When our client Tony Charalambides from The Greek Farmer got in touch earlier this year to tell us how he was involved with a Channel 4 television series, we were very excited.
The programme is all about winning the chance to become a supplier to Aldi.
We had already supplied Tony with header cards for his charcuterie products. However, this time he needed more; a complete re-design and change from header cards to packaging wallets, to make his product ready for retail on the big stage. Read on to find out he started his business, won Aldi over and became a supplier, and how we helped.
In 2019, Tony began his journey with no prior knowledge of smoking meat, or even charcuterie, when he and his family moved to a farm in Hertfordshire. With help from industry peers, lots of research, travels to his father's native country, Cyprus, and huge determination, he began the process of converting disused areas of the farm into a fully-fledged production facility for The Greek Farmer.
He explains: "Fast forward two years to December 2021 and after all the blood, sweat and tears, I finally obtained approval to sell my produce. It was brilliant!"
Tony had hardly got The Greek Farmer off the ground when, in February 2022, he spotted a post on a Facebook group about entering a Channel 4 television series to pitch and potentially win a contract to supply nationwide supermarket, Aldi. Without hesitation, he applied.
Tony joined bakers, condiment makers, chocolatiers, dairy and alcohol producers, and everything in between, in a visit to the supermarket's headquarters. Once there he pitched his Greek Farmer charcuterie to an expert judging panel and was whittled down to eventually make the finals.
Buying MD at Aldi UK, Julie Ashfield, set Tony a task for finals day to shout about British provenance on the front of a mixed packet of cured meat and straightaway Tony was on the phone to us.
We were able to design and produce prototypes for him ready for the final's day in a very short space of time and it worked - Tony won!
His product was named the winner of his episode, being awarded a contract to supply Aldi's 970 stores across the UK.
After Tony's success, we refined The Greek Farmer packaging with him, making sure it would stand out on Aldi's shelves as well as being cost-efficient.
We developed a range of packaging wallet options for him to choose from and then helped him to refine the shape and size of the wallet to reduce the unit costs and help maintain margin. Suggestions from our team included shifting the opening flap to the side rather than the top, making it easier for his packing team to place the product inside the wallet but also to reduce production costs, as it was more efficient for us to produce that way.
Tony said: "Simon and the team at Newton Print's customer service was second to none, continually offering guidance on the best way to produce the wallets at the most efficient cost, providing numerous samples to ensure they were right and meeting our tight deadlines. I couldn't recommend them highly enough."
