On Friday 19th September, around 80 of Dovecote Park’s producers were welcomed to our Stapleton plant for the Dovecote Park Producer Open Day. This was the first time a factory tour on this scale had been attempted and we were delighted to receive such a high turnout and positive response.

The day began with a presentation from Waitrose’s Andrew Allchurch which examined the current state of beef in the grocery market in relation to buying trends among customers.

Once kitted up, the producers were split into groups and taken on a tour of the plant by the Livestock team. This tour displayed the Dovecote process from ‘back-to-front’ – starting with racking and continuing through retail packaging, despatch, boning hall, abattoir and finishing in lairage. With many of our producers never having seen behind the scene of Dovecote’s operations, this provided an interactive and informative opportunity for the farmers to witness first-hand the care and attention we dedicate towards the cattle which they work incredibly hard to rear for us, and to the resulting products we make for Waitrose.

After the tour, the producers were taken into the Dovecote Park restaurant, where they had the chance to socialise with one another and the Dovecote team over dinner and browse a display of current and future product put together by the NPD team. After a short presentation and welcome from our Cattle Procurement Manager Kate Sutton, the crowd were treated to an excellent butchery demonstration from our own Jeff Kirby and Retail Production Manager Ian Brown, which exemplified the fine butchery Dovecote prides itself on. Finally, Waitrose’s Heather Jenkins concluded the day with a summary and an optimistic look into the future of the beef trade.

Providing producers with a social and informative occasion, and an outstanding demonstration of Dovecote practice, the Open Day was a great success – Livestock would just like to express our sincere thanks to all the farmers who attended, to the NPD team and the butchers for their superb demonstrations.