Trading D
Peregrine
WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME PEREGRINE TRADING ON BOARD AS OUR LATEST REGULAR EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR TO THE DELICATESSEN MAGAZINE.
● The Delicatessen Magazine have invited Peri & David, the founders of Peregrine Trading Limited, who own & distribute the Seggiano Real Food from Italy brand to over 500 of the UK’s top independent delis, farmshops & foodhalls, to write a series of articles on the speciality food sector. Their Seggiano brand is
recognised as the �inest selection of Italy’s artisan culinary tradition. Peri & David are both
producers, (David still bottles their Seggiano extra virgin olive oil, Britain’s best selling independent premium evoo) & with over 20 years experience of sourcing, packaging & distributing a range, that under the Seggiano label now includes over 200 best in category products, have had a unique involvement in the evolution of UK �ine food world. They are one of the very few
well established brands that has remained true to their roots within the independent food sector & do not supply Seggiano to any of the UK’s major supermarket chains. It is a selection that ranges
from larder essentials, to gourmet treats, with many vegan & gluten free items but no products containing meat or fish.
Watch their story at https://
vimeo.com/155802115
avid & I met at Rome’s Ciampino airport. We have been farming the unique Olivastra Seggianese olive
variety since the early nineties & bottled our �irst UK-bound Seggiano evoo in 1995, in response to requests from other small holders in Seggiano, a village in S.Tuscany, asking help to market their oil. Enthused by the really positive
response from UK shopkeepers, within a short time we had added our neighbour’s Seggiano Roast Artichokes and sourced some wonderful mono-varietal honeys from a beekeeper on nearby Lago di Bolsena. Our local Seggiano cheese producer was making fantastic pecorino cheeses and in a year we’d quite unintentionally created the Seggiano brand. Almost by default, the pitch of our offering was set at the beginning of our venture, by the quality of the local food. It became our mission to select best in category and keep it ethical and healthy. Looking at today’s new brands, with their stylish contemporary packaging, social media campaigns & marketing budgets, our early efforts seem so naive. The early Speciality & Fine Food Shows, were small modest affairs. Whilst not amateurish, our world was an intimate one. In those days we �lew blithely under the radar of the supermarkets. We were all there on a mission to educate & delight, through a scrupulous attention to provenance & quality. It would be wrong to describe our world now as an industry. Compare the Speciality Trade Show with the Restaurant Show, & the latter is clearly an industry event, whereas Speciality, despite so many more suppliers & retail outlets, still maintains a sense of small is beautiful.
There have however been substantial changes. The media bangs on about banking regulations but we know that regulations surrounding food production, distribution & retailing are far more onerous. We have to constantly incorporate new legislation into every area of our businesses, as well as battle the continuous onslaught from the multiples, who try to snap up our ideas & our products. Of course, it is essential that labelling should be immaculate & transparent. & all ingredients be clearly laid out & most importantly understood by producers, distributors & retailers alike. We need to know how to harness the power of social media, understand trends, traceability & general food ethics; to distinguish what is really good from what only appears to be. And most importantly, we need to support each other in this endeavour. Retailers don’t need suppliers lecturing them about organic, provenance,food miles, etc. They are as likely as any wholesaler, to be aware of current food trends. Our job is give you all the information you need on the actual products we offer: knowledge to pass to your customers, allowing them to make informed choices & fully appreciate the excellence that is the key difference between a committed independent & the supermarket. Over the next few issues, we’ll be looking at food ethics, the latest facts about fats, labelling and transparency, the effects of heat processing and be sharing some of our stories, plus a few interesting things we have learned on our twenty year stint as partners in the creation of the Seggiano Real Food from Italy range. ●
Peri Eagleton & David Harrison.
www.seggiano.com
The Delicatessen Magazine 13
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