Demanding a second bite

Apr 29 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

WHEN can we do it all again? So say stallholders who attended the first ever Journal Taste North East England Food and Drink Festival at the weekend.

So successful was the event run in association with the National Trust at the Gibside estate near Rowlands Gill that many exhibitors had all but run out of produce by lunch-time, and were forced to make emergency calls for more stock to be brought in.

Others have already signed-up new customers as 10,000 plus descended on Gibside, drawn by the chance to not only buy some of the finest foods available anywhere in Britain but watch cookery demonstrations by local celebrity chefs and meet TV’s Hairy Biker, Simon King.

Michelle Anderson of Kielder Organic Meats admitted she was unprepared for the spending frenzy that erupted when last Saturday’s event opened to the public at 10.30am.

She said: “I expected the festival to be busy, but I never expected the response I got. I had sold out in two hours. It was crazy. I had brought 10 trays of meat, which is a lot, but it just flew off the stall. It was the shortest time I’ve ever sold that much.

“And the response I have had since has been fantastic. I have had a lot of positive feedback since Saturday and I now have people ordering for next week. Your event has given me new customers.

“I know the pudding woman on the stall next to me also sold out. People came with money to spend, and they weren’t shy in spending it. I was doing tastings of our sausages and I had to stop cooking because there were so many people clamouring to buy. I remember looking up at one point and there were so many people I couldn’t see across their heads.”

Mrs Anderson, 44, who started Kielder Organic Meats two-and-a-half years ago with husband Colin, 43, in Bellingham, Northumberland, added: “We would love to do another Journal food and drink festival.”

Her sentiments have been echoed by Ian Nixon, 29, of Spicy Monkey. The Gateshead-based business which specialises in spices and curry pastes and marinades was left with only a handful of jars by close of play – leaving Mr Nixon and girlfriend Gemma Reynolds, 28, wondering how they were going to stock their stall for Sunday’s Newcastle Quayside Market which they regularly attend.

“The food and drink festival far exceeded our expectations. Because The Journal had never done an event like this before we hadn’t expected it to be so successful.

“But it was brilliant. We pretty much sold out and we had to scrape together produce to sell for the Quayside.

“If you ever do anything like this again, count us in.”

Chris and Shirley Donkin sold more than 400 loaves, 300 savoury pies and hundreds of scones. The couple, who run Northumberland bakers J Donkin, had doubled their original order for the day as publicity for the Gibside event grew in momentum. Mrs Donkin said: “For us you really have to try and plan as all our food is perishable. But we sold out of everything. We brought extra cakes as back-up as we knew they would keep longer than the bread if they didn’t sell, but even they went. It was superb.

“We go to other established food festivals, but we sold more at Gibside, which is excellent as it was the first such event.

“In terms of the mix of stalls and people who came, it was fantastic. We would definitely do another Journal food and drink festival.”

Alison Taylor of Bedlington-based Food Local Food which delivers the best quality regional produce to people’s homes, taking away the need for consumers to drive between retailers themselves, gave away more than 1,500 leaflets and secured at least 10 new orders on the day.

“By the time we had closed up shop we had 10 new orders – four taken at the stall and six by the time I got back home. But I know we have had more orders on our website now than we had for the whole of last week, and I know they have come through The Journal event.

“We sold hundreds of pounds worth of vegetables and we were exhausted by the end of the day. But we would do it all again.”