Charity sausages from Croots Farm Shop to mark the Rio Olympics

Simon Hollis, butcher at Croots Farm Shop with the Rio Sausage

Sausage champions at Derbyshire farm shop Croots have created a special Rio Sausage in recognition of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games and to raise money for charity.

Some 10% from the sale of the chicken and salsa sausages will be donated to Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre – the adopted charity of the farm shop, which is based in Wirksworth Road, near Duffield.

Croots is renowned for designing special sausages to mark sporting occasions and has previously raised money for charity with its ‘Olympig’ sausages. It has also won numerous awards for its bangers, including Great Taste Awards, which are regarded as the Oscars of the fine food industry.

“Our butchers love designing new and interesting flavours for sausages, and decided to opt for a chicken and salsa flavoured one to celebrate the Rio Summer Olympic Games. It’s got quite a kick to it,” said Steve Croot, who runs the farm shop with wife Kay.

“If our past experiences are anything to go by, our customers will really get behind this latest fund-raising effort and support our adopted charity, which is this year celebrating 125 years of helping the children of Derbyshire.”

The holiday centre, which provides Derbyshire children experiencing difficult times at home with a week-long holiday in Skegness, Lincolnshire, has been the adopted charity of Croots Farm Shop for a number of years now.

Priced £8.99 a kilo, the charity sausages will be on sale at Croots throughout the Olympic Games in Rio, which has its opening ceremony on Friday August 5^th.

Croots Farm Shop was opened more than eight years ago and is run by Steve and Kay Croot at Farnah House Farm, the farm owned by Kay’s parents Jim and Sue Yates.

It is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information, visit www.croots.co.uk Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-Shop

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

East Midlands family butcher takes England’s best sirloin steak crown

Family butcher Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd has been named as the producer of the best sirloin steak in England. 

The company, based at Leabrooks near Alfreton, triumphed at the EBLEX Quality Standard Mark Excellence Awards 2015. 

Richard Taylor, managing director at Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd, said: “This is a magnificent moment for us and our customers. We know we produce some of the finest steaks around, which come from quality animals from assured farms. Our sirloin steaks are well-matured and deliver fantastic flavour – and they are now officially the best in the country! 

“Not only is this great news for Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd, it is also great news for our customers too. Our customers who buy from our shop know they are getting the best sirloin steak in England, and our catering customers, such as restaurants and hotels, can be confident that they are serving their customers with a top steak.” 

The awards are the latest in a long line of accolades presented to Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd, based at Leabrooks, near Alfreton. The company, butchers since 1922, supplies retail and catering customers across the East Midlands, along with many of the region’s top restaurants and hotels, including Harts Restaurant, the Michelin-starred Restaurant Sat Bains and the award-winning Morley Hayes hotel and restaurant in Derbyshire. 

The vast majority of its beef, pork and lamb is sourced from farms in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, with additional livestock sourced from neighbouring areas such as Staffordshire, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland to satisfy customer demand.  

The company has a number of titles to its name, but being hailed as the producer of the best sirloin steak in England is a huge accolade, said Richard Taylor, the grandson of the founder of the business. 

“These awards are a fantastic recognition of the hard work and dedication that goes into producing our meat; from the farmers to our on-site team of butchers and bakers. We constantly strive to create the very best products for all our customers to enjoy and are delighted to be able to prove that this is the case – not just locally but nationwide too,” he added. 

The ‘Larder Trim Sirloin Steak’ from Owen Taylor & Sons was one of nine shortlisted products in the ‘Best Sirloin Steak’ competition, picked after two tense rounds of judging. Three finalists from each of the competition’s three categories – Independent Butcher, Multiple Retailer and Foodservice Operator – were then invited to a special awards ceremony in London when the category winners – and the Overall Winner were unveiled. 

After winning the ‘Independent Butcher Category’, Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd went on to be crowned ‘Overall Champion’ and purveyor of England’s Best Sirloin Steak. 

Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd also claimed the category winner title in the ‘Added Value Steaks’ section of the ‘England’s Best Innovative Steak’ competition with a ‘Denver Fire Steak’. Furthermore, their ‘12-Inch Steak and Stilton Pie’ was highly commended in the foodservice category of ‘England’s Best Steak Pie’. 

Competition organiser and foodservice project manager for EBLEX, Hugh Judd, said: “Often described as the ‘king of steaks’ the sirloin is a prime cut that has wonderful taste and texture. But there is a lot riding on both the butchery techniques and quality of the animal to produce the very best examples. Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd has the ideal processes in place and go to extraordinary lengths to get their sirloin steaks right each time. That is why they were chosen as Champions.”

For more details visit www.owentaylor.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR agency Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Hat trick of awards for Croots Farm Shop’s steak

Derbyshire farm shop Croots has scored success with its steak once more after winning two new awards. 

Earlier this year the farm shop at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, Duffield, scooped a silver in England’s Best Sirloin Steak 2015 competition. 

Now the team of butchers at the farm shop have gone one better and won a gold medal for the Croots Rib Eye on the Bone in the Innovative Butchery Category of the awards. 

The farm shop also heard it had scooped a silver in England’s Best Steak Pie category run as part of the competition organised by EBLEX, the trade organisation for the English beef and sheep industry. 

All three awards were part of the first ever Quality Standard Mark Excellence Awards, which were developed to recognise and reward quality, innovation and excellence in beef and lamb production. 

Hugh Judd, of EBLEX, said of the Croots rib eye on the bone: “The standard of innovative entries was incredibly high ….I do hope you take pride in the fact that your innovative steak product achieved a Gold Award.” 

Store owner Steve Croot, who is the current Derbyshire Food Hero, said: “We are incredibly proud to have won these awards for our steaks and for our luxury steak pies, which are prepared on the premises by our team of butchers. We get great feedback from our customers and are delighted that the judges in the EBLEX Quality Standard Mark Excellence Awards felt the same way. One gold and two silver awards in these inaugural awards is a tremendous achievement.” 

Croots launched in June 2008 and is renowned for its extensive and award-winning meat counter, which has doubled in size due to demand since the shop first opened. The store has won numerous awards for its sausages, pies and meat products, but these are the first awards that have been dedicated solely to the steak. 

Beef sold at Croots is reared by farmers Richard and Margaret Heath at Hazelwood Hall Farm, Hazelwood, near Belper in Derbyshire. 

The shop employs three full-time butchers and two assistant part-time butchers, as part of a 28-strong workforce employed in the shop and the restaurant, Shires Eatery, which has also doubled in size since opening. 

Croots Farm Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Croots Farm Shop in Derbyshire expands to open seven days a week

Award-winning Derbyshire farm shop Croots is expanding to open seven days a week as a result of customer demand.

The move has created three new jobs at the farm shop, which is based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, near Duffield.

From May 5^th the farm shop will be opening its doors on Mondays, as well as the rest of the week. At the same time, the shop will be extending its Sunday opening hours and will be open from 9am to 5pm – giving customers extra time to shop at the store and visit Shires Eatery.

A BBQ will be held at Croots Farm Shop on May 5^th to mark the expansion, with special offers available in the store.

“Traditionally, since opening in June 2008, we have closed Croots on Mondays, but due to customer demand we’ve decided to open on Mondays in the future and to open longer on Sundays,” said owner Steve Croot.

“This is really good news for us, as it reflects our growing popularity, which is in turn a reflection of the increasing interest in good quality food with provenance. I’m also delighted that we’ve been able to provide more jobs for local people.”

The expansion has created one chef’s position, plus two additional shop assistant roles, which have now been filled. It will boost the Croots team to 24.

Croots Farm Shop sells products from more than 40 producers from within a 50-mile radius, as well as items from further afield. It is renowned for its high quality sausages and meat products which are made in house.

It has won a number of Great Taste Awards, which are regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the fine food industry, and was a runner-up in the Best UK Independent Food Retailer 2010 category of the Observer Food Monthly Awards and named in The Independent’s top 50 best food shops the year before.

Earlier this year, owner Steve Croot was given the accolade of Derbyshire Local Food Hero 2014 at the Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards.

“Just as we launched Croots Farm Shop the recession started, but we’ve had amazing support from customers, staff and our suppliers, and Croots has gone from strength to strength – so much so that we’ve expanded our butchers’ department and last year we extended our Shires Eatery to cater for demand,” said Steve.

“I’m very pleased that we are now in a position to expand our opening hours too, and I’d like to thank our customers and staff for their loyalty.”

From May 5^th, Croots Farm Shop will be open every day from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm).

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Ten out of ten for Croots Farm Shop products

Derbyshire farm shop Croots scored success for its sausages and meat products by picking up ten awards at the Regional Pork Product Excellence Awards Roadshow.

Croots Farm Shop struck gold four times with its homemade sausage roll, Scotch egg, haslet, and pork and apple burger. The farm shop near Duffield also took two silver awards for its pork, leek and Stilton sausage, and its smoked bacon sausage, and a bronze for its pork, apple and cider sausage.

Meanwhile, Croots butcher Richard Bott hit the jackpot in the Young Sausage Maker Category by winning three bronze awards for his pork and wild mushroom sausage, his Toulouse sausage and his sweet chilli and coriander sausage.

Farm shop owner Steve Croot said: “We have won many awards for our homemade sausages, pies and meat products, and the Croots butchers’ counter is renowned across the area for its quality and range, but we are chuffed to have won so many accolades at the BPEX awards, which are judged by industry experts.

“It now means that virtually all of our sausages are award-winning. One of the keys to our success is the excellent pork that we use. Another is the innovative way that we develop new products – it’s something that our customers really embrace. We’re delighted to have won another great batch of awards to add to the scores that have already been awarded to Croots products.”

Richard, 25, joined Croots towards the end of 2013 and is one of three butchers at the farm shop, which is based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road. 

The BPEX awards roadshow, which was held at Newark, attracted entries from butchers across the region and was judged by industry experts. 

Croots Farm Shop, which opened in June 2008, extended its butchers’ counter as a result of demand and has won many national, local and regional awards for its sausages, pies and other products, which are made in-store. 

All the pork sausages at Croots are made using free range Packington Pork from Barton-under-Needwood, near Burton-upon-Trent. Croots has a range of around 65 different flavours of banger, which it sells on a rotating basis, with between 12 and 14 on sale at any one time.
Croots Farm Shop is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (Shires Eatery until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk