Happy New Year!
Dear Customers
We would firstly like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.
Thank you also for your support over the Christmas period which is always appreciated. In the current climate so many small businesses are really struggling however Fred and I are really pleased to announce that we smashed last years Christmas sales! We hope you enjoyed every spoonful of the deserts you ordered from us.
Since coming back on the 6th of January we have decided to create a savoury range which will cater for lunchtimers in the surrounding area and buffets to cater for any event from a small party or afternoon tea to larger gatherings. Its a big project which we intend to do in stages. Stage one is to transform the shop making it larger to house additional counters, a coffee machine, soup kettle etc. Within stage one we will also have a selection of ideas for simple buffets which clients will be able to order on line, over the phone or in the shop. We are also brain storming ideas on a delivery service within the town centre and express collections within the shop for clinets who pre-order as we know how precious your lunch break is and you don't want to wait in a queue with traffic or people!Stage two will be to add on a service option for clients where they can have a waiter/waitress service and hot food options.
So this week we are staring to put the lunchtime menu together which we will keep you informed on and next week we as well as finalising this we will be starting the trials in the kitehcn on reicpres and presentation ideas. This side of the project will take some time. Next week we will also be trying to find some reputable work men to sort the alterations out which no doubt will be the most challenging side of it!
Moving on to Valentines which is just 4 weeks away, our Valentines range in in the making as we speak with items going on sale from Friday the 22nd.
Next up is Mothers day and we have planned to have Mother's Day gifts on sale from the 16th of February. We'll let you know next week what we are creating....
Wow then its Easter! Who put this all on the calendar so close together!! This year its a little earlier and we have decided by popluar demand to organise the Childrens Egg Decorating day which we did last year and didn't have enough spaces. These dates will be announced next week so I will let you know what days they will be on and also the price. We had a lot of cards and thank you phonecalls last year after the event. The children really enjoyed getting chefs hats on and just getting sticky with chocolate! Our handmade Easter eggs and novelties will be on sale from February the 16th.
Lastly for those of you who are tying the knot either this year or next year we are exhibiting at the following wedddng fayres:
January 17th Crathorne Hall Hotel 12-4pm
January 24th Wynyard Hall Hotel 10-4pm
January 30th & 31st The Metro Radio Arena 10-5pm both days
We now also have all of our wedding cake designs on our web site along with ideas for favours. If you have any queries or would like to make a booking please call or emial us.
So I'll sign off for now and promise to be back next week with some inside information on how the savoury ideas are developing and with news of Mother's day products and Easter goodies.
Speak soon
Jane, Frederic, Margaret, Emma, Aimee and Matthew
P.S If anyone has any favourite sandwiches or savoury items please email us
Christmas News
Well the festive season is almost upon us so just to keep you informed of what’s happening here is an update on Christmas and what our elf’s are up to in the kitchen...
Mince Pies
Our wonderful handmade mince pies, which as many of our regulars know are made with our own mincemeat, will be on sale from November the 17th priced at 85p each.
Christmas Window
At Christmas we always make an eye catching window display which always gets a picture in the northern echo. This year we will be putting it in week commencing the 16th of November - watch this space!!
Christmas Desserts
Our Christmas dessert menu is now available so please pop in and take one away with you. Amongst the selection we have our beloved Berry Trifle, an exotic cheesecake and also different flavoured frangipane tarts. These festive desserts will also be on our web site from Thursday the 12th of November. Orders must be placed by the 18th of December but please note if we are inundated with orders we may stop taking them earlier than this date.
Christmas Chocolates
Our full Christmas chocolate range will be on sale from November the 17th and for the first year they will all be on our web site on Thursday the 12th of November.
Chocolates By Post
For the first year we are able to send chocolates anywhere in the united kingdom for you. Our standard postage cost is £7.50 and gifts can be ordered on line with parcels delivered within 3 working days. Log on to www.robineau.co.uk to view our chocolate range and place orders for this service.
Dates for your diary
November
Judges, Kirklevington - Wedding Fair
Sunday 8th: 11am-4pm
Living North Christmas Fair, Wynyard Hall
Thursday 12th: 10am-5pm
Friday 13th: 10am-5pm
Saturday 14th: 10am-5pm
Sunday 15th: 11am-4pm
(For a supplier listing and advance tickets which are slightly cheaper visit www.livingnorth.co.uk- this is a really fabulous festive day out with lots of present ideas)
Rockcliffe Hall, Wedding Open Day
Sunday 22nd
Invitation only
Times to be confirmed
‘Ho, Ho, Ho’! – Christmas is fast approaching!!
Panic!! So how many mince pies do you think we will make this year?? Well last year we made around four thousand and don’t forget we have all the mince meat to make which is extremely good fun when it gets to the mixing stage and reminds me of the old method of making wine with your feet!! Only joking we use really large spoons! After this we’ve got all the little tins to hand line which we got down to record time last year by forming a line up in the kitchen and blasting the radio for extra motivation!!
Anyway on a serious note we have started to dream up ideas for your festive tables. Last year’s winners were the exotic cheesecake and of course for the second year in a row our beloved berry Trifle. So by popular demand the Trifle has already been marked down on the dessert list.
Don’t forget this year you can also use our online shopping facility and send chocolates and hampers anywhere in the UK. We will let you know what date the Christmas products will be added on to our web site.
We hope you all have a great week and we will be back soon with more news about our Christmas menu, Aimee’s progress in the kitchen and hopefully news of our new range of chocolates and chocolate counter in the shop.
Frederic and Jane
October’s dessert of the month
Well after much contemplation we have decided to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Bramley apple and make you wonderful individual apple pies in delicious buttery sweet pastry. A perfect choice for autumn and you can make them into a dessert by making a pan full of custard!
New recruit – Aimee
A warm welcome to Aimee this month who has joined our busy team in the kitchen. Aimee has a sparkling list of achievements on her CV all gained at Darlington College over the last two years including a master class in chocolate show pieces and afternoon tea fancies.
Good luck Aimee and ‘Happy Cooking’!
Chocolate Macaroons
Our chocolate macaroons are well loved and we took them off our range for the summer months with the intension of bringing them back in the autumn. Well just to let you know they will be back on sale from Tuesday the 6th of October which will bring a smile to many faces.
Rockcliffe Hall – five twinkly stars
Staying with the wedding theme for a moment we had a phone call this week from Rockcliffe Hall asking if we would be their preferred wedding cake suppliers. The answer was of course yes and we are looking forward to our guided tour of the hotel and meeting the sales team. This venue is on track to be a five star venue and assessors have been visiting them since construction so be prepared to be wowed. The hotel opens its doors in November with a wedding open day planned shortly afterwards at which we will be presenting our wedding cake designs and services. The event will be by invitation only and as soon as I have more details I’ll let you know.
Weddings 2010
September always brings plentiful wedding cake enquires for the fast approaching New Year. Despite the recession, this year we have been inundated with emails and brides popping into the shop. Our estimate is that 2010 will be a really great year and new the web site has been timed to match the September rush. We look forward to seeing you all at forthcoming wedding fares at Rockcliffe Hall and Judges. Dates of these exhibitions have been put into our ‘Dates for your Diary’ section at the bottom of this page.
Welcome to our new web site!
Dear Readers
Well this is our first news letter and top of the agenda this week has to be this tantalising new web site full of mouth watering goodies for you all to try. We have poured a crazy amount of hours in behind the scenes to get the design just right and have added new services which we hope you will find useful. As everyone has busy lives we thought that we should make ordering a birthday cake for example simpler. Our gallery of celebration cake designs is accompanied with sizes, prices and interior flavours and you can actually order on line without coming in to see us. For our wedding clients we have done something very similar; we have designed twenty two really gorgeous wedding cakes for you to choose from and again these are detailed with pricing. Finally we are pleased to announce that our exquisite handmade chocolates can now be bought on line and sent anywhere in the United Kingdom. We hope you enjoy our new web site and welcome any feed back as we will be making a few tweaks over the next couple of months.