Last updated at 13:08, Friday, 01 March 2013

More than 300 people from over 100 different businesses attended a food and drink trade exhibition last week which marked the launch of a West Cumbrian catering company’s campaign to highlight locally-sourced produce.

Caterite, which supplies pubs, restaurants and hotels across the county from its base at Embleton, near Cockermouth, is now promoting a range of exclusively Cumbrian-reared meat with labels bearing the slogan Frae Owwer Yonder.

The local dialect branding is being used to emphasise the importance Caterite that places on providing meat sourced within the county, with all its beef, lamb and pork coming from Cumbrian farms.

Caterite director Richard Fletcher, who lives in Keswick and grew up at Bassenthwaite, said: “Our Frae Owwer Yonder campaign was already well developed when the horsemeat scandal broke but it has highlighted the importance of providing reliable, locally-sourced produce, so our customers know for sure what they are buying – and their customers know exactly what they are eating.

“We have done a lot of work on our Lakeland Prime Cuts butchery department in the last 12 months and all of our beef, lamb and pork is now locally reared. We are committed to buying as much as is possible that has been reared in Cumbria.”

He said the emphasis on local produce went beyond meat and added: “We are committed to buying as much as is possible that has been produced in Cumbria. We are local and we are proud to put a local stamp on our meat and other produce.”

The food and drinks company, which also supplies schools and hospitals, staged its 2013 Caterite Food and Drink Exhibition at Rheged near Penrith. It attracted more than 50 exhibitors' stands, including national and international companies as well as its own butchery, deli and fresh produce departments.

Chris Cooper, Caterite’s butchery manager, said: “We had a tremendous response from people running businesses who said that more and more of their customers are asking for locally-sourced food, especially meat, what with everything that is going on in the news at the moment.

“It is also supporting local farmers and supporting the local communities because it is creating jobs. Most of the meat used to go out of Cumbria, like Herdwick lamb going down to London and other areas and it wasn't really being utilised in Cumbria, which is what I wanted to bring in.”

Caterite will display 12,000 of the Frae Owwer Yonder stickers on its packs of meat.

It has applied to adopt the British Red Tractor label for the first time too.

The company employs 78 people at its headquarters, with its sister business Grapevine Wine Services, which supplies alcoholic and soft drinks to trade outlets throughout Cumbria. Together, they make 75,000 deliveries a year via a fleet of 20 vehicles.

First published at 12:34, Friday, 01 March 2013
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk