Wiltshire Chilli Farm

Run by a collective of food and horticulture-loving professionals, the brand has been travelling the length and breadth of Britain for six years educating consumers about the wonders of chilli.

Founded by Jamie Sythes after his love of growing chilli plants led to a glut of produce being transformed into the brand’s first chilli sauce, the company has developed an impressive range of products spanning sauces, jams and seasonings – each of which are designed to open the door for customers to experiment with uses, flavours and heat levels. This experimental, open-minded nature is echoed by each member of the Wiltshire Chilli Farm team.

Martin Bond, director explains, “The size of our team and the fact that our passions are so diverse helps us stand out from the crowd – for example, I’m a food snob and definitely like the finer things in life, while other members of the team are particularly interested in horticulture or cooking. Because of this, we know that we will never cut corners and are therefore making the best product we can. It’s like a collective – everyone brings their own passions, experience and skills to the table to create the ultimate chilli sauce.

“One member of the team is really into horticulture so looks after the growing of our own chillies. Having control of our product from the very beginning means that we can ensure that we’re using the best ingredients; in the case of our chillies, we know exactly how they’ve been treated, that there were no pesticides used when they were growing, and that they were produced as naturally as possible.”

Martin is particularly passionate about opening consumers’ eyes to the world of chilli. “I host chilli-eating competitions at events and love sharing my excitement with customers,” he says. “Our aim is to educate people about chilli, and people have been very receptive to that – particularly so in the past few years.” Not all customers are immediately attracted to chilli, but that is changing. “A lot of the time,” Martin says, people think they don’t like chilli, but as soon as I offer them a taste of our sweet chilli sauce they say ‘oh, actually, I like sweet chilli sauce!’ Once they’ve tried and enjoyed that, it’s easy to get them to try the next hottest sauce, then the next hottest. Generally they go a bit hotter than they thought they would.”

This increase in customers’ capacity for chilli heat is demonstrated by the growing popularity of hotter items in the brand’s range, Martin explains. “The interest in chilli has definitely grown in recent years; five years ago we did the Great Dorset Chilli Festival and entered their hot sauce awards, which is generally accepted as the most prestigious in the UK. We entered our Mango sauce in the hot category and won. This year we entered it into the mild category instead, and our hottest sauce – which is hundreds of times hotter – won the hot category.” According to Martin, it’s simply a case of toughening up your tastebuds – “You can train yourself to be able to eat hotter chillies; within a matter of weeks someone could go from a low tolerance to being able to handle really hot chilli heat – and being open-minded to the possibilities. “The first time you try chilli jam you have it with cheese and biscuits and may not be able to think of any other ways to use it, but you’ll come to learn that it’s one of the most versatile products we do. It works in stir fries and gravies… Our Cranberry Kick flavour is particularly good with porridge! Our Mango sauce is the most popular one we do and pretty much always has been, and our Fruity sauce has always sold well too.”

When it comes to your customers’ taste for heat, Martin has found that age is a contributing factor. “Our really hot products sell tremendously well, particularly well at events with people aged between 25 and 50.” Location also plays its part: “a Cotswolds village may not have as many chilli lovers as one in London or other big cities, where consumers love me to challenge them!”

Things are heating up for Wiltshire Chilli Farm, with a listing with one of the UK’s largest distributors, Cotswold Fayre. “We’re proud to be able to say that we’re one of the biggest chilli sauce brands in the UK, and we’ve done that almost exclusively by selling direct to consumers at events. Less than 1% of our trade has come from wholesale, so this is our first real adventure in that market. Apart from a few local retailers, we’re completely new to independent retail – we’re new to this market, but already have a strong presence which means that delis, food halls and farm shops have a ready-made customer base for our products.”

Retailers after support when it comes to selling the brand will be well looked after: “We’re spending a lot of our time doing tastings at events,” Martin says, “so would be more than happy to do these at retailers too.”