created a bit of theatre and did well.” When the ban was implemented, with it went a hardcore group of customers who used to come in to refill their bottles. “They were not happy,” recalls Horn. “A lot of people were annoyed and angry.” Fortunately, Burwash Larder’s on-tap olive oil supplier, Olive Branch, was on top of the legislation and had a strategy for helping its retail clients make the transition from selling its oil on-tap to selling it in bottles. “We produced POS signage for shops to display to educate their customers about the change in legislation and our bottled olive oil coming from the same source,” said Kamil Shah, co-founder of Olive Branch. Burwash Larder says it ran down the last of its oil, with the POS signage

Spanish producer La Chinata has created a taster pack of ﬂavoured extra virgin olive oils for the gifting market (RRP £10.99). The set of 4 x 100ml bottles is available to the trade via the Gorgeous Food Company.

www. gorgeousfoodcompany. co.uk

Wicklow Rapeseed Oil has become the ﬁrst independent producer to launch an alternative to mainstream cooking sprays with Its ‘2 cal 1 spray’.

You may still see the traditional fusti dispensers on shop ﬂoors but they won’t be holding pure extra virgin olive oil after a change in the law. Flavoured oils can still be sold for customers to decant in-store

alongside the dispenser, and that the majority of its customers moved over to bottled oil. “We’ve since increased our range,” says Horn. “We’ve also found we’ve been approached by more producers, particularly of Greek and Cypriot oils. This could be linked to the ban.” She says the shop now has a wider range of “affordable” oils in the £812 price bracket, and with Iliada, Zaytoun and Olive Branch EVOO selling well, on-tap trade is a distant memory. “We felt the impact for a short time but in the long term it has been no hardship and space is at a premium so it was never going to be a case of replacing the EVOO decanter with an on-tap system for a different oil,” says Horn. There hasn’t been any

lasting impact for Anthony Rowcliffe & Son, either, despite being a major supplier of on-tap vinegars and oils, from Deli-cious, to independents. “Sales of on-tap oils are booming,” says chairman Tim Rowcliffe. “The biggest impact we felt was being lumbered with 5 litre tins we couldn’t sell.” He adds: “The only oil that you can’t now sell on tap is EVOO and that was not a market people were that interested in as it had been so well served by bottles for many years. We only sold two EVOOs and they were not as signiﬁcant as our infused oils and vinegars which we sell very successfully.” Rowcliffe also speculates that even though on-tap systems have been outlawed, some retailers are turning a blind eye. “Our company does

We produced POS signage for shops to display to educate their customers about the change in legislation and our bottled olive oil coming from the same source. KAMIL SHAH, OLIVE BRANCH

everything to the letter but I suspect there are people who are buying in 5 litre tins and decanting into smaller bottles, and they will probably get away with it because I shouldn’t think anyone is policing it. “I imagine if you asked most trading standards ofﬁcers whether they had caught anyone decanting olive oil recently, they would look at you as though you had two heads, simply because it’s not high on their list of concerns.”

wicklowrapeseedoil.ie

Spanish producer Olivar Del Carmen has introduced a new EVOO which blends picual and hojiblanca olives. The oil is said to be ideal for marinading and cooking at high temperatures. O

www.olivardelcarmen.es

Norfolk’s Yare Valley Oils has infused its rapeseed with other natural oils to create a garlic & rosemary oil and a natural lemon oil. RRP £3.95 for 250ml.

www. yarevalleyoils. co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

001 in 2 d e n d foun o Londo aly. t was It o d n e C ov her Oil t m u e I [WUD o v i r Ol RG H ia, S l afte R g J s u The r P QG yea e in ssed RW Âż I mi a few y hom OG Q X d R n F m I X UK a h that from KHQ \R the uc W se n i u m N l i F n o o %D ow ve o tâ&#x20AC;? s i l y n o e ed t i m n d ecid he for d virgi fe ingre t I i g g t â&#x20AC;&#x153;li or tin efore lon ket and my imp r B a w d . o e s M t n d star frien Borough there. I nd my a n m i d s o n l t r l f a an a sta grown taur n s e e r s p o a f ess h ion o ry. ct busin a select nt u rodu o ly ec nt p onno, e i c supp cross th n a his a er, N delis for t andfath family n o i e ve gr pass s lik e oli my My tree at th ss. rom e f v k i s l o o dne stem eated o till l e fon yIs tr a m o d a h o s w .T th bers t wi mem har ves ng duri co Man o l i n Da

020 7740 1717 Âˇ www.theoliveoilco.com

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

Manufacturers of insulated shipping boxe sa

nd ic

e pac

All products available from stock ks

â&#x20AC;˘ 100% recyclable environmentally friendly materials â&#x20AC;˘ Designed for all your cold chain requirements, mail order and carry home water/gel ice packs

â&#x20AC;˘ Bespoke packaging design service free of charge â&#x20AC;˘ Lighter weight for lower shipping costs Insulated boxes Insulated carrier bags

Keep it cool, keep it with Hyd ropa Buy online at www.hydropac.co.uk c! 34

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Tel: 01282 440040 Email: info@riggsautopack.co.uk www.riggsautopack.co.uk

beers & ciders

product update

Whose round is it anyway?

