Blakemans News
Blakemans update their fleet
Blakemans update their fleet with the addition of 3 new 24 plate turbo compound engine Volvo tractor units.
Replacing two older cabs and adding a further lorry the 3 new editions take the Blakeman fleet to a total of 8 tractor units and 9 refrigerated trailers. Plated at 44 tonne each, with a capacity of 26 pallets and an average milage of 75,000 per year, each unit is dedicated to delivering Blakemans sausage from John o’Groats to Lands’ End.
Blakemans take a trip to the seaside
The Blakeman team took to the roads once again, this time serving their sausages by the sea. Having returned from Scotland, the team had one day to clean down pack up and set off once more.
This time they were off to Llandudno for Harlech’s ‘Food Service Expo’.
Harlech Foodservice are an Independent, family owned company delivering total food service solutions for over 50years.
Blakemans team hits the road
The team from Blakemans packed up and travelled to Edinburgh on the 3rd of march to showcase their products at Henry Colbecks “What’s Cooking? 2024” exhibition.
The annual exhibition is a showcase of the many products available to purchase at Henry Colbeck; a family owned independent supplier to the fish and chip industry in the north-east of England and Scotland for over 130 years.
National Fish and Chip Awards 2024
Blakemans have had a long-standing relationship with the National Fish & Chip awards, having sponsored the Staff Training and Development award for many years. 2024 was no exception and a few members of the team took the trip to the Park Plaza on Westminster bridge to support the event and their colleague James, in presenting the prestigious title.
The Blakeman family have a huge regard for the hard working and dedicated people of the fish & chip industry…
Newcastle Town Football Club honours club president Jim Blakeman
Newcastle Town Football Club have dedicated their lounge to James Blakeman, in honour of decades of support.
Phil and Sue were invited to Newcastle Town this week and were thrilled to see the lounge that the club had dedicated to their father’s name. Phil said;
“It is a fitting tribute to Dad and a touching gesture from his beloved club. He would be proud to see his legacy at the club preserved in this way. Sue and I were delighted to be invited to come along to the opening of the lounge and to hear their stories of his time here”
Blakemans honour their founder and chairman
The sad news of James Blakemans’ passing has seen countless messages of condolence and memories pour in from far and wide.
Mr James Thomas Blakeman M.Inst.M passed peacefully at his home at the grand age of 93. Having recently celebrated his businesses’ 70th anniversary, James was still paying regular visits to the factory. His loss has been felt by Phil, Sue, their families and everyone on site, who dearly miss him; his gentlemanly demeanour, his wisdom and his humour.
Blakemans’ Cooking Plant Investments
Blakemans have long been renowned for their re-investment into the business, with developments and improvements coming through year on year. Lately, their attentions have been on their cooking facilities, known as Blakemans Services.
2022 saw the instillation of two new inline ovens in the well-established cooking plant. One replaced an older model with the other being an additional unit. These instillations brought an increase in cooked production volumes by 50% but they didn’t stop there…
Blakemans 70th Anniversary
On their 70th birthday, Blakemans took some time to reflect on their heritage and map out their future.
Starting up in Staffordshire in 1953, the Blakeman family have been producing sausages and meat products that are renowned for their consistently high quality ever since. Despite the scale of the operation growing year on year and the technological advancements they’ve installed, it is their ethos of using the finest ingredients; a robust production process perfected through the generations and a heavy focus on giving great customer service that keeps their loyal customers coming back.
Blakemans new refrigerated trailers
Whilst the delivery vehicles of Blakemans have been upgraded and replaced periodically, their design has remained largely unchanged since the purchase of their first refrigerated, rigid lorry back in the 70’s.
The classic dark blue livery has endured as an icon across the roads of Britain and a firm favourite of lorry spotters everywhere; so much so that Corgi toys even released a collectable model of one of their Volvo FH arctic vehicles.
The Blakeman family are incredibly proud of their immaculately kept and meticulously maintained fleet.
T.Quality raise £10,001 for UK charities in just 4 weeks
On hearing about UK charities struggling to raise funds through an incredibly difficult 2020, T.Quality felt that that they must step in to help and Blakemans were only too happy to support them.
2020 was an incredibly difficult year across the board, including our fantastic charities in the UK who have found that they have had to shut their shops for much of the year and have not been able to rely upon events for funds as they usually would. It has been thanks to many people and businesses thinking outside the box to create new fund raisers that some of these charities have an income.
Development team makes a delicious discovery
Our development team are not people who rest on their laurels and so, upon having a pre-Christmas quiet week with few samples, they set about their favourite pass-time… experimenting! Head of Business Development James Morris said;
“It’s not often that we get an opportunity to experiment for ourselves, we can usually be found creating recipes that are crafted to meet with customer briefs, which is hugely rewarding, but we do love it when we get the opportunity. ”
