Amazing Artisans: Richard and Fionagh, Founders of Cornish Charcuterie

All of our artisans have their own motivations behind their decision to take the plunge and start their own businesses. For Fionagh and Richard, their decision was driven by their want for a better life for their young family and, after fleeing the home countries in search of a bit of countryside charm, they found themselves a 350 acre farm in the Cornwall. Cornish Charcuterie came about as a culmination of  Fionagh and Richard’s interest in charcuterie, and gradually became a way to make their farm profitable. Continually expanding their range, they now run a thriving business that produces award winning products made with delicious local ingredients. We caught up with Richard to find out a little more about their startup journey, their signature products and why they were attracted to the Cornish food scene. Read the interview in full on our website.

Amazing Artisans: Stuart and Kathryn, Founders of Proper Nutty Peanut Butter

Peanut butter. As far as we're concerned, breakfast doesn't get much better than toast topped with a generous smear of this delicious nutty spread (although we are often guilty of eating it straight from the jar - spoon optional).  It’s always fantastic to see an artisan take something and apply their own artisanal methods to their production, creating a unique, delicious product. Enter this week's Amazing Artisans Stuart and Kathryn, the nutty masterminds behind artisan peanut butter company, Proper Nutty. After returning to the UK, the couple struggled to get hold of the delicious, quality, unprocessed peanut butter they had been used to whilst living abroad. Noticing a gap in the market, Proper Nutty was born. Read the interview in full to find out what made Stuart and Kathryn nutty enough to take the plunge and start their own business.

Amazing Artisans: Dan, Founder of BananaBerry

Food Waste is a conversation that all businesses need to be having. Seeing the  potential to capitalise on the 15 million tonnes of food thrown away each year, Dan set up BananaBerry, a smoothie startup that uses non-displayable fruit and veg to create delicious drinks, freshly made to order, for offices around London. BananaBerry’s mission is simple: to reduce food waste, encourage a more healthy, sustainable lifestyle, and contribute towards a worthy cause (10p from each bottle sold goes to Cancer Research). Read the interview in full to find out more about how BananaBerry's big social idea came to fruition (sorry, couldn’t resist!)

Reap Rewards from your Rubbish - Waste in Food Businesses

We need to talk about food waste.

Sustainability is a conversation that all businesses, particularly in the food industry, need to be having. In the UK we produce an average of 15 million tonnes of food waste every year. Relatively speaking, that’s around the weight of 8,250,825 new cars. Enough cars, lined up bumper to bumper, to line the circumference of the earth a whopping 3.7 times.

What’s even more shocking is that 60% of that waste (worth around £12bn) could have been consumed. Instead it is quite literally being thrown in the bin.

Graphic from Feed the 5K Webpage

No longer can businesses afford to be ignorant of waste issues.

Businesses need to be making sure that the sustainability is high up on their agenda. There’s plenty of things businesses large and small can do to utilise their environmental agenda to increase the value of their business.

There’s loads of people who want to help you to improve the environmental value of your business.

As we found out when attended the MAS food waste workshop at the British Library, there’s plenty of organisations who are committed to making food business cleaner business. Melissa Addey, the specialist food advisor who spoke at the event, suggested that we need to turn our thinking away from waste as an expense and towards a way of generating new revenues. MAS is a manufacturing business support service that aims to help improve processes within manufacturing businesses, reduce waste, and put into place long term strategies to ensure continued sustainability. They provide match funded grants for SMEs - something that might be worth looking into if you would like some advice about utilising your waste in your business.

FoodSave is another initiative for SMEs which aims to reduce small businesses’ food waste as much as possible. They divert surplus food to feed people in need, before directing food unfit for human consumption to feed livestock where legally permissible. With any remaining food that cannot be redistributed, FoodSave supports composting and renewable energy generation. The aim is that, by 2015, 150 tonnes of food waste will have been prevented, making demonstrable savings to the local London businesses involved.

Other companies such as Giraffe Innovation, Sustain and Wrap also offer great practical advice and guidance on making your business more sustainable.

We need to start revolutionising the ways we think about waste.

At the event, Thomasina Miers, co-founder of the Wahaca restaurant chain, also spoke about their initiative, The Pig Idea. Wahaca has already proven itself to be a key player in sustainable business, winning a number of prestigious sustainability awards since opening in 2007.

