02/01/08
Pioneer Foodservice, of Carlisle, is making inroads north of the
Border marketing to its clients a prestigious Scottish meat brand – with
a Royal seal of approval.
Having established its own Lakeland brand of beef, lamb and pork
seven years ago in the north west of England, Pioneer, which serves
customers in the North East from its Gateshead depot, was approached
to distribute beef and lamb from Mey Selections, the highest quality
farm and food products from the North Highlands of Scotland.
The
brand takes its name from the Castle of Mey on the north coast
of Caithness, home of the late Queen Mother, and Mey Selections
is part of Prince Charles’s
North Highland Initiative to develop closer connections between farmers, fine
food products and consumers.
“There is an increasing demand from hotels
wanting regional Scottish produce and we are pleased and proud to be associated
with such a quality and prestigious range of products,” said Pioneer’s
chairman Andrew Jenkins, who met Prince Charles at the annual meeting of North
Highland Products, whose brand name is Mey Selections.
“We were approached as a company to market the brand because
of our standing within the industry and our own brand development
and the ongoing work we are doing with EBLEX this side of the Border.
“They
wanted a partner who had the systems in place to give transparency
and continuity of supply to the utmost standards.”
The brand
was established in August 2005 and it is growing at a rate to meet
the ability of the 250 producer-members of North Highland Products.
All Mey Selections products originate within a 100 mile radius
of the Castle of Mey which are all members of the industry’s
quality assurance scheme, Quality Meat Scotland.
Mey Selections beef and lamb products are produced exclusively by Dunbia
at a dedicated facility in Royal Dornoch, situated in the county of Sutherland
in Northern Scotland.
The product range extends through a variety of prime cuts of beef
and lamb and the range benefits from a number of skilful processing
techniques. Now in its third year, trade in Mey Selections has
surpassed all initial expectations and demand for the product has
created a business now processing 150 cattle and 900 lambs per
week.
Pioneer handles distribution in the Borders and South West
Scotland area and it has approved a licence for John Mclay, of
Glasgow to handle the rest of Scotland because of logistics.
As
the brand further develops, Pioneer, as one of seven members of
the business consortium, the National Catering Butchers, will be
in a position to market the beef and lam b throughout England via
a network of quality catering butchers.
“Mey Selections is
a completely different brand meeting the requirements of different
customers to our own Lakeland beef and lamb which continues to
develop and is gaining recognition in the market. We are currently
buying around 100 cattle a week for Lakeland beef,” said
Andrew Jenkins.
Gavin Davidson, managing director of Dunbia in England
and who has worked closely with Pioneer on its Lakeland brand,
said: “Among the reasons Pioneer was
chosen as our partner in marketing the Mey Selections beef and
lamb is that it is a long-standing company which guarantees continuity
and is of the highest integrity which is of paramount importance
when you are trying to develop a brand and gain confidence in it.
“The
Lakeland brand has been highly successful and through its development
we have developed a strong mutual trust.”
Garry Cronie, Dunbia’s managing director for Scotland, said: “Dunbia
is particularly pleased to have the support, the integrity and
the clientele that comes as a package when trading with Pioneer
Foodservice. The management team at Pioneer has played a crucial
role in the early development of Mey Selections and the brand launch
into the food service market.”
The Mey Selections logo features
a watercolour of the Castle of Mey, the former home of the late
Queen Mother, painted by Prince Charles.
Already Mey Selections has been compared to its royal patron’s
highly successful Duchy Originals brand.
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