February 2012 Newsletter
December was the warmest since 2006, there have only been seventeen warmer Decembers in the last 100 years. January was fairly mild and not too cold, lets hope this continues throughout February! All this mild weather is good news for all our UK growers, mild weather and light rain leads to good growing conditions for the farmers. In turn this will hopefully reduce any major winter crop shortages in the Market.
Winter Vegetables
We have a good range of quality cabbages in stock now, Primo, Savoy, Hisspi, White and Red Cabbage. Spanish Broccoli is very good at the moment and also very reasonable in price too. UK Carrots are still available and they are probably one of the cheapest and most versatile vegetables you can find. Good size and excellent quality Cauliflowers are in stock now!
Root Vegetables
Over the last year we have seen a massive increase in the popularity of these now "trendy" vegetables. With their earthy and robust flavours they are perfect to use in soups, stews and other warming dishes, especially at this time of the year. We have in stock Carrot, Parsnip, Swede, Sweet Potato, Turnip, Butternut and three different type of raw Beetroot. Root vegetables are often home grown. They are packed with vitamins and minerals and are quite reasonable in price, making them a seasonal must.
Valentine Day 14th February
To assist with your Valentine Day menus we have in stock Baby Vegetables, Baby Courgettes, Baby Leeks, Baby Carrots, Thai Baby Corn and Thai Grass. Lovely extra large USA Asparagus and ready to eat ripe Avocados. Tender Shoot Broccoli is available by the kilo, along with French Beans, Sugar Snaps and Mange Tout we certainty have a nice selection to choose from!
Pancake Day 21st February
Pancake Day is here again - don't forget to order your Lemons, Oranges, Strawberries, Raspberries and Fresh Berries.
December 2011 Newsletter
Here at Cheesmans we are busy preparing for the very hectic month of December. All the lovely Christmas produce is available now! We have Fresh/Frozen Cranberries, Dates, Mixed Nuts, Loose Chestnuts/Vac-Pack Peeled Cooked Chestnuts, Dried/Fresh Figs, Black and Green Tinned Olives. Don’t forget the Red/White Cooking Wine for those special dishes. Christmas can sometimes bring problems with supplies and quality, we are not sure as yet what will be in short supply. Hopefully all products will continue to be readily available. Lets all hope that this mild weather continues and that we have no snow this year!
In stock now Fresh Prep Dutch Sprouts in 5 kilo boxes, all prepared and ready for you to cook - what a time saver! Potatoes are in good supply and we have in stock fine quality Washed Potatoes, King Edwards, Washed Reds and Maris Piper all available in 25 kilo sacks. Mids (New Potatoes) are available in 10 kilo boxes all washed and ready to cook, another nice little time saver!
All vegetables are very nice quality and no shortages as yet to report. All varieties of Melons, Pineapples, Grape and Berries are in good supply and good quality too. This time of year always proves to be very busy with Prepared Fruit and Vegetables and we therefore kindly request that you place your orders as early as possible.
Christmas Opening Times
| Monday 19th December to Friday 23rd December 2011 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Saturday 24th December 2011 (Xmas Eve) | Closing at Midday |
| Sunday 25th December 2011 (Xmas Day) | CLOSED |
| Monday 26th December 2011 (Boxing Day) | CLOSED |
| Tuesday 27th December 2011 (Bank Holiday) | CLOSED |
| Wednesday 28th December 2011 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Thursday 29th December 2011 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Friday 30th December 2011 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Saturday 31st December 2011 (New Years Eve) | Closing at Midday |
| Sunday 1st January 2012 (New Years Day) | CLOSED |
| Monday 2nd January 2012 (Bank Holiday) | CLOSED |
| Tuesday 3rd January 2012 | Back to Normal |
Christmas Hotline Telephone Numbers:-
01483 572469 Sales Office
07933 794863 Mobile
01483 572567 Sales Order Line
In previous years we have had the pleasure in giving our customers a small gift for Christmas, to thank them for their custom. This year in lieu of these gifts we have decided to make a donation to our favourite local charity “Shooting Star Chase—The Children's Hospice”. We are confident that you will support us in this decision. We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. May we thank you for your custom during 2011 and we look forward to serving you and your business in 2012.
