Order boost after TV feature on chilli jelly
Customer surge for Abernethy husband and wife
An Abernethy jam-maker saw sales of his chilli products heat up after his business appeared on national TV.
Allan Ferguson and his wife Joan have had sales of their homeproduced chilli pepper jelly and sauces ticking over nicely during the pandemic with the hot stuff carried by farm shops and delis until all but essential shops closed after New Year.
There has been a lull during lockdown - that was until an afternoon spot on the BBC One show ‘The Farmers’ Country Showdown’ set off a barrage of orders.
The Abernethy couple were filmed in the autumn taking a stall at Bowhouse Market in Fife.
Recently the BBC production team has put out sequences from the location shoot on daily episodes of The Farmers’ Country Showdown and on Friday, January 29, the Fergusons were watching when footage of their stall appeared.
“The orders online went ballistic,” said Allan. “The jelly was on the TV and within minutes we had orders, many from the south, pouring in. It just went bang, bang, bang, like 35 orders straight off.
“We were really shocked at the response from new customers beyond our regulars.
“It was a bit of a surprise to see ourselves featured as we’d seen stuff from honey producers in Kinross shown a few days before and we’d assumed that was it, that our bit had ended up on the cutting room floor.
“I had someone come to the door just as we were on the box, and when I came back, I’d missed it.
“I went on the iPlayer later and watched it again, we were given a nice two-minute feature about 40 minutes into episode 19, ‘Bowhouse’ from January 29.”
The Fergusons continue to have a monthly stall at Perth Farmers’ Market - which started up for 2021 at the weekend - and they can be reached at www. allanschilliproducts.co.uk