Flashback to 1997 in a small village in Somerset where founder Sarah and her Mum, Pearl, lived at Cherry Tree Cottage with Sarah’s brothers, and Step-Dad,  Chris. “I was around 17 at the time, and I just remember my Mum always being in the Kitchen making chutneys and she would package them up to sell at our local market once a week, and that’s how it all started.”

The first Cherry Tree Cottage chutney was simple.  It used locally sourced ingredients and was made out of a passion for preserving and to make a little money.  “The chutney wasn’t the best”, Sarah shares honestly.  “It was actually the sticker on the jars that caught everyone's attention. It funnily enough was hand-drawn by my little brother of the cherry tree we had in our cottage garden.  Mum then had the drawing transferred onto craft labels and that became our logo.” 

So, week after week Sarah’s Mum attended the local Farmer’s Market and it wasn’t long before she noticed customers returning to buy more jars, but not just for themselves for their friends, family and loved ones.  “The moment we realised things were really moving on and the demand was growing was when we were approached by festival organisers who invited us to attend and sell our family chutney.  We started to attend these big events and realised we wouldn’t have the space in our kitchen to produce enough chutney for the demand, so this is when we decided to partner with Mark and Gavin.” 

Mark and Gavin had been working in the food industry working for Dorchester Chocolates, mainly selling to the hospitality industry, when Sarah and her family first approached them to work together and scale-up their fast-growing preserves business. 

“We were young, dumb and extremely optimistic” recalls Gavin.  “We had little experience at the time, but so much passion and we could see the potential of this home-grown brand, so said yes!”

With this new partnership came great strides for The Cherry Tree Preserves and it wasn’t long before they had their first awards under their belt.  Today, the range has received over 180 awards from Great Taste and Taste Of The West, making it the No.1 most awarded preserves brand in UK history.  Customers seem to love it too, as they have the highest Amazon and Ocado scores of any preserves brand and thousands of glowing product reviews from customers.

“From the beginning, we have always been selling face to face with our customers,” Sarah explains.  “Just like Sarah’s Mum did, our teams who attend farmers markets across the country talk and listen to our customers.  We encourage them to be open and honest about our products and we take their comments on board every single week to develop our recipes.” 

For two decades Sarah, Mark & Gavin have built their repertoire of flavours, experimenting and ensuring they were always offering something new and exciting (hence the incredible ingredient pairings).  Whilst the heart and ethos of the company has stayed the same, the recipes have evolved considerably.  “The original set of recipes were inspired by the traditional English style chutneys using onions, apples, pears, plums and sultanas with a small hint of ginger for spice.  Mango chutney had also been around for a long time, but that was about it. We worked on branching out and trying new things, particularly on the spice front.  We started taking inspiration from Indian cuisine to create new flavours.  Mark went to India and worked with some chef’s there and used this as a basis to improve our current recipes.  Now we have flavours like garlic, lime, chilli and coriander available.” shares Gavin.

Gavin is the master-chutney and preserve maker and has spent the last 30 years striving to innovate flavours and create the best taste possible.  Having learnt his trade under a fourth-generation guru of all things preserved, stirred and delicious, Gavin has gone on to make his own mark.  Most notable in creating the Supreme Champion product at the Great Taste Awards, the highest accolade possible in the ‘food industry’s Oscars’.  With more than 180 Great Taste and Taste of the West awards to his name, 50 of these coming in the last four years alone, it’s clear that his passion for taste puts as many smiles on the judges’ faces, as it does on those of Cherry Trees customers every day.

During a normal year, every single week the team’s calendar is full, attending food markets, events and shows, encouraging everyone to try and taste their products. Between them, they have traveled across the country meeting millions of new people every year.   “They worked hard to make sure they were always there for their customers and as a result of their efforts, millions of people over the years have tasted Cherry tree preserves and took some home with them. They have built a relationship and trust with their customers like no other brand I know,” Head of Commercial Chris explains. 

