Inverurie’s Golden Girls!

DON’T WORRY! Moorial hasn’t been vandalised, she’s just had a golden makeover in honour of Hannah Miley’s Commonwealth Gold medal success.

Hannah, from Inverurie won the first gold medal of the Glasgow 2014 Games breaking her own Commonwealth Games record in the 400m Individual Medley and went on to further success with a bronze medal, breaking Scottish records and achieving new personal bests.

Judy Whyte of Mitchells “The Dairy” Grocery and Tearoom in Inverurie said “Hannah is an inspiration to so many and we wanted to acknowledge her Commonwealth achievements.

                        

As members of Inverurie4u which represents the retailers in Inverurie we saw the tremendous response to Hannah’s wins on social media and thought why not turn our much photographed local landmark cow Mooorial golden for Hannah!

We hope Hannah will pop by and visit Mooorial on her return to Inverurie.”

Fellow Inverurie4u members Cheryl Rogerson of Vanity and Ashley Wilson of Interiors by Ashley commented “We love that in interviews Hannah always mentions the support of her family and gives a shout out to her home town of Inverurie.

Hannah is well known locally as she trains with Garioch Amateur Swimming Club in Inverurie swimming pool and at Garioch Sports Trust which is also an Inverurie4u member.

The town is bursting with pride for Hannah and we look forward to welcoming her home after the Games.”

We have received a bit of attention for this, which is great! Especially from the likes of the BBC which is a great reception and we think oor Moorial is loving all the attention!

However, she would like a bit more attention (she’s quite vain in that way), so if you are taking a photo of yourself with Moorial, then could you please post it to our Facebook page, or upload it to Twitter using the hashtag #LoveMooorial (with THREE o’s)! :)

Well done Hannah, we wait to welcome you back to Inverurie, triumphant.

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

Mitchells Competition T&C’s

Competition Time!

We’re offering our fantastic community the chance to win a fantastic summer relaxation kit consisting of a pair of flipflops, a Château Gassier towel and fold out beach chair as well as a nice bottle of Château Gassier rosé/red/white - but that’s not all.

We are also giving away one of our Mitchells bags so that you can keep your wine and your towel in it while you unfold your chair at the beach, or wherever, and get ready to relax.

All you have to do is ‘Like the Mitchells Dairy Facebook page and tell us who you would share the bottle of wine with, and tag them in your comment.

The competition starts on Monday 23rd June and will finish on Monday the 7th July at 12pm.

The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on Facebook.

If the winner fails to respond within three days of being informed of their win, their prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be selected.

The prize will be posted out to the winner.

The prize includes a a Château Gassier towel and fold out beach chair as well as a nice bottle of Château Gassier rosé/red/white and a Mitchells bag.

This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Facebook and entrants agree to release Facebook from any and all liabilities in connection to the competition.

All our decisions relating to the competition are final. No discussions or correspondence with entrants or any other person will be entered into. Management’s decision is final.

By entering this competition you confirm you have read and accepted the terms above.

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

New Grampian Food Forum Chairman ‘Moooves’ In

We have great news in the Mitchells family, Keith has been appointed as Steering Group Chairman of the Grampian Food Forum.

The Grampian Food Forum is a partnership comprising senior members of the food and drink industry in the North East of Scotland and the main development agencies in the area, and provides an opportunity for companies from different sectors to learn from each other and to exchange ideas.

Keith said: “I am delighted to take on the position as I see the food and drink industry as a valuable contributor to the local economy. The Grampian Food Forum, which was established in 1993, has a great story to tell and I am keen to encourage food and drink businesses to get involved and benefit from the well established network of contacts that has been built up”. 

His right hand lady will not be his wife Judy, however, it will be Claire Rennie, founder of Berry Scrumptious, an innovative local business producing berry flavoured confectionery using their own fruit from the farm near Fraserburgh and now a new range of Summerhouse Drinks. 

According to the “North-east Food and Drink Sector Survey 2014” the industry continues to deliver premium products and services and supports around 22,000 jobs in the area.

This will only increase as 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink and the Grampian Food Forum is preparing for a busy year including VisitScotland Expo and Roots Europe Conference 

Bringing many visitors both from abroad and in the UK to the area who will sample the quality produce that is readily available, so Keith and Claire will have their hands full. 

The GFF runs many different events such as the Innovation Awards, the Dining Club, and is also a partner in the Taste of Grampian one-day food and drink festival, which takes place on Saturday, 7 June. 

This is where we were approached by one of Paul Hollywood’s staff which led to our oatcakes and Judy being on national television, so this event holds a great place in our hearts and Keith is very proud to be a part of it. 

We are proud of Keith, and Keith is proud of this honour and can’t wait to get to work as the new Grampian Food Forum Chairman!

