FFD September 2016 by Guild of Fine Food

www.gff.co.uk |

September 2016 · Vol 17 Issue 8

@guildofﬁnefood

BACK TO EARTH 31 Organics are back in growth – and indie stores are leading the way

CHEF’S SELECTION 80 Brett Sutton of The White Post in Dorset on keeping it local

RURAL ROLL-OUT How Cobbs Food Co is building the UK’s slickest farm shop chain

TOP 50 FOODS THE BAY TREE FOOD CO BEAL’S FARM CHARCUTERIE LAURRA DAVIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WHALESBOROUGH CHEESE

PLUS

Your 25-page Olympia guide starts on page 47

OPEN ALL HOURS? 12 Can the 9am-5pm deli compete against Deliveroo and Amazon Prime?

The natural choice for cheese

Introducing 3 new packs of sourdough crispbreads: Caraway, Pink Peppercorn, and a Selection Box featuring Original, Charcoal & Rye and Spelt & Poppy Seed. www.petersyard.com

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

contents news analysis: opening hours great taste top 50 foods analysis: organic foods cheesewire

p4 p12 p17 p31 p37

cut & dried show preview: S&FFF

p43 p47

interview: Emma Macdonald show preview: lunch! shelf talk deli of the month

p73 p77 p79 p84

opinion I CHALLENGED MYSELF TO AT LEAST get through the first paragraph of this column without mentioning Millennials. But there – I’ve already blown it. It’s just that I’ve had a string of moderately deep and meaningful conversations with bright people in our trade lately that have led me to think we’re heading for a big generational shift in our customer base. Whether that’s entirely driven by those who came of age around the year 2000 I’m not sure. But it seems anyone thinking seriously about where the consumer market is heading is being led, almost by the nose, by that influential bunch. It’s not just their eating and drinking habits: this unnatural anxiety about health, this cutting down on booze and fags, this fretting about whether food is ‘safe’, which sounds more like our parents. Surely youth should be characterised by total disregard for such things? Whatever happened to “hope I die before I get old?” (Note to young friends: that’s a line from a song released in 1965. You wouldn’t know it.) But it’s also about how they shop. They are simply no respecters of the old ways. Yes, the weekly supermarket sweep is now viewed as dead in the water (and I remember when bulk buying was the future). Yes, this is seen as good for smaller stores that can offer convenience. But I’m not sure Generation Y, or whatever you want to call these young tastemakers, give a monkey’s about independent shops. It’s more driven by what they want, when they want it. Sometimes that might mean enjoying the “experience” of an urban deli or a straw-andbeams farm shop, but it could just as easily mean sitting on a beach somewhere getting their naanwiches and birchwater delivered by Amazon Prime drone. (Ok, not quite, but nearly.) As you can read on p84, I paid a long-overdue visit to Cobbs Farm Shop in Hungerford in August to meet Tom Newey, who runs the £6.5m Cobbs Farm Co store group. We chatted about the generational shift thing, and whether he was worried by the growing expectation for on-the-hour convenience among younger punters. Would it push more of his sales into the hands of the home-deliverers? “I should say I’m terrified by Amazon,” he told me, “but I’m yet to be convinced that any of these others can do what we do, which is offer the experience. After all, there’s this balance between convenience and life – I mean, actually living.” Hope you’re right, Tom. But those of you who’d like to hedge your bets might want to read Andrew Don’s piece on page 12, investigating whether shops offering traditional opening times are fit for purpose once those drones start buzzing from door to door.

I'm not sure these young tastemakers give a monkey’s about independent shops – it’s driven by what they want, when they want it

MICK WHITWORTH, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

editors’ choice MICHAEL LANE, DEPUTY EDITOR

Booja Booja – Caramel Pecan Praline ice cream

p79

www.boojabooja.com

When most people consider free-from food, it usually seems to come down to bench marking an item against the original concept to which it is providing an alternative. I’ll freely admit that I’ve taken this negative approach in the past. When a product is faced with this kind of prejudice, then the best it can hope for is a patronising ‘Oh, that’s good for a free-from product’, which will shortly be followed by a throwaway comment about how this kind of thing really is better than it was ﬁve years ago. Well, this dairy-free, organic ice cream alternative is good – not because it is free-from but because it is a well-executed idea. It turns out that cashews are a great base for a frozen dessert. The end result is subtly sweet and, while not ‘dairy’ creamy, it still coats the mouth pleasantly. Our favourite of the new range – which will all be sporting eye-catching packaging – gained added depth and texture from the pecans. And despite the high nut content, the range is much lower in saturated fat than the Carte D’Ors of this world. Booja Booja has proved that free-from doesn’t always have to mean ‘the best of a bad bunch’, it can also redeﬁne categories. Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

finefoodnews Trade bodies take wage fight to Westminster EDITORIAL editorial@gff.co.uk

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

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

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

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

BY ANDREW DON

The Rural Shops Alliance (RSA) and a cohort of other trade bodies have become embroiled in a row with the government over increasing the National Living Wage (NLW). The dispute comes ahead of the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendation in October for the level of the NLW that will apply from next April. Employees aged 25 and older are currently eligible for a minimum of £7.20 an hour – a 10.8% increase on the previous national minimum wage rate of £6.50. RSA chief executive Ken Parsons was among 21 signatories to a letter in August sent to Greg Clark, secretary of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), urging caution over planned increases in the NLW over the next four years. They called for a new steering group to allow businesses to talk

Current National Living Wage for over-25s is £7.20 an hour

to government about the impact of the NLW. The signatories, including the National Farmers’ Union, the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, the Scottish Grocers Federation and small shops group, the Association of Convenience Stores, also called for the LPC to be “handed back the power to objectively assess the impact of wage rates on businesses”. The trade bodies complained the LPC’s role was “now limited to

Indies warned not to handle payment cards The UK Cards Association (UKCA) has told farm shops, delicatessens and other speciality retailers never to take payment cards out of customers’ hands. The trade body for the card payments industry said ensuring customers retained their cards at all times ensured transparency, eliminated fraud risk, ensured the correct amounts were charged – especially when contactless – and quickened transactions. The warning came as new figures from the trade body show 18% of all card purchases are now contactless, up from 7% in May 2015. The latest figures show contactless card payments climbed 247% year on year,

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

bucking the trend of overall card spending growth which is slowing. The UKCA pointed retailers to its Guide for retailers: Accepting contactless and higher value contactless payments, which states: “The card or device should always stay in the customer’s hand (or on their person in the case of wearables), and both you and the customer should follow the terminal prompts.”

assessing average wage earning statistics and Office for Budget Responsibility projection, which have often been wrong”. A BEIS spokeswoman said: “The government has asked the LPC to recommend increases in the NLW towards 60% of median earnings by 2020, subject to sustained economic growth.” The trade bodies argued that this specification had politicised the process and had removed the LPC’s

non-partisan ability to recommend pay levels as it saw fit. The letter continued: “We are concerned that focussing on a fixed figure based on projection four years into the future risks frontloading of NLW increase, which would adversely impact investment decisions made this year and next.” Parsons told FFD the non-partisan way the LPC had previously recommended pay levels was “the right one and we would be keen for it to be taken off the political agenda”. BEIS said: “The LPC most certainly does assess the impact of wages on businesses and employers.” Carlo Ricioppo, who owns Deli Carlo in Darwen, Lancashire, said: “We should be concentrating more on trying to get the economy going in a positive way and then look at increasing wages. Once we get output up everything follows.”

S&FFF sets up sister show in Singapore The Speciality & Fine Food Fair is spreading its wings courtesy of Fresh Montgomery which is launching a similar show in Singapore hard on the heels of this month’s London event. Speciality & Fine Food Asia, incorporating Speciality Chocolate Fair, will debut next July 18-20. It will mirror the UK exhibition which attracts more than 850 exhibitors and 12,000 trade attendees, according to Fresh Mongtomery, which has run it for the past 17 years. Soraya Gadelrab, Fresh Mongomery’s event director, said: “Singapore is a country that’s much easier to launch into than others in South East Asia. It’s sophisticated

Gadelrab: Singapore has sophisticated tastes

in its tastes – not just expat Brits but locals, too.” Potential British exhibitors had already shown interest, and the combination of a weak pound and British ministers’ focus on new trade deals outside the European Union created growth potential, she said. www.specialityandfinefoodfairs. co.uk

“what they're saying about...” ...extending the 5p bag charge to small retailers “We do a lot of sandwiches at lunchtime and lots of men come in who never have carrier bags. We don’t want to say to people ‘You have to pay’ and put them off coming.” Dianne Crease, James Patrick Delicatessen, Hessle, East Yorks “I’d probably approve because consumers are getting used to that being the norm. Morally it is the correct thing to do and the money goes to charity.” Peter Self, Whitehall Farm Shop, Wilts “We do not charge for any bags, including carriers, as we believe these to be fundamental to hygiene in handling meat products. But we recognise the need to reduce polythene waste and therefore feel that our customers would fully understand. They have been used to paying for these in supermarkets.” Grant Powter, Powters, Newmarket, Suffolk “In Scotland we’ve had the charge for nearly two years. I agree with it because it is saves us money and the environment at the same time. They should do it in the rest of the UK. We supply 95% fewer bags than before. Customers got used to it quickly.” Steve Gow, Deeside Deli & Garden Shop, Ballater, Aberdeenshire

Academy of Cheese is ready for launch BY MICHAEL LANE

The long-mooted Academy of Cheese initiative looks set to come to fruition in the next six months after securing financial backing, agreeing a structure and hiring a project manager. After months of planning and working with the National Skills Academy, a volunteer group of founding patrons – including representatives from the Guild of Fine Food, Paxton & Whitfield and wholesaler Harvey & Brockless, as well as cheesemaker Mary Quicke – has decided that the Academy will function like an examining board rather than a teaching body. While the Academy has been set up for cheese and food professionals, courses will also be open to members of the publc. The group, which has now appointed cheesemaker and consultant Paul Thomas as project manager, is currently seeking training partners to deliver courses covering a variety of topics, from retailing and tasting cheese through to making and grading it.

The Academy of Cheese will be operational by March 2017

“We’re like an examining board,” said deli owner Charlie Turnbull, who is also a founding member of the Academy. “We set the examinations, we set the curriculum and the ‘schools’ themselves then decide exactly how they’re going to teach to that and it’s up to them to make sure their students achieve the requisite standards.” While there is still lots of work to be done, Turnbull told FFD that a Level 1

basic accreditation would be in place and examinable by March 2017, with the Guild able to deliver it as the Academy’s first training partner. The curriculum for Level 2, which Turnbull said most cheese professionals could handle easily, is also being developed. He added that Level 3 would be pitched at “experts”, and that Level 4 would be an unknown until people had passed the other three.

Dean & Deluca to open first European store in London’s Mayfair BY NICK BAINES

American fine food chain Dean & Deluca will open its first European store in London. The brand, which operates 23 stores in the US, Asia and the Middle East, has secured a lease with Grosvenor Estates for a 1,900 sq ft space in Mayfair. The site is the former home of historic butchers Allen’s of Mayfair, which closed late last year. Scheduled to open early 2017, the new Dean & Deluca is to have a 500 sq ft standalone butchery, a food market and café at 117 Mount Street. The original Dean &

The original Dean & Deluca opened in New York in 1977

Deluca opened in New York’s SoHo back in 1977 becoming one of the country’s most established fine food retailers. With international stores in Tokyo,

Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok and Seoul, the company’s new London store is the first of several planned for the UK, according to reports in the Evening Standard.

The list of patrons for the program cover a broad spectrum from multiple retail and large suppliers through to smaller shops and cheese producers. “This is about getting all the boats to rise,” said Turnbull when asked about the involvement of larger businesses in the scheme. “It’s about raising knowledge in our industry and consciousness among the public so we can get to the point where cheese has got the same credibility as wine.” Wholesalers Bradbury’s and Harvey & Brockless are on board as is marketing company Monkhouse Food & Drink and the Guild of Fine Food. Fine cheese retailers Paxton & Whitfield and Turnbulls Deli are both sponsors along with Tesco. Cheesemakers Cropwell Bishop, Quicke’s, Stichelton, Cornish Yarg maker Lynher Dairies and Lincolnshire Poacher are sponsoring, as are larger producers Bridgehead Foods and Wyke Farms. www.academyofcheese.org

WCA 2016 open for entries The 29th annual World Cheese Awards is now open for entry. The competition will be held in San Sebastián on November 16-18, supported by Artzai Gazta and the Basque Country Government. The awards will be the showpiece event at the International Cheese Festival, a global event for food professionals, consumers and tourists. Cheeses from over 30 countries are expected to be assessed by 250 judges, including international buyers, retailers, cheesemakers and food writers. Entry closes on October 11. Producers can enter at www.gff.co.uk/wca

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

finefoodnews

Eat 17 seeking more retail sites BY ANDREW DON

The success of Eat 17’s third store opening in Kent last month has prompted the specialist food retailer and restaurant operator to consider rolling out across the south of England. The opening in Whitstable – its first outside London – has convinced the group, which is a 50:50 joint venture with wholesaler AF Blakemore, that it does not need to be restricted to the capital. “Our expansion plans originally were to try to focus on small organic growth in London,” said co-founder Chris O’Connor. “Having seen the Whitstable store being an option, we threw all our plans out of the window. “I don’t see why we can’t move into different towns and villages in the rest of the South of England.” The deals to open two new stores are expected to be signed this month. O’Connor said if the sites in Hammersmith, west London, and Brentwood, Essex, went ahead as planned, the units should open by the end of the year. Whitstable is Eat 17’s third outlet, a 2,000

Eat 17 has three shops in Walthamstow, Hackney and Whitstable, with two more planned this year

sq ft store bought from entrepreneur Mike Greene’s collapsed MyLocal convenience store estate – previously operating as M Local under Morrisons. It’s Walthamstow shop, slightly larger than Whitstable, has a restaurant next door and its Hackney shop is the largest of the three at 3,500 sq ft. The Whitstable outlet prides itself on its relationships with “obscure” local suppliers “you probably won’t have heard of”, O’Connor says, such as One in the Oven Doughnuts, with varieties that include salted caramel popcorn and maple & bacon. Sandwiches are prepared in house while

Weights and Measures Cakes and Baked Goods supplies cookies and cupcakes and Beardy Baker supplies brownies and other delicacies. The store works with local coffee company Garage Coffee, sources fruit and vegetables from farmers “just around the corner” and stocks a range of cheeses, including Kent’s own Winterdale Shaw, its best seller. Hinxden Farm Dairy supplies the ingredients for the 20 ice creams it makes on site to sell from a frontof-store counter while staff also produce their own sea salt collected on the nearby shore. www.eat17.co.uk

Dementia guide launched for retailers The Alzheimer’s Society has launched a guide for retailers to help them cater for shoppers with dementia. 63% of people do not think shops do enough to help those with dementia. The society’s Becoming a dementia friendly retailer, a practical guide, explains the difficulties. Ann Johnson, an Alzheimer’s Society ambassador who has dementia, said: “The problems people with dementia might have include counting money, finding the correct item, using toilets or finding their way out.”

Sweet, salty or smoked? Irish confectionery company Pandora Bell has unveiled its liquorice collection, featuring a classic sweet liquorice, a Nordic-style salty variety and a version smoked over alder wood. All three come in 120g bags, which are available in trade cartons of 10 units. The sweet and salty varieties have an RRP of £4.50 while the smoked retails for £5.50. www.pandorabell.com

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

“If I’d known then what I know now” KIM MacLARTY HALSEY’S DELI & EATERY, HITCHIN EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO I got a call from my brother to tell me Halsey’s was up for sale. I put an offer in. I’d never run a deli before but I was passionate about food from around the world and I had a good appreciation of shopper behaviour from my background in marketing brands like Becks, Stella and Mars. My plan was to run the deli for a month or so, to see what worked and then close for a refurb. The reality was that the business and the building were more run down than I’d appreciated. I thought we would be closed for three days, but it ended up as six weeks. Besides work like wiring, plumbing, redecorating and replacing the stainless steel shelves with units from WBC, the basic systems you would expect for running a deli weren’t in place. For example, staff were going to Sainsbury’s to buy what they needed to cook for the day. So it was almost starting from scratch. With hindsight I wish I had planned the refurb more effectively and taken advice on the infrastructure of the building, especially given that it dates back to 1543 and is Grade II listed. Even with the refurb complete, there is a huge amount of DIY that needs to be done on an ongoing basis. I soon realised I had to have contingency plans in place and would recommend that for any business. I’ve learned a number of interesting new skills which range from IT to plumbing, and now have a ‘how to fix’ file for staff to consult if, for example, the fridge stops working. 80% of turnover comes from the eatery; it drives footfall, yet previously the deli and eatery were unconnected. My aspiration was to pull the two together, so that the food in the deli was represented on the eatery menu. I did this slowly as I didn’t want to alienate existing customers. In the deli, so far I’ve mainly focused on the cheese counter. It’s no surprise that selling a couple of fabulous cheddars and Stiltons along with nice accompaniments like Peter’s Yard crackers and being able to tell the story behind the cheese, works. Next I’ll be focusing on charcuterie. I’m conscious that I can’t do it all at once, plus my vision was to improve what was already here, not to fundamentally change it. I am cautious in my approach to stock and try to make sure I don’t over-order. This probably stems from last Christmas, when I was left with 146 puddings. Luckily they have a very long date so I should be able to sell them this year. I’ve found the biggest challenge is helping the team manage the expectations of our customers. Halsey’s has been a food emporium for 150 years and our customers range from those who used to collect their war rations from the store to the newly settled London commuters. They all have vastly different requirements so it is important to work with them by listening to their needs and meeting them where we can. Even if we cannot accommodate requests, the key skill I’ve learned is the act of listening without interrupting.

I’ve learned a number of interesting new skills which range from IT to plumbing, and now have a ‘how to fix’ file for staff to consult

INTERVIEW BY LYNDA SEARBY

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Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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Multi-Award-Winning Free-Range Eggs From the Lakelands of County Fermanagh Cavanagh Free Range Eggs Ltd is a multi-award-winning family run free range business in the beautiful Lakelands of County Fermanagh focused on producing the best quality free range eggs in the industry, winning a 1 Star in the Great Taste Awards in 2014 and 2 Stars in the Great Taste Awards in 2016. They won an Irish Quality Food Award in 2015 and got shortlisted for the delicious.magazine awards in 2016 and the Grow Make Eat Drink Awards in 2016. Cavanagh Free Range Eggs have proven that “an egg is not just an egg!” The company places an emphasis on high welfare standards and producing a quality artisan free range egg brand. Their eggs are used by some of the top hotels and restaurants in Northern Ireland, including Belfast’s 5 Star Merchant hotel and were eaten by the World Leaders at the G8 Summit in Enniskillen’s Lough Erne Resort Hotel in 2013. Eileen Hall: 07857 964468 John Hall: 07857 964436 Email: eileen@cavanagheggs.com SALSA ACCREDITED | BRITISH LION ACCREDITED 2014 - One Star Great Taste Awards | 2016 - Two Star Great Taste Awards | 2015 - Irish Quality Food Award 2016 - Shortlisted delicious Magazine Awards | 2016 - Shortlisted Grow Make Eat Drink Awards

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

finefoodnews

Cockfosters deli fights council ban BY ANDREW DON

A North London deli has forced Enfield Council to review its policy of banning shops’ street displays thanks to a well-supported petition. Cockfosters Delicatessen found itself on the ropes when council officials gave it just seven days to remove its fruit and vegetable display – deemed a crucial part of its business. The council – which has issued 33 fixed penalty notices and secured 16 convictions for street trading since 2003 – said the only exceptions for overspill onto the street were for cafés and restaurants with a paid-for licence for chairs and tables. Cockfosters Delicatessen started a petition in July and by early August 2, when FFD called, the number of signatories stood at more than 900. A spokesman for Enfield Council said the current policy has been in place since 2008 and the council was treating all businesses “consistently and fairly in accordance with the existing

Cockfosters Deli was told by Enfield council to remove its produce display from the street

law” – section 38 of the London Local Authorities Act 1990. The spokesman confirmed that Cllr Daniel Anderson, cabinet member for environment, had agreed to review the policy and put it up for public consultation to see if it should be amended. The deli’s co-owner George Spyrou said he had been told the review could take up to six months. “Customers signed the petition and people have pulled over in their cars after reading about it on

FSA: Displaying food past ‘use-by’ is illegal The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has renewed its warning to retailers they risk breaking the law if they display food after its “use-by” date. The warning comes as the agency undertakes a review of date-marking guidance, last issued in 2011. The FSA is worried that not all retailers understand date marks and also wants to clarify the rules around date marking for food destined for redistribution rather than sale. Use-by dates apply to foods that are highly perishable and could present a food poisoning risk after a short time.

Best-before dates relate to the quality of the food and can be used for most products. An FSA spokesman said all food businesses must ensure the food sold was safe, and this included providing durability dates regarding the shelf life of food. “This applies to farm shops, delicatessens and specialist food retailers, so potentially all food business operators will have an interest in any changes to the guidance,” he said. Existing guidance does not have a separate section on date marking for food for redistribution rather than sale.

Facebook, wanting to sign,” said Spyrou. “They think it’s disgusting. “We have been here 33 years. I’ve no room to put fruit and veg in the shop. Not one person has come in and said I’m in the wrong. There’s plenty of room for wheelchairs – we’ve measured it.” The delicatessen specialises in fruit and veg, hand-cut smoked salmon, salt beef, Greek and Jewish products as well as items from Italy, India and Spain. www.cockfostersdeli.co.uk

In brief Tyrrells has been sold in a £300m deal to American company Amplify, which already own a number of US snack brands. Previous owner InvestCorp took over the crisp company three years ago and will receive £298m in cash, with the remaining £2m in Amplify shares.

