July 2010 Newsletter
As our customers may be aware Cheesman Bros Ltd were pleased to receive our ISO 9001 accreditation last year. We are equally pleased to inform you that following our recent yearly audit, our accreditation has been renewed for a further year. We had all worked hard over the previous year to receive this recognition for the Company and based on the experience gained by the work carried out in order to be awarded the ISO 9001, we feel that we can now continue to confidently move forward to the future, to continue to serve all existing customers and all new customers with the highest standards of Fresh Fruit/Vegetables/Salads and Catering Sundries and of course Customer Service - all of which they have come to expect of Cheesman Bros Ltd!
We have gained quite a few new customers during the months of May/June and we hope that they are completely satisfied with our produce and service. We thank them for the opportunity of serving them and to remind these new customers our Sales Hotline Number is 01483 572469 - any problems or queries can be dealt with promptly by calling this number.
So back to the Fruit and Vegetable news! The weather has much improved over the last few weeks and we can now hopefully look forward to a lovely summer. This good weather has helped the English produce and we now have lovely Cauliflower, Broccoli, Hisspi Cabbage, Primo Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Carrot, Courgette and Marrow. The English Asparagus season is now almost at an end and we have enjoyed some lovely produce this year. We will go onto Spanish/Peruvian Asparagus as soon as the English finishes. English Swede had now come to an end and English Parsnips have almost finished, so we will moving onto Spanish Parsnips any time now.
French Bean, Mangetout and Sugar Snap Peas are all imported at present and the quality of these lines are still very good. We are looking forward to the start of the English Runner Bean season this will be in about 3 weeks time and not forgetting those lovely fresh English Peas and Broad Beans both available now.
English lettuces are now readily available Cos, Iceberg, Lollo Rosso, Lollo Biondo, Oak Leaf, Curly Endive, Little Gem, Rocket, Raddichio, Red Chard and Round Lettuce. These are all very good quality, good size and very reasonable in price. All salad produce Tomatoes, Cucumber, Peppers, Spring Onions etc are now readily available and very good quality.
The soft fruit season is now getting underway with lovely Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots and Cherries readily available. There is a good supply of English Strawberries nothing quite beats the taste! We have a good variety of other berries to add to the Strawberries to make exciting and healthy puddings for your customers.
So we move onto the subject of Potatoes. All Old Potatoes are really now at an end and we know that some of you have been experiencing problems with sprouting etc. This is unfortunately unavoidable at this time of the year. English New Potatoes have really started to get going and we have in stock Kent New Potatoes, they are good quality, good size and of course very reasonable in price. Jersey New Potatoes will be finished in about 2 weeks, as will all English Old Potatoes. As always we will carry a large stock of baby new potatoes (mids) throughout the summer, so for those of you who don't like scraping potatoes these will do the job!
Well that's it for this month... we wish you all a good Summer.
May 2010 Newsletter
What a challenging start to the year our buyers have had! They experienced huge difficulties with produce availability, quality and prices. All caused by the abnormal icy cold winter. Just as things where settling down they then had to deal with disruptions caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland. The shortages caused by the flight ban did not affect us greatly, we were well prepared and we are pleased that no great disruption was caused to our customers. We thank you for you understanding during this time. We are now looking forward to a more settled period to enable prices and availability to stabilise.
Jersey Royal outdoor crop has just started and once we get into the New Potato Season, you will see the price of the Jersey Royals come down considerably. There have been a few Cornish New Potatoes arriving at New Covent Garden Market this week and Cyprus New Potatoes are now available, these potatoes are a really good all rounder, although a little on the expensive side this is due to the Import Taxes.
English bunched Asparagus is now readily available. We are also able to source a grade called "Kitchen Grade" which is ideal for your soups and sauces and this is quite reasonable in price. Do make the most of this lovely English vegetable as it has a very short season.
Curly Kale and Sprouts have now finished. There is still a good supply of Sprouting Broccoli available. We are looking forward to the start of the UK Broccoli and once the nights warm up, this will be readily available. UK Tomatoes are making their first appearance of the year and the flavour and the quality is excellent. UK Strawberries are a little late this year, due to the cold Spring we experienced. We are eagerly looking forward to the Stone Fruit Season starting. Spain is a little late starting to export their produce, due to the cold weather there.
So we can now all look forward to a lovely summer, problems of late hopefully all behind us!!??!!
We wish you all a good summer trading period in the coming few months and any queries, please do call our sales office for assistance. Tel:- 01483 572469.
Please note we will be closed on Monday 31st May 2010 as it is a Bank Holiday.
April 2010 Newsletter
So we have finally got some nice sunny days! Lets hope that this continues and the weather is fine for Easter! As mentioned in our March 2010 Newsletter the weather in Europe has been terrible. Spain and France have unfortunately experienced the same severe weather conditions that we have had. This situation has put extreme pressure on our "Buying Team". In over 35 years in the business our Buyers have never seen the prices that we are experiencing at the moment. The sourcing of quality and fair priced goods during the winter and early spring months is always very challenging, without having to deal with these other difficult factors like this unprecedented bad weather here and in Europe.
To give you an insight into how the buying process works, our Buyers leave our premises in Guildford at 11.30pm, in order to make sure that they are the first to arrive at the Market in London. They need to be there really early so that they can source the produce that is going to be in short supply and therefore probably going to be expensive. The produce is all selected and loaded onto our lorry and then when they get back to Guildford at around 4am, then the negotiating on the prices begins! Not an ideal situation but we really need to do this in order to ensure that we have all the produce that you our customers require. Whilst this current situation continues, we wish to reassure you that we are doing our utmost to source the best quality and priced goods that we can. We are looking forward to the Dutch Season starting shortly and we then will hopefully see the prices ease. We thank you for your understanding during this unsettled period.
On a positive note we have for a special treat, the first of the hot house Jersey Royals now arriving, they are available in 6 kilo tubs. There is nothing like the taste of Jersey Royals to cheer us up!
They are of course quite expensive at present, but prices do drop dramatically once we get into April and May.
Easter 2010 Opening Times
1st April 2010 - Normal Deliveries
2nd April 2010 - Good Friday Normal Deliveries - Closing at 1 pm
3rd April 2010 - Easter Saturday Normal Deliveries
4th April 2010 - Easter Sunday - Closed
5th April 2010 - Easter Monday - Closed
6th April 2010 - Normal Deliveries
We wish all our customers a very Happy Easter!
March 2010 Newsletter
Well its official! It has been the coldest winter for 30 years this year and don't we all know it!
The weather abroad has not been much better. Spain and France have also had severe bad weather and this has had a disastrous effect on the produce that they export to the UK. We do rely considerably on Spain and France for so many of our vegetable and salad lines at this time of the year. The availability, quality and cost of all imported vegetables and salad lines from these two countries has been very badly affected by their bad weather. We wish to reassure you that we are doing our utmost to source the best quality and priced goods that we can, but unfortunately you will see higher prices this coming month. Good news is that once the Dutch produce makes its appearance at the UK Markets around the middle of March, prices should ease.
Seasonal Produce
We do have in stock now for a limited time Curly Kale and Sprouting Broccoli and both of these items are very good at the moment. We also have lovely Italian Blood Oranges available and these also have a very short season, so order them whilst they are at their best and readily available.
Mothering Sunday 14th March 2010
Get that extra special gift for your Mum!
We are offering all our customers the opportunity to order a Fresh Fruit Basket for local delivery on either Saturday 13th or Sunday 14th March 2010. Baskets will be freshly made up with Seasonal Fresh Fruit and they come in small, medium or large size. We can offer you free local delivery, or the basket can be delivered to you with your normal order, for you to give personally to your Mum. Baskets will need to be paid for by credit card or debit card, when placing your order. Please speak to our Sales Office for more details 01483 572469. They are easy to order, are great value and will be well received. Make your Mum's Day the Healthy Way!
Cooking Oil - 20 litres
Don't forget that we can collect your used COOKING OIL FREE OF CHARGE! Please mention to Sales Office when placing your order, that you need our Oil Collection Service.
Cooking Wine - New size 3 litres
The size of the Cooking Wine has changed. It now comes in 3 litre cartons and many customers seem to prefer this new handy carton size.
With this cold weather persisting all we can do is hope that March will bring us some warmer days and let's hope it's a cracking summer. We all think that we deserve a lovely summer this year - fingers crossed!
February 2010 Newsletter
What a start to 2010 SNOW SNOW and more SNOW. We thank you for your understanding and patience during the adverse weather conditions. We are pleased that we managed to fulfil all our deliveries to all the customers, who placed orders during this difficult time. Did you know that permanent snow and ice cover about 12% (21 million square km's) of the earths land surface and 80% of the worlds fresh water is locked up as ice or snow. So we need to be thankful that we only experience these conditions once in a while!
As you would imagine the weather has played an important part with prices, quality and availability of all UK produce, during the month of January. We wish to reassure all our customers that we are extremely conscience of prices and quality, so we always endeavour to buy only the best price and best quality produce for you all. Hopefully once the weather improves, we are confident that prices will come down.
So moving on our thoughts turn to more seasonal events and Valentines Day will soon be upon us. Traditional produce for this special day will be readily available throughout February, Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Asparagus, Avocado Pears, Wild Mush (500g) packs, Sugar Snaps, Mange Tout, French Beans and we have a lovely selection of Baby Vegetables available. We have a good selection of ready to go salad leaves - available in either Mediterranean Salad Leaf (200g) bag or the delicate Baby Leaf Salad (100g) bag all requiring minimal preparation. Don't forget your Cowdray Organic Double Cream and Whipping Cream this needs to be ordered on a Monday for delivery on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
We recently introduced Cowdray Organic Milk and Cream to our extensive Product and Sundries List and both are now becoming extremely popular. To add to this we are now able to supply Cowdray Free Range Eggs, available in 21/2 doz trays and like all our other products they are very competitively priced.
FROZEN PRODUCTS
It appears that many of our customers do not realise that we also supply an extensive range of Frozen Products. We stock a wide range of Frozen Vegetables, Frozen Fruits, Frozen Berries, Frozen Chips Beefeater/Jullienne, Frozen Hash Browns/Jacket Wedges/Potato Croquettes, Frozen Corn on Cob, Frozen Ratatouille Veg Mix, Frozen Puff/Shortcrust/Fillo Pastry, Frozen Vol au Vents, Frozen Yorkshire Puddings and Frozen Petit Pan/Baguettes to name a few!! If your require a full list, please speak to our Sales Office.
So that's it for this month - lets hope that the weather improves and we can then look forward to a mild Spring this year.
Sales Office Hotline telephone number 01483 572469
December 2009 Newsletter
The countdown to Christmas has now begun! We always look forward to this busy and challenging time of the year, doing our best to source the best quality and priced goods that we can - for you our customers.
All the usual Christmas produce is available now! We have Fresh and Frozen Cranberries, Dates, Mixed Nuts, Chestnuts or Vac-Pack peeled Chestnuts, Tinned Olives (850g) and those lovely Satsumas. Don't forget the Cooking Wine (Red /White), Organic Milk /Cream and Butter all new lines that we recently introduced this year and all of them proving to be very popular.
