It has been evident this year that Woolworths and The Test Kitchen and the Pot Luck Club Chef and owner Luke Dale-Roberts have a business relationship, which began last Christmas when Chef Luke designed a Christmas food range for the retailer. He has repeated the collaboration this year, and also featured in every issue of Taste, the Woolworths magazine, this year!
We have been told that Chef Luke designed the Christmas range, and that Woolworths’ suppliers prepare it to his specifications. Chef Luke is said to make spot visits to the suppliers, to check on the preparation of the close to 20 products in the range. Anyone who thought that Chef Luke has slaved over the stove for the Woolworths’ range would be disappointed. The packaging is not very clear on the issue, the products carrying the LUKE DALE ROBERTS sub brand, the first name type size being substantially larger that that of his surname. One wonders how many Woolworths shoppers, other than the Taste readers and dare one say ‘foodies’, will know who Chef Luke is. The packaging says: ‘We love bringing you fabulous new taste sensations. We’re thrilled to have enticed (our underlining) celebrated chef Luke Dale-Roberts, owner of The Test Kitchen and Pot Luck Club, to collaborate with us on this special range‘! We are sure that Woolworths made the ‘collaboration’ financially viable, given that Chef Luke is doubling the size of both his restaurants, and that he is considering opening on Long Street too.
What is surprising is the poor quality of the packaging design, the gold type not standing out well on the black packaging. The food titles are long in most cases, which means that the type size has to be smaller to fit everything in. There is no overall branding in the fridge displaying the range, and one could miss the fridge and its contents if one was not looking for it specifically. I had to ask a manager to show me the section in the V&A Waterfront branch, and he volunteered that the range is very expensive, and selling slowly! In winter we found some leftover ice cream from the 2011 Christmas range in the freezer of the Hout Bay Woolworths store. It would have helped if a Christmas menu were to be available at the shelves, to encourage one to buy more items in the range. Even at the shelf it is difficult to get an overview of all the products in the range, given the poor pack design.
The Luke Dale-Roberts Woolworths range is the following (with grateful thanks to the very service-orientated manager at the Kloof Street branch, which only stocks the Brie):
* Truffle, fig and walnut pesto 125g R44.95
* Blueberry, port and ginger relish 100g R29.95
* Beurre Noisette & Merlot relish 100g R29.95
* Root vegetable and microleaf salad with cranberry and sesame dressing 365g R59.99
* Prawn and avocado appetisers 200g R54.99
* Traditional Brie with dried apricots, nuts and maple syrup 650g R139.95
* Rooibos smoked salmon 200g R99.99
* Beetroot & Vanilla Gravlax 200g R99.99
* Chicken liver, port & wild mushroom pâté 210g R49.95 (delicious!)
* Smoked Beef fillet stuffed with porcini mushrooms, chestnuts and Shiraz glaze R259.99 per kg
* Christmas gammon R124.99 per kg
* Peking-style duck with hoisin guava glaze 1,4kg R299
* Prosciutto-wrapped pork fillet with a date, bacon, chestnut and cinnamon stuffing R199.99 per kg
* Lamb shoulder supreme R209.99
* 
Christmas Mess frozen dessert 1 litre R59.95
* Mini chocolate orange fondant dessert for 4 R59.95
* Summer Berry Christmas pudding 450g R169.95
* Vanilla Rooibos mince pies 4 for R39.99
Surprising is that there is no cross-selling or wine pairing suggestions for the Luke Dale-Roberts range, something Woolworths seems to forget regularly, in not thinking of marrying its food and wine ranges for promotions.
The collaboration of Chef Luke Dale-Roberts with Woolworths and its Taste magazine raises ethical issues with Chef Luke being featured once a month, while most other Eat Out Top 10 restaurant chefs only feature once a year at most, if at all. New Media Publishing publishes both Taste and Eat Out magazines, and Abigail Donnelly is the editor of the latter and Food Editor of the former! Makes you think, as Nedbank used to say!
POSTSCRIPT 22/12: I have just returned from the Garden’s Centre Woolworths store, where
the Luke Dale-Roberts Christmas range is branded at the top of the fridge, and has a banner at the side, unlike the V&A Waterfront store. It also has Silwood student Stephen, dressed in his chef’s outfit, advising customers about the range and attracting customers to the shelf. Ironically, he works for La Colombe, and not for any of Chef Luke’s restaurants! He said that the gammon is the hardest sell, as it is so expensive.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage