Business Profile
Atkins and Potts - A question of good taste
14th February 2008
Lovers of the finer tasting foods in life will already recognise the name of Atkins and Potts, which creates marvellous speciality sauces and so much more.
However, fewer people realise that this family-run company is based locally, at Ball Hill.
Both the name and mouth-watering recipes coming from this company will become increasingly familiar in the coming months and years as a major investment programme in new equipment and the employment of more local staff comes to fruition.
Giving the Newbury Business News a tour of the impressive facilities at Atkins and Potts, director Nicola Young explained: “Around 30 per cent of our business is about developing recipes and creating products for other people, names that you would recognise but we must keep confidential. However the majority, 70 per cent, of what we do is about creating products for our own brands: Atkins and Potts, Young and Provenance.
“We love that we come up with the recipes as well as making the products and we have a dedicated development kitchen where our founder and managing director Lindsay Atkins works her magic.
“We have grown tremendously, just two years ago we had 20 customers around the UK and now we have 750 spread throughout this country, the US, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Iceland, Holland and France.
“We are also very proud that we have so many local suppliers too. We believe in our local community and are employing more and more local people and we source many of our ingredients locally too. We have also sought out local suppliers of goods we ourselves do not make – like specialist crisps and drinks – but that our customers might also like to buy, and can therefore provide a more comprehensive service.”
So where can people buy Atkins and Potts delicious products locally? For a start Thames Valley Meats, just across the courtyard from Atkins and Potts in Ball Hill, offers a selection. So does Dunbar’s Delicatessen and Highclose Farm Shop in Hungerford, Church Street Fisheries in Kintbury, NJ Richards Butchers in Lambourn while in Newbury, products are sold at Jus Bar, Griffins Butchers, Natures Corner and Budgens; and the list of suppliers is growing all the time.
“This is a very special time for us at Atkins and Potts,” continued Nicola Young. “We have invested in equipment to improve our capacity, but we have also just won Soil Association accreditation and that underlines everything that we are about: producing a high quality product for our discerning customers. Not just the classic and contemporary sauces, jams and condiments, but increasingly we are becoming known for producing quality ingredients that people who love to cook love to use.”
Atkins and Potts
Tel: (01635) 254249
Fax (01635) 886238
Web: www.atkinsandpotts.co.uk
E-mail: info@atkinsandpotts.co.uk
