Tv Success For Croots

The highlight of this month has been the filming of a TV show which was focusing on Derbyshire and the food and drink produced in the county. As someone who stocks products from more than 35 local suppliers, I was asked if I’d like to get involved. I jumped at the chance, as I’m really passionate about the fantastic food and drink that comes from Derbyshire. I’m sworn to secrecy about the details, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience – it’s interesting to see how a TV programme is put together!

Orders for turkeys and other meat for Christmas have been flying in. We’ve got some printed sheets on the counter to make it easy for customers to jot down what they want. Last year we had twice as many orders as the year before, and while I’m not expecting quite such a big increase, we’re on track to do very well this year too. Our suppliers are all reasonably local, which goes down very well with our customers.

Talking of Christmas, we’re selling Christmas trees this year for the first time, as something extra to offer our customers. They’re grown locally too and we’re donating £1 for every tree sold to our nominated charity Treats, which supports children in Derbyshire.

Our Harry Potter-themed sausage festival at the start of the month went with a real bang. We’d created a few new flavours especially for the event – which was part of British Sausage Week – and added a 10% off deal, which generated a bit of extra interest in our meat counter. We’re now busy working on a couple of festive flavours for Christmas.

Finally, it was great to hear from the brewer who supplies our own brand beers that the Cow Juice Ale in the Croots range won an award when he took it to a local beer festival. It’s the second award the beer has received.