From Excel Fog to Half Price Le Creuset Dinnerware

I have an irritating habit of shutting down, and worse, getting sleepy when someone is trying to explain something to me that I don’t understand. Thursday morning’s experience was a text book example, and is the reason that this week's email is the runt of the litter. Apologies.

I set Thursday mornings aside to write these newsletters, planning to avoid everyday distractions. However, sometimes a matter arises of such importance that I can't simply ignore it. The culprit on this occasion, a long telephone call with my brother, a chap blessedly free of mental fog (for me a grey mist that descends, and my brain goes AWOL) and a fellow capable of making Excel do things that most of us would consider black magic. On Thursday, the matter that couldn't be put off was my recent struggle with price changes. This involves checking and implementing changes in price from our suppliers and then adjusting our own prices for you accordingly.

And here you might be forgiven for thinking that if a supplier passes on price changes, then that's a simple enough job to implement. They send us a list, we type in a number, job done. But it's quite possible that, in the mix, some items have increased, and some not, some may have gone up a lot, and others very little.  The consequence of these scenarios and several others, is that there are a myriad of subtly different approaches needed for each product (of which there are several thousands) to maintain an overall margin balance, that will keep the lights burning.

With Jim and his witchcraft, we managed to address many of these problems, but it’s left me mentally wrung out and not at all in the kind of creative mood that would make this a more uplifting read.

To Product

This week I have a couple of discontinued lines and an over stock

Le Creuset Dinnerware at half price

My chums at Le Creuset have decided, in their finite wisdom, to stop selling their original design of dinnerware, replacing it with a new flatter, trendy design, called Coupe.

Which sounds less like a plate and more like a sports car or something you’d drink champagne out of.

So, we are selling off our stocks of the original design at half price.

Once the stock is gone, that will be that. The sort of gone that means one day you'd find yourself lamenting this missed opportunity.

This is bad, I’m beginning to sound like a salesman.

The range consists of:

• Dinner Plate 27cm in 8 colours

• Side Plate 22cm in 8 colours

• Pasta Bowl 22cm in 10 colours

• Cereal Bowl 16cm in 10 colours

• Snack Bowl 12cm in 10 colours

Tala Heavy Duty Baking Sheet at half price

At about 3mm thick this is a very serious baking sheet. No sounds of it going 'boing' in the oven as it heats up. This is a baking sheet that's here to stay, the sort that you could use to stave off the worst of a moderate atomic attack.

It is in fact a copy of the Silverwood Aga sheet of approximately the same size and thickness which currently sells at about £46.

This weekend you can buy it at £19.50 or half price.

Use code TALA50 or tell us who you are if coming into either shop.

Le Creuset Signature Cast Iron Casserole-Risotto Pan 30cm Mist Grey

Lastly, there is a Le Creuset large casserole in mist grey. Imagine if you would a casserole so vast that you could comfortably bathe a small child within its walls. 

Or when used for cooking, enough for 6-8 people.

On aolcookshop.co.uk it is described thus:

"The Le Creuset Signature Cast Iron Risotto Pan 30cm Mist Grey is obviously good for risotto and paella, but also for bolognese, coq au vin and curries, where you first want a larger frying area in order to be able to add more taste to your final dish than in a normal traditional casserole.

This pan is a bit like a shallow casserole but with more vertical sides and a bit more depth and we sell, very well, the stainless steel version of it in the Le Creuset 3 Ply range.

It’s often called a multifunction pan by many manufacturers and you can still use it as a casserole or to bake bread in. "

Its full retail is £339, we are now discounting to £239 but for this weekend you can have an extra £40 off, so £199.

I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend. 

Warm regards,

Andrew