products in brief

MICHAEL LANE breaks out the opener to discover the latest bottles, and cans, in one of the UK’s most booming sectors Opened in west London late last year by Cambridge graduate Francis Smedley, Reunion Ales currently offers a trio of beers. Opening Gambit is a 3.8% ABV golden session ale while Frost Fair is a darker beer, made with

kilned malt and oats. Both come in cases of 12 x 500ml bottles (£21+VAT and £21.50+VAT respectively). It also produces a highly hopped 5%ABV Incredible Pale Ale (24x 330ml, £33+VAT). O Cottage Delight describes its newest chilli beer, Fiery Furnace, as “not for the faint hearted”. It comes in 750ml clip top bottles (RRP £8.95, trade £4.99) or within the

new Shockingly Chilli beers gift pack (£14.95 RRP, trade £8.34), also featuring Tongue Tingler and Heat Wave. Also in 750ml bottles is a honey beer Bee Keeper’s Brew and a 6.5% Traditional Strong Ale. O Counting the Spanish royal family among its fans, Oro from microbrewery Cerveza Mica is now available in the UK via specialist importer Delicioso. The unﬁltered 4.7% ABV pale ale is made in the Duero region of northern Spain using fresh barley and delivers a hit of fresh cereal on the palate with apple

and citrus overtones. It comes in cases of 24 (trade £39.95) and has an RRP of £2.99-£3.45 per bottle. O Despite winning a Golden Fork in Great Taste 2015, Apple County Cider is far from resting on its laurels with several new ciders about to hit the market, The single variety Yarlington Mill, a 6.5% sparkling medium-sweet

in 12 x 330ml bottles (£24.92) O Kentish producer Wise Owl Cider has racked up the awards in the past year for its slightly sparkling 6% bottled cider (500ml, RRP £2.99). Named Best

www.thornbridgebrewery. co.uk

As well as relaunching its The Rev. James Original, Brains has also developed Gold and Rye versions of the classic ale. All come in 500ml bottles and Orginal also comes in 440ml cans. O

www.sabrain.com

Saffron Brewery’s bottles have had a redesign and its winter beer Silent Night will now be known as Saffron Porter and available year round. The full range comes in cases of 12 x 500ml (trade £15.84+VAT).

cider with a wine-like flavour profile, will launch this summer in cases of 12 x 500ml bottles (£22.92). The Monmouthshirebased company will also be launching sparkling cider flavoured with raspberry juice. The 4% drink comes

Cider in the 2015 Taste of Kent Awards and a ﬁnalist in 2016, the cider is made from 8 different apple varieties, including Michelin, Dabinett and bittersweets. www.reunionales.com www.cottagedelight.co.uk www.delicioso.co.uk www.applecountycider.co.uk www.wiseowlcider.co.uk

How we stock it… HENRY MACKLEY, HARP LANE DELI, LUDLOW

“When we ﬁrst opened two years ago the ‘craft beer’ movement – although I’m not sure I like the term – had just kicked off,” says Mackley. “There are plenty

Named after The Eldon Hole in The Peak District, Thornbridge’s latest creation is an 8% imperial stout aged in Bourbon barrels. Eldon comes in cases of 12 x 330ml bottles (trade £22.62).

of shops in and around Ludlow that have got a range of proper local ales and I thought ‘Let’s do something different’.” Harp Lane offers a rotating cast of modern beers, primarily in cans. There are some, such as Beavertown’s Gamma Ray and Neck Oil, that have become fairly permanent ﬁxtures. “The artwork on the cans is really eye-catching, he says. “They look so good and also they ﬁt into our fridge nicely from a practical point fo view.” Since switching to Eebria, which is a smaller

supplier with low minimum orders, Mackley has been able to try out a wider range of craft beers without too much risk. Despite all this, it is the deli’s range of six local beers, from breweries including Hobsons and The Ludlow Brewing Co, that sells the best. Wood’s Shropshire Lad is the most popular. Ludlow’s proximity to the Three Counties, means there are also three ciders and a couple of perries on the shelf but these tend to sell better during the summer months. www.harplane.com

www.saffronbrewery.co.uk

LVB X is Little Valley Brewery’s take on a traditional barely wine (330ml, RRP £5.95). The 10% ABV ale is completely organic and suitable for vegans.

www.littlevalleybrewery.co.uk

Great Taste 2015 Small Artisan Producer of the Year, Savour Beer has added a 4.1% ABV pale ale, brewed using British malt and New Zealand hops, to its core range. Its saison has also been listed by Waitrose.

www. savourbeer.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

beers & ciders products in brief

product update

How we stock it…

CHRIS COLES, GREEN VALLEY CYDER BARN & ALE HOUSE AT DARTS FARM, DEVON

Ampleforth Abbey has a new 8% medium dry version of its Premium Cider, available in cases of 12 x 330ml bottles (£19.57)

www.ampleforth. org.uk

Small batch cider-maker Kentish Pip launches its lightly sparkling Skylark this month. Made with a blend of dessert and cider apple juice, the demisec cider comes in both 330ml bottles and kegs. O

Voted UK Independent Cider Retailer of the Year in both 2014 and 2016, Green Valley was never meant to become such a large operation, says co-founder Chris Coles. It now boasts

www.kentishpip.co.uk

Fowey Valley Cider’s 7.5% sparkling vintage Cornish cider takes nearly three years to get from tree to glass. Each 750ml bottle (trade £8, RRP £14) is produced using the methode traditionelle.

a range of 600, mainly bottled, products. Half of the 400 beers are from the West Country but the shop-within-ashop at Devon’s Darts Farm sources from all over the

country and the world. That said, the best-sellers are West Country varieties like Otter Ale, Branscombe Vale’s Summa That and St Austell’s Proper Job. While not many customers are speciﬁcally asking for ‘craft’, Coles says the shop is stocking some craft-style ranges from existing suppliers. However, gluten-free beer is more in demand than ever before, he says, and improving in quality. It may be slightly lower proﬁle than in previous years but Coles insists that cider is still thriving. “If you look at the sales stats for mainstream ciders, they have taken a hit,” says