The aim of The Pig Idea is to lift the EU ban on feeding catering waste, or swill, to pigs, reducing the amount of waste produced across the food industry. The initiative looks to introduce a robust legal framework for the safe processing of catering waste, including preventative measures to prevent disease spreading. In turn, this would lower the cost of feed for pig farmers, reduce the economic and environmental costs of disposing food waste, create jobs in the new eco-industry and liberate grain supplies to help feed people across the EU. If you’d like to take the pledge, or want to donate money to help the campaign, you can find all the details on The Pig Idea website.

Other events focusing on sustainability are popping all the time across London.
A couple of weekends ago we attended the Wasted! Brunch Club, hosted by our friends at Maida Hill Place. The event gave us the chance to chat with other foodies and discuss the plight of food waste with other business owners committed to sustainability. Over a delicious brunch provided by the West London People’s Kitchen, we heard from different initiatives from across London, including Feeding the 5K and Kensal to Kilburn Fruit Harvesters. Keep you eyes peeled for more events like this popping up in the next couple of months.

Some businesses have gone one step further and reuse food waste to create a delicious new product.
Rubies in the Rubble create delicious jams, chutneys and pickles packed with fruit and vegetables which are branded either surplus or ‘outgrade’ (products not fitting with the aesthetic criteria of supermarkets). In this, Rubies in the Rubble not only aims to contribute towards cutting food waste, but also sees its products as symbolic vehicles of their message: to consume less and think more about being sustainable.

Bananaberry - similar to RITR, BananaBerry use non-displayable fruit and veg to make smoothies which are delivered to offices around London. 10p from every bottle goes to Cancer research, and they offer a bottle-back discount for every one of their smoothie bottles you return to them.

Brixton People’s Kitchen aims to bring people together through learning about waste food, whilst at the same time gaining new skills in the kitchen and eating some delicious new dishes. Using waste food from local Brixton businesses, the People’s Kitchen invites people to cook in a local kitchen, sharing skills and making new friendships. The scheme has so far prevented nearly 720kg of food waste from being sent to landfill.

Kitchen Table Projects care about waste and are committed to becoming as environmentally sustainable as we possibly can.

Attending the event opened our eyes to the kinds of opportunities available to turn profit on your waste, and inspired us to continue working towards a more environmentally sustainable business model.

If you’re a small business and you don’t know about the British Library and their small business center, then check it out, pronto.

They run some great workshops (many of which are free to attend) and have hundreds of useful resources for small businesses and startups. Take a look at their website to find out more.

Amazing Artisans: Raw Foodies featuring Haughton Honey and Moral Fibre

British Food Fortnight continues to run until the 5th of October, and in celebration this week we thought we’d celebrate two Amazing Artisans who are dedicated to using delicious British ingredients. Haughton Honey and Moral Fibre are committed to keeping nasties out of their food. Both brands opt for raw, unprocessed ingredients, making for a more natural and healthy (yet equally delicious) product. What’s more, both Cris (Haughton Honey) and Jenny (Moral Fibre) have a great start up story to tell and we were really pleased to have the opportunity to chat to them about their business journeys so far. Check out the interviews in full to read more about their trials and tribulations, the ups and the downs of a food startup and their motivations.

Amazing Artisans: Kitchen Cupboard Essentials Featuring Granny Tigg's, Honestly Good and Spice Kitchen

Check out our website this week for an artisan bonanza! We caught up with three awesome artisans; Jacob from Granny Tiggs, Sanjay from Spice Kitchen and Evan from Honestly Good Olive Oil. From jazzing up a salad, whipping up a flavourful curry, to decadently moist cakes and a tasty companion to tapas, these guys know all about creating versatile ingredients that are packed full of flavour. What’s more, we love how their products, in their own ways, are steeped in their maker’s heritage. Eating their product means journeying to the far and wide corners of the earth; whether it’s Granny Tigg’s journey from New Zealand, returning to Sanjay’s Indian heritage, or sampling the sunshine of Evan’s Greek olive groves, these artisan’s products pack a flavour punch with a fantastic story, too. But don’t just take our word for it - check out the interviews in full for more startup stories and hints and tips from this week’s Amazing Artisans.

Great Taste Awards 2014

With around 10,000 products tried and tested every year by over 400 specially trained judges, the Great Taste Awards remain a major fixture in any foodie calendar. Every year artisans far and wide bring a huge variety of amazing produce to the judges table in the hope of earning their products the prestigious one, two or three star mark of excellent quality and fantastic taste. In a world where eye-popping packaging drives products off the shelf, the Great Taste Awards judges are keen to bring the focus back to the taste of the products, rewarding and encouraging specialty and fine food producers across the UK. Achieving the award encourages artisans to feel proud of their products, confident that in a tough retail market their product stands above the rest. For retailers and shoppers, The Great Taste mark communicates that the product they are selling or purchasing is of superior quality, showing their support for fantastic British produce. 

