We’re always on the look out for cool innovators – especially who use the words online, artisan, foodie heaven, rare cheeses and craft beer in their company ethos. We took it upon ourselves to find out a little more of the whats and whys of how presenting food and drink online in this way can lead to a nomination in the prestigious MediaGuardian Awards (MEGAs) for Best Digital Entrepreneur. Owner of LoveYourLarder.com – Tristan Watson enlightens us…
I recently came across the rather excellent Fodder – and was blown away by their dedication to excellence. I’m obviously in very good company as Fodder tends to pick up awards like cows eat grass (see what I did there)
Here’s a bit more about the brand and their ‘official’ response from Fodder HQ about winning the OFM Awards for ‘Best Independent Retailer’ Award…
Fodder, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s flagship food hall, has won the coveted Observer Food Monthly “Best Independent Retailer” award. The Fodder team collected their award in a star-studded ceremony in London, rubbing shoulders with the foodie elite including celeb foodies Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, Jamie Oliver and Tom Parker-Bowles.
Fodder is the UK’s first fully charitable food hall, with all profits reinvested in helping the rural community in the North of England. Observer Food Monthly across Britain voted Fodder as their favourite local retailer.
Managing Director Heather Parry explains, “We’re absolutely over the moon winning this award, just 18 months after we opened. Credit must go to our amazing suppliers the terrific staff whose hard work and enthusiasm for Yorkshire food and drink is infectious.”
Local food is at the heart of Fodder with 85% of the food sold and served coming from Yorkshire and the Humber. Fodder offers a wide range of local produce and sells everything from radish cress, to ginger cordial, organic oats to award winning pork pies, rare variety apples, cheese from the UK’s smallest dairy, to superb meats carefully selected and butchered on site.
Keen to keep costs competitive, Fodder price checks produce against supermarket equivalents, while still giving the producer a fair price for their goods.
“We’re adamant that local should not mean more expensive. There’s a careful balance of basics and artisan food—to ensure the shop is affordable and has something for everyone. Everyday items like sausages and eggs are reliably cheaper than at many supermarkets,” explains Heather.
The Observer Food Monthly awards judge, Jay Rayner says, “Fodder takes tired foodie buzz words like “local” and “seasonal” and gives them meaning. While farmers’ markets and bespoke delis pander to fashion, Fodder has created a proper food hall that showcases the very best of Yorkshire’s produce, but it does so at a price which makes it genuinely accessible to everyone.”
Miss Parry continues, “While it’s great to win awards, Fodder’s real aim is to benefit the rural community. Last year, – our first year of trading – our local sourcing policy injected £1.9 million into Yorkshire’s economy supporting over 180 local farmers, producers and emerging businesses. We act as a shop window for local producers, providing a platform from which to market their goods. The real winners are the farmers and producers who supply Fodder.”
As all excellent brands do (carry on collecting silverware) they have since chopped, sliced and diced their way to victory at the Butchers Shop of the Year Awards 2010.
Fodder – we salute your excellence!
A Glasgow-based consultancy has created packaging designs for a range of brie from cheesemaker Highland Fine Cheeses, which uses the motif of a six-legged animal. The design group involved was tasked with developing designs for a range of Cromarty brie that Highland Fine Cheeses wanted to launch in premium retailers.
Their head designers commented that ’We did not want to make it radically different from other cheese packaging, as it would lose its provenance. The six-legged animal is clearly ridiculous, but because of its placement some people don’t automatically see it.’
There will be cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk variants of the cheeses, and the goat and sheep on the labels will also be six-legged. Each variant will have a different key colour, with the cow being black, the goat dark blue and the sheep colour yet to be decided.
The range will be launched at Ian Mellis, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Neal’s Yard, in London, before Christmas.
Article courtesy of Design Week. Read the full story here.
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