Coles. “But I don’t think the artisan producer end has.” He adds that high juice content, keeving, and Champagne-style ciders are among a number of emerging styles in the industry and while he’s kept “well clear” of brands like Koppaberg, Coles says fruit ciders are also driving interest towards proper ciders. Green Valley carries nearly 200 ciders, from West Country makers – including the varieties it makes on site like Dragon Tears – through to a wide range from the Three Counties and even a few French varieties. www.greenvalleycyder.co.uk

Surrey’s Brightwater Brewery has launched four of its seven real ales in 500ml bottles (RRP £3.50) and is now seeking retail customers. The range consists of its ﬂagship golden ale

www.foweyvalleycider.co.uk

Sheppy’s Old Conky cider (5%, 500ml, RRP £2.19) was created to mark the Somerset company’s bicentenary this year and it has also launched a cider with elderﬂower (4%, 500ml, RRP £2.69). O

www.sheppyscider.com

The new season Normandy-style Cidre dé Jèrri (both medium and dry) is now available from Jersey producer La Robeline. 6 x 75cl bottles, trade £17.50.

is now selling them in 330ml bottles. The Ledbury producer has recently been award Protected Geographical Indications status by the EU, which allows is to call its product Herefordshire Cider with the legal blessing of the European Union. It has also teamed up with

perennial rockers Status Quo to produce a Down Down Cider to celebrate the band’s latest tour. Hawkshead Brewery has taken inspiration from experimental chefs for its latest brew – an unﬁltered imperial porter aged with South American Tonka beans

and cacao nibs. Tonka is an 8.5% ale that offers notes of chocolate, vanilla, coconut, almond and bitter cherry on the palate. Cases of 12x330ml bottles cost £24+VAT. The experimentation has not stopped there either, as the Cumbrian brewery has also created Chuckleberry Sour – a 3.5% Berliner Weisse aged on fresh chuckleberries. Cases cost £17.25+VAT. www.brightwaterbrewery.co.uk www.celticmarches.com www.hawksheadbrewery.co.uk

Daisy Gold (4%), the hoppy All Citra (4.3%), amber Top Notch (3.6%) and its oatmeal and vanilla porter Wild Orchid (4%). O Following the success of its Ruby Tuesday raspberry cider and Cracklin Rosie perry with the on-trade last summer, Celtic Marches

www.facebook.com/ larobelinecider

Lefevre cider is making its UK debut thanks to specialist French Flavour. It comes in cases of 24 x 330ml (£1.20+VAT per bottle).

www.frenchﬂavour.co.uk

Shropshire brewery Hobsons has gone “craft” with its new Hat Collection of three canned beers. The Skimmer (aka Straw Boater) is a 4.2% pale ale with a refreshing hoppy ﬁnish while The Stove Pipe (aka Top Hat) is a 4.3% stout. Completing the range is The Explorer (aka Pith Helmet), which is a 5.6% Indian Pale Ale boasting citrus and tropical fruit notes. Each beer is sold in cases of 24 units and the RRP is £2.29-£2.49 per 330ml can. www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

% or of d f qu er you w FF oti he r ﬁ D ng n rs 16 t

Keeping the skill of West Country cider making alive…

Our multi award-winning range of ciders cater for all tastes, from our proper strong Vintage Cider to our

Lyme Bay Winery :O\[L

Äaa` HUK YLMYLZOPUN Lyme Bay Sparkling Cider.

Axminster, Devon, EX13 7PW

0U V\Y =PU[HNL *PKLY ^HZ H^HYKLK H .YLH[ ;HZ[L :[HY HUK ^HZ SPZ[LK PU [OL .YLH[ ;HZ[L ;VW

MVVKZ ;OL Q\KNLZ ZHPK¯ º;OL HYVTH PZ NVVK Z[YVUN ^P[O H ILH\[PM\S YPJO JVSV\Y ( MYLZO JVTWSL_ ÅH]V\Y ^P[O H SHZ[PUN MY\P[` ÄUPZO ( UPJL ISLUK L_JLSSLU[S` IHSHUJLK ¶ H SV]LS` KYPURPUN L_WLYPLUJL»

e ZHSLZ'S`TLIH`^PULY` JV \R '3`TL)H`>PUL3[K 3`TL)H`>PULY` www.lymebaywinery.co.uk

0M `V\ ^V\SK SPRL [V ÄUK V\[ TVYL WSLHZL JHSS VY LTHPS VUL VM V\Y MYPLUKS` ZHSLZ [LHT VU 01297 551355 or sales@lymebaywinery.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

HEREFORDSHIRE CIDER BUTCHER’S BOY & ROUNDABOUT

CAT’S TONGUE

PREMIUM WILTSHIRE CIDER 01793 491070 | www.circlecider.com

from once upon a tree We’ve got a new look & some great new products. 100% fresh pressed apples & pears from our own orchards. No concentrates. No artificial sweeteners. Just award winning cider & perry.

made with integrity Haygrove Evolution Ltd, Dragon Orchard, Putley, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 2RG

t: 01531 670263 e: sally.booth@haygrove.co.uk twitter: @onceuponatree facebook: /OnceUponATreeCider www.onceuponatree.co.uk

Purple Moose Brewery Porthmadog

SIBA

REGIONAL WINNER 2012

REGIONAL WINNER 2013

PORTERS, STOUTS, OLD ALES & STRONG MILDS

BOT TLED SPECIALIT Y BEERS

Multi Award Winning Real Ales from North Wales Purple Moose Brewery Ltd Madog Street, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, LL49 9DB Tel: 01766 515 571 www.purplemoose.co.uk

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

@PurpleMooseBrew

Facebook.com/PurpleMooseBrewery

beers & ciders

product update

and ﬂavoured with fruit juice. Original Cranberry, Raspberry & Pomegranate and Strawberry & Kiwi (275ml, RRP £1.99) contain no added sugar and can be purchased in cases of 12 via wholesaler Shire Foods. O Farmer Fear Cider believes it has created the country’s ﬁrst ever herb-infused ciders. The Nottinghamshire business unveiled the basil, thyme, mint and rosemary ciders earlier this year at the Craft Beer Rising festival and says it received good feedback from buyers and the public.

One of the oldest agricultural families in Umbria, the Farchionis, are behind Mastri Birrai Umbri, which produces a range of raw beers using malts, grains and legumes from the local area. Among the range of topfermented, unpasteurised, unﬁltered beers is a 5% lager (19) and a 5.5% red beer (28). The brewery also produces two double unﬁltered beers. The strong 75 – a blonde made with pure barley malt – clocks in at 7.5% ABV but offers a balance between malty sweetness and hop bitterness while 42 is dark beer made with roasted malt and Umbrian lentils. All four of these beers are available in the UK via importer Alivini.

Ty Gwyn Cider has gained a listing with specialist drinks distributor The Craft Drink Co. Based on the Welsh border between Hereford and Abergavenny, the producer makes all of its

cider from 100% juice and ferments it for a minimum of six months. Notable restaurant listings include the Michelinstarred Harrow at Little Bedwyn in Wiltshire and the

A style that originated on the farms of Belgium is now being made on a farm in North Wales. Bluestone Brewing Co has named its moderately tart 6.5% saison ale Pierre Bleu. 18 x 330ml bottles, £26.15+VAT.

www.bluestonebrewing.co.uk

Treboom Brewery in York is launching two limited edition beers in 750ml bottles (RRP £6.50). Maillot Blanc (4.8% ABV) is a relaunch of its Yorkshire Saison

www.alivini.com

products in brief

multi award winning The Hardwick, Monmouthshire. O Cranes is a new 4% low calorie alcoholic fruit cider that is brewed from crushed cranberries

www.tygwyncider.co.uk www.drinkcranes.co.uk www.farmerfear.co.uk

while Avant Garde (6.0% ABV) is brewed in the style of an ambree French farmhouse beer. www.treboom.co.uk

The “refreshingly crisp” Orkney Gold (cases of 24 x 330ml) is the newest bottled beer from the Orkney Brewery. Its lemon, mandarin and apricot ﬂavours work well with seafood and pasta.

www.orkneybrewery.co.uk

The state beer’s in

Pete’s top tipples:

PETE BROWN, BEER WRITER AND EXPERT

There’s no way to discuss British beer today without using the word ‘craft’ but not everyone sees it as a positive. It’s fair to say that Pete Brown is in favour of it, though. “It’s the greatest movement in favour of beer during my lifetime,” he tells FFD, citing the rapid increase in breweries over the last 15 years. “It’s doing great things but it doesn’t have a proper technical deﬁnition and that really annoys people, especially

those who have grown up with real ale. “I don’t have a problem that it’s loose. People know what it is when they see it.” Most people’s journeys into the world of craft begin with American-style hoppy pale ales bursting with tropical fruit and citrus ﬂavours, which Brown says have a “dramatic effect” on those tasting it for the ﬁrst time. “As their palate matures, people explore different styles,” he says. “That goes for both drinkers and brewers.” These next stages tend to be extreme – strong

imperial stouts, spicy saisons and sour beers – but Brown says that more subtle styles could be about to emerge from the craft scene. “My big prediction for this year is craft lager. From a brewing point of view, there’s nowhere to hide your faults so anything wrong is going to show up. It’s the next challenge for brewers.” Brown adds that malty darker brews and lower strength beers could also make a comeback, particularly if a hop shortage, that some in the industry are predicting, comes to pass. www.petebrown.blogspot.co.uk

Beavertown Bloody ‘Ell “This takes IPAs a step further by boosting the citrusy notes from the hops with actual citrus, in this case blood orange juice.” Thornbridge Tzara “It’s a Kölner-style beer. Technically an ale that’s brewed like a lager. This one has even impressed brewers in Cologne.” Waen Brewery Snowball “A stout made with chocolate, vanilla and coconut. Waen also makes a chilli plum porter.”

Hiver has created a Honey Ale to join its original Honey Beer. Made with raw blossom and heather honeys, the brown ale comes in 330ml bottles (RRP £2.50-£2.99). O

www.hiverbeers.com

New for 2016 at Baytown Beers & Spirits is a 4.4% ruby ale named Whitby Heritage and the 3.8% pale ale Press Gang’s Arrival. Both come in cases of 8 x 500ml bottles.

www.baytownrhb.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

clearly we can

An Award Winning Slightly Sparkling Cider Made From 100% Kentish Apple Juice, That We Mill & Press Ourselves

www.wiseowlcider.co.uk 路 wiseowlcider@gmail.com 路 01233 850664

CIDER MADE IN TUNE WITH TR ADITION Unlike many cider makers, we use 100% juice from locally grown apples (which we press ourselves) and allow a long period of natural fermentation. Our ciders are available in bottles, gift packs and bagin-boxes. Call 01981 241181 or email alex@TyGwynCider.co.uk

Ty Gwyn Cider Limited, Pen-Y-Lan Farm, Pontrilas HR2 0DL www.TyGwynCider.co.uk

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

shelf talk Chase targets healthy eaters with Fit Corn packs, promotions, people

What's new...

Lavazza has developed a new ¡Tierra! Origins range of coffee blends for foodservice. The two Brazilian espresso blends –100% Arabica and 70% Arabica, 30% Robusta – come in 1kg bags of whole beans. They are joined by two 100% Arabica ﬁlter blends – Brazil and Tanzania – in 1kg bags of beans or ground in 1kg, 226.8g and 64g. www.lavazza.co.uk

Fit Corn is the ﬁrst range under the new Willy Chase’s brand of healthy foods By ARABELLA MILEHAM

William Chase – the man behind Tyrrell’s crisps and the Chase Distillery – has set his sights on the healthy living market with the launch of a new brand, spearheaded by a range of low-calorie popcorns. The Willy Chase’s Naturally Fit Food brand is inﬂuenced by American consumers’ move towards non-fried snacks and onthe-go products that are low in carbs, sugar and salt – a trend Chase said is set to

explode in the UK. The seven-strong Fit Corn range of air-popped “grown-up” popcorn comprises goats’ cheese, red onion & thyme, salted honey, smoky Bloody Mary, cacao & coconut, Nearly Naked and Cider Vinegar with The Mother. Chase told FFD that this was not a mass-market product and he would not be dealing with the multiples. All of these varieties are available exclusively to independents

in 20g bags (RRP from 99p). “I don’t see myself going back into snacks – it is about a ﬁt, healthy eating brand,” he said. “Next up is a cereal bar using popcorn as a base and medjool dates for on-the-go eating. More and more people are eating on the go, taking snacks that are low in carbs and sat fats – food that is guilt-free. Although Chase acknowledged the growth in popcorn in recent years he said that his brand’s provenance and healthy

credentials prevent it from being a “me too” range. The company has increased production of corn on Chase’s Herefordshire farm to use in the on-site factory. It is also blending its own seasonings and using the farm’s cider vinegar. “Having a genuine, real pedigree is our USP,” he said. “We’re in an age where people can build a brand and outsource it, putting a twee tale on it and selling it on the strength of low-carb.”

Chutney is a blend of apple, dates and onion that are marinated rather than cooked. The new fresh beetroot & horseradish chutney is recommended as an accompaniment for rabbit terrine while the spicy tomato chutney offers a ﬁery kick. New Alliance has also added two new sparkling pressés from sister brand Fior Fruit Merchants. Both the natural ginger beer and raspberry lemonade, made with real raspberry juice, come in 330ml bottles (trade 85p). They have been developed for cafés in independent farm shops and food halls. www.newallianceltd.co.uk

www.munehealth.co.uk

www.willychases.co.uk

Flower & White is launching glutenfree filled muffins, available from Blakemore Fine Foods now. There are three ambient and six frozen flavours, including white chocolate & raspberry, salted caramel, triple chocolate, lemon curd, blueberry and coffee caramel.

Chutneys and pressés added to the New Alliance line-up Scottish producer and distributor New Alliance has launched three new chutneys and two drinks for the independent and ﬁne food sector. The chutneys (trade £2.45 per jar) have been developed by small batch Fife Jamming Co, which uses locally grown soft fruit. Winter Fruit

Nurture Fruity Water+ is a new health drink range aimed at young children. Both cherry & strawberry and orange & pineapple contain nutrients to boost immunity and lower naturally occurring sugars. They come in cases of 12x200ml pouches (RRP 99p-£1.49 each) and multipacks (£2.99).

www.ﬂowerandwhite.co.uk

A marriage from God’s Own Country Two native producers have teamed up to create a new accompaniment for Yorkshire’s most iconic cheese. Yorkshire Wensleydale Chutney (RRP £3.40, 198g) has been developed by Rosebud Preserves with the help of The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. The 50% Bramley apple preserve also features sultanas and spices, replicating the classic pairing of the cheese with fruit cake. www.rosebudpreserves.co.uk www.wensleydale.co.uk

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

Halo Coco has created a pinacolada-style coconut milk & pineapple flavour and a coconut & vanilla flavour milkshake in 330ml re-sealable tetra packs (RRP £2.29). Chocolate and coconut & banana flavours are in development. www.halococo.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

shelf talk what’s new... Edible insect brand Eat Grub is launching energy bars made using cricket ﬂour, available from June. The protein-rich dairy-free bars come in coconut & cacao and cranberry & orange ﬂavour. The company, which started as a pop-up in 2012 and sells its freeze-dried insect range through Planet Organic, raised £10k through Kickstarter in November to fund production of the new range.

packs, promotions, people

Chef’s selection FOOD WRITER CLARE HARGREAVES INTERVIEWS TOP BRITISH CHEFS ABOUT THEIR FAVOURITE STORECUPBOARD PRODUCTS

Mark & Sue Stinchcombe Eckington Manor, Worcestershire www.eckingtonmanor.co.uk

Sue trained at Worcester College and Wood Norton Hall before working at Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road and at Belle House in Pershore. She later worked at Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham, where she met Mark. Mark cut his culinary teeth at Royal Crescent in Bath, before moving on to Ston Easton Park in Somerset, Driftwood in Cornwall, and Le Champignon Sauvage. He also worked training stages at Fat Duck, The Square and Le Manoir. Last year, he was crowned winner of MasterChef: The Professionals.

www.eatgrub.co.uk

A French sommelier and sake enthusiast has teamed up with a millionaire philanthropist to create a Japanese-inspired yuzu liqueur. Enamor, which has been stocked by Selfridges’ wine department, is described as a combination of “startling sweetsharpness”, with grapefruit and bergamot notes. It was developed by Xavier Chapelou of Isake International with backing from steel heiress Seemia Lohia. www.parvafarm.com.

Belvoir Fruit Farms has launched a cucumber & mint pressé in both 75cl and 25cl bottles. Made with Kentish cucumbers, the lightly sparkling drink is actually a revamped version of the producer’s discontinued Summer Cooler, which was developed in 2010. It is also recommended as a mixer with gin or Pimm’s.

