Behind the scenes

Monday is one of the quietest days in the shop - I think this is fairly universal in the retail trade, but it is a busy day for us behind the scenes upstairs hidden away in the office. We usually do most of our ordering on Monday, and getting the stock levels right, and anticipating customer demand is one of the most interesting and challenging parts of running the shop.

Part of the ethos of The Larder is that where possible we use local suppliers, to that end our organic milk comes from down the road at Goodwood, delivered to us on Tuesday and Friday, just hours after it is processed in the dairy, most of our meat comes from Michael Courtneys in Midhurst - the nicest most helpful butchers you could ever wish to meet, and our fruit and vegetables are delivered daily by the lovely Cheryl and Michaela from Pips of Petworth - who have the unenviable task of getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to get to the wholesale market in Brighton.

This week we are trying out a new supplier from Devon, who is supplying our new range of Rod and Ben's fresh soups.  We had some keen volunteers acting as tasters last week, and overall we had very good feedback - after much deliberation we opted for Carrot and Coriander, Seasonal Mushroom and Vegetable and Pistou - they are arriving tomorrow and will be selling at a special introductory offer price, so do come in and have a look. We will also be introducing Innocent Smoothies, unsalted butter, a new range of houmous and taramasalata, some new deli meats - and not forgetting our new Belgian chocolate muffins and Bakewell tart - just writing this blog is making me feel hungry.

Come in and see us soon - and catch up with our blog later in the week for details of our "Tea Time Treats" tasting this weekend.