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Get your free copy26 November 2010, 18:18 PM
- Artisan crisp company Fairfields Farm Crisps enjoyed its prime-time TV debut last week, featuring on The Apprentice
The small Colchester-based producer was approached by BBC bosses in 2009 to appear in the reality show, which regularly attracts viewing figures of over six million. Third-generation potato farmer and crisp maker Robert Strathern was asked to get involved in the show as a mentor and crisp expert, as the final eight hopefuls battled it out to create their own speciality products.
“It was really exciting, first to be asked to get involved and then to do all the filming. We were basically there to provide the expertise when it came to making the actual crisps,” he explains. The company was then represented by the apprentices as they tried to sell their final products in Germany.
Filming for the show started early in the morning at Savoury Flavours in Manningtree, where all the flavours are created.“We worked with two of the apprentices, helping them test out and choose flavours. The crisps were being made to appeal to the German market so they came up with two flavours: Currywurst and Goulash,” he continues. “This decision was made by the apprentices based on the market research their team members had carried out in Hamburg. The German-inspired crisps were a new experience for us because the flavours we use for Fairfields Farm Crisps are all sourced locally.”
Although the team representing Fairfields Farm Crisps didn’t win overall, Mr Strathern is hopeful the exposure will put the company on the map and attract some new and exciting suppliers. “We’re a small business, so an opportunity like this was just too good to miss and it was fantastic to be involved,” he adds.
