Love Lamb week campaign boosted in local community by special event
2nd September 2021
The success of the annual Love Lamb week campaign is often boosted by farmers working with their local communities to support themed Love Lamb activities.
That has certainly been the case in NSA Marches Region after local farmer Mike Credland approached local pub, The Alma Inn, near Ross on Wye to help organise its annual Love Lamb Week promotion.
Landlady of The Alma, Gemma Evans explains:
How did the week come about?
“Local sheep farmer Mike Credland initially provided us with some amazing lamb cutlets to kick off our Love Lamb activity back in 2015, not long after we had taken over the pub. We cooked up the cutlets and simply passed them around to customers at the pub over a couple of weekends, with a large pot of mint sauce! This went down extremely well.
“Thereafter, when our food business was established, we knew we wanted to promote lamb on our menu. We have been buying lamb directly from Mike ever since and running a Love Lamb Week promotion every year.“
How successful has it been?
“Our Love Lamb weeks have been very successful. We have increased demand from diners during the week and I would estimate that 50% of customers who dine with us during the campaign go for special lamb dishes that we add to our menu.
“The promotion on The Alma Facebook page gets a lot of interest which is good for the pub and good for lamb consumption of course!”
What feedback have you had from customers?
“Feedback is always positive. Customers particularly like the fact that the lamb is so local and they also like to see something different on the menu. We offer a range of meals using different cuts and they all seem to appeal equally!”
Mike Credland, of Mayhill Lamb and NSA English Committee member says: “We have worked with Dan and Gemma at the Alma for several years now and the week long Love Lamb campaign always goes very well. We provide the pub with five or six of our home bred Charollais x Suffolk lambs of specification U3L that are born at the beginning of April. We arrange their processing and deliver them packed into prime cuts and joints as required for the chef’s special Love Lamb menu. The arrangement has been very successful, and we believe the customers enjoy the product that has good provenance and of course tastes delicious!”
Celebrating Love Lamb within your local community really boosts the campaign message, perhaps there is a local business you could approach to work with or encourage to apply for point of sale kits from a UK levy body.