Conker Spirit’s Dorset Gin has recently picked up a slew of awards, including double gold at The Spirits Gin Masters, gold from Taste of The West and an International Wine & Spirit Competition trophy for Gin Packaging of The Year. The gin also won a twostar award at this year’s Great Taste.

social works LAURRA DAVIS BRILLIANT SOCIAL MEDIA SOCIAL MEDIA IS A GREAT TOOL for reaching potential customers and, done right, it can have a huge impact on your sales. However, one of the challenges all businesses face is what to post when you feel like you’ve run out of things to talk about? I believe that within every business there’s an unlimited supply of content available to you. The trick is to branch out from just talking just about your products or business and throw in some complementary content instead. Complementary content means things that are loosely connected to your brand or would be of interest to your customers. The easiest way to come up with some ideas is to start with them in mind. Get clear about who they are and what kinds of things they’re interested in. Then, on a piece of paper write down any activities, events, food, drinks, advice that they might enjoy hearing about. For example, a butcher might include posts about how to choose the best BBQ on a budget, a recipe for a lamb moussaka or why it’s important to let a steak rest. A farm shop might post a beautiful picture of the local landscape, news of the lambs being born or how to choose a chutney to go with a certain cheese. Including complementary content is a great way to ensure you always have things to talk about and – by keeping products and selling points to ‘every so often’ – your audience won’t feel like they’re being sold to all of the time. That way you’re more likely to build up trust. Another tip to ensure you keep your content flowing is to keep your tweets and posts to one message at a time. Don’t try to overload one post with every single key selling point. If your product is organic, gluten-free, locally sourced and handmade, that’s great. And that’s also four separate social media posts, not one. Let each message have its own space and partner it with a great photo that captures what you’re telling your audience. If you’re still unsure or stuck for ideas then just take one little thing about what you do and focus on that, even the smallest things can be of great interest to an audience. The most important thing is to keep active, don’t abandon your social media profiles, even if you can only posts once or twice a week it’s better than nothing. Remember, you have lots to say, even if you just don’t know it yet. • Laurra Davis is the founder & creative director of Brilliant Social Media, a specialist agency helping food and drink brands tap the potential of social media.

Branch out from just talking about your products and throw in some complementary content instead

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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

new openings

Deli and distillery set up in former pump house BY ANDREW DON A delicatessen that will adjoin a new family-owned craft distillery in a converted Victorian pump house is scheduled to open this month in Kent. The 2,000 sq ft McGuire’s deli will be located in Grade II-listed Victorian Pump House No 5 in Chatham Dockyard. Its neighbour and landlord, the Copper Rivet Distillery, will make a premium single malt whisky called Masthouse as well as Dockyard Gin, Vela Vodka, and Son of a Gun – an unaged grain spirit designed especially for cocktails – in what used to be a boiler room. Nina Copeland, McGuire’s owner, who previously worked at Macknade Fine Foods in Faversham as a deli assistant, will sell all of

McGuire’s will open in Chatham’s Pump House No 5 alongside the Copper Rivet Distillery

Copper Rivet’s spirits alongside a line-up sourced predominantly from local producers. The cheese counter will stock 50 different cheeses, both local and Continental and the separate charcuterie counter will include Moons Green products. Preserves, olives, and fresh bread – “which will probably come in parbaked” – will also feature in the shop.

She said McGuire’s would include a café with 20-30 covers, selling coffee, wine and paninis as well as charcuterie boards and cheese platters. Non-alcoholic drinks will include locally sourced juices, smoothies, tea blends and coffee. Copeland told FFD she planned to hold ad hoc evening events, such as a screening of The Italian Job with an Italian feast.

Eataly founder opens Italian street market in south London BY ANDREW DON One of the founders of Italian-American chain Eataly officially opens his new street market business, Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant & Castle, southeast London, this month. The opening comes hard on the heels of Selfridges confirming to FFD that its proposed joint venture with Eataly had fallen through. Mercato Metropolitano founder Andrea Rasca said his business had taken a 45,000 sq ft site on an initial two-year lease and that it revolved around small-scale farmers, local producers and community groups. Rasca, who established Mercato Metropolitano in Italy last year, said its ethos is to use “only the best quality foods” and to cut out the middle men to bring producers directly in contact

with consumers. “We first opened our doors in Porta Genova in Milan and we welcomed over 2.5 million visitors in four months,” he said. “We knew then that this new food retail format, the opposite to the big food retailers, was something that people wanted and needed. So we decided then to take it around the world, and began looking for a space in London.” Rasca told FFD he was in talks over a couple of other locations in London. He added: “We’d certainly look to try something out in the north of the UK, either Manchester or even Glasgow”. The business has just signed a deal in Tokyo where it will be opening towards the end of the year. www.mercatometropolitano.it

The distillery will be open to visitors as a tourist attraction, which Copeland hoped would create footfall for her own business. “I was looking to open a deli in Rochester but lost the premises,” she said. “I knew Matthew was taking over the building and thought it would be good to combine the two, although they are separate businesses.” Copper Rivet Distillery claims to be one of just a few in the UK that takes responsibility for the complete process of brewing and distilling from grain to glass. Its founders plan to source the majority of their equipment and ingredients locally, from the raw grains used in the spirits to the stills wrought and built by craftsmen in the local area.

New deli in Co Antrim The Plough Group has opened a delicatessen at The Vintage Rooms, in Hillsborough, Co Antrim. The deli stocks products mostly from Northern Irish suppliers, including Hannan Meats and Glenarm Organic Salmon. The thinking is for diners to take home items used in meals they’ve enjoyed in the The Vintage Rooms and the nearby Plough Inn. Co-owner Derek Patterson, said: “The deli is also geared at people seeking to pick up quality ingredients on their way home from work or a day out.”

www.mcguiresfinefoods.co.uk

Hopley House shop revived A Cheshire farm shop that closed three years ago has reopened under the ownership of local farmer’s son David Thornhill. Thornhill bought the freehold of the 2.5-acre Hopley House complex, which also houses an 11room bed-and-breakfast, antique furniture centre and a garden ornament shop, in the village of Wimboldsley. The 1,500 sq ft farm shop sells ready-meals from Love Food, preserves from the The Cherry Tree and locally sourced meat and dairy, as well as a big selection of home-made cakes, cooking sauces and fruit and vegetables, including potatoes grown on Thornhill’s farm. The shop opens up into a 40-cover café and the site has a children’s play area. Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

analysis

Open all hours? Working 9-5 might have sufficed in the past but can fine food retailers still afford to keep traditional trading hours in the 21st century? ANDREW DON investigates.

etailing is undergoing a massive shake-up and will continue to do so in a world where today’s technology becomes antiquated in the blink of an eye. WhatsApp-millennials, seemingly born with smartphones glued to their ears and Pokémon on the brain, want instant satisfaction. It might not be long before food drops from the skies courtesy of Amazon drones and driverless delivery pods fulfil orders within the hour. In a world that never sleeps and demand is 24-7, the notion of work-life balance may be something independent retailers have to forego. Admittedly this is a slight doomsday scenario but the more high-tech our world becomes, the quicker the pace of change. Farm shops, delicatessens and other fine food specialists that are going to not only survive but prosper in such a fast-changing world will have little choice but to follow their convenience store cousins into an open-all – or at least most – hours mind-set. Chrisophe Jouan, chief executive of The Future Foundation, who delivered the 2016 City Food Lecture on the subject of “What, When and How will we be eating in 2025?” touched on the need to partner with the right startups, “the right innovations that deliver interesting food services and inventive delivery mechanisms”. FFD reported in July that this had already begun with independents such as C Lidgate, FishWorks, Gail’s Artisan Bakery, Konditor & Cook, Paxton & Whitfield, Daylesford, Bad Brownie, Chegworth Valley and Turnips, linking with AmazonFresh. Meanwhile, Whole Foods Market has partnered with another delivery service, Quiqup. Jouan also referred to the blurring of boundaries between out-of-home and in-home and the increasing demand for “indulgence” as well as more and more convenience and theatre. As John Farrand, Guild of Fine

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

Food managing director, writes in this month’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair show guide: “Your suppliers want you open round the clock to sell more. “Your customers want you there for a coffee before the early train but also for after-work shopping.” But indie owners want a life, too, and may already be working ridiculous hours when administrative tasks are thrown into the equation. Rufus Carter, commercial director of Patchwork Pâté, believes much of the success of farm shops is down to the fact they open seven days a week. “Nine to five might be alright for Dolly Parton,” says Carter, “but our business is changing all the time. I don’t understand any retailers – whether its socks, tyres or food – that can open at nine and close at five.” He says he knows a lot of retailers do not play golf when they shut at 5pm. “They go home and do their bookkeeping or they close and prepare ready-meals for the following days,” adds Carter. “I know they are all working extended hours. The consumer doesn’t care about that. They want to know ‘can I get my favourite things when I want to get my

stays engaged with shopping in independent food shops. “If I was opening on the high street now, I would see 7pm as the earliest closing time and if I want to catch the going-to-work business then I would expect to be open for 7am.” James Lowman, chief executive of small shops group the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), says the development of new technologies and services such as one-hour deliveries, Deliveroo, Ocado and others presents a challenge for traditional stores. “When considering the opening hours of a store, it’s important to ensure that the area that the store is trading in will make opening later a valuable prospect. “There are many of our members that open 24/7 and never close, but they’re operating in city centres with a constant stream of people throughout the day and night and that store can meet both the daytime and night-time retail needs of those customers. For specialist stores, opening longer must make sense economically.” Lowman believes specialist food shop and delicatessens can negate the impact of not being able to open longer by forming partnerships with other local businesses to sell their products. And he points to many examples of a strong foodservice offer working well alongside a core retail offering. Ireland is a case in point, where he says many of the convenience stores and forecourts that are doing especially well have been built on a foundation of good quality catering which is backed up by a solid traditional c-store. “Of course, providing both will put more pressure on staff hours and require staff to be multi-skilled, but where there is demand from customers it absolutely can work.” B-Street Deli in Bermondsey, south London, has got the retail/foodservice mix just right, opening at about 7am and closing at 11.30pm. Gillie Arino, the manager, says that the business operates like a traditional deli during the day and more like a wine bar in >

If I was opening on the high street now, I would see 7pm as the earliest closing time and I would expect to be open for 7am. RUFUS CARTER, PATCHWORK PATÉ

favourite things?’.” Carter recalls walking into a delicatessen at 4pm for ham and being told he could not have it because the slicing machine had been cleaned. “I said ‘I come in regularly for this product, can’t you keep it to one side for me?’ They said, ‘Well, can’t you come in earlier?’.” Clearly not every business believes the customer is king. When Carter shops at 6.30 or 7 in the evening in a supermarket, he says he is not there because he wants to be – he’s there because it is open. He accepts it is reasonable for retailers to want a life. “It’s all about the staffing so the next generation

analysis

soil association

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

opening times

analysis

B-Street Deli operates a morning shift from 6.30am to 3pm and second shift through to 12.30am by the time staff clear up

company Shopper Anonymous, says while farm shops and delis need to think about extending their opening times, farm shops, in particular, have loyal customers and the shopping experience is just as important a factor. “The expectation from people is they can deal with the day-today stuff quickly online and go to a supermarket 24 hours or until 10pm. But they then want to use their leisure time to enjoy something that gives them a more quality experience, so there’s room for different types of experience.” The more technology there is, the more leisure time people have and that is where independents will shine, she says. Eat 17 – which has just opened its third outlet in Whitstable, Kent (see page 6) – has a distinctive offer that is difficult for others to replicate with its emphasis on highquality KEN PARSONS, RURAL SHOPS ALLIANCE local, niche food and drink, people visit for available at convenient hours. the experience, for the professional It opens 7am to 9pm every day. knowledge and suggestions and to Chris O’Connor, co-founder, says to try new things. people will always want to look, And the retail side does not play touch and feel the product before second fiddle in the evening. “We they buy. always make sure, even if they come “Amazon’s a great thing but in and we are busy in the evening, it doesn’t suit everyone and it’s they still get the same amount of still probably more convenient for attention.” people to get out of the house and Sue Ford, customer relations shop,” he says, “but we offer an manager at mystery shopping experience as well.”

the evening when the lights are turned down and charcuterie and cheese platters, mixed boards, antipasti, vegetarian platters and pinchos are served. That said, the deli is in a heaving, vibrant location – it probably would not work everywhere. The business operates two shifts: the morning shift is 6.30am to 3pm and the second shift 3pm through to 12.30 or 1pm by the time staff clear up. Five staff are on in the day and three or four in the evening. “I think we are offering something quite different,” says Arino. “We have more speciality meats and cheeses that you won’t find in your high street stores.” He does not see the tech companies such as Deliveroo and Amazon as a threat because the deli has its own niche. Arino adds that

If you are in a remote location and part of the leisure industry, you would be mad to close on a Sunday afternoon

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

It is not just about coming into a boring place and picking up your fruit and veg and walking out, he says. “We hope to inspire customers when they come in.” The experience factor is not something you get sitting in front of a computer, he argues. “In our Walthamstow store we’ve

got Peppe’s Pizza and he’s been making pizza for 36 years. He has a massive menu and you can watch him spinning and making the dough. All these things play a part in making the experience something different.” Ken Parsons, chief executive, of the Rural Shops Alliance, stresses that every extra hour has cost implications, especially in light of the National Living Wage. What might be desirable from a customer point of view might not make economic sense, particularly when it comes to staffing. He says the need to open longer hours will vary from shop to shop and location to location. He says some farm shops are also convenience stores with an element of off-licence and people living in commuter-type villages increasingly want to shop outside traditional hours. “If you are in a remote, generally rural location and part of the leisure industry, it is far less important to be open in the evening but you would be mad to close on Sunday afternoon. “There is no one right answer but customers expect longer open hours per se.”

More than half of indies doing 85-hour+ weeks Thirteen per cent of independents open more than 105 hours a week, according to the ACS’s latest Local Shops Report survey. Some 46% open between 85 and 105 hours, 34% between 61 and 84 hours and 8% up to 60 hours a week, according to the survey of 2,420 independents. Four per cent open 24 hours a day Monday to Friday and 12% open between 16 and 20 hours a day during the week. The biggest proportion of independents open between 11 and 15 hours a day on Monday to Friday – 72% – and 11% up to 10 hours. Saturdays are slightly different for three of the time ranges with up to 15% trading up to 10 hours, 70% 11-15 hours, 10% 16-29 hours. Four percent open 24 hours. Sunday is the one day of the week where independents up to 3,014 sq ft (280 sq m) have the opportunity to open longer hours than the grocery giants which are limited to six hours under Sunday trading legislation. Some 64% open up to 10 hours on Sunday, although the survey does not specify the proportion that open for up to six hours. And 26% open 11-15 hours, 6% 16-20 hours and 4% 24 hours, the survey found.

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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Half-ton at the top From all the thousands of entries, here are the 50 best products in this year’s Great Taste. It’s a list that covers pretty much every category from fresh meat, seafood and dairy through to chocolate, cheese and a few spoonfuls of honey

eturning to the beginning of the process really highlights how much of an achievement making Great Taste’s Top 50 really is. Some 10,000 products are submitted for Great Taste judging. Over the course of more than 50 days, in excess of 400 judges – including chefs, food writers, top retail buyers and professional critics – took part in evaluating the huge number of entries. Every product was blindtasted by teams of judges to determine what level of accolade it deserved – if any. The end result was 2,520 awarded one-stars, 878 two-stars and just 141 of

Fine Italian Foods ROBIOLA ITALY Robiola is a classic fresh soft cheese from Piedmont, Italy, made from only local milk. The Great Taste panel were so impressed with this “creamy, herbaceous” cheese that they would like to see more used in the UK. A good “blobbing” cheese, ideal for sweet or savoury dishes. www.ﬁneitalianfoods. co.uk

the most coveted three-star awards. This elite group was then re-submitted for a second round of judging and scoring at the hands of experts, including TV chefs Valentine Warner and Clodagh McKenna, critic Charles Campion, Selfridges buyer Scott Winston and food writers Xanthe Clay (The Telegraph), Felicity Cloake (The Guardian) and Lucas Hollweg. Only then was the Great Taste Top 50 decided. Over the next six pages, you will ﬁnd all 50 of these top-scoring products and Fine Food Digest has the lowdown, including what struck the judges about each one.

The Great Taste Top 50 was established at a three-star judging day in London

Åkesson’s Organic MADAGASCAN 75% CRIOLLO COCOA LONDON Judges fell in love with this “racy and deliciously decadent” chocolate with its notes of wild red berries and dark cocoa. One judge wished “a room could smell like this when they walked in”. www.akessons-organic.com

Bramley & Gage 6 O’CLOCK GIN SOUTH WEST Distilled in small batches in a unique ‘double bubble’ copper pot still, this London Dry-style gin offers ﬂoral and juniper notes on the nose, which carry through to the palate, along with fresh citrus and subtle spice. Judges said the spirit’s “wonderful heat” without any burn, means it could be enjoyed neat or with a mixer. www.bramleyandgage.com

Martin’s Meats GLOUCESTER OLD SPOT GAMMON STEAK SOUTH WEST The judges loved the “savoury piggy ﬂavour” of this cured gammon steak. That deep porkiness and the salt in the meat is balanced by a layer of sweet fat. www.martinsmeats.com

Apple County Cider Co DABINETT MEDIUM CIDER WALES “Fresh, crisp and clean” was how judges described this single variety cider made from Dabinett bittersweet apples. Even those judges who don’t usually go for cider enjoyed the full-bodied ﬂavour – neither too heavy nor too sweet – anchored by the tannins rather than acidity. www.applecountycider.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

great taste 2016

J Lawrie & Sons JAFFYS KIPPERS SCOTLAND The woody, nutty and smoky notes imparted by oak ﬁres are balanced by a lovely sweetness in these moist, plump herrings, which are cured traditionally before the smoking process turns them into kippers that have become serial three-star winners. Judges were impressed all over again by the perfect levels of smoke, oil and salt in each bite. www.jaffys.co.uk

Dark Woods Coffee UNDER MILK WOOD ESPRESSO NORTH “We want more,” cried the judges after a shot of Under Milk Wood, a single-estate espresso sourced from smallholder producers. The coffee is a hand-roasted and post-blended in West Yorkshire by Dark Woods, rendering a drink with sharp fruit and dark chocolate notes on the palate and no bitterness in the aftertaste. www.darkwoodscoffee.co.uk

Jess’s Ladies Organic Farm Milk ORGANIC DOUBLE CREAM SOUTH WEST The judges couldn’t get enough of this un-homogenised organic double cream, which they described as “lush”, “summery” and “utterly delicious”. Silky smooth and with a texture like clotted cream, it also offers a complex, long-lasting ﬂavour that transported the panel to fresh pastures. www.theladiesorganicmilk.co.uk

Vasiliki Kritsidima & Co MELITHEON MASTIC HONEY GREECE Melitheon Mastic Honey is an “unusual and unique” combination of Greek raw forest honey, Chios island Mastic oil and water. The bright and fresh ﬂavour appealed to the judges, who also enjoyed the “subtle marzipan and caramelised apricot notes” at the end. www.vasilikicompany.com

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

Artzai Gazta Elkartea MAUSITXA ARTZAI GAZTA IDIAZABAL AHUMADO BASQUE COUNTRY This smoked Idiazabal cheese is made with raw sheep’s milk from Basque Country breeds and it really delivered on every level for the judges. Although smoky on the nose and in the mouth, the ﬂavour of the cheese is never overpowered and those who try it will be rewarded with a fresh, crumbly and slightly sweet ﬁnish. www.artzai-gazta.net

Black Saffron BLACK SAFFRON IRAN Gentle on the nose and “intense, but not sledgehammer-like” on the palate, this “magical” black saffron really grabbed the attention. The judges praised the quality and depth of colour in each strand, all of them grown in north west Iran.

Anassa Organics ORGANIC MOUNTAIN TEA GREECE “A yoga class in a glass,” was how one judge described Anassa Organics’ earthy Greek-origin Sideritis tea. A pale lemon-colour tea made from handpicked, loose whole blossoms, this product has a “beautiful camomile and deep herby aroma”, which carries through on the palate. www.anassaorganics.com

Huitres Amelie HUITRES AMELIE FRANCE Finished in the famous claires (clay ponds) of the Marennes Oléron basin on France’s Atlantic coast, these oysters were praised for a “meaty texture with a clean mineral twang and sweet ﬁnish that lingered on the palate”. One judge felt as though they were “immersed in the sea”, while another was “reminded of holidays rock pooling, with all the fresh salty ﬂavours of the sea”. www.huitresamelie.com

Thursday Cottage NATIONAL TRUST PASSIONFRUIT CURD EAST ANGLIA This curd is cooked in small batches using free-range eggs, and the end result is “beautiful colour, luxurious texture and rich ﬂavour”. Describing the ﬂavour as “intense but not overpowering”, the judges couldn’t get enough of this buttery and moreish preserve. www.thursdaycottage.com

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great taste 2016 The Flour Station ENGLISH MUFFIN LONDON Standing tall, with a dense crumb and a fluffy texture, The Flour Station’s traditional muffins are enriched with whole milk – which really comes through on the palate – and baked on a skillet. Judges agreed that they are “the perfect vehicle for all sorts of toppings or smothered in butter”. www.theflourstation.com

Artion Greek Foods STORIES OF GREEK ORIGINS ORGANIC THYME HONEY, CRETEO GREECE An “awesome” organic thyme honey from Crete with a “beautiful colour and almost boozy quality”. The judges felt that there were many layers of ﬂavour to this honey – sweet ﬂoral and savoury herbal notes combine for a toffee-like taste. www.storiesofgreekorigins.com

La Credenza DELFINO COLATURA DI ALICI ITALY “Beautifully oceanic with a punchy and salty hit”, this ﬁsh sauce from Cetara, which is more commonly known as Garum, received a great deal of admiration for its “pure, intense marine tang” and excellent anchovy ﬂavour. www.lacredenza.co.uk

The Traditional Free Range Egg Co WADDLING FREE – FREE-RANGE DUCK EGGS SOUTH WEST “A perfect egg that is hard to fault”. So said the judges about these Somerset free-range eggs, which boast marigold yolks, ﬁrm pure whites and a rich ﬂavour. The verdict was that duck eggs cannot get any better. www.thetraditionalfreerangeeggcompany.co.uk

The Tipperary Kitchen HOLYCROSS ORIGINAL BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE IRELAND Using local Tipperary butter and Thurles fresh cream, this butterscotch sauce was likened to “heaven in a bowl”. Judges thought it was perfectly made, tasted natural, and would be exactly the right way to end any meal. www.thetipperarykitchen.ie

Basco Fine Foods PRESA IBERICA SPAIN Presa Iberica is a cut from between the shoulder blades and the loin of free-range Iberico pigs, raised in the Dehesa de Extremadura on a diet of acorns. Dubbed a “triumph” by the judges, this cut got rave reviews from the panel, thanks to its succulent texture and an intensely rich ﬂavour, boasting both sweet and savoury notes. www.bascoﬁnefoods.com

Abernethy Butter SMOKED ABERNETHY BUTTER NORTHERN IRELAND Churned, washed and patted by hand, this butter is then smoked over beech and applewood, creating a richness and colour that captivated the judges. They also liked the “good balance of smoke, underpinned by salt” of this truly artisan product. www.abernethybuttercompany.com

Åkesson’s Organic ‘WILD’ VOATSIPERIFERY PEPPER MADAGASCAR These rare peppercorns, harvested in Madagascar’s tropical forests, come in a variety of sizes and have a “hell of a lot going on for such a tiny thing”. One judge described the pepper as has having a “three dimensional ﬂavour” while another picked up on the “long woody notes and heat”.

