Retailer insight: Must-stock condiments

We are based in Petts Wood in South East London, and the area has a lot of young families due to a high number of primary schools. Therefore,we target much of our stock to this demographic.

Condiments are really our life blood! They bring things alive! They compliment every part of the shop; the chutney for the cheese, the spread for the bread, the va-va-voom in the sandwich, the sauce that makes the BBQ go off with a bang. As we have a full cheese counter I would say that cheese accompaniments are the biggest seller.

We use Hawkshead Relish Onion Marmalade in our sandwiches and therefore we sell quite a bit of it, I’m also a big fan of their Cheeseboard Chutney. We also sell a lot of Olive Branch’s Sweet Olive, Fig and Almond Relish as it’s really delish with soft cheeses. We love to support smaller producers too and sell JR’s Kitchen Chutney which is a local maker and Eastgate Larder‘s Medlar Jelly and Chutney as two examples.

We also sell a lot of fresh bread, so spreads for bread are very important in the shop. We love Hawkshead Relish Raspberry and Vanilla Jam, as well as Simon’s Marmalade, they sell really well. I’ve just discovered Rogue‘s Negroni Marmalade which is also delightful. It’s very easy to find excellent jams. But we’re constantly looking for new things on bread, as in reality if you don’t fancy jam or nut butter there’s not really much else. Local honey for shops like mine is so important too, if you can get it.

Sauce wise we sell a lot of Sauce Shop products and we really love them, the Chipotle Mayo is a winner and used in the sandwich menu at the shop which means people get to try it and want to own it at home.