Author: Sally Addenbrook

BRITS DITCH CELEBRITIES IN FAVOUR OF TRUE LOVE THE MORNING AFTER

Cheryl Cole and Johnny Depp come in second

Ahead of National Marmalade Day, which falls this year on the 14 February 2010, marmalade makers Duerr’s have polled the nation to discover the top ten people who we’d most like to have breakfast in bed with.

Key findings of the study completed by OnePoll revealed that:

• 27% of men and 30% of women would rather have breakfast in bed with their partner than anyone else

• Women would prefer to have their marmalade spread by American ‘a-list’ actors like Johnny Depp (15%), Brad Pitt (11%) and George Clooney (11%).

• Whereas British men prefer breakfast to be served up by more home grown celebs like girl next door Cheryl Cole (15%), English rose Kiera Knightley (10%) and finger licking domestic goddess Nigella Lawson (6%).

• Shockingly, it would also seem that women are more likely to be hankering after lost loves with ‘my ex-partner’ featuring at number seven in the women’s list (3.6%) and just scraping in at number 10 in the men’s list. (2.9%)

Women were also more willing to admit their ‘guilty crushes’ with Simon Cowell (eight), Prince William (nine) and Gordon Ramsay (ten) all featuring in the female top ten.

Despite their preference for British celebs men weren’t keen on sharing their marmalade on toast with Katie Price, Heather Mills or Kate Moss. Whilst women didn’t fancy a cuppa under the covers with Adrian Chiles, Chris Moyles or Gordon Brown.

Age doesn’t necessarily seem to matter when it comes to the breakfast tray as National treasure Terry Wogan polled twice as many votes as Gordon Brown.

Richard Duerr, Sales and Marketing Director comments “With National Marmalade Day and Valentine’s Day coinciding his year we want to encourage Brits to make time for a long lazy breakfast in bed. We can’t promise Johnny Depp or Cheryl Cole, but marmalade is a sweet and sticky treat that spreads just as well on toast as it does on other things.

“Personally, after my lovely wife of course, I’d probably have breakfast with Kiera Knightley while Nigella Lawson made us all a nice lunch.”

Duerr’s has launched a cheeky outdoor campaign to promote their jam range tocoincide with Valentine’s Day.

Jam, marmalade and sweet spread manufacturer, F Duerr and Sons has unveiled a new poster campaign wishing passers by a Happy Valentine’s Day along with the strapline “a great time for getting fruity” to spread some fruity love across Manchester and raise awareness of the fruit packed content of their jams.

The poster campaign is supported by online communications and a PR drive to strengthen the association of the Duerr’s brand with its hometown of Manchester.

Fifth generation Duerr and sales and marketing director Richard Duerr explains: “February is the month when we all need a pick me up, and getting a bit fruity on Valentine’s Day is a great remedy for these cold, grey days.

“Cracking open a jar of fruit packed Duerr’s jam is a great way to put a spring back in your step, great if you fancy a bit of crumpet, spread over toast when you’re treated to breakfast in bed, and even better when you decide to get a bit fruity.”

The Duerr’s range of jams include Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Apricot and Raspberry and are available nationally from Tesco.

Factory manager brings in 200 pies to feed hungry staff after canteen staff are snowed in

As the snow settled in Wythenshawe this week, staff at the Duerr’s factory in Wythenshawe were in danger of working on an empty stomach after the big freeze prevented canteen staff from getting in to serve the 200 employees their lunch.

In the midst of producing Duerr’s Fine Cut Marmalade, and keen to keep the production schedule on time, quick thinking factory managers Alex Murray and Gary Harper came to the rescue as they hatched a plan to head into Wythenshawe and buy 200 lunches from the local Greggs.

By lunchtime, staff at the Manchester jam, marmalade and sweet spread manufacturer were tucking into a meat and potato pie, and production continued as usual.

Factory Manager Alex Murray comments: “We’ve been doing our best to keep up with production despite the weather, some of our staff have been walking to work or car sharing to get in, and many have taken on overtime to cover staff who are snowed in so that we can keep the production lines running. With everyone working so hard, we had to make sure that they were all fed. So a meat and potato pie seemed the least we could do.”

Richard Duerr comments: “Up until about 11am we were hoping to be able to run a normal canteen but once we heard that key staff were stuck in the snow we had to come up with another plan. Luckily Greggs were able to keep the Duerr’s army marching on their stomachs …. I think a lot of people were disappointed when the canteen re-opened the following day!”

Duerr’s, which has been operating in the Manchester area for 129 years, employs over 200 staff across their Wythenshawe and Old Trafford sites. The family business fills 64 million jars every year – and a bit of snow isn’t going to stop them now.

This Christmas, leave Santa Claus a home made mince pie, filled with Mary Duerr’s 1881 luxury mincemeat.

The mincemeat, made to the same recipe for 128 years, is packed with cherries, roasted hazelnuts and of course a traditional measure of sherry and brandy.

