Heritage to get your teeth into

The former restaurateur has enjoyed Argentinian beef in Buenos Aires, Texan beef in Dallas and Japanese beef in New York, but he still believes the best-tasting beef is from Yorkshire, where the cattle graze on limestone soil.

He wants top-level chefs to become the strongest advocates for Farmison, which supplies heritage meats online.

The company has a simple mission. Britain has some of the finest beef, pork and lamb breeds in the world; bred to perfection to yield a fuller flavour. Farmison wants to ensure more meat from these heritage breeds appears on British tables. The higher the demand for meat from heritage breeds, the more farmers will rear them. So the firm is creating a virtuous business circle.

The business, which was founded in 2011, is causing a stir beyond Yorkshire. Farmison hosted a party of head chefs earlier this year, after it won a major contract with Tate Catering, the firm that supplies some of the UK’s best-known art galleries.

The nine-strong delegation of chefs, who devise the menus at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and other sites, were in the district for a two-day trip to meet local farmers and gamekeepers.

Farmison supplies meat from rare and native breeds and claims to have the widest range of heritage meat available for sale online, anywhere in the world. It supplies many of the best-known restaurants in Yorkshire, including the Yorke Arms at Ramsgill, the Star at Harome and the Black Swan at Oldstead.

The Tate deal will see high-quality Yorkshire produce served at high-profile events across London and beyond, providing a major platform for the region’s food industry.

Mr Pallagi, the managing director of Farmison & Co, said: “This deal is hugely important in pioneering and sustaining the growth of public access to British heritage and native produce.

“It’s a major contract for us at Farmison, but also for Yorkshire, because it affects so many Yorkshire businesses, including abattoirs and 15 to 20 farmers. It goes right through the supply chain.”

Tate Catering’s executive head chef, Stephen Goodlad, who led the delegation of chefs, said: “We pride ourselves on using British premium specialist suppliers and we select our supplier partners carefully. For this reason we use Farmison, because of their approach to British heritage produce sourced mainly – or exclusively – from the local farms, dales and moors of their home base of Yorkshire.

“Their versatility, quick turnaround and bespoke approach to the supplier chain ensures we get a locally-sourced, quality product we are proud to use on all our menus.”

One of the factors that inspired Mr Pallagi to set up Farmison was his experience of buying meat for the festive season. He ordered veal from a farm for his Christmas dinner in 2010. It cost him £30, and the meat arrived without labelling or other guidance. Mr Pallagi enjoyed the veal, but he wondered why you couldn’t buy it easily in the UK. He established Farmison because he knew there were plenty of people who wanted quality meat delivered to their home.

He acknowledges that any business can suffer from bumps on the road. After starting his career at The Yorkshire Post, he decided to open his own restaurant. As an optimistic, glass-half-full kind of person, he quickly saw the opportunities for growth. But he received a harsh lesson in economic realities.

He once ran restaurants across the UK, but had to close them during the hard times that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Mr Pallagi said: “My biggest lesson has been around the importance of financial management. It’s important no matter what product you have got. You must understand balance sheets and profit and loss accounts.”

His favourite quote is from Warren Buffett, the sage of Omaha: “Start out with failure and engineer its removal.”

It also helps if your product stands out from the crowd. Mr Pallagi hopes to double the number of home cooks enjoying Farmison’s Yorkshire meat over the next five years.

“What we sell cannot be bought anywhere else – 80 per cent of our products are Yorkshire beef and lamb,’’ he said. “The Tate wanted produce that was very British and they could shout about it on their menus.

“My experience in restaurants has helped develop the brand, and we are close to an agreement with a well-known chef.

“I want the public to eat better quality meat. The restaurants will start, and the public will follow that message. Our particular focus is on Ripon and Malham – a stretch of high ground where traditional breeds are grazing.”

The company is working with Nottingham University on a study that will aim to prove that cattle bred in limestone areas produce meat with higher levels of protein. “Nothing is better than limestone beef,’’ said Mr Pallagi. “Our turnover is expected to be between £2.5m and £3m this year and we hope to get into double-digit turnover in the millions within three to five years.

“Great chefs are great planners – and we have got farmers tripping over themselves to get on our supply chain. We are also trying to get into India.”

Farmison’s farmers are already prized by top chefs, with the heritage breed herds and flocks in the Yorkshire Dales supplying some of the world’s most famous kitchens.

The company’s long-term mission is to widen access to high-quality produce, so that the top table can be anyone’s table, and prime meat can be enjoyed without a hefty price tag.