factfile:
Riverside Organics
Organic meat & vegetable box scheme

Key Contact
Simon Bennett

Website
www.riversideorganic.com

Products
A range of organic products including vegetables, beef and lamb

Mentor
Tim Goldsbrough

Key Area
Product development, improving resource efficiency, process improvement and expansion of enterprises

Successes
Developing a vegetable & meat box scheme, expanding the farmshop and improving resource efficiency.

“They have been fantastic in helping us achieve our aims and objectives.“

Riverside Organic is a family run farm, farm shop and café in Cheshire. They started selling direct to the public in 2005 and now boast a large range of organic produce from their farm.

With strong local demand a vegetable box scheme was introduced, alongside their meat box. These are distributed in collaboration with the local milkman which has paid dividends in time saving for Simon. As demand has grown exponentially, Riverside Organics has increased their crop production on the farm. They pride themselves in producing as much of the food sold in the shop on the farm as possible to enable consumers to have a ‘real’ farmshop where the produce is organic, local and totally traceable.

Said Simon Bennett “the support we have received has given us more time, enabled us to promote our services efficiently and more importantly seek out and capitalise on new opportunities for the business.”

The future looks good for Riverside Organics and the team is still assisting them with future projects. With plans for expanding the farmshop, building a meat cutting room on site and the introduction of organic free range chickens on the farm, 2008 will be a productive year for Riverside Organics.

factfile:
The Contented Cow Company
Dairy

Key Contact
Louise Johnson and Phil Latham

Website
www.preciousmilk.co.uk

Products
Precious Milk

Mentor
Tim Goldsbrough

Key Area
Start up and product development

Successes
Obtained a Sainsbury’s contract in 2008. Louise Johnson won the Rural Enterprise Gateway ‘Cheshire Rural Women’s award’ in 2007. Finalist of the Farmers Guardian ‘Made in Britain’ awards 2008. Finalist in the Food NW 2008 Award for Innovation and Award for Supply Chain Solutions.

“The service we have received has been fantastic. Tim Goldsbrough was knowledgeable, approachable and supportive. It enabled us to move our project from conception to reality.”

Early 2007 was decision time for two family farms in Cheshire. The decline in economic returns of the dairy industry forced them to consider leaving the industry they loved or fight back. Subsequently the Contented Cow Company was formed as a business partnership between two cousins Philip Latham and Adam Johnson and his wife Louise.

While looking for some inspiration, they identified a gap in the market for traditionally produced milk with high production values and ethics, which they felt their milk could meet. With assistance from Tim Goldsbrough, The Contented Cow Company were able to work on their product development in terms of concept, image and supermarket pitch. This hard work paid dividends as the Sainsbury’s buyer was bowled over with their passion and enthusiasm for their product.

Packaging for food products is a huge consumer concern and was an issue discussed at great length when deciding on the best option for the Contented Cow Company. As Louise, Adam and Phil are precious about the environment this led to Precious Milk being produced in a new innovative, recyclable, functional, eco-friendly Ecolean packaging.

factfile:
The Millers Kitchen - Walk Mill
Bakery

Key Contact
Caroline Jones

Website
www.walkmillflour.com

Products
Wheat Flour: a range of home baked breads and cakes

Mentor
Tim Goldsbrough

Key Area
Start-up, skills development and improving resource efficiency

Successes
Renovation of Walk Mill completed in 2008, fresh produce from the Mill sold in local outlets and the opening of the Millers Kitchen café.

“The service I received was outstanding and gave me the support and confidence I required.”

Caroline Jones and her family have rebuilt Walk Mill on the site of an original mill which dates back to 1200. Caroline first contacted Tim Goldsbrough when the family business needed assistance with a hydrologist survey. This work was a requirement from the Environment Agency and Tim was able to assist Walk Mill access a grant to part fund this work. From this initial work, Tim has been able to assist Walk Mill in a number of other ways.

