COVID-19 made 2020 a pretty miserable year for most but Welsh Country wants to look forward to 2021 and beyond and celebrate those businesses that have not only survived 2020 but diversified and expanded. We look at six businesses across Wales, all from very different perspectives and backgrounds, some businesses having been around for generations others recent start-ups. What it does prove though is how wonderful Welsh Food and Drink is, how accessible it is for all of us and how buying local can be a delight and pleasure. Relish reading about these successes, but please go out and remember to buy and eat local food and drink yourself – just enjoy!
Forage Farm Shop, Cardiff
Forage Farm Shop & Kitchen opened at the Penllyn Estate Farm, just off the A48 near Cowbridge at the end of June.
Penllyn Castle Estate has history being purchased in 1846 for £18,000 by John Homfray. Although the castle itself is now privately owned, the estate remains in ownership of the Homfray family.
As with any estate, the management and business has to move forward to survive and the new farm shop is a first class demonstration of that. Residing in a beautiful new building which has been clad in Siberian Larch and designed so that it blends into the surrounding landscape.
As this is written and published, Wales remains in lockdown, so although one can visit to buy their produce, enjoyment of the incredible stunning views over the Thaw Valley and the delicious food and drink available form their café will have to wait for another day. To cater for that day there is plenty of free parking alongside the farm shop and a recently planted truffle orchard.
Managing partner Tom Homfray commented:
“Launching our new farm shop and restaurant, Forage Farm Shop & Kitchen, in the middle of a global pandemic could have been a disaster. However, when we look back at the last six months, there is a huge amount to feel positive about.
Prior to opening in June, we were confident that there was an appetite in the area for a food shop and restaurant built around high quality, locally sourced produce. Nevertheless, we have been surprised by how engaged many of our customers are regarding the stories behind the products. There is a genuine and profound interest in key issues such as sustainable farming and animal welfare. For many of our customers, how their food has been produced, its journey from farm to fork, is a key factor when assessing quality. That interest is something that we are all too keen to encourage, with many of the goods sold in our shop – the meat, vegetables, eggs, honey and rapeseed oil sold – produced to the highest standards on the adjoining farm, Penllyn Estate.
We see the consumer shift towards ‘shopping local’ as something that will continue, with the two major crises of our times – the pandemic and climate change – having accelerated the trend. People want to make sustainable choices without compromising on quality, and one of the best ways to achieve that is to purchase food that has been produced responsibly and not travelled hundreds of miles to the shelf. However, the fly in the ointment is Brexit, which remains a major concern. Behind Forage are a number of local farms that observe the highest animal welfare and agricultural standards. As a result, the costs of production are high, with retail prices, in turn, reflecting best practice and superior quality. We can only hope that, regardless of any trade deals that are agreed going forward, the British public remains discerning and continues to support local producers. In the meantime, here at Forage we will carry on selling and serving food of the highest standard.”
Importantly customer service is at the heart of the business and customers are encouraged to talk to the staff, the in house butcher the chef about anything sold, be that recipes, methods of cooking or traceability.
But in the meantime there is an online shop and delivery available.
For more details go to www.penllynestate.co.uk or telephone 01446 772344.
Little Cheesemonger, Prestatyn
Asking The Little Cheesemonger’s owner to say cheese is dangerous or enthralling depending on your love of cheese as Gemma Williams has a passion for cheese, whether it is hard, soft or blue, but it is the quality and provenance that are her bywords.
Having worked in two cheese establishments, it was three years ago that Gemma opened her first cheese shop in Rhuddlan hoping that her knowledge and enthusiasm was infectious enough to create a good business.
The Little Cheesemonger in Rhuddlan now has a sibling with the opening of The Little Cheesemonger in Prestatyn.
Gemma’s world of cheese is completely unpretentious, packaging and marketing floats into insignificance compared to knowing the maker and how they look after their stock whether be that is cows, sheep, goats or buffalo.
The Little Cheesemonger in Prestatyn is larger than its older sibling which gives Gemma the opportunity to expand the wine and delicatessen sides of the business, adding greatly to the rapidly growing food experience of north Wales.
Indeed 2021 is hopefully going to be a year of tastings as she is going to be working together with local wine merchant James Fearon Wines. The wines as the chesses will be sourced from small independent producers who some farm / produce organically but always sustainably.
Gemma who knows no boundaries to making her shops special has also brought in her husband’s skills to the Prestatyn shop. In the years of research for her shops her travels to France and Italy gave her inspiration for a cheese cave. Gemma’s husband has sourced and built some incredible refrigeration processes so that the cheese can mature and be stored like wine and the older it is, the better it tastes.
To learn more and be part of the Little Cheesemongers “cheese cave” experience go to thelittlecheesemonger.co.uk or telephone 01745 591906.
Cardigan Bay Brownies, Cardigan
Starting from her home kitchen, Nerys has worked exceptionally hard and in creating a team around her that now her brownie manufacture is in a purpose built unit at the back of the Cardigan High Street shop. But not satisfied with that Nerys has during the time of COVID-19, expanded opening another retail unit in Newcastle Emlyn.
One important element of the growth of Cardigan Bay Brownies has been the mail order service from their own e commerce website. As can be seen from the many Red Boxes being despatched via Royal Mail for customers wanting brownie deliciousness as gifts or just to make their Christmas celebrations that much more scrumptious.
As with all expansion plans things go wrong and Nery’s told her loyal customers and her potential new ones.
“Just a short message about our second shop in Newcastle Emlyn. We were meant to open this Saturday, but due to many factors working against us, we have had to postpone this to next week now. Sorry for any inconvenience. We cannot wait to get it up and running so we will let you know on here (Facebook) next week – it won’t be long until all systems are go – so exciting! We are merely waiting for the delivery of our display units and various other essential items so will keep you posted. Thanks for understanding”
Maybe it was the anticipation, but the opening day of the Newcastle Emlyn shop, despite completely restocking the brownie deliciousness, was a sell-out. Obviously this was followed by a very long night making more brownies to restock for the next day. But this was very much selling like hot cakes literally.
Nerys as always though takes the time to thank and appreciate all of her staff and tradespeople who helped in putting the new shop together.
To learn more about Cardigan Bay Brownies go to www.cardiganbaybrownies.co.uk or telephone 01239 611733.
Condessa /Celtic Spirit, Holyhead
In normal years Condessa and Celtic Spirit would have trade stands at many of the food festivals and bigger shows across the whole of the UK. Professionally staffed by Sally Anne and husband Matt with Matt’s mother often manning the second stand if they have two at the same event the family create a theatre of tasting delectable Welsh Liqueurs and Spirits. From their home base in Holyhead the number of local events can be counted on one hand.
Often on the first day of a show ask them what time they arrived and it is not at all unusual to hear the reply ‘around 2.00am after travelling overnight’ from yet another show.
What a different year 2020 has been but have they taken a rest? Of course not!
No rest at all as they launched the Copper Pot Shop and Distillery. This was a long time ambition of Sally Anne’s parents who ran the company before she and Matt took charge.
As Sally commented:
“It’s been a very long journey to get this far but finally we can revel our little secret. Meet ‘Mr Copper Pot’ who lives in our brand new distillery in Llanfaethlu!!”
This is not just a distillery where you can try and taste the very quaffable offerings of Condessa Liqueurs or Celtic Spirit, but this December they also opened within the premises a Christmas Food and Hamper Shop. The Copper Pot Shop will continue with a selection of deliciousness from Wales going into the future.
To learn more about Condessa Liqueurs go to condessa.co.uk/condessa-welsh-liqueurs-story or for Celtic Spirt – celticspirit.co.uk or telephone 01407 730021.