If you want to find out more about Keith’s involvement in the GFF and how Mitchells encourages healthy eating and sustainability, and helps contribute to the local community in Inverurie, please feel free to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. 

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

With Love from Australia

As you all know by now, we recently won two awards at the Scottish Grocer Awards, and since then, we have received many congratulatory messages from close neighbours, and distant friends.

None, incidentally, were more distant than the lovely email we received from Elma Black, a lady with family connections in Aberdeenshire who lives in Australia.

Elma watches the Inverurie webcam in the early evening in Australia, and often sees our Mooorial moooving out of the shop into her space on the pavement.

As a treat during her holiday in Scotland last year, her family arranged for her to be here early one morning to mooove Mooorial out.

Afterwards, Elma and her husband enjoyed breakfast in The Dairy Tearoom and a spot of shopping for foodie presents to take home to Australia.

However, it isn’t just Mooorial who is milking all Elma’s attention - Daisy, Moorials cousin from downunder, stands happily outside the local supermarket in Berry, the next village to Elma’s.

The township of Berry has very strong Scottish connections, as the Berry brothers (Alexander and David) who pioneered the area in the early 1800s, were born in Cupar Fifeshire and bequeathed £100,000 to St. Andrews University where Alexander had studied medicine.

In fact, Berry’s mayor recently sent a request for William, Kate and baby George to spend some time in the area ahead of their tour of Australia and New Zealand.

She used the fact that without Alexander Berry’s bequest, there would not have been a viable St. Andrews University, so in fact, the Berry brothers were responsible for them meeting each other!

Unfortunately, she didn’t succeed in her request - but we can’t blame her for trying can we?

Does anyone else have any photos with Mooorial, or any stories that they would like to share? Or do you have any of Mooorial’s long lost relatives that you would like us to see?

Get in touch on Facebook or Twitter, or upload your photo to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #MooorialMemories and we will share our favourites online.

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the share buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

Why We're Sustainable and Health Promoting Retailer of the Year

As we revealed in our previous blog post, Mitchells scooped two awards, the Sustainable Retailer of the Year and Health Promoting Retailer of the Year, at last month’s Scottish Grocer Awards.

But what is it that made Mitchells stand out from the rest of the nominees? In this blog post, we thought we would tell you a little more about the small things that we do to encourage healthy eating and sustainability, and how they go a long way to benefiting the local community.

At Mitchells, we constantly seek to improve our working practices in order to be as sustainable as possible, and the Sustainable Retailer of the Year award, sponsored by Resource Efficient Scotland, paid homage to our increasing awareness of environmental issues.

Our company vans run on biofuel, our waste cardboard is baled and collected for recycling into more cardboard, and by trading with local companies, from bakers to farmers, we cut down on food miles and lower the business’s carbon footprint.

Food waste, meanwhile, is minimised by careful management of date-marked products; some of it goes to feed local pigs and the remainder is collected by a waste management company and turned into compost.

This compost is not only used by local farmers as a nutrient source for their cropping programmes, reducing reliance on artificial fertilisers, but we also use the compost for our hanging baskets and window/roof boxes flower displays helping, enhancing the appearance of not only our business but that of the town itself.

The Health Promoting Retailer of the Year, meanwhile, recognised us for the role we have played in helping to create a healthier Scotland.

Our business philosophy says it all – ‘Naturally we’re Local’. Fresh, locally produced food plays a big part in a balanced, healthy diet, and naturally, we concentrate on providing high quality local produce as well as excellent fruit and veg, and deli produce.

Local suppliers are very important to us, and we are incredibly proud to say that our shop currently stocks almost 70% of locally produced or sourced goods and our tearoom nearly 80%.

Seasonality, provenance, and food miles are important to us and to our customers, and where possible, we source locally and in season direct from the producers, and use Scottish suppliers for as many of the core range of goods as possible.

One of the most satisfying things is too see more and more young customers coming through the door who are thinking more and more about where their food comes from, especially in terms of fruit and vegetables, meat, bread, dairy, and fish.

Fish, in particular, are good sources of many vitamins and minerals, and as most of you now know, we have teamed up with Downies of Whitehills to introduce a Fresh Fish counter into our store.

If you want to find out more about how Mitchells encourages healthy eating and sustainability, and helps contribute to the local community in Inverurie, please feel free to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

 

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

Mitchells Dairy are Cream of the Crop

As we’re sure you noticed on Facebook and Twitter, we were delighted to have won two awards at last week’s Scottish Grocer Awards at a glittering black-tie ceremony in Glasgow’s five-star Hilton Hotel.

