Welcome to Friars Farm, let us introduce you to our little company. Back in 2013 we had two micro pigs, some ducks and chickens and our neighbour called us friars farm and the name stuck! Steve had been left some land many many years ago so began to clear this and turned it into a small holding for the animals and planted lots of fruit and veg. From this our founder Steve began experimenting and perfecting different recipes for jams and chutneys using the items he had grown over a few years and decided to give selling them a try and the reaction was great! The support from friends and family really encouraged him to keep going and slowly the product list grew, along with adding more animals to the farm!
Fast forward a few years and with the success of market stalls and food fayres Steve began to produce larger batches for catering and retail. One of the first big catering opportunities Steve was presented with was Towcester racecourse where he provided products for their popular race meets. This was shortly followed by Silverstone racetrack. Their executive chef Dean got in touch, and they worked on some items that have now become firm favourites for race weekends including the Formula British Grand Prix weekend! Dean is now a close friend and has worked on several items with Steve over the years and is helping him with the new charcuterie venture.
We started to work with several farm shops, butchers and bakeries across Northamptonshire and some slightly further afield who retailed our products as a bit of a trial and luckily they kept coming back for more stock and we started to see our stockist list get bigger and bigger. Forming good relationships with our stockists has led to some incredible opportunities to create and produce their own bespoke products. Jeyes Northamptonshire sauce being our most recognisable. This sauce almost went viral overnight as it was featured on radio and TV.
Steve knew he was starting to outgrow his kitchen and in 2020 started looking at units where he could look to expand and really grow the business further. After a long search he met with some good friends down at Phipps brewery and decided to build a unit, so it was fit for purpose. We moved into the unit in the summer of 2021 and have never looked back! We now have the space and equipment to keep up with the demand.
When Steve built the unit, he knew he wanted to add some new ventures he had been working on in the background, so a meat room and cheese room were added to the plans and the Northampton Cheese Company and Northampton Charcuterie Company were born. Although they are still in their infancy the interest in them is mind blowing! Christine formally from Nene view dairy and Mark from Cheese on Towcest have been working hard helping to teach the team how to make the cheese.
We are so excited to see what the future has planned for our little business, but we are so grateful for all the support over the years to get us where we are today.
Keep your eyes peeled for new products!