So last week, following a grueling four month tasting process, hundreds of artisans around the country waited in anticipation to hear the results of the coveted award. The full list of winners includes a huge variety of produce, ranging from fresh dairy and meat, to store cupboard favourites and sweet treats. What was most exciting for us was seeing some of our Amazing Artisans feature on the winning list - we think they’re fantastic, so it’s to see others recognise that, too! Flying the flag for fresh produce was Woodhouse Farm, who won with their rare breed Tamworth Pork Sausages. In fact, as we found out last week, sausages from Woodhouse are a bit of a speciality! Store cupboard essential Honestly Good won with their Extra Virgin Olive Oil (which works perfectly in a lemon cake), as did the sensational snackers behind Moral Fibre, with their Choco Banananut Bites and Chilli Crunch. BakedIn also walked away with a double win, receiving awards for their Chocolate Brownie and Carrot and Walnut Cake Kits, as did Belinda Clark, who won with her Passionfruit and Rose flavoured Marshmallows. The lovely guys at Tea People were awarded Two Stars for their Choco Mint Rooibos Herbal Tea - a well deserved prize for a lovely startup with a big social heart. We want to say a huge congratulations to all our artisans as well as everyone else who won - it’s a fantastic achievement and great to see all your hard work and passion rewarded.

We’re already exciting to see what new products meet the mark next year… until then, we’ll leave you with this video that the guys at Great Taste UK made last year, explaining all about the tasting process and how they take on the mammoth task that is deciding the Supreme Great Taste Winner each year.

July at Kitchen Table Projects

Wow...is it August already?! Last month our feet didn’t seem to touch the ground! We were lucky enough to attend a really useful New Product Development conference hosted by Roythornes, wrote about our favourite Independent London Delis, celebrated Independents' Day tested some tasty new products from our Amazing Artisans, and met loads of inspiring people, too. In fact, our Amazing Artisan page on the website  is starting to look pretty busy. It’s home to all the amazing producers that we’ve interviewed and is bursting with loads of great startup stories and foodie adventures.

Alongside our Amazing Artisans feature, we’ve also been speaking to some food industry professionals who have lent us (and you) their thoughts on the ever-changing food world. In our Industry Insiders feature, we talk to people with a wealth of experience in various areas, from branding and marketing to people who have set up their own successful business from scratch. Whatever area they specialise in, we believe that what they’ve got to say is incredibly important and it’s always useful to learn from other people’s experiences.

We've also spent the past month doing lots of research into the shopping habits of the foodie world. We’ve been talking to people about where they like to buy their food, what they like to eat and, most importantly, what they’d like to see on their high streets and what their dream food hub would look like. Last week we started to take a good look at your responses to our questionnaire and discovered some really interesting trends. Contrary to the popular opinion that the high street is dying, you guys interestingly told us that you love the high street and would love to see it filled with more independent retailers. This is great news for us - we love everything independent and would love to see more indies on the high street. But don’t take our word for it, have a look at our results and tell us what you think! Do you agree? Do think that high street retail retail is ready for a revival, or is all your shopping done online? We’d still love to hear all your thoughts - please take a few moments of your time to help a fellow foodie and fill out our online survey.

We’re already looking forward to August and all the exciting things we’ve got planned - watch this space! And as always, you can find us tweeting away @KitchTablePro, or on Facebook, too.

Top Picks: London's Best Independent Delis

We’ve all been there. Grabbing a Starbucks before dashing for the tube; popping up the road to pick up your meal deal from Tescos at lunchtime; ducking into one of the seventy-seven London branches of Nandos (yup, Londoners really love their chicken) for a quick bite on the way home from work. With a new chain eatery popping up on just about every street across London, eating out and buying your food on the go has become more convenient than ever. In fact, in a high street dominated with big-guy chains and supermarket giants, it can be easy to forget about the capital’s thriving independent scene. Kitchen Table Projects love discovering quirky new coffee shops and delis, and supporting their unique menus, thoughtful service and quality produce. And we’re not alone. 75% of the foodies that filled out our ongoing survey said they were bored of what they were seeing in the supermarket, and 72% of you were ready to try something new. So this week, we’ve put together a list of our go-to deli’s across London (and one not-so-local favourite!)

