Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear…
We look forward to bringing more light, happy times and sunny memories to our customers in 2021. This year more than ever before, as owners of an enterprise making and selling ice cream and chocolate, we hope to continue to bring cheer to all who interact with us. 2020 made us understand that our role in life is about much more than achieving just commercial success. It’s about Salcombe Dairy being a beacon of kindness, a celebration of good food and good times.
Food unites families, eating together indoors or sharing a cuppa outdoors brings friends together and brightens the day. 2020 was a year of chewing the cud on what was happening in the bizarre and scary world outside on picnics, ice creams at the beach, coffees by the quayside and gifting chocolate to special people for cosy nights in….As we reflect on the past year, we wanted to share three of the positive memories and experiences at Salcombe Dairy, both large and small, as well as our plans for the New Year ahead.
Our business is built around our team, and this year they have gone above and beyond the call of duty to open and close shops and factory on a whim, grapple with regulations which changed daily, remain cheerful and fair in the face of anxious customers queueing for refreshment in boiling sunshine, and keeping themselves and all those they were serving both safe and happy.
Easter in Lockdown…
Our first memorable moment was at Easter when all shops were suddenly closed due to the pandemic lockdown, and we were left with a huge quantity of Easter eggs to find homes for. Some quick-witted marketing via our creaky website led to enormous demand for our beautiful handcrafted bean-to-bar eggs, as grandparents and parents isolating all over the country seized the opportunity to send gorgeous Salcombe Dairy Easter eggs by post to grandchildren and children alike. With staff furloughed, the Bly offspring sprang into action packing up Easter eggs from our farmhouse in Chillington, South Devon. The demand, especially for dark chocolate Easter eggs, was so high that in the factory too, staff worked in family bubbles to spin Easter eggs by night to meet orders!
The learning we took from the exercise was that our Easter eggs were well received, but our website needed work, and our farmhouse kitchen was not going to be a viable mail centre going forward! We end the year with a better website, vastly improved photography, and a new packing centre for online chocolate orders in Kingsbridge. Well done the hard working team behind this – we’re now geared up to delight customers with The Bar chocolate – who can post a little taste of Salcombe to those in need anywhere in the UK, yay!
The Second Memorable Moment…
In the summer, a lovely retired customer of ours told us that she was enjoying meeting her friend for a socially distanced ice cream and coffee every week, sitting on the Quay in Kingsbridge beside the Salcombe Dairy cabin. The image of these two long time friends catching up with news, watching the world go by, and seeing the little ones crabbing with their parents, resonated with us.
In a world where fear and grief were abundant, it was a safe way to enjoy the camaraderie of friendship and support a local business. I hope this customer won’t mind us telling you her beautiful and apt name – it’s Loveday. We’re proud to serve you, and all, ice cream and treats Mrs Loveday Stone! Our trade customers have also told us some amazing stories of community…
The Third Memorable Moment…
At the end of the year we had the privilege of helping out Kingsbridge Foodbank. Our loyal aviation customer Singapore Airlines who we proudly supply from Heathrow, usually servicing twenty eight flights a week was grounded by the pandemic. The vast stock of ice cream however was not wasted…we donated 10,000 pots of ice cream to local schools, theatres and other charitable causes. The Kingsbridge Foodbank clients were delighted to see Salcombe Dairy knock at their door and offer to fill their freezers with ice cream – a modern day Robin Hood story which brought us as Directors great pleasure.
2020 was a year to be encouraging and kind, and grateful for the small things in life – such as a delicious locally made ice cream! Salcombe Dairy won another heap of awards for new innovations. Highlights were a Great Taste Gold award for our Rainforest Nectar dairy-free ice cream, and a globally recognised accolade for our Christmas Pudding Chocolate from the international Chocolate Academy awards….
We were so encouraged by these big achievements in the face of commercial adversity that we vowed to come up with a new innovation every month from now on. Exciting.
A New Salcombe Experience…
As we look forward to 2021, we are excited to tell you our big news – our factory, shop and café in Island Street, Salcombe is being expanded and improved so that visitors can get inside and see the chocolate and ice cream being made through glass walls. A Willy-Wonka style experience will throw open its doors in the spring of 2022, hopefully bringing more enjoyment and understanding of the ends of the earth we go to, to make award-winning ice cream and bean-to-bar chocolate. A warm and heartfelt thank you to our loyal customers, trade and consumers alike, for all your loyal support. We hope to serve and delight you to the very best of our ability in 2021.
Dan & Lucia Bly
Ginny & Nick Boscawen