Farmers Food At Home, Mathry
Anne-Marie Harries of award-winning preserve company Farmers Food at Home has been busy during the pandemic. Not one to rest on her laurels, the first thing Anne-Marie did when Wales went into lockdown last March was to look at what else she could offer by means of essential products to help keep her customers fed and well. Anne-Marie already had an e-commerce website where she sold her jams, chutneys, and famous chilli hampers, but as trade events and food fairs started being cancelled, Anne-Marie enlisted the help of Pembrokeshire-based company The Copy Collective to help her increase sales via her website to bridge the gap. Using a combination of targeted social media campaigns and a refresh of her online content, including optimisation for search engines, Anne-Marie’s online audience as well as her sales began to grow. She had been worried that Christmas, one of her busiest and most profitable times of the year, would be hit hard by the pandemic. However as the online sales increased, this allowed the ever-entrepreneurial Anne-Marie to focus on an additional venture: opening a farm shop, which opened its doors at the beginning of December. The new Paddock Farm Shop opened on Anne-Marie’s property allowing her to provide fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, cakes, eggs, essential goods as well as some treats along with her tasty preserves to the local community during COVID-19 uncertain times. This included preparing veg boxes for collection as well as furnishing her customers with all the trimmings for their Christmas dinners! Her customers are fortunate to have access through the online shop and the farm shop to nutritious, tasty, healthy food to keep them all going through the winter and beyond.
In upping her online game, Anne-Marie has not only managed to stay afloat as a small business owner during the pandemic, but her business has flourished and her online audience has grown rapidly. In turn, this audience is now her new face-to-face customer base for the farm shop – from making jam at home to using digital marketing to create a valuable shopfront for both the business and the community.
To view Farmers Food at Home’s online shop or for more details about The Paddock Farm Shop opening times, visit: www.farmersfoodathome.co.uk.
Black Mountains Preserves, Talgarth, Powys
Nearly every new or expanding business has issues through its infancy and this was so true after Helen Dunne was made redundant from her job in advertising in 2019.
At her home there was a Victorian greenhouse in need of conversion and what better that to create a bed and breakfast business. So 2020 was to be the first full season of Helen’s Tegfan Garden Suite, that was until COVID-19 put pay to all those plans and aspirations.
As ever with those that work for themselves you do not duck the inevitable hurdles, but strive to find a way around them. With the few visitors that Helen had hosted at Tegfan all had loved her homemade jams and preserves.
So Helen then decided that maybe she could make a business out of jams and preserves. Her previous feedback told her that the product was good and the Bakers Table within Talgarth Mill agreed with her and started selling them. But, with lockdown in full force the number of potential outlets she could try to sell to was to say limited especially those that wanted to take on new untested ranges of products at this time.
As ever Helen dealt with the next series of hurdles as she had done with those before with contempt and determination.
The one area that did not lock down during 2020 was the internet and social media. Facebook was the social media choice for Helen, but two annual marketing times had already been missed, Easter and Mother’s Day. But with Father’s Day still in the future she decided to make a special effort to create a market for her preserves for Father’s Day when sales zoomed.
The year flew by and the next step was Helen’s own Black Mountains Preserves website and online shop which she launched at the end of October to great acclaim.
Already using fresh seasonal ingredients from as near her home as possible the bigger ideas of sustainability and cooperation came to the fore.
With sustainable & recyclable packaging Helen went one step more by creating a loyalty scheme if customers recycle their Black Mountains glass jars with her.
All of this was done firstly with the cooperation with local businesses creating the website and also designing the branding. But Helen has again taken this cooperation the extra mile creating partnerships with other food producers namely The Blaenafon Cheddar Company, Cradoc’s Savoury Biscuits, The Mallow Tailor and Tames Treats. This creates a perfect mix of artisan products from small businesses within the Brecon Beacons National Park which has helped create a Gift Hamper range for Christmas 2020 and into the future.
Over the period of COVID-19, one thing has become very obvious that buying local is here to stay and that in a large part is due to the many brilliant independent retailers that are so often overlooked but during this COVID-19 crisis have come into their own.
So now Black Mountains Preserves can be found on the shelves of some excellent local retailers, obviously including the Bakers Table in Talgarth, but also Pughs and Castle Grocers in Hay, The Old Railway Garden Centre, The Gate Shop in Bwlch, Camden Stores in Brecon and La Patisserie in Llandovery where there are jars and gift sets are suitable for all budgets and tastes.
For more details or to order directly, go to www.blackmountainspreserves.com or telephone 07740 026391.
