Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy beef patties, brioche pies and more
Six independent food brands battled for the contract
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Your support makes all the difference.After indulging in crab cakes last week, Aldi’s Next Big Thing was back on our screen this evening with some bakery treats. But only one supplier can win a spot on Aldi’s coveted shelves.
Channel 4’s answer to the BBC’s Dragons’ Den and Masterchef, tonight’s episode of Aldi’s Next Big Thing saw six new British independent food suppliers pitch their products to Julie Ashfield, Aldi’s managing director of buying.
They included a Jamaican beef patty, restaurant-style food baked in a brioche bun, whoopie pie, bread shaped like a bowler hat, fishwife pie and tubbed cookie dough.
Along the way, we had Countryfile’s Anita Rani and Eat Well for Less’s Chris Bavin offering up their expertise to help the food producers get their products supermarket-ready. And while only one bakery item will be available to buy as an Aldi Specialbuys aisle from tomorrow (10 April) morning, you can still indulge in all the treats seen in the show.
Flake Bake Jamaican beef patty: 99p, Aldi.co.uk
Dad and son duo Paul and Michael have won Aldi’s Next Big Thing with their Jamaican take equivalent to the British Cornish pastie. The authentic Jamaican beef patty. Described as “delicious” by Bavin and thoroughly seducing Rani, Flake Bake will be producing 25,000 patties for Aldi’s shelves.
Able to extend the shelf life to 10 days without changing the flavour just by adding garlic, and whipping up some pretty packaging, Flake Bake’s Jamaican beef patties will land on Aldi’s shelves as a Specialbuy tomorrow morning (10 April) and will cost 99p.
As well as beef patties, Flake Bake produces chicken patties, callaloo patties, cheesy beef patties, lamb patties, saltfish patties and vegetable patties. They come in packs of ten (£25, Flakebake.co.uk).
Breeøsh Baked in a Bun: Breeosh.co.uk
Sheffield-based couple Leeza and Steve impressed the panel with their innovative brioche pies featuring restaurant-quality meals baked inside. But when challenged by Ashfield to develop a new exclusive flavour, their bacon cheeseburger pie fell short of surpassing the bakery’s acclaimed three-star Great Taste award-winning sea bass and cod pie.
While Breeøsh’s Baked in a Bun didn’t win a spot on Aldi’s shelves, you can still buy the brioche pies for yourself once the bakery finishes updating its website. The bakery also sells a chicken and chorizo pie, triple cheese pie, mushroom and spinach pie and a Moroccan veggie pie.
Wildcraft whoopie pie: £5.99, Wildcraftbakery.com
Leeds-based Wildcraft Bakery’s whoopie pie wowed Ashfield the very second Mina brought her treats over to the table. But while Ashfield found the gluten-free rose petal and hogweed seed whoopie pie delicious, with a Turkish Delight-like flavour, it wasn’t to be for the allergy-conscious bakery.
We can’t see the hogweed seed whoopie pie on the bakery’s website, but there are other flavours of whoopie pie available to buy, including a banoffee pie, black forest pie, sticky toffee pudding pie, chocolate pie and a lemon and raspberry pie. You can get two whoopie pies for £5.99.
WeeCook Kitchen fishwife pie: £25, Weecookkitchen.com
The pies really impressed the panel, with Ashfield commenting on how smoky it was, with the individual fish flavours really coming through. Concerned about the unusual nature of the product, it wasn’t to be for the Scottish bakery.
If you’re close to the WeeCook Kitchen in Angus in Scotland, you can book a table and try the fishwife pie for yourself. If not, then WeeCook also offers a “pies by post” service. You can get three pies sent to your door nationwide (£25, Weecookkitchen.com), including the fishwife pie.
Bowla bowler hat-shaped bread: £15.99, Bowla.co.uk
Father and daughter team Clayton and Hannah from Bowla had only been trading for three months before they were pitching to Aldi’s head of buying. While their bowler hat-shaped loaf of bread was tasty, and Ashfield praised the pair for doing so well three months in, she thought they were still too early in their journey for the supermarket chain.
The world’s first bowler-shaped loaf of bread can be bought from Bowla’s website in a box of four crusty loaves, as well as from a market stall in Swansea. Bowla says you can separate the top from the bottom for a bread bowl with a bread roll.
Snackcidents edible cookie dough: From £6, Snackcidents.com
Anja and Olly have made the richest of bakery treats for cookie dough lovers – edible raw cookie dough that you can eat straight from the tub. But while cookie dough has exploded in the States, Bavin noted that it hasn’t really caught on in the UK. Slightly too rich for Ashfield’s tastes, Snackcidents ultimately wasn’t right for Aldi.
There are loads of cookie dough flavours to choose from, including gooey chocolate chip, red velvet, vanilla, millionaire shortbread, cherry bakewell and more. A single tub costs £6, but you can get a bestseller bundle of four mini tubs for £17.
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