Fresh Direct

Dear Customer,

March is officially the first month of Spring, although the denizens of Braemar who are still enduring night-time temperatures of -20°C might find it difficult to believe! We all tend to think of Springtime as a period of invigorating renewal; a time of fresh growth and new ideas. It seems wholly appropriate then to roll out our own latest project, a production facility to be known as Fresh Kitchen, which will create consistent British products we have hitherto been obliged to import from the likes of France and Italy.  Our own team of food specialists will design, with the close co-operation of you, our customers, value-added ragouts and sauces as well as a range of chargrilled peppers, aubergines, artichokes, courgettes, asparagus and mushrooms, with all of the individual components selected by our experienced procurement department in Bicester. No longer will we be obliged to supply finished products with all the dodgy provenance of frozen chestnuts from Zambia: everything used by Fresh Kitchen will be sourced with full traceability, vegetables down to the field, fruit to the orchard and dairy products down to the herd. Our first product, a huge batch of truffle butter prepared to the specification of a chain of Italian restaurants, has necessitated the importation of large quantities of truffles from overseas, but in general our first choice will be to use ingredients produced in these islands wherever possible. This year we will have access to double the amount of home-grown asparagus that we enjoyed in 2009, and we expect to secure a large quantity of local garlic for the first time so we are getting there, step by step. Look out for a full feature on the ideas, capabilities and current endeavours of Fresh Kitchen and meet Adam, Susie and Glenn in the next edition of “Grapevine”.

With less than 100 days to go before the start of football’s World Cup it is also worth looking out for the re-emergence of the word “metatarsal” into our consciousness. Just to remind you, a metatarsal is a bone in the foot which is designed, in the case of Englishmen, to snap in the spring of a world cup year just when you are in the form of your life, and your appearance at the finals seems pivotal to your country’s prospects of success. In 2002 it was David Beckham, in 2006 it was Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney… whose turn will it be this year? Watch out for one of the squad playing at his unstoppable best in the next few weeks – then head down to the bookies!

Kind regards,
David Burns, Managing Director