November 2011 Newsletter
Seasonal Goods
Tasty traditional seasonal goods for the Autumn months have now started to arrive in the Market. Toffee and Chocolate Apples are now in good supply. Also available now are Wet Walnuts, they are a true seasonal treat and only available for just a few weeks each Autumn, get them while you can!
Autumnal Vegetables
The freshest of seasonal vegetables to make delicious stews, casseroles and hearty soups are all in stock now! We can offer you Leek, Swede, Turnip, Sweet Potato, Butter Nut, Parsnip, Onions and Carrots. They are all available by the box or per kilo which ever is more convenient for you.
Sprouts Loose and Dutch Baby Prepared Sprouts
Loose Sprouts are now in good supply and very nice quality too, they are available in 10 kilo nets or per kilo. The Dutch “Baby Prepared Sprouts” are 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, a nice little time saver at this busy time of the year!
Spanish Satsuma & Orange Season
Juicy Spanish Satsuma’s and Oranges will be starting throughout November and once December is here, they will be plentiful supply all ready for Christmas! We stock large oranges, medium oranges and a slightly smaller orange that is perfect for juicing.
Avocado
South African green skin Fuerte Avocado’s are now available they are a good quality large Avocado with a lovely firm flesh and nutty flavour. We also stock smaller Hass Avocado's with the dark green coloured bumpy skin, they always arrive to us from Market ripe and ready to eat.
Christmas and New Year Opening Hours
We will advise all our customers of opening times etc, for Christmas and New Year in December’s Newsletter. Our opening times are to a point governed by New Covent Garden Market trading days. We wish you all a successful trading period over the next few months. Should you have any queries, please do remember to call our Sales Office, they are only too happy to help.
Tel: 01483 572469 / 07933 794863.
Thailand Floods
Heavy monsoon rains have been drenching Southeast Asia since mid-July. Parts of Thailand are now experiencing the worst floods in half a century. Due to these terrible weather conditions Fruit and Vegetables exported from Thailand will be in short supply. The goods affected are mainly Baby Corn, Baby Thai Grass and Lemon Grass.
Updated Full Product List
The Full Product List that was sent out with September’s Newsletter, is now live on the website, click here to view.
October 2011 Newsletter
Pumpkins, Toffee and Chocolate Apples
As this month progresses our thoughts turn to Halloween and Bonfire Night. We will have in stock towards the middle of this month, our usual full range of quality pumpkins. They will be readily available in the sizes small, medium and large and are sold by kilo weight. Toffee and Chocolate Apples will also be available throughout October and November.
New Season Vegetables
We are now looking forward to this Autumn’s selection of New Season Vegetables. We will be able to offer you lovely Parsnip, Swede, Primo, Savoy Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Courgettes, Leeks and just started this week those lovely Sprouts. All the vegetables on offer at this present time are a very good quality and are very reasonable in price. We can also offer you a varied range of Baby Vegetables, Ready Prepared Fruit/Vegetables and a good selection of Frozen Vegetables.
Potatoes
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. Bakers are available in 40’s, 50’s and 60’s size and washed Mids available in 10 Kilo boxes, all prepared and ready to cook.
We are always looking at ways that we can improve our services to you our customers. In order to do this we need to know what you think! We would therefore like to invite you to come and visit us, at our Wood Street main site. Everyone is welcome! Please just call us before you come and we will make sure that someone is available to make you a coffee and have a chat. We look forward to seeing you.
This month we will be advertising in local foodie mag GRUB. Many of you will already be familiar with this great magazine, and may even have spotted our Director Martin Cheesman in last month’s edition. However, if you are yet to discover this wonderful mag, that really does celebrate everything we love about food and eating out, then check out their website grubmagazine.co.uk
September 2011 Newsletter
We wish to welcome back all our schools and colleges, we hope you all had a lovely summer break, with September now here our thoughts now turn to the Autumn.
Autumnal Seasonal Fruit/Vegetables and Salads are now readily available they are all very nice quality and prices that you would expect for this time of the year. We have in stock all UK grown Bunched Carrots, Leeks, Runner Beans, Raw Beetroot, Blackberries, Broccoli, Hisspi Cabbage, Red and White Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Primo Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Corn on Cob, Courgette, Hot and Cold, Blondo Lettuce, Baby Leaf Salad, Iceberg Lettuce, Rosso Lettuce, Oak Leaf Lettuce, Round Lettuce, Marrow, Med Onions, Red Onions, Parsnips, Strawberries, Swede and English Watercress. All our produce is purchased fresh daily from New Covent Garden Market in London or where we can we always try to source our produce from Local Growers.