Hannan Meats SUGAR PIT BEEF BRISKET NORTHERN IRELAND As far as the judges were concerned, Hannan Meats has “smashed it out of the park” with this brisket, which is dry-cured, then sweetened in a sugar pit for 10 days. Describing the meat as “silky, sweet and melt in the mouth”, the panel couldn’t get enough.

www.akessons-organic.com

www.hannanmeats.com

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

great taste 2016 Coconut Merchant COCONUT JAM SOUTH EAST This “moreish” jam is made from coconuts and nothing else, so it’s an ideal natural alternative for spreading on bread, or adding to cereals and desserts. It got a big thumbs up from the judges, who enjoyed its deep treacly and date-like qualities, not to mention a “screamingly fresh coconut hit”.

Bramley & Gage SWEET VERMOUTH SOUTH WEST “Drinking this is like hugging an excitable old friend”, said one judge of this sweet English vermouth. Dark amber in colour with a bright acidic aroma, this “classy” drink is smokey, spicy and malty on the palate, with a clean ﬁnish.

Tresors de Grece MÉLI - HEATHER HONEY FROM IOS ISLAND GREECE “Fudgy and ﬂoral, with high notes of toffee and heather on the nose”, this honey from the Greek island of Ios, reminded judges more of caramel sauce. The judges likened the subtle sweetness to icing sugar and also enjoyed the honey’s soothing ﬂoral notes. www.tresorsdegrece.gr

The Cornish Duck Company FREE RANGE WHOLE CORNISH DUCK SOUTH WEST This free range duck, which is bred from four traditional breeds and reared for longer than the average commercially produced bird, impressed the judges with its moist skin, ﬁrm meat and “sweet, nutty and buttery ﬂavour”.

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Martin’s Meats LONGHORN WING RIB / SIRLOIN ON THE BONE SOUTH WEST This joint, another Martin’s Meats cut that is dry-aged for 30 days in a salt chamber, was said to have a “fantastic texture and pleasing meaty taste”. Judges declared this product to be “moist and tender with a brilliant balanced ﬂavour that develops on the palate”. www.martinsmeats.com

James Whelan Butchers HERITAGE CURE HAM IRELAND Cured for 14 days before being smoked, this succulent low-salt ham offers a balance of sweet and savoury notes throughout its ﬂesh and fat. The judges commended the producer for achieving a “moist texture without being too wet” and they enjoyed the delicate salting of the ham. www.jameswhelanbutchers.com

The Bread Factory SEEDED CRACKER LONDON Crowned the “cracker of choice this year”, this is made with buttermilk and topped with mixed seeds. The judges said each seed adds a new dimension and they also loved the brittle snap of the crackers, which would be just as good accompanying a cheeseboard as they are eaten on their own. www.breadltd.co.uk

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

Aroma Farms LEMON VERBENA GREECE With an “amazing colour and fragrance of fresh lemons”, this aromatic organic whole leaf Lemon Verbena from Greece, is bursting with ﬂavour on the nose and palate. “Sweetly dry, it has a warming ﬁnish” and judges could envisage drinking it with “a little agave”. www.aromafarms.gr

Delicioso UK AZADA PISTACHIO NUT OIL SPAIN This versatile virgin oil, which is made from lightly roasted then cold-pressed pistachio nuts, really excited the judging panel. They said the “delicate, fresh toasted pistachio and sweet ﬂavour” of the oil would work in Middle Eastern cooking, drizzled over cheese or poured on yoghurt and fresh apricots. www.delicioso.co.uk

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great taste 2016 Great White North PURE MAPLE 100% CANADA GRADE A GOLDEN DELICATE TASTE MAPLE SYRUP CANADA One judge declared: “I want to be a pancake smothered in this”. But this pure maple syrup could also be poured over desserts, added to cocktails or even drizzled over a pork chop. “Not too sweet, it’s creamy but light with hints of caramel, vanilla and nuts,” said the panel. www.puremaple.co.uk

Anassa Organics ORGANIC LEMON VERBENA TEA GREECE Made from handpicked Greek origin whole Verbena leaves, this caffeine-free tea is a “full-bodied and marvellous” drink. The freshness appealed to the judges, with some likening the aroma from the cup to rubbing your ﬁngers on the leaves of the bush.

Bermondsey Street Bees BERMONDSEY STREET HONEY LONDON Bermondsey Street’s raw urban rooftop honey wowed the judges with its viscosity and the myriad ﬂavours on show. The panel detected a “surprisingly refreshing taste of limes, mint, fennel and liquorice”.

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Il Gelato di Ariela HAZELNUT GELATO LONDON Il Gelato di Ariela makes its hazelnut gelato with pure ground hazelnuts, and the judges were enamoured with its “wonderfully smooth and creamy texture”, complemented by the prominent ﬂavour of toasted hazelnuts.

Rooney Fish PACIFIC OYSTERS NORTHERN IRELAND Grown in the pristine and nutrient-rich waters of Carlingford Lough, these “plump and meaty” Pacific Oysters swept the panel away with their “clean and fresh flavours of the sea, followed by a flood of intense sweetness”. www.rooneyfish.com

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Hannan Meats GLENARM SHORTHORN WING RIB SIRLOIN NORTHERN IRELAND “Delivering on all levels”, this Glenarm Shorthorn Wing rib sirloin, which is dry-aged for a minimum of 28 days, proved a real hit with the panel. They were in awe of the “unctuous” texture and “buttery, umami and beefy” ﬂavour, which carried through the tender ﬂesh and the fat. www.hannanmeats.com

The Tracklement Co TEWKESBURY HOT MUSTARD SOUTH WEST This “piquant, tangy” mustard was hailed by judges as the perfect accompaniment to meat, “complementing it rather than overpowering it”. They also like the colour and aroma of the product, which was inspired by the centuries-old regional technique of mixing mustard ﬂour with horseradish. www.tracklements.co.uk

Monsoon Estates Coffee Company MONSOON ESPRESSO MIDLANDS “Smooth and complex with an incredibly deep and intense ﬂavour”, said the judges of this coffee, which was good enough to transport them to the espresso bars of Italy. The panel loved the fruitiness while drinking and the smoky, dark chocolate notes in the long ﬁnish. www.monsoonestates.co.uk

Dawn Meats RIDINGS RESERVE MARBLED STANDING RIB WALES “A thing of beauty” was the panel’s take on Dawn Meats’ hand-trimmed and matured rib joint. Its layer of fat, “rammed with a long lasting beefy ﬂavour and almost creamy texture”, was particularly well-liked. www.dawnmeats.com Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

great taste 2016

Sandford Orchards THE GENERAL CIDER SOUTH WEST Sandford Orchards’ 8.4% cask-aged vintage sparkling cider was a real hit with the judges, who liked its clear golden colour, fruity nose and the “delicate but rounded taste”. Some suggested it would be great for drinking on a late summer’s afternoon. www.sandfordorchards.co.uk

Goodwood Estate Co ORGANIC PORK BELLY SOUTH EAST Goodwood’s organically reared Old SpotSaddleback cross breed produces in a pork belly that is “rich and unctuous with lovely umami”. Raving about the sweet, savoury fat and excellent crackling, the judges could ﬁnd no fault in the product. www.goodwood.com

Vasiliki Kritsidima & Co MELITHEON VANILIA SPECIAL RESERVE FIR TREE HONEY PDO GREECE This is the only Greek honey with Protected Designation of Origin status. Raw and unprocessed, the judges hailed this product as “exciting and multi-dimensional”. It is golden in colour, has a luscious chewy texture and offers rich treacle ﬂavours with a hint of pine, thanks to rare native ﬁr trees. www.vasilikicompany.com

Åkesson’s Organic BALI 45% MILK CHOCOLATE WITH FLEUR DE SEL & COCONUT BLOSSOM SUGAR LONDON There was high praise in the room for this “lively” Balinese 45% milk chocolate, which balances sweet and savoury sweet and savoury components perfectly. Judges particularly enjoyed the contrast of salt and milk chocolate and even picked up notes of “butterscotch”.

Hannan Meats GLENARM SHORTHORN 4 RIB ROAST NORTHERN IRELAND “Exceptional, extraordinary and top class!” The judges heaped praise on this rib roast, which is dry-aged in a Himalayan Salt Chamber for a minimum of 28 days. The entire panel really were wowed and couldn’t believe that “beef could taste so good”, with one suggesting that they would like to be covered in the fat. www.hannanmeats.com

Conservas Catalina ANCHOVIES SPAIN These “gloriously rich, leathery and unctuous” Cantabrian anchovies in olive oil impressed visually and the taste and texture was “top drawer”, too. The initial meatiness and intense saltiness is complemented by a delicate, lingering ﬁnish.

Martin’s Meats LONGHORN TOPSIDE SOUTH WEST This “sensational” Longhorn Topside is dryaged in a salt chamber for 30 days and the end result is “melt in the mouth texture”, tenderness and “astounding ﬂavour” in both the meat and the fat. Unable to ﬁnd fault, the judge agreed that this joint would make any meal a special occasion.

www.conservascatalina.com

www.martinsmeats.com

www.akessons-organic.com

Cibosano PIAVE VECCHIO SELEZIONE ORO D.O.P. ITALY Billed by one judge as the “love-child of Gruyère, Parmesan and cheddar”, this cheese is mad with milk sourced within its home province of Belluno in the northernmost part of Veneto and aged for 12-months. It took the panel on a taste journey through a layer of sweetness, followed by a whoosh of heat, lactic crystals and “a tongue tickle on the ﬁnish”. www.cibosano.co.uk

Dunnes Stores SIMPLY BETTER IRISH HANDMADE ALL BUTTER STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING IRELAND This classic pudding, made with Irish ingredients, was a real show stopper. “Unctuous and moreish, squidgy and moist”, it showcases the texture and ﬂavour of the dates while remaining in balance with the other ingredients. www.dunnesstores.com

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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analysis

organic food

Green shoots for organics

Politics, selective research and supermarket price-wars nipped the growth of organics in the bud. Now they’re bouncing back – and it’s independents, not multiples, that are set to beneﬁt, as MICK WHITWORTH explains.

n 2007, Labour’s David Milliband slid a knife gently between the ribs of the organic food sector, whose sales had been growing at around 30% a year. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Milliband – mid-way through a brief 13-month tenure as Defra secretary – dismissed organic food as “a lifestyle choice”. There was “no conclusive evidence” that produce grown without use of pesticides and other agrichemicals was superior to conventional crops, he said, adding: “I would not want to say that 96% of our farm produce is inferior because it’s not organic.” Of course he wouldn’t, and this was music to the ears of then NFU president Peter Kendall, who said he had “a real problem with conventional methods being demeaned at every opportunity”. But it was the first of a series of blows for the organic sector, which had thought it was finally getting the government on side after decades of campaigning. The following year, the UK slipped into recession and organic sales slumped as supermarkets – which then controlled 80% of the market – abandoned premium foods in pursuit of austerity pricing. Then in 2009, the Food Standards Agency gave Milliband’s knife a twist, publishing a review of research into organics that suggested there was “little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and… no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food”. For the FSA, this was part of its role in giving consumers “accurate information about their food, based on the most up-to-date science”. For the organic sector, it was a woefully selective and misleading report, ignoring, for example, a major EU study that had found higher levels of antioxidants and vitamins and lower levels of toxic chemicals and metals in organic foods. The speciality food sector and its shoppers have been ambivalent about organics. Faced with all that scientific controversy, and the inevitably higher prices, they have preferred to focus on ‘local’ as a shorthand for many things the organic movement stands: natural, low food miles, better for you, better for the environment. As Paul Hargreaves, founder of distributor Cotswold Fayre, told FFD recently: “Only around 20% of our range is organic , and it’s not a huge selling point of the products that are.” But as the Soil Association launches this year’s “Organic September” campaign to raise awareness among both consumers and the trade, there are several > Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

organic food

analysis

Where ‘local’ became a shorthand for organic values, more demanding shoppers now look at organic accreditation as a guarantee of provenance

2008-09, supermarkets threw out organics because they saw them as just another premium line. They’ve never recovered from that and they’ve failed to improve their offer since.” Waitrose is the obvious exception. It can sustain a good organic range, Holdstock says, because it’s not afraid of higher prices. After all, it has just launched a second premium in-house brand, Waitrose 1, to sit alongside its flagship Duchy Originals organic range. “They LEE HOLDSTOCK, wouldn’t do that TRADE RELATIONS MANAGER, SOIL ASSOCIATION unless they had confidence in ‘premium’,” he says. “Organic has fallen off the Ocado, too, can deliver a strong multiples’ agenda,” he says. “Ten organic offer because the virtual years ago, 80% of organic sales supermarket is not constrained by went through supermarkets. Now space. it’s 69%.” But indies last year saw But in a Tesco or Sainsbury, a 7.5% increase in spending on category managers who fret over organics – 2.5% higher than the every inch of shelf are never going average growth across the market as to give more than a nod to organics, a whole. and there is no overarching strategy Organics attract a higher to ensure organic shoppers are well spending consumer, says Holdstock, catered for. and ‘higher spending’ has not been “Supermarket buyers figure that on the agenda of any of the massif they can’t offer enough of a range, market multiples. it’s not worth doing,” Holdstock “When the downturn hit in compelling reasons to give organic food another look. For one thing, says Soil Association trade relations manager Lee Holdstock, independents are becoming the go-to stores for those actively seeking premium organic food, for the simple reason that supermarkets have turned their backs on the sector.

Fewer additives or processing aids means fewer options to compensate for poor quality and texture, so you have to get your raw material right

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

Month-long promotion for organics Whole Foods Market and Manchester independent Unicorn Grocery are among the stores already getting involved in the Soil Association’s Organic September programme. The “high proﬁle media and digital campaign” is designed to support producers and suppliers by encouraging more shoppers to seek out organics. Whole Foods has scheduled a series of price promotions, product launches and events throughout this month UK marketing director Benjamin Woodgate says: “The point-of-sale material produced by the Soil Association is the best I’ve ever seen for the campaign – we’ll be using this in store and would encourage other retailers to do the same with the goal for the industry to attract and educate more shoppers to eat, drink, use, choose organic products.” Unicorn Grocery’s Kellie Bubble says ethical principles were at the core of the business – which is a workers’ cooperative – and Organic September was “a great opportunity to promote them”. www.soilassociation.org

says. “They’re arguing themselves out of the footfall that organics could provide.” Multiples may have turned their backs on organics, he says, but shoppers haven’t. “And that plays into the hands of indies.” What is changing, however, is the nature of those shoppers. Major

research companies such as Nielsen suggest the organic consumer is getting younger, and the much talked-about Millennials (see Opinion, p3) have high expectations of their food. They want to know exactly where it came from, where it was grown, they want it to be ‘clean’ and ‘safe’. >

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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organic food

analysis

Two takes on the ‘organic premium’

Nick Saltmarsh says Hodmedod’s wants to convert more products to organic – ideally at no price premium

A better understanding of “what organic means” is helping drive sales in indie stores, according to Suffolk-based Hodmedod’s, which sells both organic and conventional products made with British-grown pulses. Managing director Nick Saltmarsh tells FFD: “We’re seeing increased demand for organic lines through our website and the independents we supply. “I think this may in part be due to supermarkets not stocking such a wide range. But there’s also an improved understanding of what organic means and how it offers an assurance of more sustainable production, as well as food that often has a clearer provenance and can be healthier and tastier too.” Saltmarsh believes the influx “They’re very, very interested in provenance,” says Holdstock, “and organics have an inherently good story.” While the science messages may sometimes be confusing, it seems hard-to-please 20- and 30-somethings are now seeing organic accreditation on a product

conventional factory-made meats, but has seen a “shift in consumer opinion”, with more shoppers buying into Everfield’s high-welfare, grass-fed animal message. But a spokeswoman tells us: “We’d love to see more consumer education on organic soil management and the longterm effects of pesticide and herbicide use.” She continues: “You can’t expect your product to leap off the shelf just for throwing organic on the label. A brand needs to offer an explanation of the benefit and a tangible connection with the farm behind it. Education is absolutely key to developing the organic market.”

of big brands offering organic alternatives may have eroded the “perceived difference” between organic and conventional foods, while a degree of over-pricing has led to a perception that all organics were expensive. “We believe the best approach is to offer organics at a reasonable price that reflects the cost of production and fairly rewards the farmer – and to make products organic by default if possible,” he says. Hodmedod’s is working with farmers to move more of its range to wholly organic, “where possible at a price that matches the previous non-organic product”. Meat producer Eversfield Organic recently launched a range of British charcuterie under the Roam & Relish sub-brand. It says it can’t compete on price with

www.hodmedods.co.uk www.eversfieldorganic.co.uk

as a more reliable guarantee of provenance and ‘clean’ ingredients. “The more processed a product is, the less likelihood there is of finding an organic alternative,” Holdstock points out. “One of the trends that’s really impacting on organics at the moment is ‘clean’.

Take energy drinks. If you want to go ’clean’ – no taurine, no synthetic caffeine – then organics are a good starting point.” In the world of delis and food halls, some of the early cynicism around organics came down to taste and visual appeal. There’s no doubt that, before the market grew

up, some products expected to gain shelf space purely on a “no nasties” ticket, forgetting that quality and looks also come into it. As with the ‘free-from’ market, however, that’s changed. Sectorleading brands like Montezuma’s, Hodmedod’s and Booja Booja offer organic options that are in every sense as good – and good-looking – as their conventional counterparts. Price is still an obstacle for many retailers – and many mainstream consumers, apparently. According to researcher Mintel, 54% of shoppers think organic food is “too expensive to buy regularly”. Its latest Ethical Food Consumer report said: “Whilst promotions can help fuel more regular usage, operators must take a longer-term approach, for example, by explaining what organic means, in order to justify the higher price point.” What the Soil Association is now hoping to see is a more uniform marketing of the organic message across the UK industry. It has produced a quality package of marketing, advice, imagery and point-of-sale that it’s making freely available to retailers, believing a more consistent message will be more effective for everyone. “It’s been a problem in the past that virtually every organic brand and every retailer has a different communication strategy,” says Holdstock. “We’d like to see as many brands as possible using a common look and feel to achieve some consistency.” As part of that – and especially for this month’s promotion – it has homed in on five key reasons to choose organic: it’s better for the planet; it contains “more of the good stuff” in nutritional terms; it avoids pesticides, it protects wildlife; and it promotes higher standards of animal welfare (because using fewer antibiotics requires better husbandry). Those are five easy-to-grasp, positive points that retailers should be able to get across to shoppers. As for whether organics taste better, there’s simply no proof one way or another, except in the eating. “The organic mark was never intended to be a quality mark,” says Holdstock. “But fewer additives or processing aids means fewer options to compensate for poor quality and texture, so you have to get your raw material right. “If that means you have to conch your chocolate for longer, or that you buy your milk from farmers that are moving towards traditionalbreed cattle that deliver a higher fat content… well, it means you’re delivering a better quality product almost by default, because you can’t cut corners.” If that costs more, it’s the kind of back-story premium food shops should feel thoroughly at home with. Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

cheesewire

No E. coli found in recalled Dunsyre Blue BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

One of Scotland’s bestknown cheeses has been named by authorities as the possible source for an E.coli outbreak, despite extensive tests showing no sign of the bacteria in the cheese or at the dairy. Cheesemaker Selina Cairns, who runs Errington Cheese in Lanarkshire, told FFD that she had experienced “the worst few weeks of my life” after Health Protection Scotland (HPS) said on July 29 that the company’s Dunsyre Blue raw cows’ milk cheese could be responsible for an E. coli 0157 outbreak, which made 18 people ill in May and July – 14 in Scotland and four in England. The government body, which is working with Foods Standards Scotland and other government agencies to investigate and manage the outbreak, identified the cheese after initial investigations indicated a number of people had consumed Dunsyre Blue prior to feeling unwell. The case was widely reported across the national media.

Health Protection Scotland has cited Dunsyre Blue as the source of an E. coli outbreak but cheesemaker Selina Cairns (above) has detected none of the bacteria in her cheese or the dairy

However, as FFD went to press, the bacteria still had not been found in any of Errington’s cheeses, including cheese from one of the two batches that were voluntarily recalled by the company. Extensive testing in the dairy and at the farm where the milk is sourced also failed to find any sign of E. coli 0157. “We’ve carried out lots of testing with a consultant from the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and haven’t

found anything,” Cairns told FFD in mid-August. “The authorities have based their decision [to name Dunsyre Blue] on statistical analysis. Some people said they had eaten the cheese, but some hadn’t. With other cheese recalls [from other producers], they’ve found problems with the actual cheese, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. It doesn’t make sense to us.” She added: “People will remember there has been a recall, but they

Cheese producer and distributor Harvey & Brockless has published its own Guide to Artisan Cheese, covering more than 300 British and Continental cheeses. The guide, which has been designed as a resource for chefs, restaurateurs and retailers, features detailed descriptions, tasting notes and colourful stories about the people and places behind the cheeses in the Harvey & Brockless’s artisan cheese range.

