TFC supports the setting up of new regional food group

The network brings together local, small scale, artisan, farm-based food producers and Borders chefs and caterers. Everyone is keen to make the most of the food tourism opportunites that the Scottish Borders can offer from its unique larder of fresh foods.

A group of Borders' caterers and chefs were inspired by a two-day visit to Ayrshire and Arran made on a learning journey organised by TFC for VisitScotland. The businesses were so in impressed by what they saw had been achieved they immediately wanted to form a local network to enable working partnerships and effective promotion. They aim to market the Borders as a place to enjoy superb locally produced food. The Borders Food Network has just been formally constituted and will be hosting an exciting 'Meet the chefs/producers' trade event in September 2008.

Membership continues to grow and the group welcomes the wider Borders catering trade to come along to its regular meetings. Get in touch for more details.

TFC Food Services has completed a project to assist top regional eating out establishments to achieve recognition from UK restaurant guides.

The approach was based on objective mystery visits to evaluate each establishment before working with the kitchen and management teams to raise culinary standards and take advantage of opportunities identified.

Catherine Tuff used her extensive experience as former chief inspector of the Taste of Scotland guide to help clients refine and improve their dishes and menus.

Catherine said "Its very important for a restaurant to remain competitive and contemporary in its approach. Consistency of quality is one of the hardest things to achieve in this business. One way to do this is to objectively review what the kitchen is putting out on a regular basis. With the trend towards increasing use of quality home produced ingredients, provenance is proving to be a real selling point."

A key aim was to attract the attention of Michelin guide inspectors and to this end, correspondence with the guide editors was initiated. The project results proved to be the basis for persuading the guide that a visit to the area would be beneficial.

The Shop Local, Eat Local campaign, co-ordinated annually by Scottish Borders Council and Radio Borders proved as popular as ever.
This year, to help locals plan and shop for their festive food, Catherine Tuff of TFC Food Services co-ordinated weekly on-air radio interviews with a series of local food producers. The live discussions discovered fascinating facts about Borders food production - much of it hand made and artisan. Better still, the producers invariably brought along excellent samples for tasting so that all the delicious flavours could be shared with the listeners.

Catherine then compiled an original recipe for each interview, using the featured produce and this was posted on the radio's website. From smoked salmon starters, pastrami rarebit, spicy turkey risotto and tasty vegetable dishes to traditional Christmas goose, it certainly tempted the tastebuds. To see the recipes click here.

Each of the producers offered seasonal goodies for the Shop Local, Eat Local Christmas Hamper, which proved tempting for many Radio Borders listeners. More than 1,200 responses were received to the questions presented weekly for the competition. The lucky winner of the £300 food hamper came from Peebles.

Alasdair Hutton, Convener of the Council, presented the winner with the hamper just before Christmas, along with Catherine Tuff of TFC Food Services. Councillor Hutton commented: "I am delighted to present the Shop Local, Eat Local Christmas Hamper to Elizabeth. We have always had an impressively wide range of high quality food producers in the Scottish Borders and I am very pleased to see their produce is now more widely available. With the delicious recipes provided by Catherine Tuff, I hope more people will be inspired to try them and buy all their ingredients locally."

Borders Tourism Training Group launched its new programme of training courses at Drumlanrig's Tower, Hawick. The meeting, organised by Ann McAvoy of Corporate Training and Catherine Tuff of TFC Food Services, marked the re-instatement of an informal tourism network set up to deliver specialised seminars to everyone in the Borders tourism industry. The group has initiated a wide range of open training courses covering many topics.

The informal group offers competitively priced training for both open & in-house short courses & will work with you to find the most cost effective way for you to develop your team. Whatever your tourism training needs, we can customise a highly effective course to suit you and your staff. Choose from:

TFC guides tourism operators on a discovery tour in the South West of Scotland

Tourism businesses from the Scottish Borders undertook a two-day 'Learning Journey' to Ayrshire & Arran to discover ways to improve the quality of their food product and learn from best practice.

Entitled 'Pub Grub to Gastro Pub' the trip, organised by TFC, aimed to inspire food tourism businesses in the Borders to explore a wider use of fresh local products and find quality service methods to boost trade. A delegation of restaurateurs, hoteliers and chefs led by Catherine Tuff of TFC Food Services were welcomed by businesses from both Ayrshire & Arran during their Food Tourism 'Learning Journey' of the region. The area had been identified within the Scottish Borders Tourism Action Plan as an exemplar in food tourism.

Kerry Waddell, Proprietor of Oblo Bar Bistro said "I was really looking forward to this learning journey as I value the importance of visiting other businesses to gain inspiration and motivation from like-minded individuals. The visit did not disappoint; it was refreshing, encouraging and motivating to meet people in the industry who were passionate about their business and who had worked in partnership with others to establish or enhance quality, great service and produce. "As a result of the trip we will be building on our relationships with our suppliers; enhancing and strengthening staff development and training; and developing menu's and marketing strategies working in partnership with suppliers and other businesses."

