{"id":38980,"date":"2012-12-22T02:02:26","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T00:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=38980"},"modified":"2012-12-28T01:32:24","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T23:32:24","slug":"chef-luke-dale-roberts-collaborates-with-woolworths-to-make-christmas-food-festive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/chef-luke-dale-roberts-collaborates-with-woolworths-to-make-christmas-food-festive\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Luke Dale Roberts ‘collaborates’ with Woolworths to make Christmas food festive!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It has been evident this year that Woolworths and The Test Kitchen<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and the Pot Luck Club<\/a><\/span><\/strong> 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. \u00a0He has repeated the collaboration this year, and also featured in every issue of Taste,<\/strong> the Woolworths magazine, this year!<\/p>\n

We have been told that Chef Luke designed the Christmas range, and that Woolworths’ suppliers prepare it to his specifications. \u00a0Chef Luke is said to make spot visits to the suppliers, to check on the preparation of the close to 20 products in the range. \u00a0Anyone who thought that Chef Luke has slaved over the stove for the Woolworths’ range would be disappointed. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0One wonders how many Woolworths shoppers, other than the Taste<\/strong> readers and dare one say ‘foodies’, will know who Chef Luke is. \u00a0The packaging says: ‘We love bringing you fabulous new taste sensations. We’re thrilled to have enticed<\/span><\/em> (our underlining) celebrated chef Luke Dale-Roberts, owner of The Test Kitchen and Pot Luck Club, to collaborate with us on this special range<\/em>‘! \u00a0We are sure that Woolworths made the ‘collaboration’<\/em> financially viable, given that Chef Luke is doubling the size of both his restaurants, and that he is considering opening on Long Street too.<\/p>\n

What is surprising is the poor quality of the packaging design, the gold type not standing out well on the black packaging. \u00a0The food titles are long in most cases, which means that the type size has to be smaller to fit everything in. \u00a0There 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. \u00a0I 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! \u00a0In 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. \u00a0Even at the shelf it is difficult to get an overview of all the products in the range, given the poor pack design.<\/p>\n

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):<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Truffle, fig and walnut pesto 125g R44.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Blueberry, port and ginger relish 100g R29.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0\u00a0Beurre Noisette & Merlot relish 100g R29.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Root vegetable and microleaf salad with cranberry and sesame dressing 365g R59.99<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Prawn and avocado appetisers 200g R54.99<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Traditional Brie with dried apricots, nuts and maple syrup 650g R139.95\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Rooibos smoked salmon 200g R99.99<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Beetroot & Vanilla Gravlax 200g R99.99<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Chicken liver, port & wild mushroom p\u00e2t\u00e9 210g R49.95 (delicious!)<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Smoked Beef fillet stuffed with porcini mushrooms, chestnuts and Shiraz glaze R259.99 per kg<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Christmas gammon R124.99 per kg<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Peking-style duck with hoisin guava glaze 1,4kg R299<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Prosciutto-wrapped pork fillet with a date, bacon, chestnut and cinnamon stuffing R199.99 per kg<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Lamb shoulder supreme R209.99<\/p>\n

* \u00a0\"\"<\/a> Christmas Mess frozen dessert 1 litre R59.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Mini chocolate orange fondant dessert for 4 R59.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Summer Berry Christmas pudding 450g R169.95<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Vanilla Rooibos mince pies 4 for R39.99<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The collaboration of Chef Luke Dale-Roberts with Woolworths and its Taste<\/strong> magazine raises ethical issues with Chef Luke being featured once a month, while most other Eat Out <\/strong>Top 10 restaurant chefs only feature once a year at most, if at all. New Media Publishing publishes both Taste <\/strong>and Eat Out<\/strong> magazines, and Abigail Donnelly is the editor of the latter and Food Editor of the former! \u00a0Makes you think, as Nedbank used to say!<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 22\/12:<\/strong> I have just returned from the Garden’s Centre Woolworths store, where\"\"<\/a> 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. \u00a0It also has Silwood student Stephen, dressed in his chef’s outfit, advising customers about the range and attracting customers to the shelf. \u00a0 Ironically, he works for La Colombe, and not for any of Chef Luke’s restaurants! \u00a0He said that the gammon is the hardest sell, as it is so expensive.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com <\/a> Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u00a0He has repeated the collaboration this year, and also featured in every issue of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,266,20,21],"tags":[2803,32378,697,665,39,555,829,2875,17918,9799,17917,32393,32373,171],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t