Company report, and the return of the silicone lid

Talking of the chancellor and his generosity, all this profit comes with the responsibility of paying our way and supporting the society in which we live, by paying tax of course. Ever since reading Julian Richer’s book (he of Richer Sounds, the Hi Fi chain) back in the late 90’s I’ve been all the more convinced of the reality that we all need to be “paying unto Caesar, what is Caesar's” including paying what sometimes feels like huge amounts to the chancellor, of our hard earned cash. And this is made worse from time to time when it’s reported that companies, such as Amazon and Starbucks to name but two, appear to get away with minute contributions to the exchequer. However, when we did receive the grants to pay our rents, rates and could claim furlough contributions (which we did for just over half our people, who were not involved with the websites) I began to feel that we were at last getting some payback, for our contributions over the years. In fact, of course we’d had them all along. When I recall the care lavished on us as a family, and on Babette in particular, by various branches of the NHS over the last nine years, then this puts our tax contributions into some perspective!

So, I was proud to tell everyone that we, as a company (about 20 of us) through corporation tax and as individuals, (income tax and NI contributions) this year, had paid well in excess of £100,000. To put this into an everyday sort of context, it means we have either paid for 3 or 4 nurses wages, or more prosaically, about 5 metres of Motorway!

I think that this is a great result, and one that I’m very proud of!

So, onto product

Back in 2013, Charles Viancin invented the self-sealing silicone lid. And, if by chance, they, as a phenomenon, have passed you by, then they are silicone lids of varying sizes that will cover a salad bowl, a frying pan, a saucepan or casserole, a dish in the fridge, a dish in the microwave, even a dish in a conventional oven. What’s more, if the dish you want to cover has a smooth edge to it the lid will provide an airtight seal and so keep heat in or flies out. Very simple idea and a very clever one.

For quite a number of years these were terrific sellers for us, and rightly so, their uses are many and they don’t wear out and they often replace Cling Film or Foil and, being made of silica (sand) they are also pretty “Green”. An all-round great product. All good things come to an end, apparently, and so with passage of time the novelty has worn off and perhaps many now have a selection of them at home as we do*. So anyway, the importer stopped bringing them in. End of story.

Zeal Self Sealing Lids

Well, end of story until I was reminded that my chums at CKS had copied them, in the process making them look remarkably like a Le Cresuet product(!) i.e. smart and trendy and hey presto they’re back. Marketed under their sub brand, Zeal, there are 4 sizes of lid for the most part in three different colours, Blue, Red and Green. Like their Viancin forebears they have a polished finish on the underside which is key to getting a good seal (when appropriate) on salad bowls, when it will seal so well that you can actually pick up the whole bowl by the lid!

So, a great product and one that I am very pleased to be able to talk about again. Four sizes in three colours prices from £8.99 to £19.00. For an offer please see below

Whilst I’m on the topic of Zeal ,there’s three other products under the brand name that are relatively new to us.

• A pair of mini tongs, that are good for picking up small things, Olives, Sugar cubes, Sushi, for instance. They are lockable and have silicone “hands” that won’t harm any surface they come into contact with. Wee and pretty irresistible at £5.99.
• A silicone spatula with a wooden handle. Nothing remarkable about that you might think, except finding a spatula these days without a silicon or plastic handle is pretty rare. This has real wood!
• And lastly, an Egg Ring that is round, not some fancy shape! Maybe I’m now going to rather spoil it and ask, “why would you want an egg ring in the first place?” Just picture instead, getting your frying pan really hot, adding a little oil, breaking an egg into it and letting it cover as much of the pan as it wants to. Watch it whilst the yolk cooks and the white goes a lovely golden-brown colour on the underside. Salt and pepper… imagine how tasty that caramelised egg white is now going to be. Then compare this with the miserable, but neat looking thing you will get out of an egg ring…! So if I haven’t put you off… Zeal Perfect Egg Ring £7.00…apparently they are very popular!

Strange.

Lastly ,we had in our first Koziol item this week. The imaginatively named “Koziol 3 piece cutlery set”, is really an upmarket picnic or school/work place cutlery set with a difference. Just look at the neat interlocking piece of cutlery in photo 1 and then marvel at how it's becomes a knife a fork and a spoon in photo 3 . If you don’t find it fascinating and really quite impossible to not buy one, you and I see things differently. Quite wonderful and only £9.95 for all this. Incidentally, I’ve just come off the phone from the ever genial Marc at Haus (the importer) who tells me it has wood fibre in the plastic to give it texture, he also mentioned that they are unbreakable…even more of a masterpiece and a bargain.