Yorkshire-based fresh herb and speciality grower Herbs Unlimited hosted a pop-up food festival on its farm, attracting 75 chefs and food manufacturers from across the UK.
Based at Sandhutton, near Thirsk, the company grows herbs, salads, edible flowers and speciality produce for customers in the hospitality, food manufacturing and wholesale sectors.
The festival showcased the vast range of speciality herbs and edible flowers available, as well as their versatility on the day’s specially created menu.
Cicada was appointed to manage media relations around the festival. This included liaison with media and photographers on the day and issuing a post event press release with images to both regional business media and trade publications.
Guest chefs Nick Brown, development chef at the Michelin starred Black Swan at Oldstead, and Josh Whitehead, head chef at the Harewood Food and Drink Project, demonstrated innovative ways of using lovage and lemon herbs.
They joined award-winning chef Stephanie Moon who created a special taster menu of delicious dishes using Herbs Unlimited’s speciality herbs.
The chefs’ recipes from the day featured in a three-page spread in the Yorkshire Post’s Saturday magazine. Print coverage was also achieved in the Harrogate edition of Yorkshire Living, a lifestyle publication. Online coverage appeared in the Northern Echo, BQ Live and Insider.
Philip Dodd, managing director of Herbs Unlimited said: “We’re lucky enough to be based in a region blessed with a wealth of fantastic food producers and by collaborating with some of Yorkshire’s top chefs, we wanted to showcase the very best of local produce and demonstrate how herbs can be the star of the dish.
“We are passionate about our wide range of herbs offering the versatility to inspire food manufacturers and chefs from across the country to bring something new to their products and menus.”
Innovation and sustainability are key to Herb Unlimited’s success and, this summer, the company will introduce a new range of more environmentally-friendly packaging to reduce the quantity of plastic used in the packing of its fresh herbs and salads. Its new film packaging uses 16% less plastic per pack of produce.
Philip added: “The continuing uncertainty around Brexit continues to fuel interest in our herbs and edible flowers from food manufacturers and processors keen to secure the supply chain by sourcing from the UK and we can see this with the increase of food processing companies attending with their NPD teams this year.”
Founded in 1992, Herbs Unlimited was established by former chef Alison Dodd. The company produces herbs and edible flowers on its 100-acre farm and operates its own fleet of chilled delivery vans to distribute its products throughout the country.