All citrus fruits are going to be short this Christmas and well into the New Year. This is due to the unseasonable weather in Spain in early March of this year. Frosts and rain have had an impact on the quantity that they have for export for this Season. We wish to reassure you that we are concentrating on finding good quality and reasonable priced Oranges, Satsumas and Lemons for you all.
On the vegetable side of things the prices and availability are pretty much the same, as it usually is for this time of the year. We now have in stock the Dutch Sprouts in 5 kilo boxes all prepared and ready to cook - what a time saver!
Potatoes are excellent at present with Maris Piper, King Edwards and Reds now readily available in 25 kilo bags which are perfect for roast potatoes, as they all have a wonderful flavour to them. We also have Washed White Potatoes a good all rounder, which are very good quality at the moment. Bakers are available in 40's, 50's and 60's size. Washed Mids are available in 10 kilo boxes all prepared and ready to cook - another nice little time saver!
That just leaves it for us all here at Cheesman Bros Ltd, to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year. May we thank you for your custom during 2009 and we look forward to serving you and your business in 2010.
Our Christmas Opening Times will be sent out in the next few weeks.
Christmas Hot Line Telephone Number
01483 572469
Mobile Number for queries or problems during Office Hours
0793 379 4863
November 2009 Newsletter
Pumpkins were very popular and plentiful this year. We have lovely Toffee and Chocolate Apples, they are available in boxes of 20's - all ready for Bonfire Night. Other seasonal goods just starting are Wet Walnuts, Cob Nuts, Vac Pack Chestnuts. We still have a good supply of UK Apples, Cox's, Braeburns etc, Spanish Satsumas, Pomegranate, Fresh Figs, Mexican Asparagus and Sprouts all very good quality and price.
Dutch "Prepared Sprouts" available in 5 kilo boxes, they should be starting from the middle of this month and they will then continue right through December and well into the New Year.
Lots of our customers use our freshly prepared Potatoes/Vegetables/Fruits and Salads, especially as your preparation time is limited at this time of the year. Should you require a Prepared Product List, please do call our Sales Office for help 01483 572469.
On the fruit side we have lots of exciting exotic fruits available, all of which add a pleasant change to the normal apples and pears. All good quality and there is nothing like a lovely exotic fresh fruit salad, to tempt your customers with. Mango, Papaya, Pineapple, Sharon Fruit, Melon, Strawberry, Raspberry, Grape, Kiwi, Banana and Star Fruit to name a few.
To help out as things hot up for Christmas, we are able to supply tubs of freshly prepared Fresh Fruit Salad for those of you whose preparation time is limited.
Postal Dispute
To avoid having to send cheques by post for the credit of your accounts, during the current postal dispute, we wish to advise our customers that we do accept other forms of payment.
Payments can be made by BACS or Debit/Credit Card over the telephone. Our banking details are at the bottom of your statements and our accounts hotline number is 01483 503088, for help and assistance.
Christmas Opening Times
We will advise customers of opening times for Christmas and New Year, as soon as Covent Garden Market confirm their opening times.
Birth Announcement - a new addition to the Cheesman Family
We are happy to announce that Claire Din (nee Cheesman) who works in our accounts department here at Cheesman's, has given birth to a lovely baby boy named Freddie on the 25th September 2009. Freddie weighed in at 8lb 5oz!! All due to the massive amounts of fruit and vegetables his Mum ate - not mentioning all the biscuits/crisps and chocolate etc, they seem to consume in accounts had anything to do with it!! Many congratulations to Claire and her family. We look forward to her returning to work after her maternity leave.
October 2009 Newsletter
We are now looking forward to Autumn, with all the new season vegetables starting. We will be able to offer you lovely Parsnip, Swede, Primo, Savoy Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Courgettes, Leeks and just started this week Sprouts - all very good quality.
For something a little more exciting we always have in stock Fresh Loose Large Leaf Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Mange Tout, Kenya Fine Beans, Asparagus, Baby Corn, Butternut Squash, Celeriac, Fennel and Sweet Potato to name a few. We can also offer you a varied range of Baby Vegetables and Ready Prepared Vegetables. Please ask our Sales Team if you need further details.
Pumpkins are now readily available. We have a huge selection available right now! Sizes come as large, medium and small and all the pumpkins are sold by the kilo weight. There is going to be a shortage of good shaped, colour and size pumpkins this year. So in order to get what you require we recommend that you buy your pumpkins early this year.
On the fruit side we have some lovely boxes of English apples in stock Cox's (7 Kilo Box), Russet (7 Kilo Box), Red Windsor (12 Kilo Box) and lovely Bramley Cooking Apples (7 Kilo Box). Peaches and Nectarines are nearing an end now, but we do have a few white flesh peaches in stock, for the last few weeks of this seasons crop. Strawberries, Raspberries and Blueberries are still readily available. As a matter of interest we need to all wish the humble Bramley Apple a Very Happy Birthday - 200 years old this year!
Surprisingly Lemons and Grapefruit have been in very short supply. For the first time ever we are stocking lemons from Chile, customers are reporting that they are a very nice quality and very juicy.
On the salad side of things we are waiting the arrival of Canary Tomatoes and in the last few weeks the price of Tomatoes has been firm, we hope this will ease in the next few weeks.
Potatoes are excellent at present with Maris Piper and King Edwards now readily available in 25 Kilo bags which are perfect for roast potatoes, as they both have a wonderful flavour to them. We also have Washed White Potatoes and Red Potatoes which are very good at the moment. For those of you who prefer a smaller quantity of potatoes, we are able to supply Pre Pack Potatoes available in just 2 Kilo per bag . Bakers available in 40's, 50's and 60's size. Washed Mids available in 10 Kilo boxes, all prepared and ready to cook.
New Product - Butter 40 x 250g per Box (Salted and Unsalted)
To add to our Dairy Product List of Organic Milk and Cream, we have recently introduced Butter.