BY PATRICK MCGUIGAN

www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk

HIDDEN GEMS FROM BRITISH PRODUCERS

www.erringtoncheese.co.uk

Rodda’s turns to cheese production Cornish clotted cream specialist Rodda’s has set up a new artisan cheese business in Redruth called Curds & Croust, which is already proving popular with chefs and retailers. Croust is a Cornish term for a mid-morning or afternoon snack. The new business is headed up by cheesemaker Martin Gaylard, whose father John founded Cornish Country Larder, with high profile customers including the Great Cornish Food Store, Rick Stein’s restaurants and chef Paul Ainsworth. The company produces four cheeses at a unit in Redruth using the same

heroes

won’t read that nothing has been found. It’s not a good message for cheese as a whole.” Dr Syed Ahmed, clinical director at HPS, said in a statement: “The majority of cases have consumed Dunsyre Blue while eating out, but members of the public who purchased Dunsyre Blue cheese between May 18 and July 29, and still have the product in their fridges, should return it to the retailer where they purchased the product or dispose of it.” Cairns’ father Humphrey Errington, who founded the business, famously fought a long legal battle in the 1990s against Clydesdale Council after it claimed to have found listeria in his unpasteurised Lanark Blue sheep’s milk cheese. Errington’s own rigorous testing found no sign of the pathogen, leading to a well-publicised court case, which called into question the council’s methodology and ended in victory for Errington.

H&B publishes artisan guide

milk that goes into Rodda’s clotted cream. These include: Miss Wenna brie; Boy Laity camembert; Russet Squire, which is washed in cider; and a truffle brie called The Truffler. Rodda’s MD Nicholas

Unsung

Rodda and financial director Kurt Sigrist are named as joint directors of Curds & Croust and the clotted cream company also distributes the cheeses. John Gaylard is not directly involved. www.curds-croust.co.uk

Paxton & Whitfield

news & views from the cheese counter

CHILCOTE In a nutshell: Unlike Innes Cheese’s more well-known Buttons and Bosworth logs, this unpasteurised goats’ cheese comes in 150g ‘bricks’, which are matured for around three weeks and have a geotrichum rind. Flavour and texture: The unusual shape renders the cheeses moister than logs but they retain a feathery texture. They develop almondy and earthy notes as they mature. History: Stella Bennett started making unpasteurised goats’ cheeses at Highfields Farm Dairy in 1987. Today the business is run by her son Joe and has 220 milking goats. Cheese care: The cheeses have a shelf-life of three to four weeks. They should be wrapped to stop them drying out and turned every few days. Why stock it? British brick-shaped goats’ cheeses provide a nice counterpoint to round cheeses. The shape also makes them easy to cut and portion for salads. Perfect partners: Joe Bennett likes his with IPA or try a zingy white wine from the Loire Valley. Where to buy: Premier Cheese, Paxton & Whitfield and La Fromagerie. 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 8 | September 2016

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Love Wensleydale Cheese… make sure it’s from Yorkshire! Not all cheeses bearing the Wensleydale name are actually produced in Yorkshire! By stocking Yorkshire Wensleydale your customers can be assured that they are buying an authentic product, traditionally handcrafted with integrity in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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wensleydale.co.uk/blog

cheesewire

Curds from Kernow After years of farming and odd-jobbing, Sue Proudfoot decided to produce cheese to make ends meet. PATRICK McGUIGAN took a trip to Cornwall to find out how Whalesborough Cheese has grown since the turn of the century.

ornwall’s cream tea purveyors and surfing instructors might rake it in during the summer months but, for the rest of the year, earning a living in the South West peninsula is not such an easy task. The county is one of the poorest in the UK with earnings and GDP well below the UK average, which means making a buck requires a certain amount of ingenuity. Sue Proudfoot, owner of Whalesborough Cheese near Bude, is a case in point. Before she started making cheese in 1999, she turned her hand to a dizzying array of jobs to make ends meet – including classroom assistant, sheep farmer, night school art teacher and working for an organisation helping young farmers. She even painted milk churns with bucolic images of country life to sell to tourists. “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” she says. “I’d buy the milk churns for £20, put the kids to bed, stay up half the night painting the churns with poppies and field mice, then sell them for £60. It doesn’t sound like much, but it wasn’t easy making money round here.” It wasn’t easy for her dairy farmer husband Frazer to make money either, with the family farm receiving an abysmal price for its milk, despite having a 300-strong herd of top quality cows. “We’d got on the treadmill of building up the herd, but couldn’t get out from under the cows to see where we were going,” she says. “We were one of the top 25% farms in terms of the quality of our milk, but we were making just a quarter of a penny on a litre of milk. It wasn’t sustainable.” As is so often the case, salvation lay in cheese. Local cheesemaker Tony Rich, who had worked for Cricketer Farm and Cornish Country Larder, spent two days showing Proudfoot how to make cheese, using an old 50-litre bain marie that doubled as a vat and tractor weights to press the cheese. The rest she learned for herself, before literally knocking on deli and restaurant doors. “I would jump on the train and go to London with a rucksack full of cheese,” she says. “That was how I ended up with one of my biggest orders in the early days – to supply

Sue Proudfoot’s Bude-based dairy produces five different varieties of cheese, amounting to 15 tonnes annually

Fortnums’ hampers. It meant we could buy a proper cheese press.” Withiel farmers’ market was also an important channel for the inexperienced cheesemaker, enabling her to get feedback from the public and network with other start-ups. “It was a comfortable and supportive place to sell,” she says. “It can be hard when you’re starting. There’s nobody to scrape you off the floor when you’re having a bad time or to give you that motivation, so it was a lifeline.” The cheese was made with milk from the farm’s own herd up until 2004 when, in another diversification project, the cows were sold and the couple built a collection of holiday

I would go on the train to London with a rucksack full of cheese. That’s how I ended up with one of my biggest orders – to supply Fortnums’ hampers. cottages on their land. Today pasteurised milk comes from a local dairy processor and the farm is home to 25 holiday cottages, a swimming pool and

spa, and thriving café overlooking a lake. Cheese production was moved to a cluster of artisan food units at nearby Norton Barton Farm in 2009 where neighbours include Cornish Charcuterie and North Coast Cider. Proudfoot’s son Andrew heads up production, making around 15 tonnes a year across five cheeses: Keltic Gold, which is washed in cider and won a three-star award in this year’s Great Taste; a washed curd cheese called Miss Muffet; the cheddar-style Trelawny; a zesty Lancashire-style cheese called Cornish Crumbly; and Cornish Smuggler, which has a marbled orange and white interior. The tractor weights are gone but there’s still a degree of Heath Robinson-style innovation in the dairy. Drain pipes are used as moulds while the bain marie has been replaced with a converted secondhand bulk milk tank. “We took off the condenser and chiller and added two heating elements – it was £50 for the tank and £120 for the heating elements,” says Proudfoot with satisfaction. In a county with no motorways and plenty of caravans, distribution has long been a challenge for Cornish producers, but as with most other things Proudfoot takes

a pragmatic approach, refusing to deliver directly herself. Instead, local wholesalers Longman and Hanson Fine Foods collect from the dairy, while distributor LogistHicks supplies customers further afield, such as Rippon and Harvey & Brockless. Whalesborough’s logo and packaging were designed by Proudfoot, who took inspiration from the Celtic stone crosses on Bodmin Moor. “When you think of Cornwall, the association is the seaside, wholesome living and beautiful landscape,” she says. She’s not the only producer looking to tap into Cornwall’s brand image with several new cheese companies launching in recent years, including Treveador Farm Dairy and Curds & Croust (see page 37). “I don’t look at them as competition – what we do is very different and we are established now,” says Proudfoot. “In Cornwall you are basically self-employed or work in a family business, otherwise you often have to leave the county. I’ve seen enough people go off to university and not come back that it’s good to see new businesses starting. Anything that keeps people in this beautiful part of the world is a good thing.” www.whalesboroughcheese.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

Est. 1921

LAKENHAM CREAMERY Specialist Ice Cream Makers

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

A promotional feature on behalf of Le Gruyère AOP

Me and my cheese counter This month we pay a visit to Paxton & Whitfield’s shop in Stratford-upon-Avon

n some ways the headline above is a little misleading. Paxton & Whitfield’s Stratford-upon-Avon shop doesn’t really have a cheese counter in the traditional sense. That’s because the shop itself acts as one giant counter thanks to an air-conditioning system that keeps the temperature at around 10-12oC. This means that hard cheeses can be displayed in the open along one side of the shop, while an open-top chiller down the other side keeps the soft and semi-soft cheeses at below 5°C. “It’s one of the great aspects of the shop,” says manager Clare Turner. “We don’t have the barrier of a glass counter, so customers can get very close to the cheeses and have a good look at them. We like to have whole cheeses on display. A lot of people don’t know the size of a cheddar and are amazed by it, and they love the interesting shape of Berkswell and the patterns on the rind. It makes the display more interesting to look at rather than just seeing a cut piece of cheese.” It’s not just the aesthetics of the shop that are improved by removing the barrier of a serve-over counter. It also enables Turner and her team to browse the shop alongside customers,

I really love food – I wanted to learn more about where it comes from,” she says. She certainly gets the opportunity to do that with Paxtons, regularly visiting cheesemakers to improve her understanding of what goes into the products she sells. Recent trips have included Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Trethowan’s Dairy to see Gorwydd Caerphilly being made and a visit to new goats’ cheese producer Norton & Yarrow in Oxfordshire. “Hearing their passion for cheese really sticks with you and you bring it back to the shop,” she says. “We share knowledge internally in the company as well. We speak to each other about what we’ve learned on the trips and also write up reports, which are shared across the whole company. It really helps sell the cheese.” This year also saw Turner visit France as part of the company’s annual range review, where she spent time with wholesalers and Parisian cheesemonger Androuet. The trip resulted in new cheeses being listed, including Meringue goats’ cheeses topped with lavender or rose petals

making for a convivial, interactive experience. “A shop like ours is quite a new experience to some people, so we don’t want them to feel intimidated. In supermarkets, you just go round and help yourself; you never really have to ask for help. But because we cut the cheese to size we have to have that engagement. We give people tasters and start a conversation with the them. People sometimes ask for Stilton because that’s the only blue cheese they know, but by talking to them it might be there is a different style of blue that they like.” Turner started at the shop two-and-a-half years ago as a supervisor, before Le Gruyère AOP’s Helen Daysh swiftly being made comments: manager. She had Paxton & Whitfield’s Stratfordpreviously worked upon-Avon store shows just at Berkswell what a difference staff training cheesemaker and customer service can make Ram Hall, after to retail sales completing Meeting cheesemakers, a degree in and understanding what they Agriculture and do, helps retailers convey that Business Studies. passion to their customers. Of course, this has to “I had always be allied to an excellent product range, beautiful been interested presentation and in-store theatre – things that this in business and superb cheese shop has in spades.

and Cubotin – a square goats’ cheese sprinkled with thyme. There’s a 70/30 split between British and Continental among the 80-90 cheeses in the shop. Best sellers from Europe include Brie de Meaux, Camembert de Normandie and Langres, while Gruyère AOP Reserve is also popular and an Alpage version is brought in as a seasonal special. British cheese sales are topped by Paxton & Whitfield’s own cheddar and Stilton, plus Montgomery’s cheddar, but local cheeses are also popular. The shop has some seriously good cheeses on its doorstep from Oxford Blue and Jonathan Crump Double Gloucester to Cerney Ash, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester and the new Rollright washed rind cheese. Highlighting a ’cheese of the month’ on blackboards and special displays – currently Bayerischer Blue from Germany – adds interest, as do collaborations with local food businesses. Turner recently invited start-up retailer 1683 Chocolate Place to do a tasting in the store and a similar event is planned with coffee roasters Monsoon. Piquing customers’ interest can be as simple as moving products to different parts of the shop. “It stops things feeling stale,” she says. “We did an experiment last year where we moved all the accompaniments around, so the cheese was on one side of the shop and the crackers on the other, and it did make a difference. It reminds customers what products we sell and keeps it fresh for us as well.”

Vol.17Issue Issue88| · September September 2016 2016 Vol.17

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

making more of british & continental charcuterie

cut&dried

Mangalitza specialist taps growing interest in lardo BY NICK BAINES Sussex-based Beal’s Farm Charcuterie is introducing lardo to its range and ramping up production, doubling its drying space from 50 to 100 sq m. “It’s already looking like we will have to scale up to 200 sq m next year too,” said Phil Beal, who co-owns the business with wife Melissa. The expansion comes after increased demand for the company’s air-dried pork products. Beal’s Farm’s key point of difference is its exclusive use of the Mangalitza – a breed of wooly pig prized for its high fat content. “The ﬂavour’s always in the fat, no matter what anyone says,” Beal told FFD. Over the past ﬁve years, Beal’s Farm has grown its herd to keep a large stock of much older pigs.

Beal’s Farm’s lardo uses rare-breed back fat seasoned and cured for six months

Its Special Reserve range is produced from animals no younger than two years old, while commercial breeds of pig don’t often exceed seven months. “When the pigs hit the two year mark, they’re at full maturity,” said Beal. “The fat has a deep ﬂavour and will be about three to four

inches thick on the back.” It is this back fat that Beal is using to make Beal’s Farm’s newest product: lardo. This Italian-style cured back fat has been gaining momentum with chefs for a while due to its versatility as an ingredient and high intensity of ﬂavour. Sliced thinly, it can be

used as part of a charcuterie platter, but when lardo is draped over warm food such as scallops, asparagus, prawns or steak, the cured back fat completely melts into a dish. “We dry cure our Mangalitza back fat for six months with sea salt, black pepper, rosemary and fresh garlic,” said Beal. The rare breed’s monounsaturated fat is high in omega 2 and 3, giving it a smooth creamy texture. “What’s great about Mangalitza lardo is you don’t get any greasiness,” says Beal. The Beals have been strongly inﬂuenced by Spanish charcuterie, having lived in Spain for a decade. Over the past ﬁve years though, they’ve taken this approach and harnessed it on their Sussex farm. Everything is built on

the growing herd of highwelfare Mangalitza pigs that they’ve built through a co-operative arrangement with smallholders who bring on the Mangalitza piglets before returning them to Beal’s Farm. The business is also about to release a spreadable salami described as “a hybrid of n’duja and sobrasada”. This innovative product, set to be commercially available this autumn, is a soft sausage packed with sweet red peppers and Turkish Aleppo chilli pepper. “The chefs that have been cooking with it have found so many ways to use it,” said Beal. “Some have treated it like a pesto, tossing it through spaghetti and pasta, and others have stirred it into casseroles and soups.” www.bealsfarmcharcuterie.com

Forget Quality Street – Lean French saucisson offers a try a tin of cured meats seasonal option for hampers BY NICK BAINES Cannon & Cannon has developed a range of gift tins for Christmas using British charcuterie. With RRPs ranging from £24.95 to £49.95 they include an Introduction to British Cured Meat tin (£24.95 RRP) featuring Cornish Charcuterie’s seaweed & cider salami and smoked mutton from Capreolus in Dorset. The Beer and Cured Meat tin (£29.95) includes Ducksticks snacking salami from Sussex-based Moons

Green and a whole chilli venison chorizo from Great Glen Charcuterie, as well as two bottles of craft beer. The Pork Free Cured Meat Collection (£24.95) contains Trealy Farm’s lamb merguez salami, BigHorn Original Biltong and a red wine jerky from Marsh Pig. The Connoisseur’s Collection (£49.95) contains n’duja spreading salami from Moons Green, a duck, pork & Sichuan ﬂower pepper salami from Trealy and Great Glen’s Scottish venison salami with green peppercorns. www.cannonandcannon.com

BY ANDREW DON Charcuterie Direct has launched a brace of French dry-cured sausages with a festive ﬂavour in preparation for Christmas, one with melted camembert, the other with walnut. Both are the perfect accompaniment to a glass of port or mulled wine, says the company, which has been handling distribution in the UK and Ireland for French, Spanish, Italian and British artisan charcuterie producers since 2006. The newcomers are made using lean, free-range Normandy pork and are being marketed as ideal for ambient Christmas hampers.

The 140g walnut saucisson costs £2.98 trade, with an RRP of £4.95. The 200g melted camembert variety costs £3.95 (RRP £6.50). The launch was announced as Charcuterie Direct issued a warning on its website against suppliers that use excessive fat in salami to increase their margins. “After all, pork fat is not expensive to buy in and if too much is added to a

salami it retains moisture during the curing process, which means it is heavier in weight when sold on,” Charcuterie Direct said in a blog post. www.charcuteriedirect.co.uk

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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AUTUMN WINTER

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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Health takes its place in Olympia’s luxury line-up Alongside thousands of luxury lines on show at this year’s biggest-ever Speciality & Fine Food Fair will be newcomers offering healthier choices with a premium twist, as MICK WHITWORTH reports. A full exhibitor listing starts on page 51.

e’re used to supermarket buyers scouring specialist shows for niche, artisan products they can scale up and dumb down for the mass market. But as Speciality & Fine Food Fair (S&FFF) event director Soraya Gadelrab tells FFD, many of this year’s 850 exhibitors are picking up on grocery trends and creating upmarket, niche options – especially for shoppers who want to achieve that near-impossible mix of healthy but luxurious eating. These include premiumised versions of now-standard supermarket functional foods – products that are, as Gadelrab puts it, “not just intrinsically healthy” but have added ingredients, like prebiotics and probiotics, for speciﬁc health beneﬁts. “So rather than just an Arla Foods [supermarket] yoghurt we’re seeing speciality alternatives

this year,” she says, “like Minioti probiotic ice creams [stand V143].” For younger consumers in particular, “it’s all coming back to clean living and clean eating”, she continues. This doesn’t necessarily mean changing their whole diet, but switching to better, premium ingredients – a good ﬁt for our sector – and healthier options. So visitors to S&FFF 2016 will ﬁnd so-called “ancient grains” like spelt, freekeh, quinoa and chia

strongly in evidence – for example, in Scottish brand RaRa’s chia & oat breakfast pots (stand 1310D) – along with better-for-you snacks like Pulin free-from protein snack bars (stand 2010/a). “That’s still about snacking and indulgence,” Gadelrab says, “but substituting the staple products with healthier alternatives” Also on the better-for-you front, free-from is now ﬁrmly established in the speciality sector, she points

out, and not only for those with speciﬁc dietary issues. “It’s not just about health limitations. Many more people generally are opting to buy sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, halal or vegetarian. It’s become a lifestyle choice, not a health choice.” Gadelrab recalls a seminar session at S&FFF’s mainstream sister show, IFE, in 2015, where futurologist Morgaine Gaye predicted two product trends over the next few years. One was the >

Sample the best of Great Taste 2016 Scores of Great Taste 2016 award winners will be available for you to check out at Olympia, courtesy of the Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Deli. As well as displaying hundreds of this year’s winners on-shelf, the Guild’s resident chef Nick Crosley (pictured left) will be cooking up dishes featuring many of this year’s 1-, 2- and 3-star winners. There’s also a chance to meet winning producers in person, with product tastings by The Traditional Free Range Egg Co, Apple County Cider, Dark Woods Coffee and Mr Organic among others. www.gff.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

show preview TRENDWATCH

MUST-SEE SEMINARS SMALL BUSINESS FORUM • Sian Holt from Fudge Kitchen will be explaining why producers don’t have to think small just because they’re artisan – 2:15 13:00, Tuesday September 6 2016 • Paul Hargreaves from Cotswold Fayre discusses how to bring brands to market in the speciality sector – 14:14 - 14:59, Sunday September 4 2016 • John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Soup Co and Little Dish, will advise on building a successful consumer brand – 10:15 - 11:00, Sunday September 4 2016 • Kazui Gill from Lime Green Accountancy reveals the 10 things every food start-up needs – 14:14 - 14:59, Monday September 5 2016

Here are some of the trends to watch this year, according to event director Soraya Gadelrab. Chocolate surprise S&FFF 2016 sees luxury chocolate producers, not just from France and Germany, but from Colombia (Casa Luker, stand 2728), India (Earth Loaf, stand 2611), Sweden (Malmo Chokladfabrik, stand 2933) and Estonia (Chocolala, stand 3913/a). Eastern promise This year sees more exhibitors than ever from outside the EU, like Bite fruit snack bars from Russia and slow-baked pitta breads from Nina’s Bakery in Israel (stand 3526). New-look Nordics Scandinavian producers are targeting the UK with Brit-friendly pack formats. Look out for Froosh ethical fruit drinks (stand 1910/g) and the Nicolas Vahé brand (stand 3926): a range of gourmet products, from granola to seasonings and drinks, that combine French and Scandi influences. Nit picking? The media are loving the idea of edible insects. Try seasoned insects and cricket snack bars yourself from two exhibitors: Jimini‘s (stand V84) and Crobar (stand V62). Active ingredients Prebiotics, probiotics and other health-giving ingredients are popping up in a host of speciality lines. Look out for Minioti’s premium Jersey milk ice cream (stand V143) with added live cultures and Vitality Preserves, from Gigi & Sons (stand V20), with ingredients like wolfberry (goji) and jujube. Funky and free-from Free-from foods are a lifestyle choice for some, and you’ll find many brands chasing this premium sector, like Hickory Nuts from Abakus Foods (stand V101) gluten-free Muffinz from Flower & White (stand 3823) and allergenfree cookie kits from Heaven & Hellthy (stand V51).

