Taywell, the luxury ice cream and sorbet maker, has officially gone nationwide for the first time after winning a listing with wholesaler Costco.

The Kent-based company, which recently won a ‘Q’ Quality Food Award, is initially supplying Costco with its popular Honeycomb ice cream in one-litre tubs, with other ice cream and sorbet variants set to follow soon.

Taywell and Costco are also poised to work in partnership to develop innovative flavours exclusively for sale in Costco’s 22 warehouses across Britain.

The new supply contract with Taywell means that Costco will now be able to offer its members an artisan, premium quality ice cream manufactured in the UK.  Taywell will support the new listing with regular tastings in all branches of Costco.

Alastair Jessel, Managing Director of Taywell, said: “This deal with Costco is great news for us because it means that, for the first time, Taywell-branded ice cream will be available across the country.

“But it’s also fantastic news for Costco’s customers, who now have access to premium ice cream made in Britain, rather than imported from overseas. Right now, quality and provenance are two of the major trends in ice cream – and indeed food – and we really do tick both boxes.”

The contract with Costco caps a highly successful year for Taywell. Despite the economic downturn, the company increased sales of its premium ice creams and sorbets by 65% in the last financial year, and has doubled employee numbers.

It is forecast to increase its turnover by more than 100% in the current year, and to keep pace with this growth is looking to build another kitchen at its headquarters in Paddock Wood.

Alastair Jessel said: “We’re well on the way to achieving our aim, which is to become the UK’s favourite artisan ice cream and sorbet brand – one that ice cream and sorbet lovers return to again and again because they know there is no other product out there as good as ours.”

Taywell has recently won a 'Q' Food Award for 'Best Local Frozen' 2011 for their Raspberry Sorbet. This award is the highest food award available to the company and it is judged solely by food critics/chefs and not by members of the general public, as are The Great Taste Awards.

The Quality Food Awards have been running for 30 years and are dominated by the large supermarket groups but the 'Local' section is to highlight where the future of food trends lies. This award vindicates Taywell's belief that consumers are turning their back on cheap, poor quality ice cream and are happy to pay for higher quality, tasty, local produce.

For more information, visit http://www.taywell.com/accreditations.html

The Challenge

In the ice cream business, it's hard to stand out from the crowd. At events one hears the words 'Oh, not another ice cream company' and when ringing potential customers, the mention of ice cream switches many chefs off; this is because they have not been able to access exceptional quality ice cream as good as they can make it - until now!

Taywell believes it can make ice cream and sorbet better than any chef, including Michelin-starred ones, and has set out to educate the foodservice sector on how good the best is and how much better value it is from the company than having the pastry chef spend two hours making it.

It's the Taste That Counts

Once a chef has tasted Taywell's ice creams and sorbets, all produced using local milk, cream and fruits from Kent & Sussex, they are hooked. Hundreds of restaurants, pubs and catering divisions are now using the products with more than 100 flavours available for immediate delivery.

As the only company in Kent manufacturing ice cream using the correct ingredients that include egg yolks for texture and binding the products together, it boasts that all ingredients contain no artificial additives, colours, stabilisers or bulking agents. Both the ice cream and sorbets are very rich in taste and, although it is one of the most expensive products chefs can buy, it requires nearly half proportions to be served, thereby increasing margins. It even caters for diabetics, coeliacs and the lactose intolerant.

Ice Cream of Choice

Gradually, it is becoming the chef's ice cream of choice across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and London and those who used to make their own are now serving Taywell's finest. With 10 Great Taste Awards, one business award and numerous mentions in magazines across all these counties or on the radio or television, the company is rapidly expanding its manufacturing capacity to cater for the discerning buyer.

It's offer of making any flavour for any chef is frequently taken up and all sorts of strange flavours have been created and delivered to clients. With its ability to make up to 20 different flavours in a single day, it is hard for competitors to get anywhere close to this level of service and its guaranteed next-day delivery service is a winner.

For those that have not heard of the company, its location opposite The Hop Farm at Paddock Wood is exceptionally easy to find and its website http://www.taywell.co.uk contains a detailed list of flavours and links to its appearance on BBC1's 'The Apprentice' and BBC South East News. All enquiries should be directed to 01892 835555 or emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .