A WORCESTERSHIRE couple will go head to head with British suppliers for a place on Aldi’s shelves this Christmas
Justine Owens, 51, and Colin Bannister, 59, will appear on Channel 4’s, Aldi’s Christmas Secrets, on Monday (December 18) at 9pm.
The programme sees British suppliers put festive foodie creations to Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, Julie Ashfield, and Communications Director at Aldi UK, Richard Thornton, for the chance to land a life changing contract for the festive season.
The couple run The Pudding Shop in Upton on Severn which produces traditional steamed sponge puddings, Christmas puddings and savoury puddings by hand in a huge variety of flavours, with recipes dating back five generations.
Viewers will watch as they hope to wow the Aldi team with a festive take on a traditional sponge pudding; a spiced, steamed sponge with mincemeat and a mulled wine sauce.
While traditional Christmas Puddings can take up to two hours to steam, Justine and Colin’s ‘Santa’s Mulled Wine Treat’ presents a speedy choice for Christmas Day, taking just three minutes to cook from chilled.
Justine, who took over the family business in 2022, said:
“This is our biggest pitch to date, we’ve not done anything of this size before. To see our name on the shelves of Aldi would mean the world.”
Other hopefuls include Wigston Deli, who pitch Pigs in Blankets Samosas, Liverpool based bakery Desserts by Dre, who hopes to impress with a Christmas Pudding Cheesecake, and Pigs in Blankets Ice Cream from Yorkshire dairy farm Yorvale.
Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK said:
“With so many of our existing suppliers coming up with great Christmas products, we really only have space for one more within our seasonal range.
“We absolutely have to stand out from the crowd at Christmas and new, quirky products are key to this.”
The new Channel 4 show also follows the supermarket as it prepares for Christmas, with a behind-the-scenes look at current suppliers, in-store operations, and the launch of the nation’s first ever bottomless Pigs in Blankets Restaurant.
The winning Christmas product will land in stores as a Specialbuy from Tuesday (December 19)