SPECIALITY CHOCOLATE LIVE • Wine writer Jane Parkinson of BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen Live dispels the myth that wine can’t be paired with chocolate - 14:00 - 14:35, Sunday September 4 2016 • Chris Brennan (Pump Street Bakery) and Keith Lowe (Zotter Chocolate ) will be discussing the importance of craft chocolate in independent stores - 15:00 - 15:35, Monday September 5 2016 • Isabelle Alaya from Melange helps you pin down the right ﬁne chocolates to distinguish your range from mainstream stores – 13:00 - 13:35, Tuesday September 6 2016 FINE FOOD LIVE • Wine consultant Amelia Singer and TV chef Peter Sidwell match three current food trends with some equally on-trend wines - 13:00 - 13:35, Sunday September 4 2016 • Sous chef Ellie Lewis of Jar Kitchen suggests healthy and interesting recipe ideas to give your café or restaurant a seasonal ﬂavour – 13:00 - 13:35, Tuesday September 6 2016

rise of those ancient grains. The other was that we’d soon be eating insects. “I thought, ‘that’s never going to happen’,” recalls Gadelrab, “but what she predicted has come true. We’ve seen various bits of press about protein from insects over the past year, and now we’ve got two exhibitors who are doing insect powders and snacks.” The two are Jimini’s, with its ready-to-eat range of seasoned insects and cricket flour energy bars, and Crobar which also sells cricket flour bars in various flavours. “It will be interesting to see if this is a fad,” says Gadelrab. “I can see insect powder lasting as an ingredient – going into smoothies or milkshakes to add protein. Whether we’ll all be snacking on them I’m not so sure!” Not all new lines at this year’s S&FFF will be so outlandish. After watching first ‘hand-fried’ potato chips and then posh popcorn emerge over recent years, Gadelrab says innovation this year looks to be focused more on flavour or ingredients rather than radically new ideas. Nuto Nuts, for example, will be showcasing ‘healthy and nutritious’ lotus seed snacks, while start-up Wilding Snacks will be launching what it claims is a world first at this year’s show: Peking duck crackling, made with triple-cooked duck skin. Smoked foods are still on the

rise, says Gadelrab, and in some increasingly unlikely sectors. “We’ve always had smoked salmon, but this year we have smoked ketchup, jam, chocolate and yoghurt at the show. I haven’t tasted most of these yet, and they’re the ones I want to go and try straight away.” The emergence of craft beers and ciders has been followed by that of British craft spirits, and the fledgling distillers exhibiting at S&FFF are diversifying with new flavour additions and infusions such as grapefruit and elderflower. Alongside them have come a new

contingent from Central and Eastern Europe – Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Lithuania – and others from Israel, India and Japan. “We’ve seen a huge increase from Scandinavia too – mainly Denmark and Sweden,” says Gadelrab. “They’ve not done a huge amount of exporting in the past, so their marketing wasn’t really geared to the UK. And British consumers don’t really like the very plain Scandinavian style of packaging, which doesn’t give much information. But exhibitors like Froosh fruit drinks and Nicolas Vahé gourmet products are coming here now with packs that are much more UK-friendly.” This rise in overseas exhibitors comes despite the Brexit vote. Gadelrab says there were the inevitable post-referendum conversations at S&FFF organiser Fresh Montgomery about what the impact might be, and a couple of Portuguese companies did pull out, saying the UK was “no longer a priority”. But otherwise, numbers have clearly held up, and there are more and more foreign companies, like those Scandinavians, arriving this year with much improved branding and packaging. We like to think we have the world’s most sophisticated food market, but it seems S&FFF visitors this year will notice more overseas brands giving our home-grown producers a run for their money.

A record 30% of exhibitors are from outside these shores with a growing contingent from Central and Eastern Europe – Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Lithuania breed of premium ready-to-drink cocktails and mixers. “Where ready-to-drink used to mean highly sweetened alcopops like Bacardi Breezers, now it’s more about artisan, and much less sweet, cocktail mixes,” Gadelrab says. Examples at Olympia include The Fine Cocktail Company, whose vodka, gin and whisky-based premixed cocktails use natural fruit juices and ﬂavours such as mango, mint & agave. As ever, the S&FFF is not all about British artisan foods. A record 30% of exhibitors this year are from outside these shores with a growing

www.specialityandﬁnefoodfairs.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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show preview

Who’s at Olympia this year?

Guild of Fine Food members in bold 3XT............................................................. 3314 4 Italian PDO Cheeses ................................. 2458 A Little Bit Food Co........................... V163 A Portuguese Love Affair ............................ 4560 A&O Foods ................................................. 3418 Abakus Foods ............................................. V101 Ace Beverage Company London ................. 3704 Ace Servidis International ............................ 2948 Acetomodena, Societa Agricola ............... 1810/a ADT Isle of Cyprus - Olive Oil ...................... 3038 Agro Senco UK ........................................... 2041 Agro’Novae ................................................ V121 Aine’s Chocolates..................................... 1730/b Alarz Tahini ................................................. 1137 Alcubilla - Best Spanish Ham ......................... V98 Alivini Company.......................................... 4740 Almar Drink & Food ................................. 1761/a Almuegaarden Sweets and Confectionery... 3917 Amarelli Fabbrica di Liquirizia ...................... 3331 Anchovies Codesa....................................... 1841

Andalucia Fine Foods .................................. V144 Aphrodite’s Food........................................... V79 Apple County Cider .......................... 1530 Aqua Carpatica (Fresh Organic Products)...1710/c Arabicaffe’............................................... 3138/e Aranady...................................................... 2959 A’Ricchigia ................................................ 3138/f Artis Cibaria............................................. 4812/a Atkins and Potts.................................. 900 Authentic Japanese Foods........................... 1430 Awani (UK)......................................... V100 Azienda Agricola I Dossi di Bazzano Cesare Mariano................................................... 1761/a Azienda Agricola Moroder ........................4812/c Azienda Agricola Oliva .................................. V99 Azuma Trading Co. ..................................... 1330 Babease ...................................................... 3339 Bacco....................................................... 3138/a Bacheldre Watermill .................................... 3406 Baghi’s di Pellizzari Fabio ............................. 4260 Bake at Home ............................................. 4165 Baking Stories ............................................. 3620

Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms ............... 1730 Bam Life Drink ............................................ 1305 Baro......................................................... 2050/b BBQ Gourmet ............................................. 4410 Bean and Goose ...................................... 1720/g Belberry Preserves .....................................2010/c Belgian Boys ............................................ 2210/b Belinda Clark Confectionery.......................... V47 Bell & Loxton ........................................... 2120/g Belle de Sucre .......................................... 2240/d Belvoir Fruit Farms ........................... 1742 Ben & Bill’s .................................................. 1851 Better Little Treats ....................................... 2949 Biddenden Vineyards .................................... V37 Big Thoughts in Food and Drink .................. 3713 Billy Franks.................................................... V26 Bio-tiful Dairy.............................................. 1852 Birba.........................................................1910/c Bitspicy’s Hand-blended Speciality Spices....... V31 BKD ............................................................ V112 Black Cow .................................................. V153 Blas Ar Fwyd...................................... 1430 Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

BigFish Brand ® Lemon & Pepper Serving Suggestion

show preview Blossoms Syrup ........................................... V129 Boatman’s Brands ....................................... 2955 Bocados de Malaga..................................... 3805 Bonnie Yau’s Food Products ........... 1830h Bonolio ....................................................... 1940 Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) .......................... 1730 Boutique Bake ......................................... 1730/e Braehead Foods .......................................... 1522 Bramante Tartuﬁ .......................................4812/c Bramley and Gage ...................................... V162 Bread Tree................................................... 1122 Breakthrough Funding ................................ 3610 Breckland Orchard............................. 1853 Buckley & Beale .......................................... 3120 Buckshot Original........................................ V145 Burren Smokehouse....................... 1720/b Burts Potato Chips ...................................... 1932 Bussy ....................................................... 1761/a Buttermilk Confections ............................ 2020/b BV Dairy...................................................... 4112 Caliente Beverages International ................. 4602 Camera Di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura Di Catania................................. 3138 Canadian Wild Blueberries .......................... 4210 Canesmith & Co................................... V30 Cantina Strappelli ....................................... V151 Capsicana Chilli Co ..................................... 4263 Carman ................................................... 3138/d Casa do Vale Flavours .............................. 2140/b Cashel Blue............................................... 1730/i Catch (Isle of Wight Ltd) .................. 3404 Cawston Vale.............................................. 1452 Cemab Wooden Displays Factory ................ 3324

New to the show in... …ICE CREAM Darlish Darlish hopes to use its debut at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair to make its Persian-inspired ice creams and desserts more accessible both locally and nationally. Its range includes Turkish Panna Cotta, Muscovado & Molasses Cream, Halva Cheesecake and six ice-cream variants, including the exotic-sounding Rhubarb, Pomegranate & Rose Sorbet, and Orange Blossom & Pistachio. The company has been selling locally at food fairs and farmers’ markets this year. Laura Dawson, founder, said: “We are hoping to launch in the near future in a London department store. Our customers keep asking us where they can buy our desserts on a more regular basis.” The speciality food retail market is “incredibly important” to the business. “Throughout the journey to develop the desserts it was clear that we had to source the finest ingredients to make the flavours work,” says Dawson. www.darlish.com

Cerutti Alice.............................................. V154B Cerveza Mica ........................................... 2030/h Champion & Reeves .......................... 1110 Chapel and Swan Smokehouse ................... V157 Chase Distillery ........................................... 2447 Chegworth Valley Juices .................. 1651 Chesil Smokery .............................. 1920/e Chicca & Cameo di Raffaele Bove ............... 4401 ChicP ............................................................ V85 Chiltern Charcuterie.................................... V135 Cho! (La Chispa LTD) ............................... 2110/h Chocolala OU .......................................... 3913/a Chocolaterie Guisabel ...............................2340/c Chunk of Devon ...................................... 2120/b Cibosano .................................................... 1320 Claudia’s Kitchen .............................. V110 Clearspring ........................................ 1330 Coconut Collective................................... 1810/ff Coconut Merchant...................................... 3614 Coeur de Pom.......................................... 2240/b Compagnie Des Saveurs........................... 2230/a Compania Auxiliar Alcargo Express ............. 4512 Comptoir Gourmand .................................. 4414 Con Arte..................................................... 4608 Consorzio Club del Buttafuoco Storico..... 1761/a Consorzio Handland .................................4812/c Consorzio Tuttitaliafood........................... 1761/p Coren ...................................................... 2040/d Corkers Crisps ................................... 1224 Cornish Charcuterie ................................. 2220/d Cornish Ketchup......................................... 2953 Corte Diletto............................................... 3055 Cortijo de Sarteneja ..................................2050/c Costello and Hellerstein ................................ V66 Cotswold Fayre ................................. 1710 Cottage Delight................................. 1840 Coulton’s Bread .......................................... V118 Country Fare................................................... V4 Country Puddings ........................... 1710/f CP One Global ............................................ 4121 Crazy Baker ................................................ 4613 Creative Nature Superfoods .......................... V86 Croprotein .................................................... V62 CSY Retail Systems...................................... 3716 Cullisse Highland Rapeseed Oil ..... 1410E Cuppanut ................................................... 3143 Curry On Cooking......................................... V34 Daioni......................................................... 1440 Dan Hull Prepared Foods............................. V158 Danieli - Il Forno Delle Puglie....................... 1940 Dark Woods Coffee ........................... 1233 Darlish, The Persian Creamery ....................... V28 Delicioso UK ...................................... 1621 Delicious Alchemy.................................... 2010/g Deliciouslyorkshire ...................................... 2100 Deliwraps .......................................... 4031 Devon Distillery ................................ V173 Devonshire Tea.................................. V160 Die Truffelmanufaktur ................................. 4203 Dine In Sauces Limited ................................ 4402 Dinutri & Frutaformas ................................. 4514 Districts of Italy ................................ 1941 Diverse Fine Food ............................. 4180

Doddington Dairy ....................................... V159 Doisy & Dam............................................... 3619 Don Gaucho ............................................... 3624 Dona Caetana............................................. 3434 Doughlicious............................................... 4001 Drunken Dairy............................................. V127 Dunnet Bay Distillers .................................1410A Easy Bean........................................ 1910/a Eat Wholesome........................................... V104 Embutidos de Cardena............................. 2030/a Emily Fruit Crisps .............................. 3056 Empire Bespoke Foods ................................ 1930 English Tea Shop UK ......................... 1569 Epicerie de France 1755 ............................2230/c Equi’s Ice Cream........................................1510C Ernesto .................................................... 1761/a Escuminac................................................... V116 EU Olive Oil...................................... 1810/f Explotaciones El Alamillo............................... V10 F.LLI Collivasone ....................................... 1761/a Fabbrica Finocchiaro ................................ 3138/h Fair Food Co. ................................................ V18 Fairﬁelds Farm Crisps ....................... 1300 Falcon Sales & Marketing................. 1020 Farradays Tasty.............................................. V75 Farrah’s of Harrogate .................................. 3316 Farrington Oils .................................. 1321 Favis of Salcombe ........................... 1920/f FIAB Exterior ............................................... 2030 Fiﬁ’s Paradise Tea......................................... 4614 Filberts Fine Foods.................................... 1810/d Filotea - La pasta Artigianale .................... 4812/a Fin & Olly’s ............................................... 2110/b

New to the show in... …TEA

ZigZag Teas ZigZag Teas hopes to catch buyers’ attention with three new collections – Pure, Plant and Signature. They come in loose leaf, and biodegradable teabags – the creation of Lucy Dolan, whom The Prince’s Trust supported in 2014 to get her business going. Dolan has enjoyed impressive success in such a short time with her teas stocked in 20 locations including Partridges, Eat 17, Fork Deli Patisserie and Deeney’s Café. ZigZag does a lot of wholesale business but Dolan is keen to increase her company’s retail penetration. “I hope the trade show will get me some more retail outlets,” she says. “We use whole leaf…it captures the full flavour and gives all the goodness. We use whole, natural ingredients with our blends so you get that full fresh taste.” The company is inspired by the ancient Chinese tea ceremony, Gong Fu Cha. www.zigzagteas.com Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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New to the show in... …COFFEE Özerlat Özerlat director Iley Özerlat accepts there is an education job to be done to turning Brits onto the joys of Turkish coffee. The company’s research shows most people complain when they drink Turkish coffee that it is bitter, too gritty or, in some cases, too sweet because of the tendency for certain establishments to add sugar. She says it is all in the brewing method and it is, in fact, more creamy and softer than espresso. “We want to present the real Turkish coffee experience.” The business will exhibit two blends – Heritage and Mozaik – as well as accoutrements such as coffee pots called cezve and a small cup called a fincan. Özerlat will also exhibit its range of Turkish Delight, which comes in Pistachio, Mastika, Clove, Cinnamon and Date Selection, which contains three different date lokoums – plain, hazelnut and pistachio. www.ozerlat.com

Finca Hostalets.............................................. V67 Flo Drinks.................................................... 4612 Flora Tea............................................... V74 Flower & White ................................. 3823 Foods Of Athenry..................................... 2010/h Fracassa Salumi........................................... V150 Franklin and Sons..................................... 2110/e Frantoio di Sant’agata D’oneglia .............. 1212/a Frantoio Franci ............................................ 1940 Frantoio Ghiglione ................................... 1212/a Fratelli Camisa ............................................ 1022 Fravocado ....................................................... V5 Fresh Eric’s Cake Co .................................... 1139 Friary Vinters............................................ 1920/b Fromacoeur ............................................. 2250/d Froosh ..................................................... 1910/g Fudge Kitchen ................................... 3907 Galloway Lodge Preserves ............... 3432 GBchew...................................................... V146 Geo Organics................................................ V55 Gigi il Salumiﬁcio ........................................ 3904 Gilan Holding / FMCG Group ........................ 906 Gin Meister............................................... 1830a Ginger Bakers.................................... 4404 Gino Gelato ................................................ 4660 Giulio Ferraris Societa Agricola ................. 1761/a Glinter Soft Drinks ...................................... 4303 Go Coco ....................................................... 920 Godminster Vintage ...................... 2220/e

Golfera in Lavezzola.................................... 3312 Gorg Cakes................................................. 1430 Grannys Secret .................................. 1450 GranoVita UK ............................................. 2051 Green Lady .............................................. 2210/d Greenﬁeld Bio Plantations Pvt ..................... 4030 Gringa Dairy ............................................... V136 Guidetti Fine Foods .......................... 3900 Gustare Honey............................................ 3903 H & A Nader ......................................... V46 Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co........................ 1330 Handmade by Van Strien............................. 3350 Hasslacher’s Hot Chocolate ......................... 1551 Hawkshead Relish Company ............ 2422 Healthy Food Supplies...................... 4730 Healy’s Honey .......................................... 1720/d Heaven and Hellthy....................................... V51 Hekos ........................................................... V96 Helia Helios................................................. 4811 Helt Honey.................................................. 4360 Hermanos Masa........................................2030/c Hider Food Imports Ltd ................................. 950 Holtﬁsh Farms T/A Gigha Halibut .............. 1510B Honest Bread & Cakes ............................. 2110/g House of Chutchup....................................... V25 HSL............................................................. 2941 Hungry Chef ............................................... V123 Hydropac .................................................... 1750 I Love Italia.................................................. 3310

at 16 us ty & 20 sit li ir Vi cia Fa 840 e d Sp oo d 1 F ne an Fi St

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/cottagedelight Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

Servicing the art of Gastronomy info@cibosano.co.uk ~ 020 8207 5820 ~ cibosano.co.uk

Charcuterie ~ Cheeses ~ Fresh Pasta ~ Antipasti ~ Seafood ~ Cakes ~ Oils ~ Vinegars

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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New to the show in... …CAKES AND BISCUITS Heaven + Hellthy Athena Simpson walks the walk and talks the talk – the perfect person to produce an all-in-one chocolate chip cookie home-baking kit designed for those with food allergies and intolerances. Simpson, who founded Heaven + Hellthy in 2013, did so because of her own intolerances – she says the vegan product is “completely free from all 14 major allergens”. She says: “I wasn’t happy with the options that were out there and wanted to make it easy for people at home to be able to bake.” Everything required to make cookies is included in the pack – nothing else needs to be bought, unlike with other home baking kits on the market, she says. Each kit makes 16 cookies and the container, a collaboration with an artist, can be used as a gift box in which to place the baked cookies. www.heavenandhellthy.com

IASC Atlantic Seafood Company of Ireland .................................................. 1720/f Ibericos Montellano ................................. 2163/d Icodersolutions............................................ 3916 Inka Snacks................................................. V114 INKKA................................................. 3326 InkREADible Labels ........................... V122 INOVCluster - Associacao do Cluster AgroIndustrial do Centro .................................... 2140 Interprofession de Gruyère .......................... 1550 Invest Northern Ireland................................ 1965 Ireland West Food Group ............................ 2145 Ishara Organic............................................. V172 ItaliaTartuﬁ................................................V156A Italy - Food From Liguria - Italian Riviera ...... 1212 James White Drinks..................................... 4131 Jamones Martinez.....................................2163/c Japan Centre Group.................................... 1330 Jarrett Health ................................................ V57 Jayish London ............................................. 3423 JDM............................................................ 4312 Jetro ........................................................... 1330 Jimini’s .......................................................... V84 Joe & Seph’s Gourmet Popcorn........ 1820 Joe’s Tea Company ............................ 4041 JRE Exhibitors.............................................. 1250 JustIngredients............................................ 4710 Karaway Bakery .......................................... 4070 Karimix UK......................................... 4149

Karkli .......................................................... V174 Kearns Foods .............................................. 4510 Kernow Confectionery ............................. 2120/e Kitchen Garden Foods ...................... 3426 KLBD Worldwide Kosher Certiﬁcation ......... 2411 Kobayashi Noodle Co.................................. 1330 Kold Cocktails............................................. 4616 Kurz & Lang.................................................. V78 Kwans Kitchen................................................ V2 L cteas Flor de Burgos ............................... 2030/f La Ca’dal Non Acetaia 1883........................ 1940 La Chiva Snacks & Co ........................ V148 La Credenza................................................ 4580 La Maremmana - Caseiﬁcio Inno al Sole ...... 1941 La Saucy Salsa............................................... V36 La Travaglina............................................ 1761/a La Tua Pasta ....................................... 1120 LabelsPlus ................................................... 3225 L’ailOlive ............................................ 1112 Lakeland Computers ................................... 4129 Lakeview Computers................................... 4610 L’Amethyste Patisserie ..................... 3416 Landaluz .................................................. 2163/b Lavolio ..................................................... 1910/b Le 2 Mele SNC ......................................... 1212/a Leafy............................................................. V14 Ledda Giuseppe ........................................ 3138/j Leighton Brown Crisps ..................... V169 Lemon-Aid............................................... 1810/h

Bold new look. Dazzling new ﬂavours

Ne w Labe Autu l s m 2016 n

Make the ordinary extraordinary www.thebaytree.co.uk

01963 828020

hello@thebaytree.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

ITY E S M E U LSH IAL 16 CO SE WE PEC 20 D E S IR AN TH THE D FA N O AT OO D EF AN N S T FI &

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

/10acre

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GLUTEN FREE

TA_165_100816_Fine_Food_Guild_Halfpage_Adv_141.5x204mm.indd 1

DAIRY FREE

MSG FREE

VEGAN & VEG

NON GMO 10/08/2016 17:57

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New to the show in... …SAVOURY SNACKS Wilding’s Hand-triplecooked, seasoned duck skin – Peking Duck Crackling – is the novel line from veteran chef Adam Wilding that has him taken three years to perfect. Wilding says he is now on the cusp of being able to launch “on a reasonable scale” and supply the UK and even international markets. He dreamed up the idea when he produced a crispy duck skin as a canapé for a London event and it went down so well “the penny dropped…I thought this would be really good as a snack. “The more I looked into it I learned the raw ingredients I use are commonly put into landfill or incinerated. So I’m taking a waste food product and turning it into something new which, on the back of the nutritional testing, we know is high in protein and has loads of omega 9.” www.wildingsnacks.com

Leopard Rock Marketing ............................. V117 Leporati Prosciutti Langhirano .................. 2130/a Les Delices de Saint Orens........................ 2240/a Les ‘Ptits Amoureux ..................................2250/c LH Fine Foods ................................... 1830f Liberty Orchards.......................................... V138 Likoris & Aromatikus ................................... V149 Link Print & Packaging ................................ 4706 Little and Cull .......................................... 1010/a Little Doone Foods............................ 4462 Little Moons Mochi ..................................... 4201 Little Turban................................................ 4002 Lodge Farm Kitchen.......................... 4110 London Condiment Co ............................... 3415 Love Food ................................................... 3321 Love Shortie..............................................1410D Lucys Dressings ........................................... 4564 Lunardi 1890 di Matteo Lunardi.................. V119 Lupo Vermouth........................................ 2030/d Luscombe Organic Drinks.............. 2020/e Lyme Bay Winery ........................... 2220/b Macleans Highland Bakery ........................ 1510E Mahavir Food Products ................................. V45 Maiznica Flora SIA....................................... 1012 Makers and Merchants ............................... 4362 Mancinelli Vini ......................................... 4812/b Mangajo Drinks Company........................... 1030 MARCHET Azienda Speciale della Camera di Commercio di Ancona ................................ 4812

Maria Lucia Bakes .................................... 1730/d Marie’s Little Jar ............................................ V49 Marketing Solutions.......................................... 1 Martin de Prado........................................1364/c Maruishijozo Co.......................................... 1330 Mash Direct ............................................. 1810/b Mata........................................................ 2163/a Matchaeologist ........................................... V126 Maxim’s de Paris SAPP................................. 3527 McCambridges ........................................ 1720/h Meat Bites .................................................. 2320 Meditrina Foods CJSC ................................. 2451 Meg Rivers Artisan Bakery........................ 3826/a Menken Orlando UK ................................... 1002 Meridian Speciality Packaging ..................... 3338 Meringue Girls ............................................ 4403 Meringue O Mania...................................... 4100 Mexpi ......................................................... V128 Mighty Bee ................................................... V59 Migro - FA Corporate.................................. 2314 Milco Sas, Domaine de Beauvoir ................. 3623 Mileeven Fine Foods................................. 1730/h Minioti........................................................ V143 Mirabilia Organic Olive Leaf Tea .................... V64 Miss Macaroon ........................................... 3906 Miss Millars................................................. 4668 Moersjoe Deli.............................................. 4601 Moma Foods............................................... 1123 Mophagy ...................................................... V53

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

! "#$% ! &

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Improve your pĂ˘tĂŠ sales with this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s must have in your multi-deck or chiller

A delicious range of Great Taste Award winning sweet & savoury condiments.

