UNITED KINGDOM-NATIONAL BUTCHERS WEEK.
Manchester-based MRC is planning to create a wow factor for butchers with its products during National Butchers’ Week (16-21 March). The company said it wanted to create products that would achieve word-of-mouth success for butchers using them. Harold Sharples, joint-MD of MRC, said: "When people enjoy a product they will tell eight other people about it."
So it has launched its Butcher’s Promise scheme, which carries a mark of excellence. Only products that score better than the current market leaders and are likely to generate customer word-of-mouth recommendation are eligible for the mark. The products will also be clean-label – free from artificial colours, artificial flavours and hydrogenated fats – and carry a ’free-from’ tick.
To kickstart the scheme, MRC will use NBW to launch its new Gourmet Range of marinades, all carrying the Butcher’s Promise mark. The range, which goes on sale on Monday, 16 March, initially comprises Sweet Chilli; Mediterranean Tomato and Caper; and Cantonese Style.
The company recently held an evening in conjunction with Dalziel to present the new range to north west butchers at the Dalziel plant in Chorley, Lancashire.
"The aim is to allow butchers to compete with the supermarkets, but with better meat!" said Jeff Layton, of MRC’s sales department.
MRC product manager Karl Ghio says the three flavours are classics. "The Cantonese Style is more specifically for marinades, whereas the Sweet Chilli is versatile – for example it can be used on kebabs, and some butchers even used it in sausages during the product testing," he said.
More lines are in development, and are expected to follow once the first are established in the field.
Karl Ghio and Mike Winrow of Dalziel’s Newcastle office demonstrated the products, making chicken, pork and beef dishes incorporating the marinades, which remained viscous after cooking, and met with the approval of the butchers attending the event as they tasted the end results.
Winrow and Ghio emphasised that prime cuts should be used for quicker cooking to enable customers buying uncooked product to have a finished meat dish on the table within five minutes, as per the various dishes demonstrated on the night.
Mike Winrow incorporated chunky vegetables in various dishes to show how the end product range can be varied, while improving margin for the retailer. "The Sweet Chilli product can even be used in sandwich fillings, particularly if you are selling healthier sandwiches, as the product is low in fat and additive-free," said Winrow.
The range uses no oil, with an eye to the increasingly health conscious market. In cooking, the concept is to use one 1kg sachet of marinade with 1kg of meat or meat and vegetables. The sachets have an 18-month shelf-life.
Further events are to be arranged in different regions around the country in the run-up to Butchers’ Week, when the product will go on sale backed by marketing material such as butchers’ tickets, banners and posters.