Calshot-based Fabulous Catch Company’s crabcakes clinch TV contest title for big Aldi order

THE secret’s out and it’s celebration time for Hayley Elston and her specialist artisan fish dish team at Calshot-based Fabulous Catch Company.

Last week, millions of viewers saw her Crabulous Crabcakes win Aldi’s Next Big Thing, a Channel 4 TV competition that gives small food businesses the chance to compete for a coveted contract to stock Aldi stores nationwide.

“We already sell online from our website, in prestigious farm shops and busy farmers’ markets, and our fishcakes are served across the south in gastro pubs, garden centres and restaurants.

“Now I’m thrilled that even more people will be able to discover what we do, thanks to Aldi.

“This puts the brand into a much bigger public arena, and while it will hopefully boost our sales at local shops such as at Everton Stores and online, what we would really like is to open our own shop in Lymington and run it with a traditional fishmonger - but we can’t find suitable premises.”

The secret is that Hayley, who lives at Milford, actually won the Aldi competition in October, after entering a year ago and filming last summer.

But she says “everyone was sworn to secrecy, which has worked so well that only this week one delivery driver wished me luck in the final!”.

A new iteration of the original zero-waste Crabbie Crabcake, the Crabulous Crabcake was created especially for Aldi in response to their request for Hayley to scale up her product while retaining flavour and consistency.

Hayley said: “Our original crab cake is very rich, so what we have made for the supermarket is much more accessible. This will introduce people to crab who might have never tried it before without it being too overwhelming.

“We’ve brought citrus into it, potatoes, chilli, leeks and parsley with a lovely crispy crumb, and I am delighted with the finished product.”

Her revised crabcakes, which delighted judges with their texture and flavour, won the Fabulous Catch Company an order to supply Aldi with 60,000 units to be rolled out across 960 stores.

But rather than her team of nine, including a delivery driver burning the midnight oil to load big trucks travelling across the nation, the production is being outsourced.

She told the A&T: “We were going to make it but it is more practical to outsource – there are completely different economies of scale for something like this but they are using my recipe and my crab suppliers from Devon and Cornwall and we worked very carefully to make sure the end result was right.”

So Hayley's crab cakes, first created in 2012 to help a group of fishermen on the Isle of Wight sell their unwanted brown crab meat, are now available across the country thanks to the game-changing TV competition.

Moving off the island to Calshot at the end of 2016, the company has grown steadily, with a regular presence at food festivals such as Christchurch and Highcliffe.

Other products include fish fingers, patés and soups, and a range of wild game dishes created by Hayley’s business partner, Austrian three-time Michelin star chef Herbert Berger, who sources venison and game birds from local gamekeepers during the season.

The Fabulous Catch Company’s award-winning fishcakes make the most of classic ingredient pairings – there's mackerel, beetroot and horseradish; flaky white fish, asparagus, white truffle and parmesan; and crab with leeks, lemon juice and a smattering of chilli.

Hayley says: “I love big bold colourful food, and Herbert is all about precision, so he brings control to the recipes. He uses amazing flavour combinations to create unique gourmet products that taste sensational.”

The keen foodie, who won her first cookery competition aged 11, says: “You need to love the food you produce, and I’ve always liked a fishcake. This is just as much of a passion for me today as it was at the beginning: creating the finest handmade sustainable UK produce possible, and making your tastebuds happy!”