Waitrose launches beef facility in UK first
Waitrose launches beef facility in UK first
From this week, Waitrose will start producing frozen beef from its own dedicated production facility ensuring full traceability and one of the shortest supply chains among UK supermarkets.
A first for the industry, the facility means that all fresh and frozen beef for Waitrose will now be handled entirely by one supplier, shortening the distance between farm gate and supermarket shelf.
The state-of-the-art operation is also fully integrated meaning that the entire production process will be managed by Dovecote Park, from the cattle, right through to the packaging which is directly distributed to Waitrose.
Waitrose sources all of its fresh and frozen beef entirely from a known and trusted group of British farmers and none of the beef is bought on the open market*. This additional investment means that, just like Waitrose fresh beef, all of Waitrose frozen beef will now be managed exclusively by Dovecote Park. No other retailer is able to source all of its beef from one supplier.
The new facility starts production this week and completes Dovecote Park’s ability to produce all Waitrose beef products, from beef burgers, meatballs, joints, steak and mince to producing the beef used in fresh and frozen ready meals.
Dovecote Park has been supplying Waitrose with high quality fresh beef products since 1997. The frozen development by Dovecote Park has also lead to further job opportunities in the local area.
Heather Jenkins, buying director for meat, poultry, fish, frozen, dairy and agriculture, Waitrose, says: “We’ve a long heritage of working with Dovecote Park to produce high quality and tasty meat, and we’re delighted that this new frozen facility means we can get all our fresh and frozen beef from one source. More importantly for our customers is that it’s fully traceable as it’s controlled by one processor, which shortens the supply chain and gives our customers total reassurance about where their beef has come from. Our customers rightly expect the highest standards of product quality and integrity from us and we won’t let anything stand in the way of delivering this.”
The new frozen production methods used also means that the meat, from burgers to meatballs, provides the same quality and taste as chilled meat, with the convenience of frozen.
