Two food and drink specialists from the north-east, Fresh Element and Ringtons, have partnered in a deal which will see the duo offer Ringtons coffee and tea in all four venues operated by the hospitality group.
Pete Hunt (left) from Fresh Element and Ringtons’ Stephen Drysdale (right) launch a new triple certified coffee at Baltic Kitchen at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Thanks to the recent introduction of Ringtons coffee and tea to both Six Restaurant and Baltic Kitchen at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, all Fresh Element venues are now solely serving Ringtons products. Fresh Element also operates the café and events at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre in Hexham and Eldon Garden’s rustic Garden Kitchen.
As well as supplying the company’s coffee and tea, Ringtons Beverages for Business out-of-home division is starting to upgrade the four Fresh Element venues with state-of the-art barista machinery and has provided extensive barista training to all employees.
Speaking of the partnership Fresh Element director Pete Hunt said: “As a supplier, Ringtons ticks all of the boxes – they’re local, independent, offer a great product and excellent customer service.
“In the early stages of the partnership we worked very closely with Ringtons which was launching a new triple certified espresso coffee to ensure that we were the first to try and serve this new blend. The coffee is certified by The Fairtrade Foundation, The Soil Association and UTZ and has the most amazing flavours of chocolate, dried fruit, brown sugar and spice and it has gone down incredibly well with customers. We are confident our coffee business is only going to thrive now we have a supplier who invests heavily in training, is passionate about what they do and who are clearly ‘coffee people’.”
More than 30 years after it launched, Ringtons Beverages for Business division caters to thousands of customers from every business arena and the company offers everything from coffee, tea and infusions blended and packed in its own UK factory, to edibles and ancillaries as well as traditional and state-of-the art coffee equipment, barista training and café design and a private label packing service.
Stephen Drysdale, head of Ringtons Beverages for Business added: “Despite traditionally being considered a tea company, Ringtons coffee business has grown substantially in the last five years. Our coffee sales have trebled in this period, the team has doubled in size and we have extended our own coffee roasting facility at our site in Baliol Park in north Tyneside. All of our fresh bean and ground coffee is roasted and packed for the Ringtons brand and private label clients at this site, and we have a fantastic reputation for delivering consistently great quality coffee. Launching the new Triple Certified Coffee with Fresh Element was a natural step to offering our customer even more choice and meeting the taste demands of increasingly sophisticated coffee drinkers.
