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Catch up on the latest Made in Kent episode with Alia Pritchard
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00:17Hello and welcome to Madeleine Kent live on KMTV where we explore the world of businesses and
00:23creators throughout the county. I'm Alia Pritchard and today we're delving into the world of food
00:28and drink looking at everything from matcha to mashups starting with Kent crisps who just last
00:33week released their brand new flavour beef brisket and stout in partnership with one of the country's
00:38oldest breweries from right here in the county. Our reporters Lottie Mason and Joel Flencher went
00:43to the launch to find out more. Let's take a look. Kent crisps have specialised in unique snacking
00:49flavours since 2011. Oyster and vinegar or lamb and rosemary to name a couple. But today we're here at
00:55a very windy Chatham Dockyard. For the unveiling of Kent crisps brand new flavour. Beef brisket and
01:00stout flavour is just the latest of their collaborations using Kent inspired produce
01:04and branding. The company's previous collaborations include smoked chipotle flavour grown at the Kent
01:10chilli farm and Ashmore mature cheese made in Canterbury. Kent crisps ethos is very much about
01:15championing local producers and local ingredients. It is also about championing Kent and promoting the
01:22very best tourist destinations in Kent to drive tourism and benefit our economy. But the stout in
01:28question isn't just any stout either. The newest flavour is in collaboration with Shepard Neem's
01:32Iron Wharf. And it can't get more local than that, having been founded in Faversham in Kent all the way
01:37back in 1698. Beer and crisps are sort of joined at the hip. Secondly I've got huge admiration for Kent
01:43crisps
01:43themselves, for Laura, for the team. They've created a brilliant brand that really articulates Kent.
01:49They're very popular in our pubs. From a beer point of view everything we try and do has got a
01:54sense of
01:55place from the brand. All of our names locate us back to Faversham or back to our location. All of
02:00our
02:01ingredients in beer is about focusing on British malt, British barley, locally grown hops and this product
02:07epitomises all of that. We use water from our well, we create our own yeast so we're very much part
02:14of that
02:14Kentish identity. As a proudly Kent based enterprise the crisps packaging features some familiar and
02:20iconic landscapes celebrating the county. Their newest flavour is no exception. Well I think Kent crisps do
02:27this really well in that they choose leading image, leading partners from a range of iconic locations
02:35across the county and delighted that the dockyards being added to that list. When they said they wanted
02:42to choose an image from the historic dockyard to be the kind of the lead image on the pack of
02:48crisps,
02:49I was like well where do you start? There's so many kind of iconic locations, iconic photographs
02:55almost that you can choose from this place. And then partnering that with Shepherd Kneeb who themselves
03:00are a heritage brand with a history that's got a similar length of period actually as the dockyard,
03:07there's a real synergy there. It's fair to say they get our seal of approval. Lottie Mason and Joel
03:13Fletcher for KMTV in Chatham. And now after a light savoury snack it's time for a small caffeinated
03:20pick-me-up. Earlier today I spoke to Sarah Grimshaw, owner of the Sips at Sisu coffee shop in Rochester,
03:26to hear what it's like owning and managing a long-running independent cafe. Let's take a look.
03:32So for people who haven't been here, what is Sip?
03:37So Sip is my gorgeous coffee shop that I run with my family based on Medway City Estate and it's
03:44inspired by all the coffee travels that I've done in my lifetime. It feels very metropolitan,
03:50it doesn't feel like it should be in Medway and certainly doesn't feel like it should be in Medway City
03:54Estate but we're a Medway family that believes that the people who live here deserve exactly
04:00what people in cosmopolitan areas. And how did you get started in this business?
04:05When I met my husband he owned Sisu and there was a small little coffee area within the gym
04:12and I said that we could do better and so it was formed from a very very small coffee bar
04:18and over the last seven years it's developed into its own space, it has its own customer base,
04:23it has its own regulars. What have been your secrets to success as a long-lasting business
04:29throughout the Covid period and everything? I think always thinking outside the box and staying
04:36true to yourself. So I literally posted about this this morning, I think that it's very important to
04:43stay true to what you believe in your morals, your ethics. If you're just jumping on a trend,
04:48if you're trying to copy someone, the customer will see right through it and I think you've just got
04:53to stay true to what you do and do it really really well. And what's your take on the current
04:56matcha trend? Do you personally like matcha or do you think it's overrated?
05:02I love matcha. I think it comes from a really beautiful cultural part of Japanese culture. It's
05:10been around for thousands of years, developed in China and we've always had it as part of our menu,
05:17but I guess we were always ahead of the curve because it was part of our menu so we don't,
05:21we like that more people are being exposed to it. And what do you think sets your business apart
05:25from other coffee shops and drink places? I actually think our service. So my sister-in-law runs
05:34the coffee shop and she's just phenomenal with people and I think she makes it very, very special
05:39and I think that our weekend staff as well are inspired by the way that she treats customers. So
05:45I think that sets us apart. And it sounds like quite a family-run business. Do you think that
05:50affects the dynamics and customer experience? I hope so. I hope that people can feel the warmth
05:59and our passion for making sure that people are provided with high quality products and high quality
06:05service. Now, what is it like running a food-based business with no home base? Well, our reporter Kari
06:12Damani took a trip down to Dover to chat with Born and Braised, a food truck to find out just
06:17that.