Our Local Potato Grower has started his New Season Crop now. The loose dirty
potatoes (variety Agria) are good for roasting and chipping. They are an excellent
quality and this all points to very nice potatoes through out the coming months.
South African Avocados are going to be short in the next month or so and
unfortunately this will make them a little more expensive than usual. Another line that we anticipate to be a little short is good quality Limes, they are proving very difficult to source at present.
This month we have attached our revised Full Product List to assist you with your
ordering now and in the future. If there is an item you need and it is not listed, please do call our Sales Office for assistance.
July 2011 Newsletter
As our existing customers may be aware we were pleased to gain our ISO 9001 accreditation back in 2009. We are equally pleased to inform you that following our recent yearly audit, our accreditation has been
renewed for a further year. As a Company we strive to always provide our customers with the highest
standards of Fresh Fruit/Vegetables/Salads and Catering Sundries and of course Customer Service. We
welcome all our new customers 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.
The weather has been lovely over the last few weeks and the rain was most appreciated by our farmers. 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. English Runner Beans have just started to arrive in Market and not forgetting those lovely fresh English Peas and Broad Beans all available now.
Tenderstem Broccoli
Introducing to you all an up and coming popular vegetable, which has been around for a little while now, only recently available to the Wholesale Markets.
Tenderstem Broccoli originates in Japan where it was developed using classical plant breeding techniques. The idea was to breed a more flavoursome Brassica by crossing Broccoli and Chinese Kale. Tenderstem has a mild, distinctive flavour and a texture more like Asparagus than traditional Broccoli. Tenderstem is tender from floret to stem so you can eat the whole vegetable. Tenderstem provides a tasty, succulent alternative to traditional green vegetables and is nutrient rich. We have in stock fresh daily from New Covent Garden Market Tenderstem Broccoli, it is available in 500g packs and we can highly
recommend this lovely innovative vegetable.
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 and nothing quite beats the taste!
English New Potatoes from Kent have really started to get going, they are good quality, good size and of course very reasonable in price. We will carry a large stock of local Baby New Potatoes (mids) throughout the summer, so for those of you who don’t like scraping potatoes these will certainty do the job! We have just started some lovely local New Season Fambo which are an excellent frying potato, also you will be pleased to know we will be any time now starting local New Season Bakers.
New Products
Don’t forget the new products we introduced last month they are all available now!! 100% Freshly Squeezed Juices, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Fresh Green Pesto, Red and White Wine Vinegar. The Fresh Mayonnaise that we have in stock now has received excellent response from our customers, they say its an
excellent quality and very reasonable in price. Please order these items along with your
normal order, for next day delivery.
June 2011 Newsletter
Exciting New Products!!
We are very pleased to be able to offer you some new exciting products this month.
- 100% Freshly Squeezed Juices = 1 litre/2 litre
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil = 5 litre
- Balsamic Vinegar = 5 Litre
- Fresh Green Pesto = 1 Kilo
- Red and White Wine Vinegar = 1 litre
- Fresh Mayonnaise = 5 litre/10 litre
Bumper UK Strawberry Crop
The warm sunny weather this Spring has helped ripen this years crop much sooner than normal. The sunshine has helped the strawberries to set and encouraged the bees to pollinate the plants, therefore boosting this years yield.
Potatoes
This dry weather is concerning potato growers who fear that this years crop could be severely depleted by the lack of rain. This season’s 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 now they are good quality, good size and of course very reasonable in price.
UK Vegetables
This dry weather will not give us any cause for concern for the availability of UK vegetables this summer. Farmers today are well equipped with sophisticated irrigation, so there should be no problems here. We have lovely Summer Primo Cabbage available now and the lovely Fresh Peas and Fresh Broad Beans have just started to arrive at Market.
Soft Fruit
A sure sign that Summer is on its way! We now have very nice Peaches and Nectarines in stock. They are a good size, much improved quality and very reasonable in price. We have lovely juicy Fresh Cherries (French and Italian) they are also very reasonable in price.
April 2011 Newsletter
A very warm welcome on board to all our new customers this month and we hope that you are completely satisfied with the service received so far!