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Come and visit us at www.patchwork-pate.co.uk Tel: 01824 705832

/patchworkfoods

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

@patchworkfoods

www.scarlettandmustard.co.uk 01728 685210

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Sibling Distillery is a business run by four brothers and sisters in their late teens and early 20s. They got the idea they could make gin while on holiday in the South of France. Their parents run Battledown Brewery in Cheltenham so it seemed natural they should discover they had a business flair. The result was triple distilled 42% premium gin. Majestic Wine is a customer and it supplies “lots of independents,” says Cicely Elliott-Berry, the co-founder and distiller, who turned 21 last month. The siblings control the entire process. “In our minds, we always wanted to remain a luxury and premium product and, because of that, we never want to change the process of what we do. We want to grow but not compromise production,” she says. In future, they want to make distilling more waste efficient. www.siblingdistillery.com

Sibling Distillery

FF Se 20 e u 16 s a on t sta nd V8

…ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

Nourish.growcookenjoy .............................. V113 Nudo ............................................................ V24 Nuto Nuts ..................................................... V23 Nutritional Information Solutions .............. 1830b Ocean Veg Ireland....................................... V137 Ocram .......................................................... V27 Ogilvy Spirits .............................................1310A Oleificio Bua ............................................... V103 Olives and Honey ........................................ 4116 Once Upon A Tarte LDA ................................ V43 Ooomeringues ............................................ 1530 Orchard Pigs ...................................... 1430 Oryx Desert Salt .......................................... 4400 OU Karila .................................................... 3913 Oyaizu Seicha International Japanese Tea Co ........................................................ 1330 Ozerlat........................................................ 3523 P S Lambis Company................................... V171 Pago Baldios San Carlos ........................... 1364/a Pandora Bell................................................ V134 Parma Alimentare ....................................... 2130 Pasion Blue Chardonnay ............................. 1560 Pasta Truffles .............................................. 2300 PastaCo ...................................................... V109 Pastificio Lucio Garofalo Spa ........... 3514 Patchwork Paté ................................. 1540 Pat’Fondines ............................................ 2250/a Paul Rhodes Bakery..................................... 4314 Paxton & Whitfield ........................ 1920/d

New to the show in...

Moray Distillery ..........................................1310F Morcillas La Ribera ................................... 2030/e Morcillas Tere........................................... 2030/g Mountain Valley.......................................... 2449 Mr Duck ............................................. V107 Mr Hughs ................................................... 2310 Mr Organic......................................... 4831 Munchy Seeds ................................ 2010/d My Olive Branch.......................................... 1121 My Pop Up Kitchen ....................................... V13 Natur Inov................................................... 3728 Nature Delivered ......................................... 4720 Naturelly .................................................. 2210/h Naya Shoten Co.......................................... 1330 Neema Food ............................................... V131 Neptune Food Products............................... 3414 New English Teas ........................................ 1111 New York Delhi........................................... 1231 Nibnibs ....................................................... 4310 Nicolas Vahe ............................................... 3926 Nila Holden................................................. V161 Nina Bakery ................................................ 3526 Ninas Popcorn ............................................ 2957 Nobo ........................................................ 1730/f Nom Foods ................................................... V15 NomNom.................................................... 1430 Nonno Nanni .............................................. V140 Northern Bloc ............................................. 4105 Nosui Corporation ...................................... 1330

T he

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A New Range of Relishes, Chutneys & Olives Lovingly Handmade in the English Lake District Tasty Pan Yan Pickle

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Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

AT E DESTIN THE TAST

ION

Lentil & Biryani

Green Bean & Ras el Hanout

Chickpea & Garlic

Visit us on stand

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New Dipping Crackers INSPIRED BY FLAVOURS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Snack, dip or enjoy on the side - the choice is yours. Stand 1510A - Speciality & Fine Food Fair London

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Quality speaks for itselfâ&#x20AC;Ś Winner of a 2 star Great Taste Award 2016

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 Scottish way. We hand distil slowly, thoughtfully and passionately to create our exceptional products! www.dunnetbaydistillers.co.uk rockrosegin holygrassvodka Dunnet Bay Distillery, Dunnet, Thurso, Scotland, KW14 8XD

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

For more information on stocking our fantastic products please call 01557 814 001or email jam@gallowaylodge.co.uk

www.gallowaylodge.co.uk

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New to the show in... …SOFT DRINKS Rocktails Rocktails are mocktails with which creators Chris Yandell and Katie Bain have won over big names such as Fenwicks, Harrods and Selfridges. The Mockito, The Sunset Sling, The Coco Colada, and its most recent launch, The Thyme Collins, come in 250ml pouchsealed blends. They could soon be joined by a fifth variant in time for an autumn/winter launch. Yandell, chief executive, says: “We are working with a whole range of winter herbs and spices.” And although he expects the market to become more busy with other players, he says he welcomes the competition because “it helps the education aspect of the marketing.” Yandell is also managing director of The Oyster Shack, a seafood restaurant in in Bigbury, Devon, where he originally got the idea for Rocktails. “I wanted to serve something more adult but without the alcohol”, he says.

Proudly Made in Africa.................................. V93 Pukka Herbs.................................................. 930 Pulsin’...................................................... 2010/a Punto Gofre............................................. 2050/a Pure & Co ................................................... 3804 Pure Sin Treats .............................................. V92 Purssells ........................................................ V44 Quacquarini ............................................. 4812/b Queso de Sasamon .................................. 2030/b Quinoa Marche........................................ 4812/d Quinola Mothergrain .................................. 1952 Quoats Limited ........................................... 4406 Rabitos Royale ......................................... 1364/b Radnor Hills ....................................... 1540 Ramona’s Kitchen .................................... 2210/g Ranise Agroalimentare ............................. 1212/a RaRa .........................................................1310D Rayeesa’s Indian Kitchen ............................... V52 Raylex ......................................................... 3525 RC2 BVBA................................................... V167 Renegade Wines........................................... V58 Revisan .................................................... 2040/a Rhythm 108................................................ V111 Rinci ........................................................ 4812/e Rocktails .............................................. V81 Rod & Ben’s Seasonal Foods ..................... 2220/a Rombouts Coffee........................................ 2420 Roots Collective .......................................... 3250 Rosebud Preserves ............................ 3715

C FF se ome 20 e u and 16 s a sta t nd no 162 1

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PD Artisan Rubs and Oils............................1740c Pedrazzoli Salumiﬁcio.................................. 1941 Peelham Farm Produce ................... 1420C Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company.......... 1540 Peregrine Trading.............................. 1950 Phrooti..................................................... 2110/d Piacere Portugal .......................................... V106 Piddington Jam ............................................. V65 Pilton Cider................................................. V132 Pimenton de la Vera................................. 2350/b Pimenton Las Colmenillas......................... 2050/d Pinhais & Ca ............................................... 2413 Pip Organic .............................................. 1710/b Pipers Crisps ...................................... 1520 PlainTasty............................................. V33 Pliska Oil ..................................................... 4301 Podere Cadassa di al Vedel....................... 2130/a Popcorn Shed ............................................... V61 Posh Pasty Co ............................................. 3050 Potts Partnership........................................... 940 Ppura....................................................... 2010/e Premium Quality Organic Food.................... 4780 Primera Europe ........................................... 4010 Prince & Sons Tea Company ........................ 3950 Procurus ..................................................... 4378 Products from Spain.................................... 1142 Promos ....................................................... 1761 Propercorn - Catapult Enterprises................ 3621 Protos Packaging ........................................ 4205

Pistachio nut oil

DELICIOSO CELEBRATING A TOP 50 FOODS AWARD AND 12 GREAT TASTE AWARDS! telephone 01865 340055 | info@delicioso.co.uk | www.delicioso.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

Locally produced, indulgent ice cream available from farmshops, delis and Waitrose stores across the UK.

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NEW Durateck Gel Packs One of the toughest gel packs currently available, the Durateck gel pack has been made to withstanding over 200kg of weight and offers the maximum amount of cooling possible for the weight/size. Hydropac products are produced from recyclable, food grade materials and the ice/gel packs are microbiologically tested on a weekly basis.

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Buy online at www.hydropaconline.co.uk 64

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

GIFTS

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Marie’s Little Jar Marie’s Little Jar is using the show to launch three sauces from central and west Africa – Green Sauce, the Red Sauce, the Beige Sauce and the Hot Chili Sauce. The brand was born of founder Carine Ottou’s love of home cooking. The products are designed to be “earthy and healthy” – made from 100% natural ingredients, according to Ottou, who was born in Cameroon, but now lives in Brixton, London. The sauces contain no artificial preservatives or colourings and aim to make healthy, creative cooking quicker and simpler. Ottou believes there is a gap in the market in central and west African sauces and marinades aimed at the wider market rather than aimed specifically at Africans. “As a new brand I want to start selling and have a number of stockists around the UK,” she says. www. marielittlejar.co.uk

S a ee ou t SFF us r st F1 an 6 d3 95 1

…SAUCES AND DRESSINGS

Shemins .......................................... 2210/e Sheppy’s Cider................................... 1951 Shire Foods of East Anglia......................... 1830e Shortbread House Of Edinburgh.....1410F SHOTT Beverages........................................ 4058 Sibling Distillery........................................... 4200 Simply Ice Cream .............................. 4014 Simply Seedz................................................. V82 Siouras........................................................ 4664 Sipsmith Independent Spirits ....................... 1134 Sir Hans Sloane Chocolate ............................ V40 Skinny Dipping Dips ........................................ V6 Sliced & Spiced ............................................. V68 Smakosz Traditio......................................... 3816 Small World Foods ...................................... V170 Smoky Brae................................................... V54 Snowdonia Cheese Company .......... 1530 Societa agricola “Of Grape” ....................... V151 Soda Folk..................................................2210/c Sogud Limited...........................................1410C Soil Association Certiﬁcation ....................... 3513 Solaris Botanicals ........................................ 4212 Solee Gourmet......................................... 2040/b Solpuro....................................................... 3533 Soms Importers and Distributors ................. 4158 Sopexa Paris................................................ 2230 South Devon Chilli Farm ............... 2120/a Sowan’s (Gem Pack Foods)....................... 1710/e Speciality Food Traders ................................ 1901

New to the show in...

Ross & Ross Food .............................. V124 Routes de Terre .........................................2040/c Rude Health ....................................... 1850 Sabores de Anabel gastronomía y catering .... V56 Saf Raw ...................................................... 3515 Salcombe Dairy .............................. 1920/a SALSA......................................................... 3826 San Syokuhin Co......................................... 1330 Santander Fine Food ................................... 3236 Sari Cakes..................................................... V32 Sauce Shop .......................................... V90 Saveur du Maroc......................................... 1132 Savour Beer ................................................ V165 Savoursmiths .................................................. V9 Savoury & Sweet......................................... 1317 Saxby’s Cider............................................... V168 Scarlett And Mustard ................................ 1830d Sciara - La Terra del Pistacchio .................. 3138/b Scotia Spice Foods .................................... 1420E Scotland Food & Drink .............................. 1410B Seafood Scotland......................................1420A Sekforde Drinks .......................................... V166 Selbrae House............................................. 4605 Selwyn’s...................................................... 1440 Serious Pig.......................................1810/c Seven Meadows.......................................... 3714 Sgaia’s Vegan Meats ..................................... V70 Sheep Print ................................................. 2318 Shelton’s Coffee.......................................... 4216

Tenuta Marmorelle Bronze Drawn Gluten Free Caserecce Pasta

Tenuta Marmorelle OTTIMO Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Casanova Trufﬂe Casanova 10 Year Balsamic Pearls Old Balsamic Vinegar From Modena IGP

Tenuta Marmorelle Bronze Drawn Rustic Trufﬂe Pappardelle

Amore Italiano Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade

www.tenutamarmorelle.com | +44 (0)7535286028 Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

Soupe de poisson

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HANDMADE FISHCAKES FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT Catch MW HIPMKLXIH XS FI PEYRGLMRK SYV JEFYPSYW ½WLGEOI VERKI EX Speciality & Fine Food Show this year. ,ERHQEHI [MXL TEWWMSR JVSQ PSGEPP] GEYKLX ½WL SYV VERKI SJ HIPMGMSYW +VIEX 8EWXI E[EVH [MRRMRK ½WLGEOIW ERH GSQTPMQIRXEV] WEYGIW EVI I]I GEXGLMRK MR ]SYV GLMPPIV GEFMRIX 3YV FVERH LEW KVS[MRK GSRWYQIV E[EVIRIWW ERH MW MRGVIEWMRKP] VIGSKRMWEFPI XS XLSWI [LS GEVI EFSYX TVSZIRERGI ERH WYWXEMREFMPMX]

Come and try. Find us at Stand 3404, near the Great Taste deli.

FOR WHOLESALE ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT US ELS]$GEXGLJEFYPSYW½WLGEOIW GS YO ` [[[ GEXGLJEFYPSYW½WLGEOIW GS YO

Proud to announce three more Great Taste awards for 2016

Sauce just got real... Award winning condiments and hot sauces, made by hand using great quality ingredients. ! NEeWen

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Find us on stand V90

#realsauce www.sauce-shop.co.uk 66

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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

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New to the show in... …DIPS

ChickP ChicP has taken a simple Middle Eastern dip, hummus, and given it zing and colour. Its sweet and savoury raw vegetable hummus is made from surplus fruit and vegetables and includes Banana, Avocado & Cacao, Beetroot, Horseradish & Sage, Carrot, Ginger & Tumeric, Banana, Peanut Butter & Cocoa and Kale & Rosemary. The brand is founded on what ChickP says is “a passionate commitment to reducing food waste”. Hannah McCollum, who founded the business, said: “I’ve found the varieties in supermarkets aren’t that healthy and any vegetables that are in there are generally cooked and frozen which means they lose a lot of the nutrition.” McCollum is keen to get into Selfridges, Planet Organic, Harvey Nichols, local cafés and delicatessens, as well as gyms, the health food industry and cinemas with snack packs. The RRP is £2.50 for 170g. www.chicp.co.uk

Spice Drops................................................. 3825 Spice Kitchen ................................................ V41 Spice Pots ................................................... V141 Spicentice ................................................... 1653 Spirit, Purveyors of Fine Avocado & Olive Oil...................................................... V147 Spoon Cereals............................................. 4214 St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company . 1420B St Ewe Eggs ............................................. 2120/d Stables Foods.............................................. 4114 Staebz ........................................................ 2947 Stag Bakeries...................................1510A Stoffell......................................................V154A Stonewall Kitchen .................................... 1710/d Subhi Jabri & Sons ...................................... 1210 Suma Wholefoods ...................................... 2330 Summer Harvest Oils ......................1420D Supertreats ................................................... V19 Suya .......................................................... V49/a Svenska Lantchips ....................................... 4603 Sweetpea Pantry ......................................... V139 Swiss Mountain Essence & Baergfeuer ........ 1040 T and J Wholesale ......................................... V22 T Plus Drinks ................................................. V11 Takahahsi Food Industry Co......................... 1330 Take A Bite................................................ 2010/f Tanara Giancarlo ......................................... 1941 Taste of Sicily .............................................. 3824 Taste of the West ........................................ 1920 Taste the View ............................................ 1730 Tastexplorers-OilVie....................................... V12 Taylor Davis................................................. 4028 Tazaki Foods ............................................... 1330 Tea Fellows ................................................. 3531

Tea Huggers.................................................. V88 Teaforia....................................................... 4366 teapigs ............................................... 4021 Ten Acre Snacks (Yumsh Snacks)...... 1312 Tenuta Marmorelle............................ 3951 Tenuta Stella Maris S.a.S. di A. Linari Ciarbonetti & C......................................... V156B Terra Rossa Jordan .............................. V83 Terra Siciliae ............................................ 3138/m Territories Chocolats.................................... 2250 Thai Tana ...................................................... V17 Thanks For Franks .....................................2110/c The Anglesey Sea Salt Company ..... 1540 The Artisan Bakery ...................................... 4160 The Artisan Food Club .................................. V91 The Artisan Kitchen ............................ V87 The Artisan Olive Oil Company.................... 4412 The Breadski Brothers ...............................1730/c The British Honey Company ..................... 3826/b The British Quinoa Company....................... 3126 The Carved Angel.............................. V155 The Cheeky Food Company .......................... V97 The Cheese Makers Choice ......................... V133 The Chilli Jam Man ..................................... 4468 The Coconut Kitchen......................... 1530 The Cornish Coconut Company .................... V69 The Cracking Egg Co .................................. 2951 The Cress Co ........................................ 910 The Curry Sauce Company.......................... 3545 The Dip Society ........................................... 1223 The Dressquerade Sauce Co........................ 4261 The Dukkah Company .................................. V29 The Exploding Bakery.................................. 4218 The Extraordinary John Starkey ..................... V39 The Fine Cheese Co ........................... 1826 The Fine Cocktail Company.............. 4405 The Fine Food Forager ...................... 1953 The Fine Trufﬂe ........................................... 4516 The Foraging Fox .............................. 1400 The French Dressing Company .................... 2417 The Galway Food Company ......................1720/c The Garlic Farm........................................... 4408 The Gift of Oil.................................... 1133 The Gorgeous Food Company.......... 4300 The Greek Secret ........................................ V108 The Grocery Accelerator.............................. 3851 The Guild of Fine Food ..................... 4280 The Health Store Wholesale ........................ 4600 The Hebridean Food Company...................1510F The Jelly Bean Factory .............................. 1720/a The Kitchen Orchard ................................... 4662 The Little Herb Farm .......................1510D The London Jam ......................................... 4615 The Mango Girls ......................................... 3524 The Metropolitan Tea Company .................. 3706 The Mushroom Garden............................... 1530 The Nut Junkie.............................................. V72 The Nut Kitchen ................................ 3520 The Parsnipship........................................... 1430 The Penny Loaf Co................................... 1730/a The Polish Bakery ........................................ 3131 The Potted Fish Company ........................ 2020/b The Preservation Society.............................. 1430

The Real Pie Company ...................... 3323 The Scottish Salmon Company..................1410G The Seasonist........................................... 1810/e The TeaShed ............................................... 4568 The Traditional Free Range Egg Co ..2220/c The Vegetarian Society (UK) ........................ 3224 The Village Workshop ................................. 1130 The Walnut Tree................................. 1000 Thor Drinks ............................................ V8 Thunder Toffee Vodka................................. 3054 Thursday Cottage.............................. 1032 Tiana Fair Trade Organics ............................ 4040 Tideford Organic Foods ..................1920/c Tinware Direct ............................................ 1131 Tom’s Pies ................................................... 1010 TORREFAZIONE MANFREDONICA DI MANTIO SILVIA &C. .................................... 4206 TortaPistocchi.............................................. 1941 Trade and Investment Promotion - Embassy of Republic of Poland ...................................... 2453 TreeVitalise Organic Birch Water............... 2110/a Treﬂach Farm .............................................. 4161 TTP Snacks.................................................. V102 Tudor Tea and Coffee.................................. 4049 Tudor’s.......................................................... V35 Tyga Food Company ................................... V164 Tyrrells Potato Crisps ........................ 1752 UGO Foods Group ...................................... 3152 Ukranian Food ............................................ 4864 Une Normande a Londres. .......................... 1740 Unigel Sas Di Claudio Zanaglio & C. ............ 4380 Upward’s ...................................................... V60 Valsana ....................................................... 2150 Vários Sabores – Produtos Alimentares Unipessoal .................................................. 4000 Vasilissa ...................................................... 4407 Village Dairy...................................... 1530 Vincenzo Brazzaventre ..............................3138/c ViTA............................................................ 3227 Vitality Preserves by Gigi and Sons ................ V20 Vitis in Vulture .............................................. V50 Votre Madeleine de Proust ........................2240/c Walkers Shortbread .........................1420F We Love Man Food.......................... 2110/f Welsh Government ..................................... 1540 Welsh Lady Preserves ....................... 1530 Westaway Sausages.................................... 2952 Wicked Wholefoods ..................................... V48 Wild At Heart .......................................... 1810/g Wild Fig .................................................... 1310E Wilding Snacks ............................................. V21 Willy Chase’s............................................... 2447 Wiltshire Chilli Farm .................................. 1910/f Wolff Evans & Sons....................................... V71 Woodalls British Charcuterie ........... 4064 Woodford & Warner.......................... 4765 World of Origins ......................................... 3626 Yamao Co................................................... 1330 Yawatayachaho Co ..................................... 1330 Yester Farm Dairies....................................1310G Yum Cha Iced Teas (Thorncroft Farm) ....... 1910/d Zigzag teas ................................................. V142 Zooteek ...................................................... 3234 Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

off er re % mb ay 20 pte ld F Se swo for Cot th wi

Relish ●

the hawkshead relish company ●

Taste the art of culinary creativity

Champion & Reeves, are manufacturers of 100% natural premium confectionery, free from gluten, gelatine and palm oil. We use premium natural ingredients resulting in a unique, delicious and indulgent experience.

