Frozen food distributor Central Foods gains key industry accreditation

Alison and Gordon Lauder of Central Foods

Frozen food distributor Central Foods has been awarded the BRC Standard for Agents and Brokers. 

The Northamptonshire-based company, which supplies a wide range of frozen food to wholesalers and caterers across the UK and for export, worked closely with its suppliers to achieve the accreditation.

BRC Global Standards is a leading safety and quality certification programme, used by more than 23,000 certificated suppliers in 123 countries. The Standard for Agents and Brokers gives essential certification for companies that provide purchase, importation or product distribution services in the food and packaging supply chain.

Central Foods managing director Gordon Lauder said: “This Global Standard is designed to reflect best practice on product safety, quality and operations, and it is great news that it has been awarded to Central Foods. It’s a ringing endorsement of the standards provided by the company and clients. 

“In essence, it reinforces confidence in the quality and safety of the food supplied by the company to our many customers throughout the UK and for export. As a frozen food distributor, we place great emphasis on quality and provenance.”

Central Foods, which is based at Collingtree near Northampton, supplies more than 220 independent wholesalers, as well as larger national and regional wholesalers. It also supplies to foodservice caterers across the entire foodservice industry, including pubs, hotels, restaurants, staff canteens, schools, hospitals, coffee shops, football grounds and universities.

Offering a one-stop shop to the foodservice sector, it sources products from around the world and the UK, supplying more than 400 different lines, ranging from meat, bakery items and canapés through to buffet products, desserts and puddings.

Central Foods has been regularly named in the annual Grant Thornton Northamptonshire Ltd report which highlights the growth of the top 100 privately owned businesses in Northamptonshire, and was ranked as one of the 200 fastest growing companies in the East Midlands in the 2015 Grant Thornton and CBI report, the most recent available, which highlighted growing organisations. 

The company is marking its 21^st anniversary in 2017.

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

Gruntled Pork Crackling snack launched by Salty Dog Brands

A new premium pork crackling snack has been added to the Salty Dog and Darling Spuds stable, with the launch of Gruntled Pork Crackling.

Available in three flavours, Cornish Sea Salt, Habanero and English Mustard, the snack is aimed at pubs, bars, hotels, cafés and other hospitality outlets, as well as delis, farm shops and other retailers and has already been snapped up by fine food and drink retailer Booths.

The pork crackling is double cooked, so it is lighter and easier to eat than traditional pork scratchings, and the brand is entirely gluten and MSG-free across all flavours. It is currently available in 40g bags.

The Gruntled brand has been created by Dave Willis, who co-founded cool crisps, nibbly nuts and gourmet popcorn brand Salty Dog in 2003 and feisty flavoured crisps and toasted corn kernels brand Darling Spuds in 2010 along with wife Judy. 

His latest venture brings a new range of snacks to the market, but with the pedigree of the Salty Dog and Darling Spuds brand behind him.

“The alternative snacks market continues to grow, with flavour and indulgence two of the key drivers of consumer demand, and the new Gruntled brand has bags of both,” said Dave. “Pork scratchings have always been a guilty pleasure of mine, so I thought to myself “why be guilty? What can we change?”. 

“Now I am exceedingly proud to introduce Gruntled to an unsuspecting world! We’ve taken the finest pork, cooked it twice, which makes it lighter and less tooth breaking than traditional scratchings. We’ve then seasoned it with completely natural flavours, making sure that there’s nothing unsavoury like gluten or MSG inside.”

Gruntled Pork Crackling is available from Chiltern Snacks - telephone 01494 776006 or visit www.chilternsnacks.co.uk. Minimum order is usually £60, but for retailers a special introductory offer of three cases – one of each flavour and each containing 20 packs - for the price of two is available until 30^th June 2016. A case of mixed flavours is also available for a limited period.

Gruntled snacks are being offered in display cases of 20 bags, or the same display case of 20 with a loose clip strip inside, or in larger volumes for bigger operators.

The RRP for 40g bags is 90p. Visit www.getgruntled.co.uk for more details.

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Cherizena serves up new branded coffee packs

Speciality coffee producer Cherizena has launched a new service providing sachets of branded coffee for boutique hotels and guest houses.

The Leicestershire-based firm, which supplies premium, flavoured and speciality coffees to a wide range of trade customers, has begun serving up the new 60g sachets after investing in new labelling equipment.

The new equipment allows the company to be much more flexible with its bespoke labels for branded products, said Kate Jones, who runs Cherizena.

Among the products the firm is now offering are branded sachets of coffee, which are ideal for hospitality facilities in guest bedrooms. The 60g sachet provides around eight cups of coffee and is perfect for use in small cafetieres…providing enough coffee for a number of servings.

Cherizena is also providing small personalised coffee packs for special occasions such as weddings, milestone birthdays and wedding anniversary celebrations.

The company can feature all sorts of designs on its labels, and then package any of its coffees into the branded packs.

One of the first outlets to take advantage of the new service launched by Cherizena is 5* bed and breakfast and event venue Vale House Belvoir, near Grantham.

Host Lara Young said: “Guests really appreciate the personalised and individual touches, and we were very pleased to find a local coffee supplier that could provide high quality coffees in Vale House Belvoir branding that we could put in our guest bedrooms and also use when we host special occasions, such as weddings.” 

Cherizena’s breakfast blend and Italian roast coffees are proving to be the most popular coffees chosen for the branded packs, but the firm can pack any of its range of more than 20 flavoured coffees and 30 single-origin coffees and blends into branded sachets.

“Offering individual labelled products helps a boutique hotel or guest house to stand out from the crowd, and provides added value to guests,” said Kate Jones. “We are delighted that we can now offer this service for our coffee.”

As well as supplying 60g sachets, Cherizena can also offer much larger branded packs of coffee.

Cherizena is a family-run firm based at Wartnaby near Melton Mowbray, and supplies coffee as beans or ground, regular or decaffeinated.

It invested in the new labelling with support from the Food and Drink iNet, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and run by business organisation the Food and Drink Forum. The iNet provided a match-funded grant of just over £3,000 to help with the innovation, which also included a new e-commerce website.

For more information contact 01664 820111 or visit www.cherizena.co.uk

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk