James Grant: “Subsistence, sustainability & animal husbandry”

As the world begins to open up after the dark Covid clouds pass, the clear skies are bringing truth about food and drink that for too long many people were unaware of.

Physical barriers had kept a lot of us isolated from the outside world, our digital platform use doubled on video calls and massively increased on various social media platforms. People started to learn more about real food. I am sure that the “eureka realisation moments” in real artisan food and beverage can be attributed to the lockdown years.

As a deli owner and restauranteur for more than three decades, achieving great customer service has always been my goal.

Supermarkets got the first lockdown wrong, and as people rushed to their computers to order food from the big four, the supermarkets were not ready.
But guess what? Small independent delis were ready and boy how they captured the hearts of the community. No2 Pound Street immediately offered free delivery of local and national artisan food. A lot of people had no idea about real cheese. For example, Red Leicester that actually tasted brilliant with a sweetness, great acidity and savoury bite (Sparkenhoe Leicester of course). This is a country mile away from the tasteless, characterless and extruded supermarket rubbish masquerading as Red Leicester.

No2 Pound Street went online within 24 hours and (amongst other things) I became a delivery driver along with my wife and some of the team. It was an amazing experience to meet our audience and many newbies on their doorsteps. During these times we helped to make people’s anniversaries, birthdays and lives better by providing great service with brilliant produce.

We put on video tastings for our customers, both new and old. The secrets of great cheese and wine were being told to an ever-increasing circle of people that wanted to learn more. The shambles of mass production and its harm to our landscapes and livestock is finally being realised.

In our cities, towns and villages and the rural areas more independent shops and farms are springing up. These new-age farmers are adopting methods that were used hundreds of years ago whilst embracing all that is good with technology to aid their evolution. Herbal lays and heritage grasses are becoming more commonplace as sustainability, ecological and ethical practises are finally being realised as the only right way forward.

Labour forces in our communities are also benefitting thanks to these small producers and independents often employing as many as the huge cheese factories do! Take Montgomery Cheddar for example. Jamie Montgomery turns out 120 tons of cheese and employs 12 people. Jamie owns his own cows and is pretty self-sufficient. Let’s compare to another Cheddar producer who only employs 12 people to press buttons and produces 52 tons of cheese a day. You do the maths and realise the economies of scale. Subsistence, sustainability, animal husbandry – these are the foundations and attributes that help make our artisan cheesemakers and other small producers brilliant.

When you open the door to your customers each morning, enjoy that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling, because you are part of the real food and beverage revolution that is happening right now. Keep spreading the word.