The group visited food tourism-related businesses in Ayrshire & Arran including; The Island Cheese Company in Brodick; the Arran Distillery, the SAC Auchincruive Farmers Market Shop; and Dowhill Country Fayre; and were given tours of the businesses plus tastings and presentations at gastro pubs, as well as the opportunity to learn about the area's long-established links between suppliers and caterers.

Catherine Tuff, Eating and Drinking Trade Representative for the Scottish Borders Area Tourism Partnership said; "The trip went very well and we certainly made good use of the time. All our hosts were first class and the group were delighted with the event. They have all indicated that they have been inspired by the partnership working they witnessed and wish to use and promote more local produce as a result. They found the trip focused their business planning on finding ways to improve the quality of products that they serve, and in turn use this to build on business success. As a result of the trip the group are keen to build up a Borders Food Network, inspired by the successful model they have seen. "

The 'Learning Journey' aimed to inspire Borders businesses to think more seriously about food tourism and how to use it to attract customers as well as achieve great business relationships with local suppliers. It was an excellent opportunity to network with experienced Ayrshire & Arran businesses who have contributed to the successful food tourism product within the area.

"In the Borders, we are always keen to learn from others in improving the quality of our hospitality," said Fiona Drane, Area Director, VisitScotland Borders "Ayrshire & Arran is a terrific model of an area where tourism businesses work in partnership to provide a first-class experience for visitors, so we were able to learn a huge amount from this visit."

The fifth Borders Banquet took place from 28th October to 6 November 2005 and this year's ten day feast of entertainment, local culture and fine food has been the best yet.

New events for 2005 included an opening Banquet Gala Dinner in the spectacular setting of the state dining room at Thirlestane Castle in Lauder which dates back to the thirteenth century. Also new this year was a fabulous Dine Around the Borders initiative which will enabled locals and visitors to eat out at over 16 of the Borders' finest restaurants for just £15 for three courses - with a complimentary dram of Glenfiddich single malt thrown in. Over 150 Banquet events also included a special appearance by Glasgow playwright Liz Lochhead as well as a mix of themed menus, whisky, beer and wine tastings, meet the chef events, music and theatrical performances.

The entire programme continues to showcase the very best of Borders produce from seafood freshly caught off the Berwickshire coast and fish from the region's majestic salmon and trout rivers to locally reared meats, fresh Borders vegetables and speciality beers.

 

VisitScotland's new food grading scheme was launched to members of the tourism trade on Burns Night. TFC Food Services have assisted in developing some elements of the new scheme, drawing on our experience as Chief Inspector at the old Taste of Scotland scheme. The new scheme is to be tested in pilot form until the middle of the year, when following a review, wider participation will be encouraged. First results show promising feedback.

The TFC Food Services website has been radically redesigned and now features many new items. Its easier to navigate and the signature logo appears on all pages, so you always know where you are and can easily retrace your steps if you need to. The new contact form makes sure that your enquiry is carefully logged and the recipe pages will offer updated inspiration and tempting food photographs as the months unfold.

Highlights from 2004's event prove it continues to build on its previous success:

The Borders Banquet 2003, project managed and originated by TFC was a huge success in the event's third year. The Banquet is now established as a valued festival in the Borders annual calendar. In partnership with SE Borders, 37 local businesses participated over ten days in early November. They included inns, restaurants, hotels, visitor attractions and cafés. The programme listed nearly 130 meal events and over 6000 covers were served..

Income Generation
Total sales generated in participating establishments in ten days grew by 138% in 2003 (a 200+% increase on the first year's event in 2001). The economic impact to the region of the event is estimated to have increased to £370,000.00 (£37,000 per day during the festival).

The number of covers served was trebled over the previous year's Banquet. The average number of bednights sold per establishment also increased. A wide variety of original and quality events were offered in each participating establishment.

In 2003 food and drink sales were up 123% to £3650 per establishment with total sales up by 120% and 26% of all customer query cards carried comments using the word 'excellent'.

Comments from Participants
* Generates business at a quieter time of the year - (Burts Hotel) several businesses commented on the effectiveness of the event
* Great opportunity for businesses to work together to improve profits for all (Selkirk Glass)
* Our event was a huge success and feedback suggests the participants thoroughly enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere (Oblo Bar)
* The local PR was good and would make me want to be involved again. (Wheatsheaf Restaurant)
* Everybody thoroughly enjoyed our event and have asked us to do it again - we already have bookings! (Black Bull)
* Good promotion for the hotel - generates business even after the event has finished (Philipburn House Hotel)
* Excellent tool to promote the Scottish Borders (Peebles Hotel Hydro)
* A good way to promote our business (Mayfield Bar; Oscars Wine Bar)
* Great for business. The Banquet is a very popular and well run event (Caddy Mann)

Conclusion
Business was improved by an average of at least 28% for the time of year. Total sales generated were up massively over the previous year. Overall, the number of people taking part in Banquet events grew by nearly three times the number in 2002.

TFC Food Services were contracted to compile the 2001 Buyers Guide to Food and Drink in the Scottish Borders for Scottish Borders Council.

A fully printed guide was produced in a few weeks and was successfully distributed at IFE in London last spring.

The enlarged guide is a valuable resource listing all the local producers of food and drink, ideal for anyone seeking to purchase quality local supplies.