AldensSpecialist Catering Butchers

Products and Services

About us

Established in 1793 by Isaac Alden, Aldens specialist catering butchers is a family-owned business which has been supplying universities, hotels, pubs and restaurants with fresh meat, game and poultry for almost 220 years.

Aldens operates all production and dispatch from a state-of-the-art purpose-built factory in Oxford, from where we can deliver to within a 100 mile radius.

Our serviceAldens is committed to providing a friendly, helpful, reliable and personal service to all our customers. Every customer has their own account manager, the telesales team is trained to help you with any questions or queries, and we offer a 6 day a week delivery service, using company-owned vehicles.

Farms and Farmers

Now, more than ever, people want to know where their meat is coming from. Aldens sources its meat from only the most reputable farms, those with a history of and reputation for excellence. We visit every farm we buy from and if there’s anything you’re unsure about, we can arrange for you to visit too. It has always been important to us that we deal with companies who operate in a friendly and ethical manner, so you can be assured that traditional methods and environmentally-friendly practices are consistently applied.

Here are some of the local and regional farms we get our meat from……

Farms and Farmers

Hill End Farm, Oxfordshire

Hill End Farm rears top quality Black Welsh Mountain sheep.

The lean meat from these lambs has a distinctive sweet flavour that our customers love.

Farms and Farmers

Game from Berkshire

Berkshire is an area which is prolific in wild game, so most of our meat is very local.

We get pheasant and partridge from sporting estates, as well as rabbit, hare, Roe deer,

Fallow deer and Muntjac.

Farms and Farmers

Blythburgh Free Range Pork, Suffolk

Blythburgh pigs are born outside and spend their entire lives outdoors in the fresh air, with freedom to roam, root around and play.

By growing at a slower, more natural rate, the pork acquires an exceptional flavour and

succulence.

Farms and Farmers

Merrifield Farm, Devon

Merrifield Farm is the home of Creedy Carver and the owners are specialists in the production

of free range chickens and ducks.

The family pride themselves on the true flavour of their product and their sympathetic approach

to bird welfare.

Customers

We supply meat to a diverse range of customers, including:• Schools• Colleges• Conference centres• Restaurants• Hotels• Sports clubs• Football and rugby stadiums

Products

Aldens sources and sells a huge range of products, from classic cuts of beef, lamb, pork and poultry to veal, game, offal, bacon and a selection of cooked meats, quiches, pâtés, eggs and cheeses.

We can provide everything you need for your menu, whether you want trays of homemade burgers and sausages or hand-picked products from our Top Table range.

Here are the main products that we supply.

Beef

Beef is traditionally the nation’s favourite meat and we take the purchase of beef very seriously. Most breeds these days are cross-bred, but as Aldens has Traditional Breed status we can supply pure breeds such as Dexter and Aberdeen Angus.

Lamb

Lamb is a classic British meat and we source the majority of our lamb from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Gloucestershire, although suppliers can be as far away as New Zealand. The best time for UK lamb is from April to October.

Pork

Pork is traditionally a less expensive product than lamb or beef, but it can be equally tasty. We work closely with farmers on both a local and regional level to get the best possible outdoor reared pork coupled with the highest welfare standards. We often stock traditional or rare breeds such as Gloucester Old Spot or Tamworth’s.

Veal and Offal

Veal has a more delicate flavour than beef and the most common cuts are osso bucco, escalopes and loin steaks.

Offal sales are increasing as more people experiment with traditional dishes, and oxtail, pig cheeks and lamb kidneys are all popular. The fresher the offal, the better the flavour.

Chicken

At Aldens we recognise that people care very much about poultry welfare and that’s why we source most of our poultry from Farm Assured or Red Tractor Farms. The main regions we source from are Norfolk, Suffolk and Northamptonshire, and much of our free-range poultry is produced within a 40 mile range of Oxford.

Turkey and Game

Long gone are the days when turkey was only eaten at Christmas. We purchase our turkeys from Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Norfolk.

Game such as venison and wild boar is available all year round but game birds like grouse, partridge and pheasant have a stricter season when they are available.

Bacon, Eggs and Cheese

We stock a variety of bacon including plain back, smoked back, sweet cure, dry cure and cooked.

All of our chicken eggs, including the free range ones, are sourced from Oxfordshire.

We also stock popular cheeses including cheddar, goat’s cheese, emmental and brie.

Homemade Sausages and BurgersPork with leek, Cumberland and “College” pork are some of our most popular sausages and are made every day using natural casing. We also sell chicken sausages and speciality sausages such as guinea fowl with ginger or pheasant with berries.

Our burgers are homemade on the day of delivery using the very best cuts. Beef, lamb with mint and pork with apple are our best sellers.

Cooked Meats, Quiches and Pâtés

We stock over 50 cooked, sliced, continental, cured and smoked meats, as well as a large selection of cooked cutting pies, pâtés and quiches.

‘Top Table’ Range

Our ‘top table’ range is made up of a selection of the very best British products, perfect for an extra special event or a signature menu item. Cooking with these products will ensure that you serve dishes to be remembered.

Products vary, so call us to discuss your requirements and find out what is available.

Placing orders

Orders can be placed in a number of ways.

By phone: 01865 728227

Office hours are from 6am-4pm Monday to Friday and 6am-1pm on Saturdays. Ideally, orders should be in by midday but top-up orders can be placed on the answer phone until 6am on the morning of delivery.

By fax: 01865 728224

Please fax your order by 2pm the day before delivery so we can contact you with any queries.

Email: sales@aldenoxford.co.uk

Please email by 2pm the day before delivery. Email orders will still be processed up until 6am on the morning of delivery.

Accreditations and Quality ControlWe are regulated by SAI Global which is the British Retail Consortium Global Standard for Food Safety. This is considered to be the highest level 3 party auditing body. Government regulations state that all catering butchers (where 50% of turnover is from catering establishments) must be strictly audited – and we are pleased to report that we have passed all our audits with flying colours.

Accreditations:• SAI Global• Food Standards Agency (FSA)• Traditional Breeds Survival Trust

Quality control is at the heart of our business and the nature of the product we are dealing with means continuous checks are essential to maintain product integrity. We consistently monitor all our systems and they are underpinned by a fully operational HACCP plan.

Here are some of the measures we have in place to ensure each and every product is in the best possible condition when it arrives:

• Supplier checks (our technical adviser visits the suppliers to ensure they have good premises and the best animal welfare systems in place)

• In-house checks (the quality of every order is checked at every stage of production and dispatch)

Contact Us

Write to us:

Alden Oxford Ltd

1 Centremead

Osney Mead

Oxford

OX2 0ES

Telephone: 01865 728227

Fax: 01865 728224

sales@aldenoxford.co.uk

www.aldenoxford.co.uk

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