All these new dairy products are very popular, should you require further information please call our Sales Hotline Number 01483 572469.
Cooking Oil 20ltr - only £18.50
It appears that oil prices are rising yet again. We are pleased to inform all our customers that the price of our cooking oil will NOT be increased. Please do remember that we can also collect from you any used oil - FREE OF CHARGE!!
September 2009 Newsletter
Well folks the summer is unfortunately nearly over!! We hope that you all enjoyed what good weather we had!! We wish to welcome back all our schools and colleges from their summer break.
We are delighted to have recently been awarded our ISO 9001 accreditation and since our Newsletter in July 09, we are pleased to announce that we have also been approved by the Surrey County Council Trading Standards, to join their "Buy with Confidence" Scheme. We as a Company have worked hard over the last year to receive these recognitions and we feel that we can now confidently move forward to the future, to continue to serve all existing customers and all new customers with the high standards of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables/Customer Service that they have come to expect of Cheesmans.
Over the last year we have been working with our suppliers, to bring you the best possible prices on all our Fresh Fruit/Vegetables/Salads and Sundries.
So a quick recap of a selection of SPECIAL OFFERS, that we are able to give selected from our Sundries List:
Pure Refined Vegetable Cooking Oil. Priced at only £18.50 for a 20 ltr drum. (Free collection of used oil)
Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Priced at only £17.00 for a 5 ltr tin.
Premium Quality Red and White Cooking Wine. Priced at only £9.50 for a 5 ltr carton
Fresh Real Mayonnaise. Priced at only £8.40 for a 5 ltr tub
We have recently introduced a new line to our current Product List and this new line is proving to be very popular:
Cowdray Home Farms - Local Farm Processed - Fresh Organic Milk and Cream
| Organic Whole Milk |
1 ltr |
£1.10 |
| Organic Semi |
1 ltr |
£1.10 |
| Organic Whole Milk |
2 ltr |
£1.90 |
| Organic Semi |
2 ltr |
£1.90 |
| Pergals Whole Milk |
13 ltr |
£9.90 |
| Pergals Semi |
13 ltr |
£9.90 |
| Double Cream |
250ml |
£1.95 |
Catering size cream
| Double Cream |
2 ltr |
£7.50 |
| Whipping Cream |
2 ltr |
£5.50 |
(The pergals of milk and the catering size cream will be available shortly)
The customers that have tried the sample packs throughout August, have reported that the milk is a very good quality. It has a lovely full flavour, a good consistency and would therefore be excellent for all your catering requirements. Most importantly it is very competitively priced. Why don't you try some with your next order! There is no minimum order - The Fresh Organic Milk and Cream will be delivered to you daily, along with your normal delivery of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables.
On the Fresh Fruit/Vegetables and Salad side of things all seasonal produce is and has been readily available throughout this summer. The quality and the prices have been consistently good over these last few months and we anticipate this current situation will continue.
So, that's it for this month. We hope the weather gives us a little warm sunshine for the next month or so and then our thoughts will be turning to the busy time leading up to Christmas.
July 2009 newsletter
We start this months Newsletter with an important announcement. We are thrilled to have recently been awarded our ISO 9001 accreditation. We as a Company have worked hard over the last year to receive this recognition and we feel that we can now confidently move forward to the future, to continue to serve all
existing customers and all new customers with the high standards of fresh Fruit and Vegetables/Customer Service that they have come to expect of Cheesmans.
The weather has much improved over the last few weeks and we can now hopefully look forward to a lovely summer. This good weather has helped the English produce and we now have lovely Cauliflower, Broccoli, Spring Green, Summer Primo Cabbage and Marrow. The English Asparagus season is now almost at an end and we have
enjoyed some lovely produce this year. We will go onto Spanish/Peruvian Asparagus as soon as the English finishes.
Carrots, Savoy Cabbage, Courgettes, Leeks, French Bean, Mangetout and Sugar Snap Peas are all imported at present, but the quality of these lines are still very good. We are looking forward to the start of the English Runner Bean season this will be in about 3 weeks time and not forgetting those lovely fresh English Peas and Broad Beans. Kent New Potatoes are just starting their season. As always we will carry a large stock of baby new potatoes (mids) throughout the summer, so for those of you who don't like scraping potatoes these will do the job!
English lettuces are now readily available Coss, Iceberg, Lollo Rosso, Lollo Blondo, Oak Leaf, Little Gem, Rocket, Radicio, Red Chard and Round Lettuce. These are all very good quality, good size and very reasonable in price. All salad produce Tomatoes,
Cucumber, Peppers, Spring Onions etc are now readily available and very good quality.
The soft fruit season is now getting underway with lovely Peaches, Nectarines,
Apricots and Cherries readily available. There is a good supply of English
Strawberries and nothing quite beats the taste! We have a good variety of other berries to add to the Strawberries to make exciting and healthy puddings for your customers.
STOP PRESS!! EXCITING NEW PRODUCT!! - "MICRO HERB"
Introducing Micro Herbs to our extensive range of products. Used by some of the top Michelin Starred Chefs in the UK. Micro Herbs is an innovative ingredient used for premium sandwiches, imaginative salads and as an accompaniment to enhance flavour and appearance of your current dishes. They are grown to seed leaf or first true leaf size. They are exceptionally tender and in most cases intensely flavoured, our varieties are specially selected for their unique flavour, visual impact and colour. The varieties that are readily available to our customers are Red Amaranth, Green Basil, Red Basil, Thai Basil, Broccoli Shoots, Celery Leaf, Red Chard, Garlic Chives, Coriander, Greek Cress, Salad Fennel, Mizuna, Red Mustard Frills, Flat Leaf Parsley, Pea Shoots, Pink Stem Radish, Salad Rocket, Red Shiso and Red Vein Sorrel. All available in a convenient pre-cut format in 30g punnet and priced at £2.50 per punnet. Try some today!!
