Wales’s best-known butcher has gone global – their ever-popular pork sausages now stretch round the world.
Sales of Edwards’ bangers have surpassed the 340 million sausages mark – strung together enough to reach over 24,000 miles around the equator, and they have released new packaging in celebration of the milestone.
They are in supermarkets all over the UK as well as in village and corner shops across Wales and the colourful new branding for their range of premium products has the silhouette of Conwy Castle standing proudly on it.
The firm’s founder, Ieuan Edwards began his business in 1984 on Conwy High Street, where the firm still has a shop in addition to their production headquarters just outside the town.
Ieuan said: “We’re very proud of our roots here in Conwy and of our heritage but we feel that ours is a brand for the whole of Wales and beyond, as well as our home town.
“Wales is somewhere that’s synonymous with high quality food. We know that the Welsh landscape and our lush green pastures are an important part of that and that’s why we’ve featured it on the new packaging.
“For example, all of our beef has PGI status – Protected Geographical Indication, meaning it has benefitted from the unique countryside and climate we have here in Wales, giving it a truly unique taste.
“We are Edwards the Welsh Butcher and that’s about moving the brand forward and emphasising the exceptional quality of our products and our passion for Wales as much as the food it produces.
“Although we’re growing, quality is still at the heart of everything we do. We still make these sausages with a similar machine to the one in our high street shop although that one is hand-powered.
“We are still using Red Tractor-approved premium pork shoulder to give the meaty bite and juicy taste our customers love.
“Our bacon is still dry-cured by hand and I still have the final say on the quality of every new product.
“We are still creating and selling high-quality, artisan products but we are selling them to a wider customer base.”
There are 26 products in the Edwards range, from sausages, beef and chicken burgers and award-winning bacon and gammon with seasonal variations for Christmas and summer barbecues.
Since 2004 their products have been stocked by all the major supermarkets in Wales and increasingly into England as well while the original butcher’s shop was crowned Best Butchers Shop in the UK in 2014 and has since three times been crowned Best Butchers Shop in Wales.
With increased demand in England as well the business has expanded by redeveloping its headquarters to enable the company to keep pace, taking on an extra 20 employees and also adding extra chilled storage, upgraded staff amenities, new offices, and a new product development kitchen.
It will see them double production to more than 80 tons a week with the £2.6 million investment self-funded by the company with additional support from the Welsh Government’s Rural Communities Development programme and a loan from HSBC.