Chris joined the company in 2018 with a mission and passion to make Cherry Tree preserves more available and easily accessible to people all over the world.  He comments: “I just rang Mark, one of the founders, one day after I had met his son Jack at the Bournemouth Christmas Market on the stall there and asked for his Dad’s number.  The food was so good, and his son was so passionate about his Dad’s company, that I knew this was too good to be kept to just a select few at regional events and markets, the world had to know what a real chutney should taste like!”

To do this, Chris focused on talking to more people through an exciting and thriving online community.  “By improving our home-delivery webshop range and service, as well as Amazon and Ocado, we could be there for customers when independent retailers, events and markets weren’t an option, which became incredibly important in 2020 due to COVID-19.  We also really focused on our social media community and content, as this meant we could continue to have these great conversations that we’d had in the markets and events for years, as well as inspiring people with new recipe ideas, but we could have them at any time of day with customers and foodies from all around the world. It really meant our door was always open.” 

Through these new online channels, the team have revolutionised how people perceive their products.  “We want to blow people’s minds with what sweet and savoury preserves can be used for in the kitchen.” explains Gavin.  “Yes, chutney works wonders on cheese and crackers but take a loving dollop of our chilli jam atop a simple homemade burger to add a powerful punch of flavour.  Or, whip together pancakes on a Sunday morning and thickly spread our Cherry & Amaretto jam for an unbelievably tasty and indulgent start to the day!”

Using online channels to have a conversation with their customers, The Cherry Tree Preserves has built a new reputation of being a larder favourite and chef’s staple cooking ingredient for pros and amateurs alike.

They now sell to over 250,000 customers every year and are stocked in 500 independent stores across the UK, as well as online and overseas.  “Our chutneys and jams were exactly where we wanted them to be, but we often felt like there was something missing, and as we had always done, we spoke to our customers through the independent retailers, events and on social media to discover what they wanted to see from us next.” Mark tells us. “They trusted in our products, our taste-buds and our opinion, and they told us that they wanted to know what cheese we would pair with our chutney for instance, what brand of crackers do we eat at home and what combos we would put together in a hamper for a perfect gift.”  It was from this that we realised we needed to expand our product range but we were experts at making jam and chutneys, not cheese. So how were we going to achieve this new goal? 

Mark was already well acquainted with many award-winning West Country producers after years on the road and selling next to them at events and markets, so naturally, he started here. As a team, they started hand-picking local suppliers they’d like to work with, but it was important for them to only consider those who shared their principles and commitment to quality: “We wanted to partner with producers who were as local to us as possible. It is important for us to keep our food miles down, support local businesses and jobs, but not to compromise on quality. It is also important to us that they respect their customers and their staff, as this is something we have at our core in Cherry Tree.”  Slowly but surely they started creating new partnerships and building a new Cherry Tree ‘One-stop-deli-shop’ range.  “For example, we now have bespoke crumbly cracker bites and artisan cheeses to compliment our chutneys, coffee to perfectly pair with our breakfast preserves, salad dressings to help build homemade platters and pate for delicious and decadent hampers and gifts.” 

So from a simple home recipe of a sweet apple chutney to now over 50 award-winning sweet & savoury preserve flavours alongside numerous gifting sets, biscuits, cheeses, coffee, pate and more, The Cherry Tree Preserves team has built a tremendous foodie kingdom to be proud of and it is clear this is only the beginning for this spectacular Dorset brand. 

Sarah explains: “We want everyone to still have a little joy every single day and I believe that food can bring comfort and joy in so many ways. From baking with the little ones for an afternoon of fun, or soothing your mind by concentrating on a new recipe. We want our customers to be able to depend on our products in that way, and to depend on us; To know we are always there for them to listen, to share and to inspire through the good and the bad”

Gavin adds, “We will continue to guarantee great flavour, by ensuring every hand-stirred batch is taste-tested by us.  If it doesn’t blow us away, it will never reach the customer’s hands.  We have over 70 years of combined experience, and we’ll never put that to waste.”

As I finish writing this someone calls from the kitchens: “Lemon & Lime curd is ready for a spoon-test !”  There is always work to be done.  The Cherry Tree Preserves story is just beginning!