Changing With The Seasons

This month’s had a bit of a chutney theme, what with the launch of a new tamarind chutney in the shop and a competition for customers. Last year we asked customers to enter their jams for a seasonal contest, and this year we decided to hold a chutney-making contest. I’m looking forward to tasting the nominations!

Meanwhile, we had a tasting session in the shop with a local company called Coriander Garden. Kash and Kuldip Burhm have been making their authentic tamarind chutney for family and friends for years but have now been persuaded to launch it onto the market, along with an onion bhaji dry mix. Croots Farm Shop is the first outlet to stock the range, and the products are going down well.

Once again British Food Fortnight gave us a good opportunity to promote some offers – both in the shop and the café.  We’ve also continued with our policy of introducing new beers and have recently added to our shelves six new beers from Lymestone Brewery – each with a stone-related name…ranging from Stone Faced through to Stone Dead, the strongest one at 6.6% ABV.

Customers have already begun requesting Christmas order forms, so I’ve sorted those out and to encourage early orders we’re going to enter all turkey orders received by November 30th into a draw. The one that’s pulled out will receive their turkey for free.
Always thinking ahead, I’ve even considered our Christmas 2012 promotions. I’ve booked some advertising for a local calendar for next year. Croots is sponsoring the months of November and December, and as it’s a good opportunity to promote ourselves at a traditionally busy time, I’ve come up with a few offers. Mind you, I’ve had to make a note in next year’s diary to remind myself of them!

Finally, we had a visit from representatives from the Derbyshire children’s charity Treats, who collected a £1,200 cheque which was the proceeds from our staff sponsored walk to mark our third anniversary.  They were very grateful for the support from our customers.