Award-winning Scottish based food chain FreshMex has announced a partnership with the UK’s largest spice manufacturer, British Pepper & Spice (BPS).
FreshMex, which serves a tex-mex inspired menu centred on entirely fresh ingredients, have signed a deal with the manufacturer to produce two of their dry seasonings (“Tex” and “Mex”) in both retail and foodservice form.
The seasonings have been used throughout FreshMex’s menu comprising of burritos, fajitas, quesadillas, and burgers since their first day trading at farmers’ markets in 2015. The deal will now allow them to enter the retail market which they feel needs “spiced up”.
Operated by Robbie Moult (29), his brother Chris (32) and a team of 65 they currently operate restaurant sites in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and a Deliveroo dark kitchen in Nottingham. The brothers are excited for the potential of FreshMex in the retail market.
Robbie commented: “Working with British Pepper will of course help improve efficiencies in our kitchens across the UK with the foodservice deal, but crucially it allows us to enter the retail space with the confidence of a highly reputable producer behind us.
"We’ve used our original recipe rubs throughout the menu ever since we launched – from marinating our FreshMex chicken, as a base to our Texan-style beef chilli, to dusting on top of our popular spiced fries side. The new seasoning sachets will allow customers to recreate our award-winning menu at home.
"Having always been tempted by the retail space and at-home market, we packaged the two rubs in-house (by hand!) to great success at the start of the pandemic as a ‘trial run’, selling to local independents from butchers to delis.
"With the trial run a success and selling out, we began conversations with buyers from major convenience stores and supermarkets in Scotland to gauge what they thought. We quickly realised the need to work with a manufacturer who had the ability for scale and were really impressed when speaking with the team at BPS. We have been working with them for the past 18 months and we’re delighted that the quality of their ingredients and the processes they use has actually improved the end product.
"Our seasoning kits are versatile, flavoursome, additive free and half the sugar of the marker leader Old El Paso. Having BPS onboard also means we can be competitive on price. We look forward to spicing up the supermarket shelves throughout 2022 and beyond.”
BPS, based in Northampton, have a trading history of over 350 years in Britain.
Phil Harding, national account manager, said: “We are delighted to work with FreshMex as they look to enter the retail market and are very excited to see where this development takes them. With such impressive achievements and growth in what is still a very young business, we have no doubt that this next step will only further their success. With shared drive for innovation and passion for good food at our cores, our collaboration with FreshMex is a terrific partnership.”
The firm have enjoyed success in the takeaway/Deliveroo markets with their burrito being the most ordered Deliveroo dish from a single site in Scotland for the past 4 years running, placing third in the UK and 14th worldwide in 2021. The brothers say they are looking to continue to grow their physical restaurant locations and launch further retail products in the years ahead.
The Mexican food market has grown to become the UK’s fourth most popular choice amongst supermarket consumers and climbing. Old El Paso gained 2 million new customers in 2021 alone, with meal kits in the category growing by 24.4% year on year.
The project is also being supported by Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Government’s economic support arm.