Supporting local businesses - or not!

[annedonnelly]

I was in a cafe not far from Dumfries today. After I'd eaten I went to look around the attached gift shop. I wasn't planning to buy anything but I spotted some chutneys & jams branded with the name of the cafe. I'd heard the waitress tell a customer that the jam they served with the scones was home-made and I've run out of marmalade so I bought a jar.

I looked at the label when I got home and found that it was made by someone with a PL21 postcode. That's Ivybridge, not far from Plymouth. A long, long way from the cafe that I thought had made it.

Both Aldi & the Co-op seem to make an effort to stock Scottish made products. I'd probably have been better going there.

 

[Drago]

The waitress never said  where it was home made, or that the factory is home to the night watchman.

 

[classic33]

Might not be homemade locally, but was it still homemade?

You try to help(local business) and then something like this happens.

 

[matticus]

Yes, that would irk me.

I'd heard the waitress tell a customer that the jam they served with the scones was home-made and I've run out of marmalade so I bought a jar.

It's possible the jam the sesrve on the scones IS home-made - it never makes it into jars!

 

[annedonnelly]

Yes, that would irk me.

It's possible the jam the sesrve on the scones IS home-made - it never makes it into jars!

Almost certainly. I was misled by the branding on the jars being the same as the cafe name.

 

[Oldhippy]

Similarly 'handmade/crafted' frozen meals, chocolates etc. Yeah right of course they are. I try to always use local services and products although difficult at times.

 

[wafter]

Almost certainly. I was misled by the branding on the jars being the same as the cafe name.

Perhaps time to make your grievance public via Google reviews..?

 

[Stevo 666]

They didn't say whose home...

Although in any event as the cafe is presumably making a turn on selling you the stuff, you are supporting a local business.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Almost certainly. I was misled by the branding on the jars being the same as the cafe name.

All that means is it was an order made for them.

When I buy own brand food at a supermarket I don't expect it to be made by the supermarket.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I looked at the label when I got home and found that it was made by someone with a PL21 postcode. That's Ivybridge, not far from Plymouth. A long, long way from the cafe that I thought had made it.

Hi Anne, yes, a bit misleading.
In fairness, she didn't say "made in house", she said homemade, but didn't specify in whose home
Once, I was on the Arran ferry, I bought a quite expensive (for it being Cheddar) Arran cheese for gifting.
On looking at the label, it wasn't made on the island, but somewhere else, I don't remember where.
Needless to say, it didn't get gifted.

 

[annedonnelly]

Perhaps time to make your grievance public via Google reviews..?

I could, but they're a small business and they didn't actually claim that the jar I bought was home made. Just misleading that it was labelled with the name of the shop.

I hope it tastes nice

 

[wafter]

I could, but they're a small business and they didn't actually claim that the jar I bought was home made. Just misleading that it was labelled with the name of the shop.

I hope it tastes nice

Yeah, I can see your predicament.. could be anything from an honest oversight to an intentional manipulation knowing that there's sufficiently plausible deniability.

 

[Windle]

This happens a lot, though nobody seems to bother or probably even notice. Whilst I suppose they're not doing anything illegal, it is misleading and probably a bit naughty, especially if they're making a big selling point of the jam served there being homemade.
It's maybe why the 'Protected Geographical Indication' thing was brought in, Newcastle Brown Ale being an example until they started making it in Tadcaster, then the logo was quietly dropped.
I'm sure there are numerous examples if you look hard enough, such as Scottish Shortbread, sold in Scotland but actually made on an industrial estate in Cleethorpes. Many gift shops sell their own branded stuff but it's just generic produce made elsewhere with their own label on.
The wife once spotted a woman from one of our local farm shop / tea rooms (which proudly advertises home cooked Sunday dinners) buying a bulk load of frozen roast potatoes in Tesco! The Arran cheese thing would have pee'd me off as well.
Visiting the Glenmorangie distillery years ago we spotted an articulated tanker lorry leaving, because of course the whisky is carted down to Edinburgh in bulk to be bottled. Nothing wrong with that but it spoils the image somewhat. The number of beers brewed nowhere near their original places of origin is another one. The modern commercial world eh .

 

[AndyRM]

Aldi pretend to stock Scottish products.

They don't.

 

[T4tomo]

Its a bit like Charlie Bigham's "Kitchen" actually being an industrial warehouse in Somerset.