06:18You can find food trucks all across the country, whether you're in the city centre or spending a
06:23day out at a fair. You can almost always rely on a local food truck, but what does it take
06:28to run a
06:28mobile food business? We spoke to the owners of Born and Braised here in Kent. Well, Harvey and I, we
06:36both
06:36met in a restaurant and we were both chefs. So we worked together in a pretty intense sort of environment
06:44in
06:44the kitchen. And then we just sort of, we got along so well that we thought, wouldn't it be great
06:49if we
06:49could do this with maybe a bit more laughter and a little less stress? And comparing the startup costs
06:54to having a restaurant and a mobile business, it's so much more feasible for me at this stage of my
06:59career to do a mobile business. Whereas with a restaurant, you have ongoing costs like staff,
07:06rent. Whereas here, this trailer is mine, so I can open when I please.
07:12Born and Braised work with local farms and suppliers to provide fresh food made completely
07:18from Kent produce. We asked Harvey and Tim about their process.
07:22Um, so please in the name, so braised, so slow cooked meat we specialise in. So we get our beef,
07:29venison, pork, and we slow cook it for six hours overnight. And then we add it to our burgers and
07:36our loaded fries. We are, we have a supplier, Broxell Farm in Kent, just up in Bossingham. Lovely
07:43herd of cows, has 180 at the moment. We've just got a cow in, we've processed it, cut it into
07:49steaks,
07:50minced the burgers ourselves, and made our patties. And yeah, it's as fresh as it gets.
07:56With such a wide variety of mobile food businesses across the county,
08:00we wanted to find out what makes Born and Braised stand out.
08:04I think people stick to what they know with burgers. I've seen a lot of classic beef burgers,
08:09you know, with the gherkins. But we do love pushing the special. Like today, we've got the
08:14brie and camelised onion on the venison burger, and that sells really well.
08:17The veggie burger, myself being a vegetarian, is very, very popular. I think it's probably an
08:23option that you don't often see. Being a mobile business allows Harvey and Tim to visit and cater
08:29for a wide variety of people and places such as Music on Curve here in Dover.
08:35Pretty much everyone's a new experience, yeah. You sort of have to get all your levelling right,
08:39your trailer, how we even got the trailer here today. Everything's sort of, you know,
08:44you're learning on the job every single time. Saturdays we do a local pub in Folkestone,
08:49and yeah, weddings, private parties, and we've actually got a week-long festival
08:53at the end of July, which we really enjoy doing.
08:56Kari Damani at KMTV, Port of Dover.
09:01And finally, let's take a moment to delve into the figures and statistics of Kent's food and drink
09:06businesses. Joining me this week to bring us the deep dive is Jay Blakesley.
09:17So Jay, how have people's snacking habits actually changed in recent years?
09:22Well, as it happens, they've changed quite a lot. For example, in late 2025,
09:27Innova Market Insight found that over 80% of UK consumers now snack between their meals,
09:32but what they're choosing has changed significantly. There's more clear move from
09:37traditional snacks, like chocolate or crisps, towards more beneficial snacks. A lot of that is
09:42being driven by awareness. According to an analyst from Mintel, around 71% of UK adults are actively
09:50trying to avoid ultra-processed foods, and 77% prefer products with fewer, simpler ingredients.
09:56So people are paying much closer attention to what's actually in their food.
10:00We're also seeing the demand for snacks to actually do something. For example, like boosting energy,
10:05supporting gut health, or adding protein. In fact, nearly half of UK adults now prefer protein-rich
10:11and plant-based snack bars.
10:13And earlier we spoke to someone who runs a coffee shop. Just how much coffee do we actually consume?
10:19Well, according to the British Coffee Association, we actually consume around 98 million cups of coffee
10:26per day. 80% of Brits actually visit a coffee shop at least once per week, and then 16%
10:31of Brits visit
10:33a coffee shop at least daily. The BCA says a reason why coffee shops are so popular is because of
10:38the
10:38variety of specialist coffees they tend to offer that you can't really make at home. And another would be
10:43the convenience of just being able to pop by whenever you feel like it.
10:47And how does that play out here in Kent?
10:51Well, here in Kent, we have a lot of different businesses as we've seen very recently. The food
10:56truck businesses, they've rised in a big popularity where street food has become a big part of local
11:02events and festivals. Things like the Canterbury Wine Festival, which is going on from the 15th to the
11:0816th of May. The Deal Food and Drink Festival from the 27th to the 31st of August. And the Aylesford
11:13Food
11:13Drink Festival from the 27th to 28th of June are all bringing together independent traders
11:18and independent food vendors within our county. Thank you so much, Jane. Thank you.
11:27Well, you've been watching Made in Kent live on KMTV. There's more news made just for you
11:32throughout the evening, but that's all we have time for tonight on Made in Kent. We'll see you next week
11:36for a brand new episode.
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