May 2009 newsletter
Welcome to Spring! The weather has brightened up a little with some nice warm days, but still a bit chilly at night. Just starting are some exciting early English produce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Spring Onions and Rhubarb - you can really taste the difference!
English Asparagus is now readily available. This years crop appears to be of excellent quality and nothing quite beats the flavour. We can supply all sizes from Jumbo, Medium or Thin - bunched or loose. We are also able to source a grade called "Kitchen Grade" which is ideal for your soups and sauces and this is quite reasonable in price. Do make the most of this lovely English vegetable, as it has a very short season.
We have a nice selection of New Potatoes on offer now, Spring Crop Cyprus, Jersey Royals and UK Mids. The price of the Jersey Royals are dropping week by week. We should be starting on a few Cornish New Potatoes later on in the month, providing that this mild weather continues. We still have a good supply of old potatoes to see us through until the Cornish New become readily available.
For our Catering Customers Belgium strawberries are now available and as usual they are a lovely quality. Raspberries, Blueberries and Blackberries are all readily available. There are a few Peaches and Nectarines available and the quality is fair, they will continue to improve in size and quality over the next few months. They are always at their best during the months of June and July.
Check out this price!
New Updated Packaging - better price!
Pure Refined Vegetable Cooking Oil - 20 Litre Long life and fully deodorised. This oil is ideal for all cooking purposes and is particularly recommended for deep and shallow frying. Can also be used for salads and mayonnaise.
Priced at only £18.50 for a 20 litre carton.
Please note we are happy to take away any used oil for you free of charge, provided it is placed back into the original container.
We wish to remind you that we do supply an extensive range of Frozen Products. Please ask if you would like a Frozen Products List. We can also supply a varied range of Prepared Fruit and Vegetables, so anything you need peeled, sliced, diced or chopped, we can do it for you! We can also supply fresh Eggs, fresh Mayonnaise, Olive Oil and Red/White Cooking Wine.
Our Sales Office Telephone Number for all Sales Enquires is 01483-572469 and the Sales Office Mobile number is 0793 379 4863. Please speak to one of our Sales Team, who will be only to happy to answer any queries you may have.
Please note we will be closed on Monday 25th May 2009 - May Bank Holiday
April 2009 newsletter
Are you all pleased to see the back of that cold Winter, we certainly are!
This recent spell of mild weather has helped all UK vegetables ie Carrot, Parsnip, Swede, Primo Cabbage, Hisspi Cabbage and Cauliflowers. They are all now reasonable in price and good quality.
Sprouts have now finished. Unfortunately imported Spanish Broccoli has developed a virus problem and this will no doubt affect the availability. Kenya is experiencing a huge drought problem and this will affect produce like Kenya Beans, Sugar Snaps and Mange Tout, all of this will lead to shortages and raised prices in these particular lines.
Lovely New Potatoes have just started to arrive at Market. At present we are able to source Jersey Royals and a few Israeli New. Cypress New and Majorcan New will follow on as the month progresses and we can look forward to our own English New Potatoes starting in early May, providing that this current mild weather continues.
Bananas have been very up and down in price this last month, but we are constantly checking wholesale prices in order to source best quality and prices for you.
On the salad side, Moroccan Tomatoes have now finished, but the Dutch Tomatoes are on the way, which is good news, as they are always very good quality and fair in price. UK Cucumbers have just started, which will hopefully ease the prices.
Spanish Strawberries have just started and they are very nice at present. We can supply a varied range of frozen Fresh Fruit Purees, which seem to becoming very popular lately. If you require a list of flavours available, please do contact our Sales Office for assistance Tel 01483 572469.
Easter 2009 Opening Times
6th April 2009 - Normal Deliveries
7th April 2009 - Normal Deliveries
8th April 2009 - Normal Deliveries
9th April 2009 - Normal Deliveries
10th April 2009 - Good Friday Normal Deliveries - Closing at 1 pm
11th April 2009 - Easter Saturday Normal Deliveries
12th April 2009 - Easter Sunday - Closed
13th April 2009 - Easter Monday - Closed
14th April 2009 - Normal Deliveries
Please note all Freshly Prepared Fruit & Vegetables required for Good Friday's deliveries
will need to be ordered by 4pm Thursday 9th April 2009.
We wish all our customers a very Happy Easter.
February 2009 newsletter
The weather for the start of the year has been so cold, as you probably have noticed! It has been the coldest December and January for a very long time.
The weather in Europe has not been any better, sharp frosts in Spain and with the Euro at an all time low. These circumstances have put extreme pressure on our Buying Team. The sourcing of quality and fair priced goods during the winter months, is always very challenging without having to deal with these other difficult factors.
To give you an insight into how the buying process works. Our Team of Buyers leave Guildford at 11.30pm, in order to make sure that they are the first to arrive at the Market in London. They need to be there really early so that they can source the produce that is in short supply and therefore probably going to be expensive. Products that have been particularly short since Christmas are Broccoli, Cauliflower, Courgette, Cucumber and Capsicums. The produce is all selected and loaded onto our lorry and then when they get back to Guildford at around 4am, the negotiating on the prices begins! Not an ideal situation but we really need to do this in order to ensure that we have all the products that you our customers require. Whilst this current situation continues, we wish to reassure you that we are doing our utmost to source the best quality and priced goods that we can.
We would like to point out some real value for money products that we can supply.
Check out these prices!!
- Pure Refined Vegetable Cooking Oil. Long life and fully deodorised. This oil is ideal for all cooking purposes and is particularly recommended for deep and shallow frying.
