British game has been given a huge boost after the British Game Alliance signed a deal with one of the UK’s largest food manufacturers.
Responding to the rising demand for game in the UK, the BGA has managed to secure a partnership with one of the UK’s largest food manufacturers, Samworth Brothers, who have an annual turnover of over £1 billion.
They believe there is a several million pounds a year opportunity for their new game range across the Foodservice sector alone. This, in turn, will allow the BGA to lay down a significant amount of game in the hundreds of thousands for totally new markets. Meaning more BGA shoots will have a stronger market for their game next season.
A range of new commercial dishes have been created with Samworth Brothers’ chefs, including a game pie, a game pork pie, and pheasant and fennel sausage roll – developed using ‘BGA-assured’ meat, meaning it has been sourced according to the BGA’s strict regulations, from BGA member shoots.
These commercial game products will be available to consumers to buy at UK-wide stadiums, large corporations, public service sectors and other food service outlets, sold predominately through the UK’s leading contract caterers who have also welcomed the innovative game range. Other products are also being developed and trialled.
Game sales in the UK have risen by 8% in the last year and now stand at £114 million, meaning that an estimated 14% of the population now regularly consumes game meat. Waitrose also recently reported soaring interests in searches for feathered game on Waitrose.com: a 43% increase for partridge, a 36% increase for pheasant and a 12% increase for pigeon.
The BGA’s objective of getting the great British public to consume more British game is pioneered through its quality assurance scheme for shoots, third party assured through Lloyd’s Register to ensure its credibility, to give businesses and consumers the confidence in the provenance of the product.
Nick Anderson, group commercial director – Foodservice, Samworth Brothers, says: ‘Samworth Brothers is a business that strives to work with the best British ingredients, so our chefs were delighted to work in collaboration with the BGA to put sustainable game on the menu with a range of innovative and unique game products. We think this will resonate well with existing and new consumers.’
Ian Bell, BASC chief executive, said: ‘BASC is delighted to see the progress made to bring game meat to new venues around the UK. The partnership with Samworth Brothers is providing sustainable, mainstream and versatile game products to a much wider audience; it is a fantastic step forward.’
Tim Bonner, Countryside Alliance chief executive, said: ‘It is brilliant to hear that one of the largest and most respected food manufactures are producing the BGA’s game products in significant volume. The Countryside Alliance hope to see more suppliers and manufactures follow suit and celebrate great British game meat.’
Tom Adams, managing director of British Game Alliance, added: ‘We are hugely proud to be working with such reputable companies in bringing game to the masses in a format like never before. By using Samworth’s supply into the retail space, we hope to get a lot more BGA-assured products listed into more major retailers along with our existing food service operators.’
Lord Mark Price, former Managing Director at Waitrose says: ‘This is exactly what the game sector needs to ensure these great products reach the masses. Innovation and competitive pricing will be leading drivers to growing game sales in the UK. Through the BGA’s work, exciting times lie ahead for the game industry.’
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