New Snack Rack range includes: Y Dessert Nougat Y Nougat with Cherries Y Cream Toffee Y Butterscotch

To taste the full handmade range & view our NEW products for 2016 visit us on stand 2422 www.hawksheadrelish.com Ɣ 015394 36614 68

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

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w w w. c h a m p i o n r e e v e s . c o m

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Better from beginning to end PATRICK McGUIGAN speaks to some of the exhibitors at this year’s Speciality Chocolate Fair about how chocolatiers are upping their games in packaging, flavour combinations and provenance Black, purple and gold. The colour chocolate and selling it through palette for posh chocolate packaging two shops and via wholesale. But has remained remarkably consistent former firefighter Calum Haggerty down the decades, from Terry’s All immediately set about relaunching Gold and Milk Tray in the 1980s to Green & Black’s and Hotel Chocolat today. But there are signs that artisan producers are finally moving beyond dark and shiny to incorporate brighter and more colourful Caitlin Paxton designs on their bars as a way of standing out in what is an increasingly congested market. There are more than 70 chocolate producers at this year’s Speciality Chocolate Fair alone. Coco Chocolatier in Edinburgh has been in business for over 10 years, making single-origin, organic

Chocolate has to taste delicious, but it also must look beautiful. There’s deﬁnitely room for cooler chocolates with more modern packaging and designs.

Who is at The Speciality Chocolate Fair? African Sky Foods ....................................... 2932 Angel Refrigeration..................................... 3121 Baru............................................................ 4466 Beech’s Fine Chocolates .............................. 2914 Bonieri ............................................... 3027 Cacao di Vine .......................................... 2140/a CasaLuker Cacao ........................................ 2728 Charles Chocolates ..................................... 3028 Choc’Fleurs................................................. 2816 Chocolat Chocolat ...................................... 3119 Clarence & Bean ......................................... 2905 Coco Chocolate .......................................... 2907 Cocoa Hernando ........................................ 3007 Creme d’Or................................................. 2920 David Neill Foods ........................................ 2938 Divine Chocolate............................... 3005 Dragees Reynaud ........................................ 2935

Duke of Delhi.............................................. 4460 Earth Loaf Artisan & Raw PVT ..................... 2611 Enjoy Raw Chocolate .................................. 2927 Fifth Dimension Chocolates............. 2930 Guilt Free Treats .......................................... 2613 Hardys ........................................................ 3018 Haupt Lakrits .............................................. 2918 HF Chocolates............................................. 2726 Ichoco......................................................... 2614 Italiana Confetti .......................................... 3010 LA NAYA chocolate ..................................... 3030 Lauden Chocolate....................................... 2722 Le Pompon De Brest.................................... 2936 Malmoe Chokladfabrik ............................... 2933 Mighty Fine Honeycomb .......................... 2210/a Milkboy Swiss Chocolates ........................... 2940 Mood Foods ............................................... 2919

Guild of Fine Food members in bold

Nougat ....................................................... 2910 Paxton Chocolate........................................ 3009 Petit Apres .................................................. 2908 Pimlico Confectioners ................................. 2928 Prestat............................................. 1910/e Pump Street Bakery Chocolate .................... 2934 Rawchokladfabriken Scandinavia ................ 2616 Resavoia ..................................................... 2929 Rococo Chocolates ............................ 3020 Simply Chocolate ........................................ 3019 sosa ............................................................ 2810 Stateside Treat Emporium............................ 3111 The Chocolate Tree ..................................... 2937 The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Co................ 2808 Urban Village Chocolates ................. 2909 Venchi ........................................................ 2814 Zotter Chocolate......................................... 3924

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

Gently cold pressed in the Highlands of Scotland, retaining all the naturally healthy properties nurtured in the seed pods during the extra long days of light that distinguish a highland summer.

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Please come and see us at The Speciality Fine Food Fair 2016 on stand 1410E Adventurous Coffee • Roasted by Hand Coffee Equipment • Barista Training • Retail

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

7QSOIH +MKLE ,EPMFYX MW E RI[ [E] XS IRNS] XLMW [SRHIVJYP ½WL 7QSOIH XS SVHIV ]SYV ½WL MW GEVIJYPP] WIPIGXIH ERH XLIR XVEHMXMSREPP] smoked. The combination of the top quality fresh halibut, whisky barrel smoke and the skill of our artisan smoker results in a truly exceptional, award winning delicacy that is enjoyed by discerning chefs and their customers across the globe.

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d Golden Fork Scotlan

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Visitors will see Roald Dahl-inspired bars from Rococo, detailed disks from Paxton and chocolate with buckets of provenance from Cornwall’s Chocolarder

its packaging when he took over in 2014, incorporating sharp modern designs and artwork. These were developed with local artists, who work at the Summerhall creative hub where the company’s kitchen is located, as well as by simply downloading images from stock design sites and manipulating them digitally. “It’s an extremely crowded market, so it’s better going for something outrageous than just playing it safe,” says Haggerty. “The design agency we used were of the opinion that there should be cohesion across the brand, but we fought hard against that. They were worried that products wouldn’t look like a set, but I felt that if they were all completely different there would be cohesion in the fact that they all look different.” Former architect and fashion designer Caitlin Paxton is another new-wave chocolatier using modern designs to give her products an edge. Paxton Chocolate in Shoreditch makes a range of disc-shaped chocolates in unusual ﬂavours, such as vanilla, saffron & mango or cherry & toasted pine nut (part of a new aphrodisiacs range for Valentine’s Day), which are then printed with geometric patterns and motifs. Previously this kind of effect would have been expensive – requiring special printing equipment – but a digital printer, some food ink and a transfer sheet are all Paxton needs now to create stunning decorations. “Yes, chocolate has to taste delicious, but it also must look beautiful,” says Paxton. “There’s deﬁnitely room in the market for cooler chocolates with more modern

packaging and designs. The market can still be quite traditional. There might be lots of new interesting flavours but the packaging doesn’t always reflect that.” Adding exotic flavours to chocolate is another reason why packaging is changing as bright colours better reflect the unusual ingredients inside. Coco’s bars include flavours such as rose & black

If you want really good cocoa you need to work with farms and pay people properly

Chantal Coady OBE

pepper, which sports a funky pink, black and blue wrapper, while gin & tonic bars carry a stylish light blue, pink and yellow design. These flavours also highlight how chocolate is taking inspiration from trends in the restaurant and bar sector with the ‘Ottolenghi effect’ leading to the inclusion of more Middle Eastern ingredients, while cocktail fashions are also having an influence. At Rococo Chocolates, owner and creative director Chantal Coady OBE has long led the way in flavour fashions, developing chilli-infused chocolate and adding sea salt to bars way back in the 1990s. The company’s latest project has seen it explore new extremes of flavour, inspired by Roald Dahl. To mark the 100-year anniversary of the author’s birth, Rococo has developed a range of new products that pay tribute to his most famous books. Flavours include Mr Twit’s Beardy Breakfast, made with 40% cocoa milk chocolate, banana, yoghurt, lapsang souchong tea and honey, and Frobsottle & Snozzcumber inspired by The BFG – a two-tone pink and green white chocolate bar with a cocktail of strawberry, raspberry, cucumber and mint. “They might be inspired by children’s books, but we feel they will actually appeal more to adults,” says Coady. Beyond innovative flavours,

Coady says that chocolate makers are working more closely with cocoa growers for both ethical and quality reasons. “If you want really good cocoa you need to work with farms and pay people properly – that’s a ripple that’s been going around the world,” she says. “We’ve worked with a farm in Grenada since 2002 and that relationship has helped improve the chocolate over the years. When we first started with them they used an oil drum over an open fire to roast the beans. Now they use a gas-fired coffee roaster. They also pay more attention to the roast, so it’s not over roasted.” Bean-to-bar producer Chocolarder takes a similar approach, working directly with growers and fermentation houses (which buy beans from farms at well above the market rate) in Nicaragua and Peru. The beans are then shipped to the company’s workshop in Cornwall for roasting, grinding and conching. Owner Mike Longman says having a more transparent supply chain means improved pay and conditions for cocoa growers, but also better quality beans compared to those bought on the commodity market. And by making the chocolate himself, he is able to tease out different flavours during the production process. “I really enjoy bright red fruit flavours – redcurrants, cherry, plum, raspberries,” he says. “Consumers are still exploring the different flavours you can find in chocolate. There are a lot of parallels with what’s happened in coffee.” Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

A Three Sta r Great Taste Awa rd for Crossogu e Preserves in 2016!

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Crossogu e Preserves was fou nded by Veronica Molloy in 1995. Over the yea rs, the bra nd has won over 50 awa rds including ma ny 1 sta r a nd 2 sta rs at the prestigious Great Taste Awa rds a nd Golds at The Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Original Ma rmalade awa rds. This yea r we celebrate a coveted Great Taste 3 sta r, the highest a ccolade was awa rded for ou r Da mson Port Jelly as well as a 1 sta r for ou r Loga nberry Ja m a nd ou r Rhu ba rb a nd Ginger Spread. Most recently, Veronica was honou red to receive a life time a chieve ment awa rd by the Irish Food Writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Guild.

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www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk | wholesale@thegarlicfarm.co.uk | 01983 865 378

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

the bay tree

interview

Not resting on her laurels The Bay Tree has been in business for more than two decades but even industry stalwarts need a refresh. MICHAEL LANE meets founder Emma Macdonald in her kitchen to talk about the company’s major rebrand.

Emma Macdonald has taken her business from a home kitchen affair to a company with a turnover of £6m

ou can’t see it in the photo above but just out of shot is an African Grey parrot. Having lived for some 30 years and initially belonged to Emma Macdonald’s mother, Bill probably witnessed the birth, and growth, of The Bay Tree. Macdonald started off cooking the first batches in her family’s kitchen 22 years ago and now presides over a £6m business, with more than 70 staff, producing preserves, chutneys, condiments and all manner of sauces. Thanks to the position of his perch, there can be no doubt that Macdonald’s avian companion is more clued up about what’s going on at The Bay Tree than I am. Still, he has the good grace not to squawk as she shares the details of a major rebrand, new products and the launch of a revamped and interactive website. But, given that the West Country business came out of nowhere to win the Jams & Preserves category and take 2nd place in the Pickles & Chutneys section of FFD’s Best Brands Survey last year, is a re-brand really necessary? “For some time we’ve felt that the brand on the current lines, although attractive and with lovely

illustrations, isn’t pushing us enough and talking about who we are,” says Macdonald. “It also had illustrations of ingredients rather than trying to promote the finished product as a concept.” Developing a new look with Cheltenham-based design agency After Hours has been a long process but Macdonald is satisfied that it addresses any previous deficiencies. For a start The Bay Tree name is bigger and the signature ‘tree’ logo has been upgraded with a surge of extra leaves to evoke an explosion of flavour. Most crucial has been the introduction of a company-wide strapline ‘Make the ordinary extraordinary’ and the result on pack is each product has an adjective and the briefest of recipe suggestions, front and centre. For example, cider apple sauce is now ‘Tangy cider apple sauce’ with the sub-heading ‘Makes pork perfect’. Labels for some 50 jars have already been completed and every product will eventually get this treatment as the re-brand rolls through The Bay Tree’s sizeable range. While Macdonald says she has enjoyed perusing her thesaurus, there is also a very practical reason

for carrying out this mammoth task. “We need to try and take all these products outside the box a bit because people don’t eat jam on toast like they used to,” she says. “So, we’re trying to add a bit more interest to our products by saying ‘This is what you can do’.” Shoppers habitually buy the same staples week-in, week-out, and Macdonald says there is plenty of opportunity to encourage them to look at even the most basic items in a slightly different way. “What we don’t want to do is say ‘Look here, it can take you half an hour to do this long-winded recipe.’ What we want is: ‘Right, with a tablespoon you can do this, this and this and it will take you five minutes’.”

vital statistics Locations: Wincanton, Somerset (office ) and Ivybridge, Devon (production) Staff: 55 in production plus 20 in the office Turnover: £6m – £3m branded sales (retail and foodservice), £1m wholesaling and £2m bespoke and contract manufacturing

On-pack suggestions are just part of a wider strategy to engage more with consumers. Another major tool will be its new website, which is scheduled to launch this month. Macdonald says the site has three missions. Firstly, it will deliver concise information about the brand and its history. It will also feature as a portal for trade customers – The Bay Tree sells direct to all of its retail customers – to log on, find out about tastings and POS material and place orders whenever they want them. Finally, Macdonald hopes that it will become a “social sharing site”, thanks to a platform that will allow the public to upload and share their own recipes alongside those recommended by The Bay Tree’s team. “With things like the BBC recipe database disbanding now, we need to be the ones. It’s up to us as suppliers of quality products to be able to promote and give people ideas,” says Macdonald. “It’s all very well selling a product but if you can’t tell people what to do with it, then, actually, you’ve lost half your audience already.” It is more complicated than the simple equation of ‘more traffic equals more sales’. Macdonald wants to create a useful resource that browsers will return to rather than a thinly veiled sales pitch. She adds that other social media channels will also be used to push the new branding and website and The Bay Tree will have a graduate marketing intern for 12 months to focus on delivering this. As well as looking at the virtual aspects of the brand, Macdonald has also reevaluated the physical and will be implementing a number of packaging changes across the jarred lines. “We all love curd but in principle you don’t eat a huge amount of it,” she tells FFD. “So it’s always been a bit of question for us, whether it fits better in a 200g rather than a 300g.” This “radical” shift of all curds into smaller jars will hopefully pay off when they hit the shelves. “Rather than having one jar, you might choose two flavours and hopefully you’ll find you get through it quicker. And for those that do get through it – ie. families – two jars at 400g is not unreasonable.” The same 200g principle has been applied to The Bay Tree’s Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

New Gift Range Comp et trade itive & price RRP s

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September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

the bay tree

interview

One aspect of the rebrand is to suggest a simple use for each and every product in The Bay Tree’s vast range

“special occasion” jams – such as the forthcoming rum fig & vanilla variety – in the hope that consumers are more likely to take a punt on them in store because they will be less intimidating in both size and in price. All standard jams will remain in 300g, as will all of the company’s chutneys. Now that the new jars are completed (including the eight condiments supplied to Waitrose) and ready for roll out this month, The Bay Tree is well into its phased re-brand. Next on the list is its cooking sauces in pouches, followed by dressings and table sauces, which will be finished by early 2017 in time for spring selling. Christmas and gifting options will stay the same for 2016 and will then be overhauled in time for the next year. What might seem like turmoil is nothing new to Macdonald. The rebrand is just the latest phase in what she refers to as the “consolidation” of the business. It’s a process that started in late 2011, when The Bay Tree merged with Devon-based own label specialist Forest Products. While the merger

didn’t succeed (“Many mergers don’t work out. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t pan out as everyone wanted it to.”) and Forest’s directors have departed, all production and warehousing has since been relocated from North Somerset to Ivybridge, at the southern edge of Dartmoor, with a sales and admin office set up in Wincanton. With the new set-up bedded in and production efficiencies ongoing, Macdonald hired consultant Gill Fox James to conduct a strategic review of the business around 12 months ago. She says it was exactly “the kick up the backside” that the business needed before going into a rebrand. “The conclusion that they came to was that, in this industry, we’re all ‘artisan’, we’re all ‘traditional’, we’re all ‘quality’. We all use these words but what is the USP of one producer over the other?” Macdonald is pretty clear about where the company’s sales growth is coming from too. Although she would like to do more business with Waitrose, The Bay Tree is not about to go mainstream.

We need to make sure we can be a rock for consumers who want consistency, but the independent trade will always be moving in and out

“We shan’t be going down the route of Tesco or Asda because it’s not our marketplace,” she says, adding that the core retail market is still independents, although it’s getting tougher. “I think the grocery sector is shrinking,” she says. “There are less people buying those sorts of things. Farm shops are putting more space out to bakery, fishmongers, fresh products because that what people want.” Competition is still tough, she says, and the frequent arrivals and (departures) of smaller, local producers does impact on sales. “We need to make sure we can be a rock for consumers who want consistency, but you’re always going to have a situation where the independent trade will be moving in and out. That’s always how it’s been. The market doesn’t grow, it stays similar.” However, the renewed brand and altered jar sizes are seen as a big opportunity to gain more shelf space across its independent customer base. Because of the volumes The Bay Tree produces it does have to seek new routes to market for its products and is having a good deal of success selling through distributors into foodservice,

especially chutneys. It is also working with current customers on specific lines, with the new branding, for export into Europe and will be launching these at October’s SIAL exhibition in Paris. “People want to buy an English product but you also want to be careful that the flavour profiles are right,” she says, pointing out that the French like only lemon curd, not other varieties. The business’s other major revenue streams (bespoke manufacturing and wholesale) seem to be ticking along just fine but Macdonald is quick to point out the level of competition for The Bay Tree’s wholesaling arm – which carries a range of dry goods, including Corkers crisps, Teoni’s Cookies, lines from Olives Et Al and the top selling The Fine Cheese Co and Artisan Biscuits ranges. And despite all that’s going on, Macdonald has still found time to do what she’s always done – cook up some new products, including a couple of soon-to-be-launched Marmajams. Presumably this was done under the watchful eye of Bill, who Macdonald tells me could live for another 30 years. Here’s to longevity! www.thebaytree.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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ORGANIC

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Food-to-go show is good to go The lunch! show returns to London’s Business Design Centre for its ninth instalment A taste of what’s new on the show floor Scottish bakery Paterson Arran is launching Chocolate Choices mini packs under its Café Brontë label. These Belgian chocolate coated treats come in four varieties: milk chocolate coconut, milk chocolate orange, dark chocolate ginger and dark chocolate mint. Devon’s Tideford Organics is introducing its first organic and vegan soup, a range of ’superfood’ recipes, and four new miso broths in 600g pots. Mackie’s Crisps is making its debut at lunch! with a refresh of its ridge cut potato crisp range. New flavours include sweet chilli, cheddar & onion and sea salt & cider vinegar.

ver 6,000 people are expected to take time out from busy work schedules to visit this year’s lunch! show in North London. Now in its ninth year, the trade show attracts food-to-go buyers from UK supermarkets, coffee shop chains, wholesalers, distributors, travel caterers, delis, cafés and sandwich shops. Organisers Diversified Communications said that representatives from Boots, British Airways, EAT, Eden Project, IKEA, John Lewis, Pret a Manger, Tossed and Waitrose were among the visitors who had preregistered already. There will be around 350 exhibitor stands across three floors, where visitors will be able to peruse food and drink products, packaging, equipment and technologies from suppliers large and small. Companies well known to the speciality trade, such as Cawston Press, Drink Me Chai, Pipers Crisps, The Coconut Collaborative, Tideford Organics, Radnor Hills, Devonvale Bakery, Chunk of Devon, Perkier Foods, Foster Refrigerator and

Planglow are among the returning exhibitors. There is also a large contingent of first time exhibitors, from big brand names to emerging startups. Ape Snacks, The Booja Booja Company, Coconut Merchant, Canny Drinks, Cuckoo Foods, Demetra, LemonAid Beverages, Luc’s Dressings, The London Tea Company, Olly’s Olives, Munchy Seeds, MightyBee, Platopus Retail, Pop UP Cookspace, Tea People, Wobblegate and Sweetpea Pantry are among the 100 or so companies exhibiting for the first time this year. Plus, there will be 19 companies who’ve been trading for less than a year making their lunch! debut in the new Start-up Zone. A free business seminar programme will run in parallel to the exhibition this year across two theatres instead of one, with the launch of the Talking lunch!. The speaker line-up includes Welcome Break CEO Rod McVie, Pret a Manger group director of food Caroline Cromar and Vincent McKevitt, MD of Tossed.

When? Wednesday September 21 (10am5pm) and Thursday September 22 (10am-5pm) How do I get there? The Business Design Centre is within walking distance of Angel

Sweetpea Pantry is pitching Sweetpea Pods as a healthier, all-natural children’s snack. The 20-30g bags come in four varieties: Pizza Balls, Super Seashell Crisps, Super Oaty Bites and Chocolate Giggles Biscuits. The first raw chocolate-coated ice lolly, MiiRO, is also free from dairy, gluten and refined sugar, is vegan and vegetarian and has a smart balance of protein, carbohydrate and good fats. Squillionaire and three bars (fruity nut, oaty coconut and oaty apricot) are the latest creations to come out of Honeybuns’ Dorset bakery. All four lines are gluten-free, dairy-free and sweetened with fruit rather than refined sugar. Known for its fruit crisps, Emily Crisps is moving into vegetable snacks with the launch of spring greens and mixed root veg crisps. Mango Fandango vanilla posset with mango & passionfruit coulis and Cocoa Loco chocolate ganache are two of the new individual puds made purely from plants from Freaks of Nature. Ape Snacks is previewing Ape Crunchy Coconut Bites, a healthy rice cracker alternative available in natural and chia & sesame seed varieties. Dragonfly Foods’ is unveiling its vegan and gluten-free Thai green curry and spicy Moroccan tagine Tofupots.

www.lunchshow.co.uk

Propercorn has ventured outside popcorn with the development of Crunch Corn, a gluten-free and vegan half-popped snack available in rock salt, salt & pepper, sweet & smokey chilli, and salt & vinegar flavours.

need to know Where? Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London

Sweets in the City is targeting the food-to-go market with its new ’Little Box’ range of sweet mixes in 100g packs. Fillings include Revel in Retro, Chocolate & Yoghurt Treats, Juicy Jellies and gelatin-free No Nasties Jelly Beans.

tube station and a few minutes by road from Kings Cross and Euston railway stations. It is serviced by numerous bus routes and is outside London’s congestion charge zone. On-site parking can be pre-booked. How do I register? Tickets for this trade-only show are free. Visitors should register in advance online at www.lunchshow. co.uk and quote priority code LUN56.

Cold press juice specialist Press London has created a new 60ml range of tonics that are formulated to target a specific health problem. The six variants are: Immunity, Gut Buster, Collagen Booster, Green Energy, Detox and Hot Shot. Made from Cascara – the outer layer of the coffee cherry – Huskara is a new lightly caffeinated soft drink that is said to be packed with antioxidant and essential fatty acids. It is available in two 250ml variants: original and cucumber & mint. Wine Innovations is touting its new, lightly carbonated drink Yore (4% ABV) as a gluten-free alternative to beer and cider. After a period of ageing, the mead is balanced with English wildflower honey, producing a light barley-sugar note. Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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shelf talk Wait is over for Pipers latest crisp ﬂavour packs, promotions, people

What's new...

