Press release -
Devon based farm supplies cheddar cheese for Virgin Trains’ new onboard menu
Virgin Trains launched its new seasonal James Martin menu earlier this month and Quicke’s cheddar cheese was handpicked to feature.
The Quicke family has been farming in Newton St Cyres for nearly 500 years and making traditional clothbound cheddar on Home Farm since the 1970s. Using original recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation, with milk from their specially bred herd of grass fed cows, Quicke’s multi award-winning cheddar is still made by hand using traditional techniques.
Quicke’s Managing Director Mary Quicke said: “It is fitting that our first class cheese should be selected for Virgin Trains’ new First Class menu. I’m thrilled that there is such a commitment to supporting regional artisan producers in this way. At Quicke’s, we firmly believe in tradition, quality and above all else – great tasting cheese. To have this opportunity to showcase our traditional Devonshire cheddar to passengers travelling throughout the UK is an outstanding achievement.”
Alison Watson, Customer Experience Director for Virgin Trains on its east coast route, said: “We are so proud to be working with fantastic suppliers like Quicke’s to deliver this fine dining experience to our First Class customers. We’re keen to support SMEs and local community suppliers. We have worked with our suppliers to create a delicious bespoke product for our First Class customers.”
The new menu will be served to First Class customers travelling on the train operator’s east coast route. A new James Martin menu is also being rolled out to Standard Class customers in autumn as part of Virgin Trains’ ongoing £140m investment in the franchise.
Topics
- Business enterprise
Categories
- east coast
About Virgin Trains
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.
The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. This includes a major fleet revamp, smarter stations and exciting new routes. From May 2016, there will be 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London. 2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.
The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
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