We are all pleased to now see some milder weather here in the U.K. The warmer days and nights do help our farmers with all our home grown crops and no shortages reported as yet. Sprouts have now finished, but we have a good supply of quality Purple Sprouting and Spring Green available making a good replacement. French Beans and Mange Tout imported from Kenya have been suffering from extreme heat and water shortages, this will lead to shortages and inevitable price increases. Quality Brazilian Limes are not easy to source at the moment and we need to ensure that we buy only from the Bahia region in order to guarantee good quality Limes. All UK Old Potatoes are holding their price firmly and supplies are short of good quality produce. Sweet Potato from USA will only now be exported from storage and therefore there may be slight difficulties with occasional rot. Spanish Raspberry and Strawberry production is down some 40% due to heavy rain in southern Spain. There will definitely be a major shortage of South African Avocado’s this month caused by severe cultivation problems. New Potatoes are starting now and in stock we have Cyprus New, Israeli New and for a very special treat have you tried Jersey Royals. They are quite expensive at present, but hopefully prices will soon drop as their short season gets going. We can look forward to our own English New potatoes starting in early May, providing that the current mild weather continues.
Easter 2011 Opening Times
| 22nd April 2011 |
- Good Friday Normal Deliveries - Closing at 1 pm |
| 23rd April 2011 |
- Easter Saturday - Normal Deliveries |
| 24th April 2011 |
- Easter Sunday - Closed |
| 25th April 2011 |
- Easter Monday - Closed |
Please note all Freshly Prepared Fruit & Vegetables required for Good Friday’s deliveries will need to be ordered by 4pm Thursday 21st April 2011.
| 29th April 2011 |
- Royal Wedding - Normal Deliveries |
| 2nd May 2011 |
- Early May Bank Holiday - Closed |
| 30th May 2011 |
- Spring Bank Holiday - Closed |
WE WISH ALL OUR CUSTOMERS A VERY HAPPY EASTER
March 2011 Newsletter
Old Potato Season/New Season Potatoes
With this years old Potato Season coming to an end, we are experiencing difficulties with quality. At this time of the year good quality potatoes are always very difficult to source and this year is proving to be particularly difficult. If any customers are having problems with their potatoes please do let us know, so we can sort out any issues you have promptly. Also we are sorry to have to advise you that there are going to be serious shortages of potatoes this coming year.
Pancake Day—8th March
Don’t forget your lemons as Pancake Day is nearly here! We have in stock lovely juicy large Spanish lemons, they are available by the box (100) or individually and as always they are very reasonable in price.
Goods in Short Supply
We for obvious reasons have been having problems with supplies of produce from Egypt. This appears to have effected mainly pomegranates and spring onions. Although spring onions were a bit more plentiful this week. Unfortunately cos lettuce and celery will also be in short supply this month.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
After the appalling winter weather we have experienced, we are pleased to report that purple sprouting broccoli is back on the menu!!
Wild Mushroom
We have sourced a new supplier for our wild mushrooms (500g pack), their product is very promising. A good selection of tasty wild mushrooms and they are available fresh from market daily.
Berries
We have a good supply of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and redcurrants all available fresh from market daily.
Dutch Cucumber and Peppers
Good news Dutch cucumber and peppers will be available by the middle of the month.
Sundries
To remind our customers that we also can supply a good range of sundry items, at very competitive prices. A selection of which is listed below:-
Pure Refined Vegetable Cooking Oil (20 ltr). (Free collection of used oil)
Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (5 ltr)
Premium Quality Red and White Cooking Wine (3 ltr)
Please speak to our sales office for further information.
Cheesmans Sales Office Telephone Number 01483 572469
Charity Event for Chase Hospice Care for Children
(registered charity number1042495)
The Reading half Marathon—20th March 2010
Martin Cheesman is a very keen runner and on 20th March 2011 he is looking forward to running in the Reading half Marathon. He is keen to raise as much as he can for Chase Hospice Care for Children, which as you probably know is based just outside of Guildford. Any sponsorship from you our customers would be greatly appreciated by Chase. This is such a worthwhile local Charity that cares for very sick children. You can donate if you wish on Martin’s own online fundraising page as follows:-
www.virginmoneygiving.com/martincheesman
Many thanks to you all for any donation made.
February 2011 Newsletter
We aim to provide our customers with a helpful and positive Newsletter each month. We try to give you all some interesting information on current Fruit and Vegetable matters. This is our first Newsletter of the year and unfortunately it has not begun quite as positively as we would have liked.
