Talking Point: Where are you, local food heroes?
A couple of years ago in Norfolk, I got to know a local family butchers and they made what I consider to be the best tasting pork sausages in the world. They were 98 per cent pork and crafted and seasoned from a secret family recipe. So astounded was I, that with my entrepreneurial hat on (or not), I offered to help them take this product to a bigger market for free.
They were sold, I got doing what I do best and designed a brand for them and the packaging design and used my connections to get in front of multiple buyers, and we took this fantastic product (almost) to market.
The product was marvellous, the brand and packaging really worked and Tesco wanted to stock the sausages in its stores in the East of England - but the family got cold feet, shying away from what they perceived would be the enormous pressure of supplying a major multiple. I understood completely, and to be fair, we had all really enjoyed the journey of getting to that point.
This was not a successful venture, but I have been involved in many other local produce projects that have led to successful outcomes – both in Norfolk and in the Midlands. However, I would love to see so many more of them for the sake of our local economy - and of course my own pleasure of working on such creatively rewarding projects.
My drive to work in Nottingham is filled with them – small producers of vegetables, livestock and the like that probably come with fantastic product stories. Small ventures that with a little brand and marketing help, could be selling their wares on the shelves of their regional supermarket branches or to an array of local independent shops.
The first wrong of this story that I would like to put right is that the sausage company felt that the Tesco contract would spiral out of control, beyond what they could cope with - probably helped along by the fact that it’s fashionable to whip the supermarkets in the media. Yes there is no smoke without fire, but the big four supermarkets should receive some credit for the thousands of small businesses they have helped to get off the ground by providing shelf space for their products.
The second wrong is that government enterprise groups should be doing more to connect these small producers to creative industry businesses like my own business and the many other Midlands design agencies that nurture our own creative yields. We’re the ones that understand how to take these products to market. And, as a whole, we should all be seeking out and realising our own local food heroes’ potential and not waiting for Rick Stein and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall et al to come and find them for us.
David Roger is the owner and creative director of Nottingham- based packaging design company We Are Pure.
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