Cotswold Gold smoked extra virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil Mark: Cotswold Gold founder Charlie Beldam got the idea for this smoked oil after visiting Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume restaurant in Cumbria, and I love it. I really like Cotswold Gold oils as the ﬂavour is clean and delicious, without being overpowering. We use it as a ﬁnishing oil on starters and we also use the rapeseed oil in our roast lemon purée & seabass dish which is so popular that we can’t take it off the menu. www.cotswoldgold.co.uk

www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk

Rude Health’s latest cereal line is aimed at children, aged between two and 10 years old. Organic Honey Spelt Puffs (175g, RRP £2.85) contain just two ingredients – spelt and honey – and are said to be sweet enough to keep children happy and nutritious enough to put healthconscious parents at ease. www.rudehealth.com

Potts Partnership has moved into foodservice with 14 ambient sauces in 1-litre tubs, following demand from small premium chains and independent kitchens. The line-up includes British ﬂavours like sauce for ﬁsh pie or chicken casserole, as well as Continental varieties (béchamel, mornay, Provençal and Hollandaise), table sauces and three classic steak accompaniments. Cases of 6 units cost £36. www.pottspartnership.co.uk

UE Coffee Roasters’ Colombia Cundinamarca Sue: Nick Bennett, who was one of the MasterChef finalists, introduced us to this coffee, which claims to be the UK’s first and only artisan wood roasted coffee. The roastery uses top-quality Arabica beans and roasts them over English oak from local, sustainably managed forests. The wood roasting makes a big difference to the flavour. I like the Colombian because of its smooth rich flavour, and we use this at home too. www.uecoffeeroasters.com

Jeeves & Jericho Blackcurrant Pop tea Sue: This company is a sister business of UE Coffee. This tea smells like it tastes, which is a rare thing with fruit infusions, and it’s great served hot or cold. The tart and intense ﬂavours of blackcurrants and raisins are blended with elderberries, candied pineapple chunks and hibiscus blossoms. Their Girlie Grey tea is nice too, and we sometimes blend the Christmas spice tea with red wine to make a spicy syrup in the kitchen. www.jeevesandjericho.com

Maple vinegar Mark: Quebec’s wonderful maple sap is turned into many different products, not just syrup. One I really love is We Love Maple’s maple vinegar. I was sent samples after I cooked maple-glazed chicken wings in the critics’ round of MasterChef. It’s syrupy, with sharp notes, yet not too sugary. We use it in our cooking to cut the sweetness, but the good thing about it is that it doesn’t overpower foods it’s used with. We have also used it on a scallop and cauliﬂower dish. www.welovemaple.co.uk / www.cabanedupicbois.com

Fresh As beetroot powder Sue: We discovered Fresh As’s freeze-dried products when we were travelling in New Zealand, which is where their factory is. We saw their products in all the shops, and consumers can now buy them here too. They freeze-dry pretty much anything – from fruits to vegetables and herbs – and chefs are going mad for them. We use the beetroot powder in a dish with goats’ curd, bresaola and roasted and raw beetroot. www.fresh-as.com / www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

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

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

Experience the very best of food and drink at Harrogate Fine Food Show. Packed full of new ideas, the show combines ﬁrst-time as well as long-standing ﬁne food & drink exhibitors. You will meet new producers and taste products that will have never been seen before at a trade show. Come and discover food and drink that will make your shop, restaurant, café or pub a place your customers will want to return to again and again. Learn from the experts – maximise

Educate – ﬁnd out more about deli training

Award-winners uncovered

proﬁts and discover key industry trends

courses for you and your staff

– discover Great Taste and Editor’s Choice

Helpful resources – talk to the Guild of Fine

FineFoodLive! Theatre – take part

Feed the Dragon – present your

Food and pick up useful publications and tips

in tastings, workshops and meet face to face with key industry ﬁgures Stay connected – learn how to use social media to grow your business

products & services directly to key industry buyers Christmas is coming – learn how to maximise sales at the Cracking Christmas workshop

New product innovations – touch and taste the latest new products on the market Try before you buy – speak to producers, learn more about the foods you stock

www.gff.co.uk |

@guildofﬁnefood #harrogateffs #ISpyGreatTaste

Kentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kitchen stockpots make winter cooking easier and tastier.

Visit www.kentskitchen.co.uk, email emma@kentskitchen.co.uk or call 07966 888240

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Fo se r st e w oc eb kist sit s e

The stockpot range includes beef, chicken and vegetable that all add a great depth of ďŹ&#x201A;avour to home-made dishes. Just pop these clever gel stocks straight into soups, stews or casseroles or dissolve in water to add to risottos. All stockpots are GLUTEN FREE!

shelf talk

packs, promotions, people

Topping Pies lifts lid on new brand

what’s new... Now in its 12th year of production, Passion Preserves has released a limited edition lemon trufﬂe marmalade (lemon, white chocolate & ginger) to mark the milestone. The Welsh company has also switched to round jars with gingham lids after customer feedback highlighted the difﬁculties of extracting the last bits of jam from hexagonal jars. www.chefontherunfoods.co.uk

The Topping Pie Co’s new Maggie’s range features seven different grab-and-go lines BY MICHAEL LANE

The Topping Pie Company has created a ‘deli to go’ range of pies for its independent retail customers under its new Maggie’s sub brand. The Yorkshire bakery said the seven-strong lineup, made using Red Tractor pork local ingredients, would cater for the full spectrum of speciality retailers “from forecourt to farm shop”. As well as chilli pork pie, Traditional and Family pork pies (all 190g), the range also features Huntsman

and Yorkshire Farmers’ half pork pies (210g) and two varieties of quiche – cheese & onion and quiche Lorraine. All come ﬂow-wrapped with brightly coloured sleeves. The new brand is named after Maggie Topping, whose family recipes are the cornerstone of the Doncaster-based pie business. “As farm shops, independent delis and speciality retailers become ever more competitive, they are looking for quality products that give food-

to-go counters a real point of difference,” said sales director Matthew Topping. “We believe our new Maggie’s range will appeal to foodies looking for a wholesome, homemade snack or lunch on the go and with our brightly coloured packaging, will catch the eye of customers.” The Topping Pie Company has also unveiled new colour-coded boxes for its speciality pork pie range, featuring the bakery’s new logo and a window panel.