BY MICHAEL LANE

Renowned for its painstaking approach to NPD, Pipers Crisps is launching a new flavour for the first time in almost four years. Available in both 40g and 150g bags, Atlas Mountains Wild Thyme & Rosemary is described by the producer as a “grown up” flavour but it is also being pitched as ideal for daytime eating and accompanying other food-to-go items. Pipers founder Alex Albone told FFD that the new flavour was just as potent as the company’s other varieties. “It’s not subtle. It tastes of exactly what it says it does,” he said, adding that the crisps should also tap into the rising popularity of Mediterranean foods and sit well alongside a gin & tonic. Always resolute in his

stance on not selling to the multiples or developing seasonal flavours, Albone said that he and his development team had been looking for something to launch with “an extra dimension” for some time. “We’re often saying ‘No it’s not right, because it doesn’t do what it says on the pack’”, he said. “That’s why we’ve shied away from new flavours. “We’ll only consider a new line if it tastes great, has a strong provenance, is relevant to current eating trends and complements our existing range.” When asked if he was planning to launch another flavour in the near future, Albone said: “Never say never but it’s unlikely.” The herbs used in this latest product are all sourced from a part of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco

where the wild herbs are picked sustainably by hand. Albone told FFD that Pipers’ sales are split fairly evenly between retail and

foodservice, with the recent launch of 600g tubs of the Anglesey Sea Salt ﬂavour performing above expectations. He added that exports now accounted for 10% of overall sales but given the EU referendum’s effect on exchange rates, he could seek more business overseas. The full Pipers range comprises Kirkby Malham Chorizo, Lye Cross Cheddar & Onion; Burrow Hill Cider Vinegar & Sea Salt, Karnataka Black Pepper & Sea Salt, Anglesey Sea Salt, Wissington Spicy Tomato and Biggleswade Sweet Chilli. www.piperscrisps.com

Booja-Booja relaunches dairy-free ice cream with new look and lines

SA brand Froggit arrives in the UK South African condiment brand Froggit is now available in the UK via exclusive distributor Old Town Gourmet. Its range encompasses red-wine vinegar reductions, sauces, chutneys, jams, salad dressings and seasoning grinders, all of which are made and packed at Froggit’s base at the Anura Vineyards in the Cape winelands. Signature products include chocolate chilli balsamic reduction, pomegranate splash dressing and citrus balsamic pearls.

Free-from specialist Booja-Booja has revamped its cashew-based dairy-free ice cream range with new packaging and a number of new flavours. The six-strong range now includes caramel pecan praline, chocolate salted caramel, raspberry ripple and hazelnut chocolate truffle, as well as its existing Keep Smiling Vanilla M’Gorilla and Hunky Punky Chocolate varieties. All of these flavours will be available in 500ml (RRP £5.99) and 110ml

Fudge Kitchen has teamed up with marshmallow specialist Belinda Clarke for its latest creation – fudge fondue. Each pack (80g) features ﬁve marshmallows and a jar of liquid fudge for dipping. The sea salted caramel (sea salted caramel marshmallows with sea salted caramel liquid fudge) and rich chocolate (raspberry marshmallows with rich chocolate liquid fudge) both have an RRP of £4. www.fudgekitchen.co.uk

Thomas J. Fudge’s has boosted its savoury line-up with ranges of Mini Wafers and Crackers & Crispbreads. Mini Wafers (£2.25) come in three new ﬂavours – Punchy Jalapeno, Thai Chilli and Melty Cheddar – while the Crackers & Crispbreads packs come as duos (RRP £2.45): Almond & Cranberry and Hazelnut & Apple crackers; Sunﬂower & Caraway and Pumpkin

& Sesame crackers and Spelt Sourdough and Rye Sourdough crispbreads. www.thomasjfudges.co.uk

(£1.99) tubs. The company has spent a year developing the newlook ice creams, which are all made with a ground cashew nut base and just a handful of natural organic ingredients. The ice creams, which

sales@oldtowngourmet.com www.froggit.co.za

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are also soya- and glutenfree, are made raw wherever possible while agave syrup is used to sweeten the majority of ﬂavours. They also contain at least 70% less saturated fat than the leading dairy ice cream brand. “Simple organic ingredients, without any dairy, sugar or chemicals. What more could you want from an ice cream?” said Booja-Booja MD David Abbott. “We truly believe that we’ve created a dairy free ice cream that’s out of this world.”

The Brazilian Vatapá (RRP £3.49) is the latest addition to Easy Bean’s range of onepot meals inspired by recipes from around the world. Black turtle beans contrast against a Bahian style shrimp sauce – a blend of coconut milk, dried shrimp and spices cooked together with okra, roasted red peppers and butternut squash. ww.easybean.co.uk

www.boojabooja.com Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

shelf talk

packs, promotions, people

what’s new... Rombouts has a new-look range of its One Cup Filter coffee. Available in Original, Italian Style, Colombian and Decaf, each pack of 10 ﬁlters (62g) has an RRP of £2.70. It has also recently launched an origin range of coffees

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

Brett Sutton Chef-patron The White Post, Rimpton, Dorset www.thewhitepost.com

Brett Sutton opened The White Post in 2014, after heading the kitchen at The Eastbury Hotel in Sherborne. Genuinely interested in the locality and sourcing of food and ingredients, he is an arbitrator for the Great Taste awards, and a regular judge at the World Cheese Awards.

– from Laos, Ethiopia and Cuba – in One Cup Filter (RRP £2.99) and in 227g packs of ground coffee. www.rombouts.co.uk

Following the success of its single-serve 250ml bottles, organic birch water brand TreeVitalise’s original variety is now available in 750ml bottles (RRP £4.25). All of the company’s nutrientrich, low-calorie water is tapped directly from birch trees in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains in Eastern Europe. www.treevitalise.com

South West Garlic Farm black garlic Our motto at The White Post is local, local, local, and this black garlic is produced less than 25 miles away. I’ve been using it for a few years and it’s streets ahead of the others, which tend to be Chinese imports. It’s not cheap, but it’s moist and full of ﬂavour. It gives a great umami hit, with sweet and savoury, chocolatey, balsamic, tones. I use it in a ketchup to accompany our steak dish. www.southwestgarlicfarm.co.uk

Wiltshire Chilli Farm’s line-up of sauces and preserves are now available exclusively through distributor Cotswold Fayre. The chilli sauce range comes in cases of 6x140ml (£15-£20.75) while the extreme sauces can be bought in 6x100ml for £25.20. Cases of preserves (6x227g) cost £15.

Global Harvest Perfectly Pear fruit for cheese Global Harvest produces a range of set fruit conserves, which are a take on membrillo (quince jelly), but I particularly love the pear one. It won a two-star in Great Taste 2013. It really tastes like a beautifully ripe pear – there is the sweetness but also the graininess of the fruit. It’s wonderfully moist too, and melts in the mouth. We use it on our cheeseboard, and in our Pig at the Post dish – we put seven or eight parts of the pig on the plate, along with cubes of the jelly.

www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk

British Cassis to spread its wings under premium White Heron brand BY MICHAEL LANE

British Cassis has been given a makeover and will now be sold under a new brand as its creator looks to tap into the bar and restaurant market. Jo Hilditch has formed a new company, White Heron Brands, that will relaunch her blackcurrant liqueur this month in new premium 500ml (RRP £20) and 200ml bottles. While the liqueur has been a ﬁxture in the farm shop and deli market for several years, Hilditch said

her appearance on BBC TV programme Dragon’s Den had inspired her to pursue a new marketing strategy. As well as bars and foodservice, the White Heron brand will also pursue more retail sales and export customers. The company’s production facility has now been upgraded and expanded to cope with increased capacity. “Following a successful experience in the Dragons’ Den in 2015, we were inundated with investment opportunities,” said Hilditch. “It became clear we had a winning brand on our hands that just needed to be developed.”

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

www. thewhiteheron. co.uk

www.fruitforcheese.com

From Dorset with Love’s Dorsetshire sauce Dorsetshire sauce is like Worcestershire but without anchovies, and with a softer ﬁnish. We make a Dorset Bloody Mary, using Black Cow vodka, Dorsetshire sauce and Isle of Wight tomato juice. We use the sauce in the kitchen too – for instance in a jelly that we serve with our heirloom tomato and lovage dish. It’s also great with ﬁllet of beef or in cottage pie. At home, I use it in cheese on toast to make a superb Dorset Rarebit. www.fromdorsetwithlove.co.uk

The Traditional Free Range Egg Co’s Foraging Free quail eggs These free-range quail eggs always reach me in pristine condition, with whites that are pure, pure white and really rich marigold yolks. We get through 100-200 a week. We use them in the Scotch eggs that we put on our Pig at the Post board and, at home, soft-boiled quail egg with celery salt is a nice treat. I also love their duck, hen and goose eggs. www.thetraditionalfreerangeeggcompany.co.uk

Conker gin This gin is made in Dorset so is good on food miles. It’s made from British wheat spirit and New Forest spring water, and infused with Dorset elderberries, samphire and New Forest gorse ﬂowers. We serve it front of house in a Gin & Tonic, with cucumber and raw samphire. I also use it to cure ﬁsh such as halibut, salmon and mackerel. The gin really lifts it. I also make a gin and tonic jelly as a dessert. www.conkerspirit.co.uk

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packs, promotions, people

BY MICHAEL LANE

As of last month, Somerset-based Blackacre Farm Eggs has a new name – The Traditional Free Range Egg Company. Having gained national press coverage with its No Multi-Tier Here campaign earlier in 2016, the producer wanted to shift its brand to represent its commitment to

small family-run farms that use the traditional ﬂat deck production method. Owners Dan and Briony Wood said that the name is the only thing about the company that has changed and all of its ranges will still be produced to the same high welfare standards. The Woods said the feedback from their earlier campaign – highlighting the

www.thetraditionalfree rangeeggcompany.co.uk

St Peter’s unveils alcohol-free beer BY MICHAEL LANE

The Gift of Oil, quite literally The Gift of Oil, which specialises in artisan olive oils and traditional balsamic vinegars, has launched a range of gift sets. All the products in the sets have been developed in partnership with two artisan family-run producers – one in Sicily for the olive oils, the other in Modena for the balsamics. www.thegiftofoil.co.uk

With alcohol sales shrinking and drinkdriving laws set to be tightened, Suffolk brewery St Peter’s hopes to ﬁll a gap in the market for alcohol-free beer. Three years in the making, Without contains less alcohol than a glass of orange juice and 25% fewer calories than a regular pint but the brewery says it has the same malty, fullbodied ﬂavour of ale. The beer, which is stripped of alcohol through a unique process, comes in 330ml bottles and the brewery’s

signature 500ml bottles, with the RRP expected to be similar to alcoholic beers. “The time is right to launch St Peter’s Without,” said CEO Steve Magnall. “Pubs and bars are crying out for an excellent quality, full-bodied, alcohol-free beer that drinkers will take seriously. “We want to be at the forefront of this growing sector, which we believe will form 10% of the UK beer market within 10 years.”

Kombucha This naturally fermented style of tea might sound a bit new-wave or hippy, but it’s absolutely huge in the US and now taking hold in Blighty. In the past kombucha has been a potent, love-it-orhate-it affair, but brands like Love Kombucha and Equinox are making subtler, fresher versions made with blueberry, ginger, elderflower and raspberry. Edible flowers They’ve graced the plates of fine dining restaurants for some time, but now the trend for edible flowers is spilling into home kitchens. With accessibility to specialist flower varieties made easy through the likes of Scotland’s Saladworx, and Devon’s Maddocks Farm Organics, expect to see more recipes that include everything from calendula to violas. That’s Mexican – not Tex-Mex Authentic Mexican food has been elusive in the UK for far too long but is now thriving in restaurants up and down the country. Examples include Habaneros in Birmingham and London’s DF/Mexico while Breddso’s Tacos has just released its debut cookbook. Now is the time for corn flour tortillas, tomatillo salsas and rich mole sauces.

Kris Kirkham

Blackacre Farm Eggs is now The Traditional Free Range Egg Company

more intensive nature of multi-tier hen housing – had been very positive and many consumers said they would now opt for eggs produced using ﬂat deck housing. “It feels like a big step to change our name after 36 years, but with the industry changing at a rapid rate we felt that the time was right to draw a line in the sand and show our support for traditional family-run farms before they are lost forever,” said Dan Wood. Wood added that the No-Multi Tier Here campaign was not meant to condemn the method of production. He said that farmers producing better quality eggs had the right to highlight this, “just as artisan cheesemakers producing traditional cloth-bound cheddar are able to set themselves apart from their supermarket rivals”.

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

Jack Mitchell Art

New name for Blackacre eggs

what’s trending

Cascara This tea brewed from the dried cherries of coffee plants has been appearing on chalkboards of speciality coffee shops for a while and home brewers can buy it from Dark Woods Coffee and Grumpy Mule. However, like iced tea, cascara lends itself to cold infusions and Union Coffee has released a sparkling cascara now available at a number of select Waterstones cafes. The emoji comes of age Emojis, those colourful pictures used in text messages, have made their way onto menus. At Notting Hill’s Little Yellow Door, the menu is written exclusively in emojis, while Pizza Hut rolled out a similar menu at some of its busiest UK locations too. Love them or loathe them, emojis are internationally recognised and a good way to engage with the smartphone generation, on packaging or merchandising material.

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Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

shelf talk

The strongest link Cobbs Farm Shop was the first in what is now a seven-strong group of investorbacked stores across southern England. With sales of £2.4m a year it’s still the flagship too, but as chief executive Tom Newey tells FFD, building a chain is about more than finding ‘the most stonking site’.

September 2016 | Vol.17 Issue 8

decade ago, an ex-army officer turned City banker hit upon a bright idea to cash in on the burgeoning farm shop sector. Gordon Leatherdale’s plan was to raise money from private investors and put it into “mom and pop” farm shops that had hit a ceiling, either financially or in terms of retail skills. Inject some business nous and develop a high-margin foodservice offer and you could unleash all kinds of growth potential. Together with brewing entrepreneur David Bruce, founder of the Firkin pub chain, he launched Country Food & Dining (CFD), and in October 2007 bought their first site: Cobbs Farm Shop & Kitchen, on the A4 near Hungerford, Berkshire. Raising a £4m fighting fund via the Enterprise Investment Scheme – a package of tax breaks to bolster investment in small firms – CFD went onto buy three more sites in rapid succession: Green Fields in Telford, The Good Life near Winchester and

Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICK WHITWORTH

Springleaze near Bath. The aim with each was to replicate the Cobb “concept”: a farm shop, a restaurant with indoor and al fresco dining, a commercial kitchen, a butchery, and add-ons such as a fishmonger or florist, all on freehold sites that would automatically appreciate in value. A decade later, Leatherdale is long departed – he left in 2009, founding and selling the Wild Trail snacks bar brand, and more recently launching importer Healthier Foods. Also gone from the group is Springleaze (or Woody’s, as it became under CFD’s ownership), which never produced an adequate return despite a £750,000 redevelopment.

But David Bruce is still chairman, and the original Cobbs remains the flagship of a £6.5m chain – now renamed Cobbs Farm Co – that today includes six farm shops of various sizes across southern England, plus a Cobbs-branded café at the Wilton Shopping Village near Salisbury. There’s also a production kitchen in Hungerford that supplies retail products and café lines to the whole group. This means the café kitchens have been deskilled, so any staff member can help out with what are mainly plating and garnishing duties. In day-to-day charge of the whole shebang is Tom Newey, who joined Cobbs in 2008 as general manager and was soon elevated to group operations director to fill an “enormous vacuum” in the management team. He became chief executive in 2013, at which point – despite spending several years in investment banking with Nomura and Goldman Sachs – he apparently had to “learn

deli of the month vital statistics Recently revamped at a cost of £600,000, Cobbs Farm Shop near Hungerford remains the ﬂagship of the group

Locations: Cobbs Farm Shop, Hungerford; Good Life Farm Shop & Café, Winchester; Fielders Farm Shop, nr Theale, Berks; Manydown Farm Shop & Bus Café, Basingstoke; Green Fields Farm Shops, Donnington and Priorslee, Telford; Cobbs at Wilton Market Café, nr Salisbury. Group turnover: £6.5m Average gross margin: 37.5% Group employees: 250

must-stocks O Trufﬂe

crisps Yard crispbead (standard pack) O Stokes tomato ketchup and mayo O Fosbury honey O Cobbs own-brand honey O Snowdonia Black Bomber O Brie de Meaux O Spooning Gorgonzola O Peter’s

O Ooh

Chocolata bars Scotch Egg Co – Classic Mac O Jude’s salted caramel ice cream O Upton Smokery smoked salmon O Mere Farm smoked trout terrine and roulades O Luchito smoked chilli mayo O Field Fare frozen croissants O Handmade

the intricacies of shareholder relations and how to read the accounts”. But then, tight financial controls had swiftly become a necessity for Cobbs. “In the early years of CFD,” Newey tells me over coffee in the Hungerford site’s café, “we spent an awful lot of money, we lost an awful lot of money – but we learned some invaluable lessons.” One was the sheer complexity of a multi-department farm shop. This led them to develop “a concession model”, so management didn’t get mired in departments that need specialist skills. “We understood early on that our priority was making sure the main shop and café were delivering,” he says. “Where we think there’s a real specialism, such as floristry or fish, we’ll look to find a local business to work with – maybe one that is looking for a second site.” All purchases go through the central tills, and concession holders are paid the sales value minus a set percentage. “We do everything for

them so they can focus on trading,” says Newey. “It means we beneﬁt from their skills and have less man management to do. The challenge is dealing with a lot of individual entrepreneurs. You have to balance using their skills with ensuring their

We spent an awful lot of money, we lost an awful lot of money, but we learned some invaluable lessons TOM NEWEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, COBBS FARM CO

standards match yours.” Cobbs Farm Co is already breaking from the concession model by running its own butchery at two sites: Good Life in Winchester and Manydown in Basingstoke. Both had previously been run by the Hungerford butchery concession holder, but Newey felt he was overstretched trying to run three outlets – an issue familiar to any shop owner who has attempted to open a second or third unit. “The jump from running one to running two sites is possibly the worst,” he says. “It gets easier once you reach six or seven.” Newey and area manager Jemma Bentley spent ﬁve months “sucking up as much information as we could” about the fresh meat trade so they wouldn’t get the wool pulled over their eyes, before opening counters under Cobbs’ own management at Good Life and Manydown. They’ve invested in dry-ageing rooms at both sites and now believe these have the best butchery offer >

Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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in the group – a preparation, by the sound of it, for taking all the counters back in-house. “We’ve also introduced something we’ve wanted for some time,” he continues, “which is an element of pre-packing. We do believe there’s room for grab-andgo. The pace people lead their lives these days, not everyone wants to stand at the counter talking about the weather while they wait for a pound of mince.” Despite growing to seven outlets now, the Cobbs Farm Co operational structure is relatively lean. Individual shop managers are supported by Jemma Bentley on the retail side and her husband Dan Bentley on foodservice, both of whom report to Newey. Aside from marketing co-ordinator Lauren Andrews, that’s about it, and may explain why Newey says: “We have worked ridiculously long hours for a very, very long time.” With much power devolved to local managers, including ranging decisions, it’s vital the senior team keeps tabs on the money. There’s a group target of 37.5% gross margin on retail lines, tracked daily by shop managers using a Eureka EPoS system and by the senior team on a monthly basis. Monthly stock-takes help ensure what appears in the accounts matches what’s on Eureka – in case, for example, stock is signed into the shop but not logged on the accounts. “It took time to bed in,” Newey says. “But it means we're never more than a month behind the curve. I don’t want to find out in December that we’ve been bleeding money since July.” He admits to being “a bit of a control freak”, and has an obsession with the figures that may be a hangover from his time in the City – a sector he fell into after being talentspotted while working in Nomura’s staff restaurant. “I think I was one of Fresh produce is key to the Cobbs offer, in a range and store format designed to make all age groups feel at home the last people to get in on the back the café to 1,500 sq ft, and created a an opportunity to take a lease on With money in his pocket, Newey of hard work and merit, rather than kids’ play zone on the first floor. an adjacent barn and we now have returned to his home county of an MBA,” he says. It was “proper, The shop and café were refitted planning for a 7,500 sq ft shop. It will Cornwall for a while, helping set up on-the-floor East End barrow boy to give a more contemporary feel and be a significant investment, but it’s a Carruan farm shop, before receiving stuff”, and while he never had any the offer has been tweaked to appeal really exciting opportunity for us.” the call from Gordon Leatherdale. formal bank training he did learn “the more to the younger shopper while Hindsight has shown freehold The original Hungerford shop importance of a calculator”. not alienating the oldies. sites are not essential. “If we can still provides the template for the rest Quitting the banking sector, But fresh food – including Cobbs get a long lease, it enables us to use of the group, although, as the top he travelled for a bit, then went on Farm’s own fresh fruit – is key to our cash more effectively. If you buy team have gained in confidence, they to build and sell what became one setting the tone. “We’re trying a freehold you are probably looking have eased some of the ‘rules’ – for of Germany’s biggest marketing to whack people with the fresh at spending £1.5m to get it right. example, taking on leasehold sites distributors, putting together packs experience as soon as they walk in,” We could probably open 10 to 12 where they could see strong potential. of branded promotional flyers for says Newey. leaseholds for that.” distribution in cities and Back in 2008, he tells me, all The original Green Fields near airports. It you buy a freehold you're looking CFD‘s investor documents were Telford has since been supplemented He also met his talking about the “grey pound”. But by a second, smaller leasehold future wife in Germany at spending £1.5m to get it right. he quickly realised that – as in his site nearby, and here too there – which explains why he We could probably open 10 to 12 native Cornwall, where shopping was is permission for a 7,500 sq ft was “emotionally very leaseholds for that a true family activity – Cobbs has to development. “We haven’t done it upset” by the Brexit appeal to all age groups. yet because it was badly affected by vote, although he adds: “It became clearer that the young the downturn,” says Newey. “It will “We’re not always just looking at “As a businessman… we will look for market was absolutely vital,” he cost £1.5m and doesn’t quite justify the most stonking site,” says Newey. opportunities within this scenario”. says. “They’re interested in what that that at this stage.” “When we bought Fielders Farm A case in point is the current Cobbs they’re eating, and their kids will be Cobbs at Hungerford was itself Shop [near Pangbourne], it was on ad campaign, which asks: “Has there our shoppers of the future.” given a £600k makeover last year. It a 30-year lease, and was actually ever been a better time to support took the retail space to 5,000 sq ft, very small – 500 sq ft. But there was British produce?” www.cobbsfarmshop.co.uk Vol.17 Issue 8 | September 2016

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