​Pioneer Alastair celebrates major new sales outside Northern Ireland

New business for a range of charcuterie in Britain follows an approach from Cress Company, a major food distribution operation that’s based at Dunfermline in Fife and also supplies delis and grocery stores in other parts of Britain.

Alastair Crown, the founder and managing director of Corndale Farm, Northern Ireland’s first locally-owned producer of chorizo and salami, continues: “Cress approached us late last year. They were aware of our products as we had won a string of awards at the Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards and also knew about our three-star Great Taste Award for our chorizo picante.

“They were keen to have us listed in their new March catalogue. After

negotiations and supplying information we are now listed. They are taking our full range including the new Ndola Ketchup. First orders have gone out this week,” adds Alastair.

Formed in 2004, Cress distributes ambient and chilled speciality, artisan foods across the UK using its own fleet of vehicles, supplying a range of independent retail customers including delis, cafés, farm shops, garden centres, butchers, fishmongers, bars and hotels.

In addition to supplying retailers throughout Scotland, Cress has additional depots in Leighton Buzzard, Malty, Telford and Bristol and now offers national distribution. It is a regular participant in major food exhibitions across the UK.

Corndale is also now listed with Artisan Food Club (AFC) in Britain, another major supplier of artisan foods. “We have been providing charcuterie to the club for delis, farm shops and other food stores them since January,” Alastair says.

“Business is good with farm shops and delis across Britain especially in England. AFC’s Marcus Carter had been in contact with us. We subsequently met at the big Farm Shop and Deli Show in Birmingham last year and got the ball rolling to begin supplying the club with our extensive portfolio of cured meats.

“It’s great to now have increased our offering and market share significantly in Britain. We started slowly last year with the likes of Selfridges and a few other independent retailers there. Now it's great to roll it out to the likes of Cress Co and AFC to manage our distribution and help us to increase sales, adds Alastair.

Corndale Farm has also been listed with The Traditional Cheese Company in Dublin this week. The cheese company supplies fine food stores, farm shops, delis and independent retailers, such as Donnybrook Fayre, across the Republic of Ireland.

“We supplied them with some product at Christmas under the Dunnes Simply Better brand that was being included in the popular chef Nevin Maguire’s hamper for the stores, Ireland’s biggest grocer. We supplied our Irish chorizo, and they were impressed with the product and wanted to add the Corndale branded products to their range.

“They are listing four of our products - chorizo, fennel salami, garlic and black pepper salami and nudja. As a result, the Republic of Ireland is now a very important and

growing market for us. While we already do encouraging business there, I feel there is still plenty of room for growth.

“We enjoyed a clean sweep of gold, silver and bronze at the Blas na hEireann Awards in Dingle, Co Kerry last year. It is important, therefore, for us to stay in front as Ireland’s premium charcuterie brand,” adds Alastair.

Based on a family farm outside Limavady, Alastair has shaped his multi-award-winning chorizo, fennel salamis and other cured meats using pork from his own free range herd of saddleback pigs.

Alastair formed the charcuterie business in 2012 from his passion for chorizo during his student days in Scotland, pioneering the free range chorizo a year later.

The chorizo proved so popular with chefs and leading delis in Northern Ireland that developing free range salamis and other meats made good business sense. Chefs appreciated being able to access the meats here.

The pork comes from the pedigree pigs which are free to graze the fertile farmland around his small holding outside the Co Derry market town. The meats are processed nearby in a modern and approved factory unit.

He began developing his own charcuterie because of a long-term interest in the spicy sausages and also because he believed there was an opportunity in the local marketplace for a producer of cured meats.

Pioneer: Alastair Crown of Corndale Free Range Charcuterie, Limavady –

significant new business in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland