Spotlight On: Chilled

 Cotswold Fayre started delivering speciality foods to independent shops back in 1999 but it wasn’t until September 2015 that we took on the challenge of suppling chilled foods as well. This side of the business has grown massively in the last 4 ½ years and now provides a large percentage of our sales and growing all the time.

There are some incredible food producers in the UK and beyond, and the ones producing fresh food, whether it be smoked salmon, cheese, kombucha or quiches, are no exception. We stay on top of the game by hunting out the best producers and keeping ahead of the trends to make sure we are keeping your customers happy and giving them what they want.

One of the biggest trends in this sector at the moment is definitely the rise of meat alternatives, especially the emergence of plant-based proteins. Many producers are using substitutes such as pea protein such as The Meatless Farm whose sausages, burgers and mince are a rival for the real thing. Not only does this trend dip in to rising number of people who are cutting down on their meat intake for health reasons, but it also ticks the box for those trying to eat a more sustainable diet.

Over the last couple of years, the nation has gone dip crazy with humous regularly featuring in most people’s shopping baskets. Whether its traditional humous from Me Too or one of the many flavoured varieties that we stock like these new one’s form Pots and Co. there are endless options available.

In the current climate we have been looking to help our customers as much as possible and this has meant adding new lines of items we know people have been struggling to get hold of. As the nation turns in to bakers, one of these things has been eggs and we’ve started stocking these delicious ones from St Ewe. We have also tried to plug the gaps where some producers have had to cease production, new juices of Fresh J and pizzas from Crosta & Mollica are delicious additions to our range.

Top 10 Chilled Lines

1.     YMSH01 – Mash Direct - Mashed Potato (8 min DSL) - 6 x 400g

2.     YMFC03 – Meatless Farm Co, The - 6 Meat Free Sausages - 4 x 300g

3.     YPIZ07 – The White Rabbit Pizza Co. - The Smokin' Vegan Gluten Free Pizza - 4 x 353g

4.     YTIM01 – Tims Dairy - Greek Style Honey Yogurt (25 min DSL) - 6 x 175g

5.     YMOR01 – Moorish - Smoked Houmous (20 min DSL) - 6 x 150g

6.     YBUX02 – Buxton Pudding - Real Vanilla Custard - 8 x 365ml

7.     YFPC25 – Mattarello - Tomato & Mascarpone Sauce (55 min DSL) - 6 x 250g

8.     YHIG03 – Higgidy - Feta & Red Pepper Veggie Rolls (3 min DSL) - 4 x 160g

9.     YCSP01 – Cartmel - Sticky Toffee Pudding (50 min DSL)- 6 x 250g

10.  YEOV03 – Yeo Valley - Natural Kefir - (11 Min DSL) - 6 x 350g