Producer group, the Spanish Chorizo Consortium have celebrated a successful IFE show at London’s Excel and a blogger event hosted by Ibérica Canary Wharf, both of which showcased their premium product to the UK market.
The trade show served as a platform to forge strategic partnerships with distributors, retailers, and foodservice professionals in the Consortium’s largest market – around 66% of Consortium-labelled chorizo is destined for the UK – and to build on the success of last year, which saw exports of the labelled Spanish chorizo to the UK increase by 35% vs 2022. Some 2.2 million kilos of Consortium-labelled chorizo was exported to the UK last year, 89.7% of which was string (horseshoe) form.
The Consortium’s Director, Alejandro Alvarez-Canal and Business Intelligence Manager, Ignacio Coppel represented the 20 dedicated producers of Consortium-labelled chorizo at the show. “IFE is the most important UK show for us and this year we formed invaluable commercial connections with key industry leaders on behalf of our associates in Spain,” said Alvarez-Canal.
A Spanish Chorizo Consortium event, which was hosted by Ibérica Canary Wharf, took place on the evening of the 26th March and saw some of the UK’s most influential food bloggers attend to learn more about the high-quality, authentic product. Bloggers included Leith’s trained chef, Adam Shaw aka ‘At Dad’s Table’, and food and travel writer, May Chong.
The aim of the event was to not only communicate the Consortium’s story but to recruit the next wave of Chorizo Ambassadors. The #ChorizoAmbassador campaign has been running for the last three years and focuses on building relationships with international influencers through trips to production areas in Spain. This autumn a group of food writers and content creators from the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands – the
Consortium’s key markets – will travel to León, one of the most representative production areas of Spanish Chorizo and home to two of the association’s founding companies.
The blogger event is also an opportunity to engage with international restaurants that are ‘Restaurants from Spain’ certified, of which Ibérica is one. The award was set up in 2020 by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, ICEX and is given to restaurants outside of Spain that are deemed to be serving top quality Spanish cuisine.
The values held by ‘Restaurants from Spain’-certified establishments are aligned with those of the Spanish Chorizo Consortium’ producers, making them ideal partners in the promotional campaign. The Consorcio del Chorizo Español marque or label is representative of excellent quality and means product showing this label has been made in compliance with specific criteria in terms of traditional and authentic ingredients and production methods. The group’s chorizos must carry garlic and paprika, which differentiates them from other origins and sausages, and only paprika from fruits grown, dried and milled in the Spanish territory (‘Pimentón’) can be used. Cured outdoors or smoked, the main base is minced pork, which is then marinated with spices.
Consortium-labelled chorizo is available for consumer purchase in Tesco, Waitrose, M&S, Harrods and Aldi.
