Budgens is to hand over the running of nearly three-quarters of its deli counters to the Newitt family, The Grocer can reveal.
The Newitts currently operate 17 delis across the Budgens estate, but this will increase to 32 this year, with eight more to follow later. It will mean 40 of Budgens’ 65 existing delis will eventually be operated on a Newitt concession basis.
All products on the Newitt-branded delis are produced and supplied by the Newitts from their family-owned butcher’s and deli shop in Thame.
The family has just completed a £250,000 conversion of a disused bakery next door to the shop into a kitchen that can produce 4,000 pies, sausage rolls and Scotch eggs every week.
There is also a new bacon and ham facility, which produces about three tonnes of meat a week. Newitt bacon is sold into a further 34 Budgens stores that do not have deli counters. Budgens marketing director Stephanie Rice said: “Part of our mission statement is to deliver the finest fresh foods to our customers. If we believe in selling good food, then it needs to have the authenticity, the provenance and the ingredients that qualify it as such.
“The Newitt products deliver against those criteria.”
Counter staff are employed by Budgens but trained by the Newitts. James Newitt, who manages the Budgens contract, visits four to five stores a week to ensure standards.
He said: “It’s all about creating a destination deli.”
Budgens now generates 50% of the Newitts’ £2m-a-year turnover. The first Newitt-branded Budgens delicatessen counter opened in Chalfont St Peter in 2003. There are now counters across England from Norfolk to the Cotswolds and the south coast.
Richard Clarke
The Newitts currently operate 17 delis across the Budgens estate, but this will increase to 32 this year, with eight more to follow later. It will mean 40 of Budgens’ 65 existing delis will eventually be operated on a Newitt concession basis.
All products on the Newitt-branded delis are produced and supplied by the Newitts from their family-owned butcher’s and deli shop in Thame.
The family has just completed a £250,000 conversion of a disused bakery next door to the shop into a kitchen that can produce 4,000 pies, sausage rolls and Scotch eggs every week.
There is also a new bacon and ham facility, which produces about three tonnes of meat a week. Newitt bacon is sold into a further 34 Budgens stores that do not have deli counters. Budgens marketing director Stephanie Rice said: “Part of our mission statement is to deliver the finest fresh foods to our customers. If we believe in selling good food, then it needs to have the authenticity, the provenance and the ingredients that qualify it as such.
“The Newitt products deliver against those criteria.”
Counter staff are employed by Budgens but trained by the Newitts. James Newitt, who manages the Budgens contract, visits four to five stores a week to ensure standards.
He said: “It’s all about creating a destination deli.”
Budgens now generates 50% of the Newitts’ £2m-a-year turnover. The first Newitt-branded Budgens delicatessen counter opened in Chalfont St Peter in 2003. There are now counters across England from Norfolk to the Cotswolds and the south coast.
Richard Clarke
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