In the third of our Meet the Producer series, we are off to meet with Andrew Calder, one of the founders of Calder’s Kitchen. Calder’s Kitchen was formed by the Calder family in 2015 after discovering Grandad Charlie’s original Piccalilli recipe and making it in his memory. The brand has since gone on to win numerous awards and accolades.
GR – Calder’s Kitchen has a very interesting back story relating to your Grandad Charlie. Can you tell us about Grandad Charlie and how he inspired the idea behind the brand?
Yes, people ask us about our story and my grandad all the time. The first thing to say is that our business was never planned. The Piccalilli found us through my Grandad Charlie, a few years after he’d passed away. I can remember my grandad making home-made Piccalilli from vegetables he grew in his back garden, so after we uncovered his favourite recipe I decided to make a batch myself and was blown away by the taste of it!
As I’d made quite a large batch, I gave most of it away to friends, family and neighbours and everyone really loved it so we made another batch and decided to try it out on the public at a couple of local village fates and charity events. It was at that point, when people told us they would love to be able to buy it regularly from shops that we realised we might be on to something.
This year would have been my Grandad’s 100 birthday – he was born on 16th February 1923 so we celebrated his birthday recently with a pint of Guinness – his favourite drink, and of course a cheese & piccalilli sandwich! Grandad Charlie’s image appears on the label of all of our products and is a big part of our brand identity. Customers love to hear the story which makes us feel very proud.
GR – Your Chillililli and Sillylilli provide a different take on the more traditional Piccalilli. What makes these products unique and what type of dishes do they pair well with?
As much as I love our original Piccalilli, our two spicier varieties take Piccalilli to another level. What I like most about our Chillililli is that it pairs well with almost anything cheese or meat related. It is the ultimate sandwich condiment with just a subtle hint of sweet chilli and a very fresh flavour. We have created a very nice brunch dish – Canadian Egg Burgers using Chillililli which can be found on our website.Sillylilli is one of our best sellers and has almost a cult following because there is nothing else like it out there. It has an Indian flavour and a little bit more heat which means you can use it in similar ways to the other two, but also with curries, Indian starters or use it as a cooking ingredient. Among our favourite recipes are my Mum’s Corned Beef Hash with Sillylilli or a vegan roasted cauliflower Pilau rice.Chillililli and Sillylilli were both awarded Great Taste stars in 2020, following on from Piccalilli a couple of years earlier and last year Sillylilli won the first ever Condiment World Cup!
GR – Do you plan to launch any new varieties of chutneys in the future or expand into other areas?
Last year we expanded into food service packs across our full range which has been an exciting venture. We found that several of our customers – garden centres & farms shops that have a restaurant or café – were ‘complaining’ about kitchen staff taking stock off the shelves to use on their menus. So we provided kitchen friendly containers and have found that those shops that include our pickles in sandwiches, panninis, ploughman’s or cheeseboards etc experience a big increase in sales of whatever they are using! We now have seven products in our range and have one or two other things in the pipeline for later this year.
GR – Are your products suitable for vegetarians and those following a vegan diet?
Yes absolutely. All of our products are vegan friendly and also gluten free.
GR – What are the company’s core values?
We are a family business who believe in delivering delicious flavours, adding value and being easy to work with. Customer service is everything to our business and we pride ourselves on building long lasting relationships with all of our customers and suppliers.
GR – What is your favourite product in the range and why?
Definitely Sillylilli. It’s spicy, but really well balanced and I just love the flavour. Mixed with mayonnaise, it makes the best Coronation Chicken sauce I’ve ever tasted. I think everyone should have a bit of Sillylilli in their life!
To view the full range of Calder’s Kitchen products please click here
