Homebred beef is key part in family business
Ensuring consistently high beef quality by sourcing all cattle from the family’s own suckler herd has been a big factor in the success of Mark Atkinson’s Saddleback Foods and Smokerie, run from his family’s farm at Scarfoot, Plumpton, Penrith.
Mr Atkinson rejoined the farm business after spending time in the catering industry and set up the Saddleback enterprise after teaching himself the rudimentary skills of smoking meat and fish.
He now runs the business with his wife Jane as a partnership with his brother Brian and father Brendan. The business also trades as Eden Valley Farmed Meats.
About three cattle a week from the family’s 500-cow Limousin-based suckler herd provide beef for a range of ready meals and other meat products sold in specialist food shops in Cumbria. But the Saddleback company’s speciality is beef pastrami.
“This is an increasingly competitive business where quality and consistency are more important than price to most customers,” says Mr Atkinson, whose biggest clients are hotels and restaurants.
“Although we have to buy in some of our meat, all our beef is home produced and that is a big advantage to us.”
Pastrami is made from beef, venison or lamb. “Most pastrami is imported, so we are unusual in producing a truly British beef pastrami, which we make from brisket.
“It’s a spicy, slow-cured meat with herbs and peppers. It takes almost six weeks to cure to ensure the flavour gets right through the meat. Then we smoke it for about seven hours,” says Mr Atkinson.
A farm building conversion has created “white rooms” of the highest standard for all Saddleback’s food preparation, including smoking. A wide range of foodstuffs are smoked using a commercial smoker, including chicken, duck and salmon. Only oak shavings from local furniture makers are used for the smoking process.
The Saddleback company also has a Food Standards Agency approved cutting plant licence enabling it to cut and market fresh meat direct to retail outlets. But frozen ready meals, home-made paté and a range of smoked products make up most of the business.
“We’re about to start producing our own gammon and hams and we have just completed a new game processing plant for next season.”
Mr Atkinson reckons the hardest thing he has had to learn is getting the curing absolutely right – not only producing the correct flavour, but also meeting exacting food safety standards.
But he says anyone considering moving into a food-based venture should not regard those who police food standards as “the enemy”.
“Their remit is to enforce food safety legislation, but they are also there to help businesses. We consulted them from the start, even before we converted the buildings.
“Regulations are always changing, but these people are there to help you, not hinder you.” Mr Atkinson’s successful business is winning new customers as its reputation spreads, but he still spends a lot of time making personal visits to potential customers.
“You have to do it, and you have to keep calling even if you don’t win the business straight away. You have to be determined and believe in what you are producing. There is no other catering butcher in Cumbria producing the range of products we are and who can supply fresh products six days a week.”