Tom Lock was inspired to launch Awfully Posh pork scratchings when he was a 17-year-old A-level student working in the store on weekends.
He told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Working behind the meat counter inspired me. Waitrose meat is of the highest quality and being surrounded by all that premium produce got me thinking passionately about good quality meat products.”
He sat on the idea for a while and then decided to do something about it.
“I’d always thought the pork scratchings in my local pub were hairy and brittle and thought I could do a better job. I looked at all the premium crisp brands such as Tyrells and decided to give pork scratchings the same sort of makeover.”
Outdoor-bred pork
He worked with a food manufacturer – The Real Pork Crackling Company – to develop a pork scratching product made with premium outdoor-bred pork and high quality sea salt.
The biggest challenge was developing a cooking process that would give his product an edge over the others on the market.
Lock said: “We came up with a product that is much lighter and crispier than your regular pork scratchings, which involved a lot of trial and error and experimentation.”
The final decision was to slow cook at a low temperature and flash fry.
Lock uses pork that has been bred outdoors to Red Tractor standards of welfare.
“In our sourcing policies, we’ve taken the lead from Waitrose in terms of what we look for in our suppliers,” he said. “They have to meet our specifications of pork and have regular inspections and BRC [British Retail Consortium] Grade A accreditation.”
Monosodium glutamate
No monosodium glutamate or other flavour enhancers were added.
“To this day, I don’t understand why most people use it [monosodium glutamate],” Lock said. “If you add sea salt to a joint of pork the flavour comes through much more strongly, which makes for a clearer-tasting product.”
This fact also enabled Lock to secure the Waitrose listing, as it was Waitrose’s free-from buyer who picked up the product.
“Free-from is a really big growth area,” said Lock, “and the buyer really liked our product.”
In addition to Waitrose, the product is stocked by Amazon, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Cook and a range of farm shops and delis through wholesale gourmet food supplier Cotswold Fayre.
Lock also exports the product to Thailand and the Caribbean.
“The business has made great strides, I’m amazed at the progress we’ve made,” said Lock. “It’s all happening a lot quicker than I’d ever dreamed of so the next six months is going to be pretty exciting.”
He has just launched a hot chilli flavour and is looking to launch jerky and biltong in the future.