Walk Mill has been built utilising local craftsmen. Tim and the team worked with Caroline in developing a marketing brand and image for their enterprise and through support from accessing further funding assisted in the development of their website and company logo. As Caroline did not have a catering background Tim Goldsbrough helped her to access some training funding to subsidise the cost of Caroline attending a bread making course, along with two of her employees. Said Caroline Jones, “Accessing grant funding was just one element of work with Tim. He was an extremely useful contact and assisted us in numerous ways.”

factfile:
Chestnut Meats
Red Meat

Key Contact
Tim & Marnie Dobson

Website
www.chestnutmeats.co.uk

Products
Goat, beef & pork reared at Radmore Green Farm

Mentor
Kerry Hall

Key Area
Product Development, Resource Efficiency, expansion of enterprise and skills development

Successes
Fantastic progress in increasing customer base and changing peoples perception of Goat Meat. Won: Best Meat in the North West 2008 with their goat meat; 2007 Food Oscars for Cheshire; Rural Business Women in Cheshire Reaseheath College Award 2007.

“We have been delighted in the service we have received and it has offered us excellent guidance. We are fortunate to have had such a service locally.”

Tim and Marnie Dobson took over the farm tenancy from Tim’s parents in Spring 2000. It is run as a traditional dairy farm with one exciting diversification enterprise being driven by both Tim and Marnie – Goat Meat. Goat meat is delicious and their goat meat has won the Best Meat in the North West 2008 surpassing the beef, lamb and pork entries.

The team has been instrumental in the growth and development of this enterprise. Due to Tim & Marnie’s commitment in championing goat meat across the UK goat meat is starting to take off and get the recognition it deserves as a high quality delicious meat. Kerry Hall assisted Marnie in accessing leadership and management development and the technical skills training for both Tim and Marnie. This has allowed Marnie to concentrate on developing the business and sales and leaving Tim to concentrate on the livestock production. Said Marnie Dobson “you can feel isolated at times when developing a diversification project and you are going through a great period of change. We have been helped in developing our technical skills including butchery as well as business coaching.”

factfile:
Fayrefield Foods
Drink

Key Contact
Les Preist

Website
www.fayrefield.com

Products
Dairy brand management, innovation, food technologies and product development

Mentor
Derek Allen

Key Area
Product Development and Trial Facilities

Successes
Using the trial facilities available to develop a drink containing prebiotic and galacto-oligosaccharide for small commercial production.

“I would like to put on record that Damien, Karl and all the team we have worked with at Reaseheath has made the development of the Protein Drinks and other associated application work possible. I am sure this cooperation will continue in the future.”
Les Priest, Fayrefield Foods.

Established in 1982 as an independent marketing dairy company the Fayrefield Group has become internationally recognised with an annual sales turnover in excess of £230m. With expertise in dairy brand management, innovation, food technologies and product development Fayrefield has become the dairy partner of choice for many companies across Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world.

Fayrefield supply major retailers, food manufacturers and food service companies worldwide. They contacted the team in order to utilise the product development and trialling facilities to develop a drink containing prebiotic and galacto-oligosaccharides for small commercial production. The range of drinks feature an exciting range of whey based products which aim to highlight the advantages of protein supplement to a mainstream audience, engaging the whole sector of people who regularly undertake exercise and wish to get the maximum benefits from their activities. The work at Reaseheath College has enable Fayrefield to expand and grow their product range whilst utilising the latest innovative developments in sport drink research.

factfile:
Dairygold Cooperative Society Ltd
Dairy processing food trials

Key Contact
Claire Burt

Website
www.dairygold.com

Products
Cheese and dairy based ingredients

Mentor
Derek Allen

Key Area
Product Development and Improvements in Resource Efficiency

Successes
Using the development facilities available to launch a liquid cheese for use in automated quiche manufacture.

Dairygold Cooperative Society Ltd is Ireland’s largest farmer owned business. Its businesses include Dairygold Food Ingredients, an innovative supplier of cheese and dairy based ingredients to customers and markets globally.

Processing c.850 million litres of milk annually Dairygold Food Ingredients provide top quality cheeses and dairy ingredients. With sites across Ireland and the UK, the company manufacturers a growing and diverse range of cheeses, powders, whey and milk protein for use within the nutrition, pharmaceutical and general food sectors. It was for these exact reasons that the team were approached by Dairygold Food Ingredients to develop a new product, utilising the product development and trialling facilities at Reaseheath. Accessing the facilities also gave Dairygold the opportunity to gain advice and expertise from the specialist staff within the food halls to drive their concept forward.

The Dairygold site in Crewe approached the team to carry out trials during the development of a liquid cheese - Ezycheese. The liquid cheese was required to improve the efficiency of automated quiche manufacture. Ezycheese is a liquid cheese and completely novel which is currently delivering breakthrough levels of convenience, flavour and cost savings to their food service customers. The product was successfully launched for the designed application and following on new applications