We regret that wholesale oil prices have increased yet again. We therefore unfortunately have had to increase our price of the Cooking Oil (20 litre carton) accordingly.
The availability of all UK vegetables is fair, but prices are very up and down at the moment. This is due to the exceptionally cold winter we have experienced. The awful weather in Spain has also effected all their produce ie: Iceberg, Cucumbers and Peppers. We have been notified by New Covent Garden Market, that all Spanish produce will be fetching higher prices in the weeks to come. Bananas are unfortunately in very short supply and therefore are quite expensive. The first indication for the forthcoming Potato Season is that potatoes are going to be in short supply and therefore prices will be very competitive.
All Fruit and Vegetables arrive at New Covent Garden on a daily basis, via our road network system. With diesel prices continually rising this too has had a knock on effect to all wholesale fruit and vegetable prices. This is a matter quite out of our hands and we wish to reassure all our customers, that we always have and always will continue to strive to maintain the best prices and best quality produce for you all.
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, we will have fresh Strawberries, 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.
Seville Oranges are available now! With their very short season starting in December until February, get them whilst you can! Also available now lovely juicy Blood Oranges.
We will try to end this Newsletter by being a little optimistic!!! Spring is on the way!!! We can look forward to longer days and all the nice things that the Spring brings!!!
December 2010 Newsletter
The Christmas countdown has now really 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 lovely Christmas produce is available now! We have Fresh/Frozen Cranberries, Dates, Mixed Nuts, Loose Chestnuts/Vac-Pack Peeled and Cooked Chestnuts, Dried/Fresh Figs, Black and Green Tinned Olives and those
lovely Satsumas. Don't forget the Red/White Cooking Wine for those special dishes. Christmas always brings some problems with supplies and quality and we are not sure as yet what will be in short supply, hopefully all products will continue to be readily available.
We now have in stock Dutch Sprouts in 5 kilo boxes, all prepared and ready for you to cook - what a time saver! We have been able to negotiate with our suppliers a very competitive price for you all from now through until Christmas, for this very popular time saving vegetable. This time of year always proves to be very busy with Prepared Fruit and Vegetables and we therefore kindly request that you place your orders as early as possible.
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. We also have Washed White Potatoes a good all rounder and they 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!
Christmas Opening Times
| Mon 20th Dec until Thur 23rd Dec 2010 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Fri 24th Dec 2010 (Xmas Eve) | Closing at Midday |
| Sat 25th Dec 2010 (Xmas Day) Sun 26th Dec 2010 (Boxing Day) | CLOSED - CLOSED |
| Mon 27th Dec 2010 (Bank Holiday) Tue 28th Dec 2010 (Bank Holiday) | CLOSED - CLOSED |
| Wed 29th Dec 2010 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Thur 30th Dec 2010 | Normal Opening Hours |
| Fri 31st Dec 2010 (New Years Eve) | Closing at Midday |
| Sat 1st Jan (New Years Day) | CLOSED |
| Sun 2nd Jan 2011 | |
| Mon 3rd Jan 2011 (Bank Holiday) | CLOSED - CLOSED |
| Tue 4th Jan 2011 | Back to Normal |
We wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year. May we thank you for your custom during 2010 and we look forward to serving you and your business in 2011.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas Hot Line Telephone Number
01483 572469
Mobile Number for queries during
Office Hours 0793 379 4863
October 2010 Newsletter
We start this Autumn Newsletter with the arrival of those lovely English Apples. We now have in stock Cox Orange Pippin's, this classic English apple is often regarded as the finest of all dessert apples. Bramley apples are now readily available and this apple is rightly recognised by professional chefs and home cooks alike as the best apple for cooking. Grown only in Britain, the Bramley's unique qualities make it one of the most versatile ingredients, equally at home in a savoury stir fry or a traditional apple pie.
As this month progresses our thoughts turn to Halloween and Bonfire Night. We will have in stock towards the middle of this month, our usual full range of quality pumpkins. They will be readily available in the sizes small, medium and large and are sold by kilo weight. Toffee and Chocolate Apples will also be available throughout October and November.