Priced at only £23.00 for a 20 litre drum.
Please note we are happy to take away any used oil for you, provided it is placed back into the original container and sealed with the lid.
- Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Superior category olive oil obtained directly from olives and solely by mechanical means. Customers who use this product say it is by far the best extra virgin olive oil that they have tasted.
Priced at only £17.00 for a 5 litre tin.
- Premium Quality Red and White Cooking Wine. Finest quality cooking wine made from a combination of selected grapes with added sea salt. Since introducing this product last year we have been astounded by the demand. Customers who use this product say that it is the best quality cooking wine that they have used.
Priced at only £9.50 for a 5 litre carton
- Fresh Real Mayonnaise. Quality thick and creamy mayonnaise with an excellent taste and good consistency. Mix into compound salads and fillings and as a base for many cold sauces.
Priced at only £8.40 for a 5 litre tub
Should you need any further details or help with any of the above products.
Our Sales Team will be only to happy to help.
Sales Office Telephone Number - 01483-572469
December 2008 newsletter
The countdown to Christmas has now begun!! We always look forward to this busy and challenging time of the year, doing our best to source the best quality and priced goods that we can, for you our customers.
The terrible wet weather in Spain will cause shortages and higher prices of all salad lines. Mostly affected will be Iceberg, Capsicum, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Coss Lettuce and Celery. We have had to move to Northern France for our current supplies of French Lettuce Rosso, Blondo, Oak Leaf, Curly Endive etc and we do know that there have been problems with the size at present. The reason for this is that due to wet weather in the South of France, their crop came to an abrupt end and the North of France crop was not quite ready to harvest. We will do our best for you on these issues.
On a more jolly side we are pleased that all the usual Christmas produce is available now, Fresh and Frozen Cranberries, Dates, Mixed Nuts, Chestnuts or Vac-Pack peeled Chestnuts, Eat Me Dates and Tinned Olives (850g) and those lovely Satsumas. Don’t forget the Cooking Wine (Red and White) - a new line that we recently introduced, it is proving to be very popular.
On the Vegetable side of things, prices and availability are pretty much the same, as it usually is for this time of the year. We now have in stock the Dutch Sprouts in 5 Kilo boxes, all prepared and ready to cook, what a time saver!
Potatoes are excellent at present with Maris Piper and King Edwards now readily available in 25 Kilo bags which are perfect for roast potatoes, as they both have a wonderful flavour to them. We also have Washed White Potatoes and Red Potatoes which are very good at the moment. For those of you who prefer a smaller bag of potatoes, we are able to supply a 10 kilo size bag. Bakers available in 40's, 50's and 60's size. Washed Mids available in 10 kilo boxes, all prepared and ready to cook, another nice little time saver!
That just leaves it for us all here at Cheesman Bros Ltd, to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year. May we thank you for your custom during 2008 and we look forward to serving you and your business in 2009.
Our Christmas Opening Times will be sent out in the next few weeks.
Christmas Hot Line
Mobile Number for queries or problems during Office Hours
0793 379 4863
November 2008 newsletter
With Autumn now well underway the cold nights will definitely affect the growing conditions for all UK Vegetables, but the prices are steady at present and hopefully it will continue that way. Cauliflower and Broccoli are a little bit up in price at the moment, but Sprouts are very good quality and are very reasonable in price.
On the salad side of things UK Tomatoes and Cucumber have now finished. All lettuces are a good quality and are readily available. The Imported Tomatoes that we are sourcing at present are very reasonable in price.
Some seasonal goods have now started to appear on the markets, now available are Toffee/Chocolate apples. Also, available Wet Walnuts, Chestnuts, Eat Me Dates and we can source a cheaper variety of Dates for you.
It will not be long before the Spanish Satsuma Season gets going. We have had a few in the last few weeks. Oranges are particularly good at the moment. We stock three sizes of oranges, 50's and 72's, both very juicy with a lovely flavour. We also are able to supply a smaller orange 88's that are perfect for juicing.
On the fruit side we have lots of exciting exotic fruits available, all of which add a pleasant change to the normal apples and pears. All good quality and there is nothing like a lovely exotic fresh fruit salad, to tempt your customers with. Mango, Papaya, Pineapple, Sharon Fruit, Melon, Strawberry, Raspberry, Grape, Kiwi, Banana and Star Fruit to name a few.
The Cooking Wine is going well and is proving to be very popular. We also stock an excellent quality Olive Oil available in 5 litre cans and Cooking Oil available in 20 litre drums.
Lots of our customers use our freshly prepared Potatoes/Vegetables/Fruits. Especially as preparation time is limited at this time of the year. Should you require a product list, please call our Sales Office for help.
We will advise all our customers of opening times etc, with regards to Christmas and New Year in our next Newsletter. We wish you all a successful trading period over the next two months and should you have any queries, please do remember to call our Sales Office, they are only too happy to help.
Telephone number for help and queries. 01483 572469 or 0793 379 4863
As mentioned in our last Newsletter we do like to meet and get to know our customers, so if you have some spare time this month, please do feel free to pop in at any time for a coffee and a chat. We look forward to seeing you.
September 2008 newsletter
Well, folks the summer is nearly over!! We hope that you all enjoyed what good weather we had!! We wish to welcome back all our schools and colleges from their Summer break.
So, lots of exciting produce available to look forward to this month for your Autumn Menus. All very good quality and reasonable in price. Carrots, Cauliflower, Primo Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Hisspi Cabbage, Spring Greens, Leeks, Parsnips, Swede, Marrow, Courgette, Broccoli, Runner Beans, Broad Beans, Peas, Celeriac, Fennell, Corn on the Cob, Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, Asparagus. We always have in stock French Beans, Mange Tout, Sugar Snap Peas, Thai Baby Corn.