The Scottish Grocer Awards, which were hosted by sports TV presenter Georgie Thompson, with entertainment from comedian and magician Pete Firman, recognised the best in Scotland’s community retailing scene.

Fortunately for us, the best included Mitchells - as we landed the Sustainable Retailer of the Year and Health Promoting Retailer of the Year!

The Sustainable Retailer of the Year award, sponsored by Resource Efficient Scotland, paid homage to our increasing awareness of environmental issues, while the Health Promoting Retailer of the Year recognised us for the role we have played in helping to create a healthier Scotland.

Thank you to all our friends and customers for your kind wishes and continued support. Our fantastic team always strive to provide the freshest, tastiest and healthiest products to our local community in Inverurie, so we were over the moon to be rewarded for our efforts.

You can see some of the photos from the evening below, and once we receive the official photos, you will be the first to see them!

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

Shake Up Your Wake Up With Mitchells

Are you one of the 50% of people who skip breakfast at some point during the week? Or one of the 21% of people who do so purely to spend longer in bed? If so, this week is the time to change - as it is Farmhouse Breakfast Week!

Organised on behalf of UK cereal farmers and producers who grow crops such as wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape, Farmhouse Breakfast Week and the Shake Up Your Wake Up campaign encourages more people to enjoy a healthy and tasty breakfast.

The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and demonstrate the wealth of wonderful breakfast produce available around the country - and we will be doing our bit to support the campaign at Mitchells Dairy.

Running from Monday 27th January to Saturday 1st February, we will be offering our great selection of tasty breakfast options from 7.30am - 5.30pm - and regardless or whether you sit in or take away your breakfast as food on the mooove, there is no better way to start your day.

Breakfast options include hot filled rolls (bacon/sausage/egg or a combination), cereal, toast, croissants, butteries, fresh homemade scones, porridge and eggs/omelettes.

If you are looking for healthy breakfast options, you can purchase wholegrains, rapeseed oil and oats from our Grocery Shop, or if you want to forget about your diet for just one day, why not indulge in our all day breakfast - a plate brimming with hearty home-cooked, locally produced eggs and sausages and a whole lot more?

Whatever type of breakfast you choose, we look forward to welcoming you throughout Farmhouse Breakfast Week and helping to Shake Up Your Wake Up!

You can see Mitchells’ promotion on the Farmhouse Breakfast Week site HERE, as well as any other local events at the Events and Promotions page, and if you do visit us, remember to pick up a complimentary Easy and Tasty Recipe booklet.

If you want to help support Breakfast Week, why not send us in your photos of your Mitchells Dairy breakfasts from the Dairy Tearoom, or ones that you have cooked at home using our delicious ingredients from the Grocery Shop?

Simply upload your breakfast photos to the Mitchells' Facebook page, or upload them to Twitter or Instagram. If you do so, use the hashtag #BreakfastWeek, as you could be in with a chance of winning a UK seaside break courtesy of Shake Up Your Wake Up!

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

Celebrate Burns Night with Mitchells Dairy

If you are planning on beating the winter blues and having a Burns Night celebration this weekend, you will be glad to know that you can find everything you need at Mitchells Dairy.

From locally grown neeps and tatties, to a range of haggis from the likes of Macsween of Edinburgh, Scotts of Huntly (a Scottish Haggis championship winner no less!) and Presly of Oldmeldrum, we can guarantee you won’t need to look elsewhere for your traditional Burns Supper ingredients.

Of course, a delicious dessert is a fitting ending to any Burns Supper, so to complete your meal in style, how about a mouthwatering combination of Mitchells Crannachan ice cream made by Rizza’s of Huntly, raspberries from Barra Berries, and toasted Aberdeenshire oats to give a true taste of Scotland?

If you fancy yourself as something of an amateur baker, you may even want to try your hand at Paul Hollywood’s Cranachan Cheesecake, which featured on Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds, and which imaginatively used Mitchells’ handmade oatcakes as the base of the dessert.

If you aren’t quite full by then, we also have a wide selection of Scottish shortbread and cheeses, which are absolutely delicious with our aforementioned handmade oatcakes.

Of course, no Burns Supper is complete without whisky, and you will be glad to know that we have a great range of whisky at very competitive prices to toast the Bard.

To ensure you have your ingredients in time for Burns Night, simply ask in-store at the deli counter. If you would like any haggis or Burns Night items sent to family or friends anywhere in the UK, please contact us on info@mitchells-scotland.com and we will be happy to help.

We hope you all have a fantastic Burns Night, and from everyone at Mitchells Dairy - to the immortal memory of Robert Burns!

If you are having a Burns Night celebration, please share your pictures with us on Facebook and Twitter, and feel free to share your recipes with us too - we would love to tell our community about them.

 

Make Sure You Follow Us Online

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.