Sarah Lloyd
Our Suppliers: Mr Filbert's
Name: Sarah Lloyd
Job Title: South West Area Manager
Nickname: The Nut Lady!
Time in role: 18 months
Favourite part of the Job:
My favourite part of the job is undoubtedly travelling our beautiful region meeting Mr Filbert’s fans and watching them fall in love with our recipes… oh and of course getting free snacks, that part is pretty cool!
Favourite Food:
Nuts- obviously! And when I’m not snacking…. It’s cheese, the smellier the better and we are blessed in the UK with a raft of amazing cheese producers.
Favourite place:
The beach, I love nothing more than the sand between my toes.
Why I like V&M:
A great bunch of people sharing a common goal - to service a fantastic customer base with the very best produce and artisan food and drinks. Everyone involved is passionate about their role from the drivers to the buyers. They are a pleasure to do business with.
Unusual fact about me:
I can bend my fingers right back- almost 90 degrees!!
Dream Job?
I always wanted to take after my aunt and run my own hotel and so it is no surprise that my love of hospitality, expectation for great service and my passion for our regions fine food and drink runs so deep. I am also a mum to two boys - that in itself is a dream job.
Which Mr Filberts product best represents me and why?
I would say I am most like our olive snack packs because like me you can take them anywhere, represent great taste, work well with a G&T, and are round-ish... a bit like me!
Whose idea was it to make a ‘really interesting’ range of snacks & how did it come about?
Like so many great entrepreneurs the idea all started in the pub! Our founder friends were in their local enjoying a drink but suffering the average mainstream bar snack offerings that lacked taste, quality and anything remotely interesting about them and so the idea to produce a range of hand-crafted snacks with “really interesting” recipes was born. Inspired by their time in different parts of the world the “flavours from around the world” continue to be a real hit and with infamous recipes such as French Rosemary Almonds and Peruvian Pink Peppercorn Cashews and Peanuts they soon became award winning and adored.
Who are your snacks suitable for?
We proudly cater for many different tastes and diets using the finest natural and fresh ingredients Almost all our recipes are Gluten Free (look for the “free from” logo on packs) and many of our ranges are suitable for Vegan diets. We oven roast rather than fry our nut recipes and they are a great source of protein.
What’s the strangest customer request you’ve had?
Sometimes I get asked if our (nut) recipes contain Nuts?
Top 3 best sellers for retail?
French Rosemary Almonds 110g bags, Peruvian Pink Peppercorn Cashews and Peanuts 110g bags, and our Green olives with Lemon and Oregano 65g snack bags
If you knew then what you know now what would you do differently?
I would have bought some Bitcoin! - who knew?
Covid 19 specific question – what’s the most positive thing you will take away from this time?
There are so many… The importance of the people we love, the resilience of our young and old, just how blessed we are to have our great NHS, the dedication of our keyworkers including that of the many British food and drink business from producers to suppliers who are having a well-earned resurgence as consumer confidence grows ever more in “buy local, shop local and trust local.”