Organic, suitable for vegans and sugar-free, the bar is said to have an earthy and smooth taste, rather than the bitterness associated with dark chocolates. Each 100g bar has an RRP of £3.99. “We take our customers’ suggestions very seriously and there have been more and more calls for our darker chocolate ranges recently,” said Montezuma’s cofounder Helen Pattinson. “Developing a 100% cocoa bar is a careful balancing act, and we took time to get the ﬂavour right. “We are delighted with its taste and texture, which we are sure will appeal to real chocolate enthusiasts.” www.montezumas.co.uk

www.radnorhills.co.uk

Made in East Anglia from Norfolk barley, Wild Knight Vodka is one of the latest British artisan spirits to hit the market. The 40% ABV spirit comes in 70cl bottles (RRP £45) and is described as “liquid silk” thanks to its smooth ﬁnish. It is also suitable for gluten-free diets. www.wildknightvodka.co.uk

www.toppingspies.co.uk

Montezuma’s goes as dark as possible with 100% cocoa bar Montezuma’s has launched its ﬁrst 100% cocoa bar – Absolute Black – following the popularity of its other dark chocolate bars.

Mineral water company Radnor Hills has developed an ambient still fruit juice range. The Fruella roster includes 100% apple and 100% orange juices as well as cranberry & raspberry, orange & carrot, apple & blueberry and tropical blends. The whole range is free from preservatives, additives and added sugar, and comes in 400ml PET bottles.

T Plus launches with vitaminenriched green tea range

Blackacre adds goose eggs Somerset freerange egg producer, Blackacre Farm Eggs, has expanded its Free Collection with the Dabbling Free goose eggs. Available to independents UK-wide, the eggs come in a twin-pack cardboard shed (RRP £9.99). They join Rambling Free hens’, Waddling Free ducks’ and Foraging Free quails’ eggs. www.blackacrefarmeggs.com

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

T Plus Drinks claims to have created the UK’s first range of vitamin-enriched green tea, which is aimed at boosting the health of consumers with hectic lifestyles. Available from wholesalers Marigold and Tree of Life in boxes of 15 tea bags (RRP £3.69), each of the four blends has a different purpose. The raspberry and pomegranate flavoured t + boost is designed to energise through its combination of green tea, yerba mate, ginseng and energy releasing B vitamins in a natural raspberry & pomegranate flavoured tea. There are also the orange & blueberry t + immunitea (green tea,

echinacea, ginseng and vitamin C) and the apple & blackcurrant t + detox (green tea, milk thistle, ginger root and B vitamins). Completing the range is t + multea, a lemon & peach ﬂavoured blend of green tea, rosemary, cardamom, spearmint and with 9 daily essential vitamins. T Plus donates 10p from the sale of every box to the Vitamin Angels charity, which provides vitamins to at-risk children and new mothers around the world. www.tplusdrinks.com

Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

shelf talk

The top of the Trees Nearly 30 years after start-up and 15 years after the NFU named it Britain’s best farm shop, Sally and Robert Bendall’s Hollow Trees business has topped the FARMA awards too

f, as the wise man sayeth, adversity is a great teacher, the farming industry should be awash with learned folk Some suffer more adversity than others, or course. But a short time in the company of Sally Bendall, co-owner, with husband Robert, of Hollow Trees farm shop in Suffolk, shows the couple are still wisely applying the hard lessons of a neardisastrous start in farming – almost three decades after the event. Both were brought up on the land. Sally was a dairy farmer’s daughter, while Robert’s grandfather had taken on the couple’s present farm at Semer in Suffolk – about 12 miles west of Ipswich, and now home to Hollow Trees farm shop – between the two world wars. In the 1980s, after advertising in the East Anglian Daily Times (“Young couple seek agricultural opportunity") the Bendalls took on

May 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 4

Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICK WHITWORTH

a 12-acre smallholding in Ipswich, producing veg and eggs that Sally delivered to the town’s greengrocers each morning en route to her day job. They soon branched into veal calves (loose-housed, Sally points out, never crated) and asked Robert’s father if they could rent 10 of his 140 acres at Semer to expand production, moving back to live on the farm in 1986. They invested in two new calf sheds, and all went swimmingly – until the bottom dropped out of the veal market.

The immediate outcome was near-bankruptcy, redundancy for one of their workers and a total withdrawal from veal production. Longer term, though, it also bred a determination to invest out of profits, not from heavy borrowings, and a pin-sharp focus on profitability and cash flow. Today’s multi-award winning farm shop is itself a legacy of their earlier woes. “At the time,” says Sally, when I visit the store on a Friday in early April, “the only thing working for us was our roadside cart, where we sold potatoes and eggs, so I asked Robert if I could have a proper hut for Christmas, and it just evolved from there.” If it was necessity that made the Bendalls start their shop, they are now among the most respected operators in the trade UK-wide, blending professionalism and sharp retail and people management

