Business grows for Northern Irish biltong producer
Success on BBC TV's Top of the Shop with chef Tom Kerridge food series has led to a substantial growth in sales especially in Britain for Ke Nako, the Northern Irish producer of biltong and other hand cured meats.
Ke Nako, run by lecturer Alanagh Chipperfield and chef/butcher Ilse van Staden, originally from Pretoria in South Africa, came out on top of other UK artisan food businesses in the programme's first series showcasing smaller food and drink producers.
Based near Larne in county Antrim, Ke Nako produces a range of cured meats especially Beef Biltong. The couple started the artisan business in 2012 using organically reared beef from Culmore farm in Derry.
Ke Nako means 'It's Time' in Tswana, one of South Africa's official languages. They produce meaty snacks are made at Ballylagan Organic Farm in Straid, county Antrim.
They include Biltong, Chilli Bites, Droewors - a type of sausage made from ground beef in a lamb casing as well as Stokkies - a highly addictive protein snack.
The pair triumphed in the final challenge, which saw all of the previous heat winners battle it out to sell their products in a farmers' market.
Alanagh, commenting on the TV success, says: "Being featured on Top of the Shop with Tom Kerridge was a tremendous experience and we were delighted to win the first series. As a result, we've seen huge interest in the products and are shipping to customers across the UK.
"I feel absolutely blown away, we didn't expect to win the meat round, and now come out complete winners, I can't believe we've got it."
Ilse adds: "For our biltong, it' just the validation of the amount of time and effort that we've put in to it. The late nights, the early mornings, this is going to give us the confidence to take it to that next step."
As well as the farmers' market, the contestants were asked to stock the show's Town End Farmshop in the Yorkshire Dales for a month. With an introductory offer of two-for-one on their biltong, farm shop owner Chris Wildman said during the final episode: "It's flown out of the door, we've only got one packet left."
Ke Nako introduced its biltong at the Inn's Market, an artisan food market in Belfast.
The biltong ended up selling the most out of all seven of the finalists' products.
Alanagh and Ilse were presented with their title by two-time Michelin star chef and presenter Tom Kerridge and judges food writer and restaurateur Nisha Katona and artisan expert Alison Swan Parente.
Swan Parente praised the winners, saying: "The standard in this final was really extremely high, but in the end Alanagh and Ilse really deserved to win because of the wonderful taste of the biltong itself."