Warwickshire based butchers Ragley Estate Meats has been helping another well known local company bring their burgers into supermarkets by taking over the production side of the process.
Muddy Boots, which has enjoyed a large amount of success since it featured earlier in the year on the television show High Street Dreams, decided to outsource production of its popular burgers to Ragley’s state of the art processing plant on the Estate after they were unable to cope with demand.
The ethos of the company is to create quality burgers by using more of the beef than just the cheap cuts that are traditionally used to make this type of product. All burgers have high beef content and are gluten and wheat free, with the delicious range including Stilton and Herefordshire Cider and Leek and Mushroom burgers.
Miranda Ballard, who co-founded Muddy Boots with her husband Roland in 2008, recalls how they were looking to outsource production but were struggling to find a suitable partner;
“Having started making burgers here at the farm myself only last year, we were really nervous about making the step to outsource production and hand the reins over to anyone else. After four disheartening attempts to find somewhere, the heavens seem to open when the Heart of England Fine Food network recommended Ragley Estate Meats .
As soon as we met them, we knew we’d found what we were looking for. They totally agreed with our position on ethical farming and top quality meat and understood our determination to continue to produce handmade beef burgers. Their hygiene standards and facilities are brilliant and their experience and knowledge is so useful to us.”
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| Miranda and Roland Ballard from Muddy Boots with Debbie Cookes from Ragley Estate Meats |
After being trialed in two Waitrose stores following the programme, the burgers are now available in ten supermarkets as well as online and in local farm shops.
According to Miranda, the relationship with Ragley Estate Meats has been an important factor in the Muddy Boots success story;
“I did a handover for two months, working alongside them in their kitchens, and learned that the staff there are quite simply the kindest, happiest and most helpful workforce I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. The team at Ragley Meats now gets us safely onto the Waitrose shelves twice a week and we look forward to expanding and developing Muddy Boots with their help.”
Ragley Estate Meats’ processing and storage facilities are second to none and as well as producing their own award winning range of sausages, pies and other products, Ragley are happy to work with other like minded individuals and companies in the industry.
For more information visit www.ragleyestatemeats.com or contact Vanda Cookes on 01789 765371.
