News Review
Premier League Success
One team sure of success in the Premier Football League this season is Paragon Quality Foods. The Doncaster based burger manufacturer has secured contracts to deliver the goods at the grounds of Derby County and Middlesbrough FC.
In the North East, it was catering-butcher-cum-delivered-wholesaler Country Valley Foods which made the deal possible.
With an up-market fresh meat business led by its fast-growing Grand Reserve brand North of England beef and lamb, with the recent acquisition of the 12-strong Newboulds retail butchery chain and with a growing delivery business servicing an area from York to the Scottish Borders, it has seen sales double to £6m. in the last seven years.
Country Valley was an established supplier to Middlesbrough FC’s growing banqueting business when joint managing director Edward Munro was asked to source a quality burger that could be cooked in seconds for sale through the football club’s 30 catering units and as part of its growing meal deals operation.
With crowds of around 35,000 and only minutes in which to serve them, convenience and consistency were as important as quality.
Working with Howard Porteous, Middlesbrough’s catering supremo, Mr. Munro embarked on a series of comparative taste and convenience tests and settled on Paragon’s 901 Steak House 4oz Prime Burger as the best solution.
“Last year we sold around 45,000 burgers and this year we expect to sell 6,000 a game,” said Mr. Porteous. “We use fast food style broilers which take the burgers from frozen to fully cooked in 25 seconds and the burgers are an important part of our meal deals which have increased customer spend by 30p a head year over year,” he added.
On the banqueting side, Mr. Porteous enjoys the support of an experienced team of chefs. For fast food, he relies on quality products to provide the winning formula.
