Welsh pâté producer honoured by UK food industry
From kitchen table dream to global success, Margaret Carter’s work as founder of one of Wales’ top food companies has been honoured with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the Great Taste Awards.“I am delighted and honoured to receive this award, and it is great to actually get a lifetime award during your life! “says Margaret who founded The Patchwork Traditional Food Company in 1982.
The company was born out of financial necessity when Margaret moved from London to North Wales with her three young children. As a single parent she looked at ways to boost the family’s income, and started making pâtés, devising the recipes in her kitchen at Llandegla in Denbighshire.
Starting with an initial budget of just £9 saved from the family’s housekeeping money she produced pâté for a friend’s restaurant. Twenty five years on and the award-winning business exports across the globe, with an annual turn over of around £2 million.
“I initially started making preserves, but they didn’t work out so my friend suggested I try making pâté,” says Margaret.
“I had never made any before but went out and bought some chicken liver and made a batch with Cointreau and orange.”
The pâté was a hit, and the customer base soon increased with retailers such as Owen Owen in Chester eagerly placing repeat orders.
“We grew the business by first selling near to home and then spreading out, it is a method we have followed across the UK and beyond,” she says.
However Margaret admits in those early days she was terrified when it came to promoting her pâtés and was frightened they would not sell. But her culinary skill and entrepreneurial spirit paid off and Patchwork has mushroomed reaping countless awards – among them several True Taste Awards.
Along the way Patchwork has received a variety of assistance from public bodies including the Welsh Assembly Government and Denbighshire County Council.
“The help we have had has been tremendous, not just financial, we have had mentoring and advice from day one. It has all been so important and has helped us grow and achieve so much in all areas of the business. ”
Their tally of awards and trophies increases year on year, and they have won over 100 Great Taste awards and 20 various business awards. Among them are Margaret’s 1995 Welsh Woman of the Year (small business) trophy and the Food From Britain Speciality Exporter of the Year 2003 title, Patchwork being the first Welsh company to ever win the award.
While there have also been workplace accolades for the company including in 2001 the Parents at Work Employer of the Year (Wales) award.
“We have also won a True Taste Award every year since its launch in 2002,” she says.
The company’s export orders continue to grow and it has also started making its pâté state-side following a link-up with an American co-packer in Pennsylvania.
Also following the recent Speciality and Fine Food Fair in London which Patchwork attended under the Welsh Assembly Government’s True Taste banner the company also has footholds in Switzerland and Canada.
The business may have moved from the family kitchen to a 10,000 sq ft purpose-equipped facility in Ruthin, but its ethos remains the same as when Margaret first started - only the best ingredients are used and dishes are skilfully cooked on an individual basis without the use of artificial additives. The 40 staff work without automated machinery making the pâtés and also terrines, pies, savoury pastries, meals, and deserts by hand.
“If there are a dozen quiches in a batch, then there will be a dozen mixing bowls with a dozen balls of pastry and individually weighed ingredients.”
Patchwork has always been a family enterprise with the day to day running of the company now headed by her sons Marcus and Rufus – who was True Taste Ambassador 2004/05.
“My children have the same passion and drive I have but with 21st century know-how, they are very internationally focused and can take the company to an even wider audience.”
Log on to patchwork-pate.co.uk for more information.