On the fruit side melons are all good quality we have in stock Honeydew, Galia, Cantaloupe, Water Melon. Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Red Currants are all readily available. UK Straws are now getting a little short.
We have a nice selection of apples Granny Smith, Brae burns, Golden Delicious and at the moment the new season cooking apples (Bramley's) are lovely.
Other fruits that are very good at present are William Pears, Conference Pears, Oranges, Mango, Kiwi, Paw Paw, White and Red Seedless Grapes, Minneola to name a few. The Victoria Plum Season was very poor this year, only lasting a matter of weeks, they have now finished. We should have a few Cox’s apples available by the end of the month.
Potatoes are excellent at present with Maris Piper from Essex, now readily available in 25 Kilo bags, these are perfect for roast potatoes and for chipping, they have a wonderful flavour to them. We also have Washed White Potatoes, Red Potatoes, Marfona Potatoes in 25 kilo bags all of them are very good at the moment. For those of you who prefer a smaller quantity bag of potatoes, we are able to supply a 10 kilo size bag. These would contain various varieties, which were available at the time of packaging. We also have very nice Bakers available in 40's, 50's and 60's size.
On the salad side of things all lines are quite plentiful and the price and quality is still very good. Still a few UK Toms available. Other varieties we stock are Cherry Toms, Vine Toms, Dutch Toms, Plum Toms, Beefsteak Toms and Cherry Toms on the Vine. All lettuces are a good size and good quality. UK Cucumber are nice quality and a good size. So, that's it for this month. We hope the weather gives us a little warm sunshine for the next month or so and then our thoughts will be turning to the busy time leading up to Christmas. Good wishes to you all.
July 2008 newsletter
Welcome to Summer!!
The weather has much improved over the last few weeks and we can now hopefully look forward to a lovely summer. The good weather has helped the English produce and we now have lovely Cauliflower, Broccoli, Spring Green,
Summer Primo Cabbage and Marrow on offer. The English Asparagus season is now almost at an end and we have enjoyed some lovely produce this year. We will go onto Spanish/Peruvian Asparagus as soon as the English finishes.
Carrots, Savoy Cabbage, Courgettes, Leeks, French Bean, Mangetout and Sugar Snap Peas are all imported at present, but the quality of these lines are still very good. We are looking forward to the start of the English Runner Bean season this will be in about 3 weeks time and not forgetting those lovely fresh English Peas. We have had a few fresh Broad Beans in the last week, but
unfortunately supplies of frozen Broad Beans this year will be seriously short.
On the potato side the Kent New Potatoes are excellent this year—good quality, good size and of course very reasonable in price. Jersey New Potatoes will be finished in about 2 weeks, as will all English Old Potatoes. As always we will carry a large stock of baby new potatoes (mids)
throughout the summer, so for those of you who don’t like scraping potatoes these will do the job!
English lettuces are now readily available Coss, Iceberg, Lollo Rosso, Lollo
Blondo, Oak Leaf, Little Gem, Rocket, Radicio, Red Chard and Round Lettuce. These are all very good quality, good size and very reasonable in price. All salad
produce ie Tomatoes, Cucumber, Peppers etc are now readily available and very good quality.
The soft fruit season is now getting underway with lovely Peaches,
Nectarines, Apricots and Cherries readily available. There is a good supply of English Strawberries and nothing quite beats the taste! We have a good
variety of other berries to add to the Strawberries to make exciting and healthy puddings for your customers.
We do apologise for the hefty increase in the price and short supply of
Shallots. This has taken everyone quite by surprise.
The Lemon and Banana situation is now stabilising and hopefully will continue to do so.
We here at Cheesmans are always very conscious of our prices and strive to keep them as low as possible.
There appears to be serious competition at present from Russians buying at the Dutch Auctions, they have lots of cash money to spend and the demand for fresh fruit and vegetable produce in Russia is now very high.
With diesel prices rising daily this all adds up to increasing prices on the Wholesale Markets and higher costs to us, when purchasing the produce for you our customers.
We wish to reassure you that we will continue to strive to keep our prices as low as possible,
during this current economic climate. Ensuring all our customers that we value your custom and will continue to provide the best quality and value for money produce that is available. Thank you.
May 2008 newsletter
Welcome to Spring! The weather has brightened up a little with some nice warm days, but still a bit chilly at night. This is of course having a knock on effect to the size and quality of the produce available at present and all produce is still holding its price firmly.
We have a nice selection of New Potatoes on offer now, Cyprus, Majorcan and we should have a few Cornish New any time now. The price of the Jersey Royals are dropping week by week, but it is not going to be a bumper crop this year! Please see attached potato information sheet sent to us by one of our suppliers, which we thought you would find interesting.
Just starting are some exciting Early English produce, Tomatoes, Cues and Spring Onions and you can really taste the difference!
We are looking forward to the start of English Asparagus Season very shortly. We can supply all sizes from Jumbo, Medium or Thin – bunched or loose. We are hopeful to be able to source “Kitchen Grade” again this year, which is ideal for your soups and sauces and it is quite reasonable in price.
We are just finishing the French Braeburn Apples, which you all seem to like. We will more than likely go onto Chilean Braeburn Apples in the next few weeks. Lets hope they are as good!
Other good varieties available are Granny Smith, Red Chief, Golden Del, Royal Gala and Pink Lady.
We have Moroccan Ortaniques available, which are really lovely and juicy. Pears, both Packhams and Conference are very good at present. All melons are readily available and also quite reasonable in price.
We wish to remind you that we do supply an extensive range of Frozen Products, please ask if you would like a Frozen Products List. We can also supply a varied range of Prepared Fruit and Vegetables, so anything you need peeled, sliced, diced or chopped, we can do it for you! We can also supply Fresh Eggs, Mayo and Cooking Oil.
Reminder of our Sales Office Telephone Number for all Sales Enquires is 01483-572469 and the Sales Office Mobile number 0793 379 4863
Please speak to one of our Sales Team, who will be only to happy to answer any queries you may have.
Please note we will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday 5th & 26th May 2008
April 2008 newsletter
We start this month with a very big THANK YOU to you all! We were overwhelmed by the huge response we got from our customers for the Easter Egg Appeal 2008. The children we are told were delighted to receive so many Easter Eggs and they send their grateful thanks to you all. 96.4 Eagle Radio have said it was a record year! Well done everyone!
So back to Fruit & Vegetable news! Hopefully, we have seen the last of the cold weather. With April now underway, fingers crossed we can look forward to some warmer weather!
On the vegetable side Carrot, Parsnip, Swede, Primo Cabbage, Hisspi Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflowers have stayed very reasonable in price. Sprouts have now almost finished but we have a good supply of quality Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Spring Green available making a good replacement. Not forgetting Mange Tout, French Beans, Sugar Snaps and Baby Corn making a refreshing change to the normal day to day vegetables we use.
On the Fruit side of things Braeburn, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Red Chief and of course English Cox Apples are all very good. The English Bramley Cooking Apples are particularly nice at present. We have lovely Belgium Conference Pears and Cape William Pears in stock and with Clementines now almost finished, we have some lovely Californian Minneola's just arrived. Recent problems with Bananas have been very tricky to overcome, as a serious shortage of supplies arriving in the UK has pushed prices up considerably, but this should hopefully settle down in the next few weeks.
Surprisingly Lemons are extremely short, the Spanish lost over 70% of their crop and until the South African Lemons start there are going to be major shortages and high prices.
We have for a very special treat, the first of the hot house Jerseys Royals now arriving, they are available in 13lb tubs. They are of course quite expensive at present, with the price dropping dramatically as this month and next month progress. We will be starting Majorcan New Potatoes next week and we have lovely Cyprus New Potatoes available now. The last of this season Old Potatoes are still very good and we are looking forward to the English New Potatoes starting probably early May weather permitting of course!
March 2008 newsletter
The 96.4 Eagle Radio Easter Egg Appeal with Cheesman Bros Ltd
25 February 2008 until 20 March 2008
We are excited to announce that Cheesmans will be sponsoring this years 96.4 Eagle Radio Easter Egg Appeal.
There are many children in Surrey and Hampshire who are living in residential homes, hospitals or in single parent families. Many of these children will not be able to enjoy all the seasonal extras, that most of us take for granted. In order to bring the special magic of Easter to these local children who would otherwise go without, we at Cheesmans have teamed up together with 96.4 Eagle Radio, to bring some real happiness to these disadvantaged children.
We want to make this years appeal the best ever - We cannot do it without your help!!!
We are asking our customers to collect as many Easter Eggs as possible for these children. Please contact our Sales Office on 01483 572469 or 01483 503088 and we will make arrangements to come and collect them or you can pass them directly to your delivery driver. Alternatively, you can bring them in person to the main Cheesmans Warehouse in Wood Street, Guildford. Please give generously and help give these children their best Easter ever.
Shackleford Mushroom Farm Ltd
As we informed you in our last newsletter our local mushroom supplier, Shackleford Mushrooms Ltd will be closing down on the 23rd February 2008.
We have sourced good new suppliers, but their packaging does slightly differ from what you are used to. So to keep you up to date with the new size trays, we have the following information to assist you.
Cup Mush - 3 Kilo Trays
Button Mush - 2.7 Kilo Trays
Flat Mush - 2 Kilo Trays
Should you require any help with your selection of the new Mushroom packages, please call our Sales Office 01483 572469 or Sales Mobile 07933 794863 for advice.
February 2008 newsletter
Wet, Wet, Wet is the only way to describe the start to this year. The amount of rain that has fallen last month, has made conditions very difficult for the farmers/growers, as they are unable to plant out or pick crops, whilst the ground is so wet and muddy. Current conditions are not affecting our ability to buy in quantity, but at present we are experiencing slight problems with the quality. Cauliflower seems to be particularly affected. Please bear with us, as once we have a dry spell, you will find a marked improvement in the quality.
On the fruit side Clementines are now coming to an end. We still have some lovely English Cox Apples, available in 13 kilo boxes or just by the kilo. Seville oranges will be very short this year, due to the unseasonable frosts in Spain.
Cooking Oil prices continue to rise and we have therefore had to now increase our price of the Cooking Oil, we do apologise for this unfortunate increase.
We are very sad to inform you all, that at the end of February 2008 our local mushroom supplier will be closing down. Shackleford Mushrooms Ltd have supplied first class mushrooms to us for over 30 years. We have sourced new good suppliers from Covent Garden. Their packaging does slightly differ to what our customers are used to. They will come in 3 kilo trays of cup mush, 2.7 kilo trays of button mush and 2 kilo trays of Flat Mush. As before we are only too happy to split the boxes to meet your requirements.
We are really excited at the launch of our updated Website, due to go live at the beginning of February. Please visit us at www.cheesmans.co.uk. Let us know what you think! Email us at martin@cheesmanbros.co.uk. Keep in touch, we always appreciate and take note of your comments and are always looking at ways to improve customer service etc and value your input.
96.4 Eagle Radio Easter Egg Appeal 2008
We are also proud to announce that Cheesman's will be the official sponsors of the 96.4 Eagle Radio Easter Egg Appeal 2008. Watch this space for more details, we would like to make this the best ever appeal, involving us and all our customers.
New web site goes live!
You are looking at our new website which has been developed by Webstart from Guildford. We hope you like it.
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