The luxury mincemeat is rich and intense in flavour and is ideal for open and closed mince pies or for the more adventurous, for stuffing into baked apples with pecans and cinnamon, producing your own mincemeat strudel or Christmas mini muffins.

Keeping it in the family, today the 1881 recipe is still made by brothers Mark and Richard Duerr, the great great great grandsons of Mary Duerr.

On the jar is the simple recipe:  “Mix together the rind and juice of one lemon with 1 ¼ lb of dried mixed fruit. Add cherries and nuts, some finely chopped cooking apples and a good measure of brandy. Add a ¼ teaspoon of mixed spices followed by light brown muscavado sugar. Stir the mixture well. Cover and leave to soak up the brandy.”

Duerr’s Luxury 1881 Mincemeat is available from Sainsbury’s and priced at £1.99 for a 411g jar.

Duerr’s is stepping up in support of English fruit farmers a new premium conserve made with only English-grown strawberries, available from Waitrose.

F Duerr and Sons Ltd, the UK’s oldest remaining family owned preserves producer, scoured strawberry fields across the UK to handpick the finest, sweetest fruit that captures the English taste of summer.

100% of the strawberries selected were grown on Makins, Sturton Grange Farm in West Yorkshire. Makins grow a range of strawberries carefully selected for their excellent flavour including, Albion, Darselect, Elsanta & Sonata. Each jar of fruit packed conserve contains 227g of strawberries that have been cultivated in English soil.

The distinctive red and white jars feature a striking St George’s Cross along with all the familiar Duerr’s brand heritage messages that Duerr’s customers know and trust.

Richard Duerr, Sales and Marketing Director, comments: “Nothing evokes summer in England like the taste of a strawberry grown in our own green and pleasant land and our new conserve captures the intensity of that most quintessentially English summer fruit.

“The difference in flavour is down to the fact that we’ve used different varieties of strawberry. Typically Strawberry Jams are made with Polish Sengas which are grown specifically for the manufacturing industry. Our English Strawberry Conserve is made with three varieties which are traditionally grown for the fresh market so the flavour is closer to one consumers will recognise from their strawberries and cream”

“The major challenge which has prevented this type of product reaching the supermarket shelf in the past has been that UK strawberry farmers tend to grow for the fresh market and that’s where almost all their crop goes. We were lucky to find Makin’s who are one of the best known and biggest UK strawberry producers”

Chris Makin of Makins adds: “It’s been a tough year for English strawberry growers and it’s great to see a British producer investing in the local farming community to produce a quality fruit packed product that tastes like summer.

“I’m proud that my strawberries were selected to represent my country in this honour and I’m sure that the public will join me in raising a slice of toast to a true taste of England.”

English Strawberry Conserve is available now from Waitrose stores priced at £1.69 for a 454g jar.

Blackberry jam trees, marmalade pavements, mint sauce buildings and a tartar sauce sky all feature in a mouth watering new painting set to raise funds for The New Children’s Hospital Appeal.

F. Duerr & Sons, makers of jam, marmalade, sweet spreads and condiments commissioned local artist Lindi Kirwin to capture the iconic Central Library building in Manchester using the products available from their factory.

Named ‘Manchester Preserved’, The vibrant and creative interpretation, created at Lindi’s studio in Vernon Mill, Stockport and due to be unveiled at Broadstone Mill, Stockport, is set to be auctioned online this month. Duerr’s hope that the painting will exceed the reserve price of £1,000.

Duerr’s has joined other local businesses and individuals to take part in the Many Hands Campaign which tasks fundraisers to come up with a creative way to raise £1,000. The most creative ideas are then set to be judged at a Dragon’s Den style event by an expert panel, including Dragon himself, Theo Paphitis.

The Many Hands Campaign forms part of a wider initiative to raise £20m to provide state of the art equipment for the New Manchester Children’s Hospital as well as accommodation facilities for parents whose children have to be admitted to the hospital. The hospital is the largest children’s hospital in the UK and will treat over 150,000 children a year.

Richard Duerr, sales and Marketing Director comments “The work we do alongside local charities is extremely important to us as a family business. This campaign challenged us to come up with an innovative idea and we’ve been blown away by the finished result. We’re confident that our tasty creation will reach the £1,000 price tag.”
Lindi Kirwin adds “I must admit I’ve never been approached with a commission quite like this one. As I began to work with the jams and sauces though I got used to the medium, each product required a different approach and I used brushes, spatulas and my fingers to get the finished result.

“This project means a lot to me as my son was treated in Booth Hall Children’s hospital which will be replaced by The New Manchester Children’s Hospital. I know from personal experience that providing accommodation for parents whose children have been admitted to the hospital is so important for both the children and their families.”

Appeal Chairman Maurice Watkins adds: “We’ve had a great response to The Many Hands Campaign which seems to have caught the imagination of local businesses and individuals. The judging event should be a lot of fun and the lucky winner will host Theo Paphitis at their offices for the day.”