The Case of the Cake-Bearing MD & upto 50% off Le Creuset Juniper

                   In my dreams...

I fear it’s that time of year again when all any retailer can talk about is Black Friday.

And, tempted though I am to stand out by not doing so, one or two colleagues would, I fear, take me to task for being wilfully uncommercial.

One such soul is Andi Healey (who usually composes the look and structure of this email). Not only would he make his thoughts very plain, but in fact earlier this week gave me one of those long-suffering sighs, in which it subsequently became clear, that all my odd meanders and trifles don’t do our ratings any good with dear old Aunty Google, because I’m not talking kitchenware.

“They’re the wrong subject, Andrew”

“They’re not stuffed with keywords, Andrew. Instead, you're wittering on about psychology, model railways and hi-fi again… you need to talk cookware!”

So, before I reluctantly drift into the commercial bit, let me tell you who came to lunch the other day, and what he brought with him.

A Little Le Creuset History (and Cake)

My first contact with Le Creuset, back in the late 1970’s, was through Jim Constable, the agent employed by Clarbat, the then Le Creuset importer. Jim and I got on extremely well. He would often fill his car with cast iron on the way home to Worthing and drop it off to us, having called in at their warehouse in Vauxhall.

When Clarbat and Elizabeth David Ltd (another importer of French cookware) merged to become The Kitchenware Merchants, Jim continued as their agent. At that point, Michael Sworder took the helm, and over the years I got to know him pretty well and liked him very much.

In the late 1980's, Paul van Zuydam had bought Le Creuset, and Michael presided over the change from being an importer to becoming a fully owned UK entity, this was the mid-1990's, if memory serves.

In the early 2000s, Nick Ryder took over from Michael, and once again I found a man who spoke my language; clearly bright, trustworthy, and someone with whom I shared a deep liking and mutual respect.

I’m very pleased to say this continues now with Le Creuset’s new UK Managing Director, Lee Tibbit, whom I’ve met three or four times, and it was he who’d I invited to lunch last Wednesday.

And the reason for this long story has nothing to do with business (sorry Andi), and everything to do with cake.

As you may know from previous emails, I am a bit of a cake enthusiast. Some say that I use this passion, in a mildly manipulative way, to feed myself. 

Officially of course, I reject this entirely. Off the record, I find it hard to deny that my most favourite suppliers all bring me cake when coming to see me. Is this a coincidence? Might it be that they are just as fond of the stuff? Maybe they’re fond of me?  Do we really spend money with them just to keep me in sweet delights? 

Well, my lips are sealed (apart from when eating cake ...) 

Whatever the truth of the matter, Lee told me he would bring cake (excellent thinking, Lee. Most blokes would turn up with wine, but this was lunchtime). So, somehow my predilection for cake had reached him, whether Tara (our account manager) tipped him the wink, or perhaps it was George, who used to look after us, or maybe he’s a secret AoL newsletter reader… I shall probably never know.

The important thing is, he brought cake.

And not just any cake. This was a superb lemon drizzle, moist, with just the right amount of lemon. More a hint than a punch. Clearly homemade, though alas not by Lee himself (points deducted), but made by the baker in his village.

• Round, oval and shallow casseroles
• A frying pan
• A rectangular baker
• A petite casserole
• Breakfast and dinnerware
• And a mug