The All-In-One: Greensmiths (Waterloo)

With a Butcher (ran by the amazing guys from  The Ginger Pig - check them out if you haven’t already), Baker, Greengrocer, Coffee Specialist, Wine Merchant, as well as in an in-house cheesemonger and a whole host of grocery and dairy products in stock AND a delicious cafe, Greensmiths is a little deli with a helluva lot to offer. Branded as a local independent supermarket, this little gem is sure to give even the most established high street giant a run for their money with its attention to detail, passion for its produce, and delicious cafe fare. A must for anyone looking for convenience with a conscience.

The Brilliant Butchers: Dugard and Daughters (Herne Hill)

This family-run butchers nestled in the heart of South London is bursting with pride for their produce, and are really passionate about the future of independent shopping in London and beyond. On the butcher side of the business you can find anything from Rare Breed cuts sourced from small English farms, to a wide selection of poultry, game, lamb and pork, all sustainably sourced. And be sure to check our their Aladdin's cave of deli and store cupboard products; a selection that will be sure to make foodies and store cupboard hoarders alike weak at the knees.

The Unique: The Dry Goods Store (Maida Vale)

We love the unique concept of this cute little deli in West London. The Dry Goods Store have embraced a more traditional shopping experience where you buy grocery items by weight. This means busting the time-old problem of half-used packets that sit in the cupboard for months, as well as encouraging a more sustainable shopping experience where shoppers reuse their packaging and reduce their waste. Like us, they love independents, and are keen to champion skilled artisans from London and beyond. They hold some cracking events, too - follow their tweetings to find out what they’ve got coming up soon.

The ‘Viva Espania’ - Brindisa (London Bridge)

We might not have their weather, but Brindisa’s Deli at Borough Market brings a taste of the Mediterranean sunshine to London, even on the rainiest, dreariest days. This eye-catching deli offers something for all lovers of spanish gastronomy, including hints and recipe tips for creating your own authentic tapas at home. Sounds good to us...pass us a Sangria!

The Italian Job - The Italian Farmers (Finsbury Park)

Continuing your Mediterranean foodie journey, make a beeline for The Italian Farmers at Stroud Green. Offering authentic fresh and store cupboard Italian staples shipped direct from farms across Italy, this charming deli is super keen to support authentic Italian produce, attempting to combat the large counterfeit Italian produce market both here in the UK and in Italy. They offer some great events and tasting evenings too - be sure to check out their website to find out more.

The ‘Get the Greek’ - The Life Goddess Deli (Bloomsbury)

We love this little Deli in Bloomsbury, which aims to make great Greek food a defining feature of London’s gastronomic map. They believe that cultivating, preparing and sharing food is a ritual, and that food is a symbol of respect, gratitude, friendship and love. Selling great traditional produce, The Life Goddess aims to import this into everything they do. London breakfast-lovers, make sure you check out their breakfast menu!

The W11 - Daylesford Farm (Notting Hill)

This Deli is jam-packed with local produce sourced from their farm’s market garden, as well as fresh produce daily from their butcher, creamery and bakery.They’ve been farming organically for over 30 years, too, and love drawing out the process of farm to fork so their customers know exactly what they’re putting in their mouths. Unfortunately their W11 branch will be closed for the summer whilst they make some exciting new improvements, but will be open again from September. Until then, we wait with anticipation...and grumbling stomachs!

The Hidden Gem - Swiss Cottage Grocers (Swiss Cottage)

Tucked away on Finchley Road, this charming Grocers offers an amazing array of organic fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a number of store cupboard essentials. Prices are fair and there's a little trunk at the front for good seasonal deals. Check it out if you’re in the market (excuse the pun) for some quality, delicious ingredients for your next summer evening dinner party.

The Out of London - The Hungry Guest (Petworth, West Sussex)

Jump on a train this weekend and head off to the beautiful West Sussex, where you can find this amazing Deli. Nestled in the heart of the South Downs in the sleepy market town of Petworth, The Hungry Guest serves delicious freshly-baked breads, tasty lunches, homemade cakes and coffee, as well as boasting a wholesale artisan bakery and food shop, complete with its own butchery, cheese room and catering service (phew.) They’re serious about food and sourcing local produce, and love making sure their customers leave full and happy. Brunch, anyone?

Have we missed something out? Tweet us your faves @KitchTablePro!