skills with a genuine emphasis on education and community involvement. This includes school and playgroup visits, farm tours, hosting Brownies, Cubs and Guides and opening up to the WI and other community groups. Pitched very much as a family destination, Hollow Trees is now turning over just over £2m annually, from a well-balanced offer that includes a coffee shop and inhouse butcher. Just over a tenth of total revenue comes from entry fees to a farm trail (£2.50, with free admission for toddlers and babies). It’s a high-margin element of turnover that also helps Hollow Trees draw well over 200,000 visitors a year. “I know it’s a bit of a cliché to have a mission statement,” Sally tells me, “but ours is to ‘allow access to agriculture for all through fantastic

deli of the month vital statistics Location: Semer, Suffolk Floor space: 4,000 sq ft Employees: 55-60 (including 32 full-time) Turnover: Just over £2m Gross margins: Overall: 46% Deli & chilled: 31% Coffee shop: 73%

must-stocks

l Farmer

Bill’s vanilla ice cream (Hadley's Essex) l Suffolk Gold cheeses l Tracklements full range l field fare frozen croissants l Marybelle milk l Hollow Trees cook-in-the-tin meals l Hollow Trees goat meat (diced, chopped and whole leg) l Inverawe smoked salmon l Suffolk Honey l Aspall’s vinegar range l Mauldon beers (Sudbury) l Chapman’s classic fish & parsley fish cakes

Sally Bendall was the first woman to chair farm retail body Farma and was named Local Food Farmer of the Year in 2015 by Farmer’s Weekly

food, adventure, education and employment’. So whatever we do, we ask: ‘Does it fit with that? And if it doesn’t, why are we doing it?’” Since the earliest days of the roadside cart, the Semer farm’s own produce has been core to the business. The Bendalls still farm 140 acres, including around 50 acres of arable. Almost everything produced on the farm is sold in the shop except for cereals, which go to Essex miller Marriages. But there’s even a neat circularity about that, since Marriages’ flour is used in the café kitchen and its retail packs are among the farm shop’s must-stocks. Vegetables are largely Semergrown, although they can be “a nightmare” out of season. “I did read the other day about a farm shop that had stopped doing veg,” Sally says. “It’s not for the fainthearted but it’s what we’ve always been known for.

“We’re on heavy clay, so we mainly grow brassicas – sprouts, cabbages and so on – and once they’ve all gone we have a barren patch until mid-June. We’ve been fortunate to find a young 23-yearold girl to run the veg section – someone who’s really interested in it – but she has struggled a bit recently because it has been such a tough year with the floods and the shortages.” We’ve all seen shops let down by tired-looking fruit and veg, but

that it balances out across the whole 12 months.” Fresh veg takes only a part of the Semer farm’s acreage. “We have quite a bit of grass,” says Sally, “because we rear our own beef, pork, lamb and goats. “And, ironically, we’ve started producing rosé veal again. When we started 35 years ago it still had that ‘crated veal’ stigma, even though we’ve never used crates. But people are more comfortable with it now.” The shop has always sold frozen meat, but the Bendalls put in their own fresh butchery three or four years ago, and this is now the shop’s single biggest department, accounting for 19% of sales. The fine counter display includes added-value lines like stuffed pork rack roasts and ginger, lemon & chilli chicken

The only thing working for us was our roadside cart, where we sold potatoes and eggs Sally says: “You’ve just got to be brave and, if in doubt, throw it out. We all know the margins on veg at this time of year will be minimal, but we grow so much of our own stuff

breasts, all prepared in-house. “The butchers keep asking me for a bigger counter,” says Sally. “They’d like double the space, and I might let them have it one day. But a small counter means they have to keep replenishing it, and that helps keep it fresh.” Her priority for now is to extend the production kitchen that is tucked behind the butchery. “We’re trying to grow the production section of the business – stuff we’ve made ourselves. That’s becoming a big thing in any farm shop, but it’s particularly important for us because we can grow so many of our own ingredients. “We buy in the chicken for the butchers, but 90% of the time it’s our own beef, pork, lamb and veal. Anything you eat in our coffee shop will be our own, the sliced meat in our deli is our own, and we’re producing our own pork pies now, Vol.17 Issue 4 | May 2016

“You want to see and taste perfection?

DUNNET BAY DISTILLERY Hand Crafted Scottish Spirits

Here it is, Pandora Bell is of a standard no one in Ireland has ever achieved...” Source: The Bridgestone Irish Food Guide

We are Dunnet Bay Distillers. Unsurprisingly we are located in the spectacular bay of Dunnet, where the freshest of air and the finest of water are in abundance. Our goal is to create spirits which reflect the Caithness way. We hand distil slowly, thoughtfully and passionately to create our exceptional products! www.dunnetbaydistillers.co.uk rockrosegin holygrassvodka Dunnet Bay Distillery, Dunnet, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 8XD

www.pandorabell.com/ info@pandorabell.com Facebook: /ilovepandorabell. Twitter: @pandorabell. Instagram: pandora_bell

SUCCESSFUL RETAIL IS ALL IN THE DETAIL

Made to measure training courses from the Guild of Fine Food

AINING

Training is vital to retail success and our carefully tailored Guild of Fine Food courses are designed to help increase sales and give you and your staff the tools to improve your knowledge and understanding of the products you sell. Give your customers a better shopping experience and a reason to return again and again.

Cheese Training • 11 May: London (fully booked) • 21 June: Harrogate • 28 June: London • 7 July: Dorset • 6 October: London • 25 October: Newcastle • 31 October: Dorset Charcuterie Training • 10 May: London • 1 November: Dorset The Ambient Deli Training • 27 June: Dorset • 4 October: London • 26 October: Venue tba Retail Ready • 10 & 11 October: Dorset Cracking Christmas • 20 June – Harrogate

See our list of practical and enabling training days for anyone selling ﬁne food.

LEARN

BE INSPIRED

SUCCEED