British fruitcake goes global at Christmas
Cotswold Bakery Huffkins secures first export order after attending trade fair.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is encouraging more British businesses to export – and Cotswold Bakery Huffkins has done just that.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson launched the ‘Food is GREAT’ campaign at Anuga in October with the aim of stimulating the export of British food and drink, and to encourage 100,000 more UK companies, particularly SMEs, to export their products.
Following attendance at the world’s leading food and drink trade fair Anuga, in Cologne, Germany, Huffkins secured their first export order. Canadian retailer, Denninger’s, placed an order for 600 of the award winning Cranberry and Cointreau fruitcake, which were delivered in time to satisfy their Christmas sales demand. The Witney-based craft bakery rearranged shifts to ensure that the cakes were ready to be shipped to Canada in time for Christmas.
There has also been strong interest from buyers in Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Philippines) and across Europe.
Having met with Joshua and Jacob Taee of Huffkins at Anuga, Mr Paterson said:
I’m thrilled that Huffkins are expanding their sales on the global stage. It’s a credit to all their hard work. This is exactly the sort of entrepreneurship that I’m keen to support.
British food and drink is renowned across the world for its quality. With surging population growth and demand for western products, there are huge opportunities for our producers to use this recognition to tap into established and emerging markets abroad.
Joshua Taee, Managing Director of Huffkins praised the support of both Defra and UKTI and said:
We are delighted to join the ranks of British exporters and owe thanks to both Defra and UKTI that we are now gathering global attention. Owen Paterson has vastly improved the profile of British food abroad and UKTI has offered us invaluable support throughout the process.
Owen Paterson and Huffkins MD at ANUGA 2013
Further information
- To find more about this traditional Cotswolds based bakery Huffkins
- The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) are working with the food and drink industry to implement an action plan to increase exports in the farming, food and drink sector
- We’re already working to help businesses that trade overseas through UK Trade and Investment and Open to Export
Iced fruitcake photo credit: Huffkins