We are now looking forward to this Autumn's selection of New Season Vegetables. We will be able to offer you lovely Parsnip, Swede, Primo, Savoy Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Courgettes, Leeks and just started this week those lovely Sprouts. All the vegetables on offer at this present time are a very good quality and are very reasonable in price. We can also offer you a varied range of Baby Veg/Ready Prepared Veg and a good selection of Frozen Veg. Please ask our Sales Team if you need further details.
As mentioned in our last Newsletter we have sourced an excellent Local Potato Merchant who is based in West Sussex and his first samples of Early New Potatoes were very impressive. We have now moved onto his main crop this being the variety Maris Piper and they appear to be the same good quality. They have an excellent flavour and good versatile cooking properties. Maris Piper with their cream skin and cream flesh have a pleasant floury texture and are an ideal choice for Caterers, as they are perfect for Roasting, Chips, Wedges, Baking, Boiling and Mash and the good news is that we will be able to continue to supply this particular variety from this grower throughout the Autumn and Winter months. If you wish to try some please mention this when ordering your potatoes, they are called Local Maris Piper (25 kilo bags). We would also like to point out that they are also an excellent price, they are much cheaper than the Reds and King Edwards. Bakers from this local grower are available in 50's and 60's size and these are also a very good quality. Bakers 40's are still available as usual. Washed Mids are available in 10 Kilo boxes, all prepared and ready to cook.
We would like to apologise for the lack of Tarragon available recently, although impossible to source for the last few weeks, it is slowly starting to become available again.
That's it for this month. We hope the weather gives us a little warm sunshine for the next month or so, to help general growing conditions. We will then be in full swing here at Cheesman's preparing for the busy time leading up to Christmas.
September 2010 Newsletter
Well that's it folks the summer is nearly over for this year. We were very lucky to enjoy some really lovely warm days throughout July, August was apparently the coldest for some 17 years - less said about that the better and September seems to have started with some nice sunny days. We wish to welcome back all our schools and colleges and we hope they all had a good summer break.
Vegetables
September is always a difficult month to predict, with the weather playing it's usual part in effecting crop availability and therefore prices. We do have a nice selection of produce to offer you this month all very good quality and reasonable in price, considering the very cold August we had. Carrots, Cauliflower, Primo Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Hisspi Cabbage, Leeks, Parsnips, Swede, Marrow, Courgette, Broccoli, Celeriac, Fennell, Corn on the Cob, Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash and Asparagus. There are still a few Runner Beans and Broad Beans available in the Market. Baby Corn supplies will be difficult till the end of the year, because heavy rain in Thailand in early August and at present means that the growers cannot plant new crop so hence expected shortages. French Beans, Mange Tout and Sugar Snaps from Kenya are suffering from bad growing conditions cold weather and lack of sunshine are effecting quality and therefore shortages of quality crops of these products are going to push prices up slightly.
Potatoes
Our buyers at Cheesman's are always conscious of environmental and economic Issues, that are now effecting us all so where ever possible we like to purchase produce that is grown and sourced in the UK and even better if we can source good quality produce locally, we will always attempt to support these local growers. We have been busy over the summer months sourcing quality potatoes for this coming Autumn/Winter. We are pleased to have teamed up with a large local grower from West Sussex. We have introduced his first samples to various customers during the month of August and they all report excellent quality, flavour and versatile cooking properties, so this all looks very promising for our Autumn/Winter potato supplies.
Fruit
On the fruit side melons are all good quality we have in stock Honeydew, Galia, Charantais, Water Melon. Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Red Currants are in good supply. UK Straws are now getting a little short, UK Raspberry are still available but recent rain has led to less produce and soft berries. We have an excellent selection of apples to offer Granny Smith, Brae burns, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Royal Gala and at the moment the new season cooking apples (Bramley's) from Kent are lovely. Other fruits that are very good at present are William Pears, Oranges, Mango, Kiwi, Paw Paw, White and Red Seedless Grapes and Clementines to name a few. The Victoria Plum season has started so make the most of these lovely UK Plums which are not around for long! There are a few UK Apples available now and we should have a few Cox's Apples available by the end of the month.
Salads
Last July we introduced Micro Leaves/Herbs to our extensive range of products and they are now very popular with many of our customers. These Leaves/Herbs (also called Micro Greens) are used by some of the top Michelin starred chefs in the UK. Micro Leaves/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 exceptionally tender and in most cases intensely flavoured. All varieties available at just £2.50 per pot.
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 DoTech Web Solutions from Guildford. We hope you like it.
|
Join our Newsletter