Fresh Food Manufacturing

“Why don’t you get a machine to do that?” is the most common thing our Head of Manufacturing Abby Talbot hears during December each year. It’s all hands on deck within our Booths Fresh Manufacturing department based in Preston, Lancashire.

The Booths team prepare a range of pork sausages, from cocktail and chipolata to Cumberland swirls and then roll them in bacon, all done by hand. Whilst there are indeed machines that can roll your pig in its tasty blanket, we prefer to ensure the highest quality by doing ourselves, by hand.

“I feel an immense sense of pride each December when the team are all busy hand rolling pigs in blankets, singing along to the radio. We all pull together to ensure we make the best tasting accompaniments to your beautiful festive meal and last year we rolled a staggering 400,000” says Abby Talbot.

Within the range of fantastic products this Christmas the new product development team have been busy cooking up a storm to bring some new moreish delights to our customers. These include our new Pork Belly stuffed with a flavoursome combination of pork mince and stuffing with honey, dried apricot pieces, thyme and some subtle spices.

It is not just tasty treats prepared by our teams, as they also prepare joints of meat like our new Galician-Style Sirloin Beef Joint which is dry-aged for 35 days in a specialist chamber lined with Himalayan salt for irresistible flavour. They also skilfully create our delicious Booths Beef Wellington, for customers who prefer something different to a traditional Turkey.

Abby plays an integral role in ensuring that all three of the Booths factories are ready for the Christmas rush, and planning starts in January. “Sometimes it feels like we’re only just taking down the decorations and we’re starting all over again, but Christmas is a very special time for us all at Booths. Our aim is to make and sell the best food and drink. Our customers trust that we will make sure their festive celebrations are special and if that means that we need to eat countless different new products all year until we pick the right one, then I’m of course very happy to help!” says Abby.