Speciality Bites from Paul Hargreaves of Cotswold Fayre

Reflecting on my week, a very busy one, I have been thinking about the difference in behaviour between large and small companies.  There were certainly companies of all sizes at SIAL last week in Paris.  Amazingly, despite the general strikes and fuel shortages in France this week, I managed to get there and back OK. Partly due to getting a ridiculously early flight on Tuesday morning, which meant that Tuesday was a very long 23 hour day after some socializing in bars at the end! SIAL is one of the best international shows I go to.  It’s massive and attracts both larger companies and also a vast variety of smaller food producers from around the world. (more…)

To save ourselves the tiresome biannual challenge of what new products to include in our catalogue, this year we came up with a different way of doing things.  Usually its endless rounds of meetings and tastings which takes me hours and hours,  time which I simply don’t have at this busy time of year.  Unless you have been to our offices you wouldn’t believe the vast volumes of samples that get sent to us – I guess it is a sign of success that every new artisan food producer wants to be included within our portfolio, but it can get overwhelming at times – particularly for my PA, Louise. (more…)