Paramount21 news and events from our foodservice industry suppliers

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Chaos in Lympstone

Paramount? 21!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Well done to Dean, Sean, Mauro and Adam who completed the Commando Challenge alongside Simon, and Team Captain, John. Despite the drizzle, the entire team completed the challenge, getting covered from head to toe in thick mud, to raise over £1,000 for charity.

Team Chaos would like to say a big "THANK YOU!" to all who sponsored them, and to the support team who went along on the day. The Royal Marine's Commando Challenge raised money for Devon Air Ambulance and the Royal British Legion.

The 10 kilometre challenge included the 4km Royal Marine Assault Course plus a 3k road run at the start and finish.

The team battled 'The Alligator Pit', 'Smartie Tubes', 'The Pebble Dash' and the 'Sheep Dip' amongst other obstacles.

Anyone still wishing to sponsor Team Chaos please click here.

We were excited to celebrate our 21^st Business Birthday in September!

Paramount was started in September 1988, when Ali, then aged just 27, was made redundant after her father sold his business to a multi national company who without warning shut the company down and relocated the production to other sites around the UK.

Having just had a son, she decided that she would use this crisis as an opportunity, and started by making and selling a similar range of products that her fathers’ company had produced. This led to a diversification into many more frozen products, picking up awards from the beginning.

A value-added range of seafood dishes was the staple business as we started up, before expanding the product range with vegetarian dishes and other high end products, such as luxury fishcakes, fish pies and specialty dishes.

Paramount grew, and developed a strong bond with wholesalers and restaurant chains under the Paramount brand, and more recently have produced a range of products for retail under the Hannaford’s brand - sold nationally through Farm Shops and independent retailers.

Paramount has, from the beginning, prided itself on quality of product and service, and goes to great lengths to ensure they always maintain the high standards set by Ali for the continued success of the business. This has paid off in with a number of awards,

Paramount 21 Ltd was originally a name bought off the shelf, chosen in front of many others, as the meaning of the name came to describe Ali's work ethos - attention to detail and quality of service was paramount!

This has had added meaning in 2009 as we celebrate our 21^st Anniversary. The staff were invited onto a boat charter around Torquay Harbour to celebrate the occasion.

Ali said “It has been a fantastic year for us and we are really pleased to be celebrating our 21^st Business Birthday. It hasn’t always been easy but I believe that the success we have had is down to hard work and dedication.”

Paramount has a truly family feel and, in addition to our21^st Anniversary, Ali’s eldest son Josh – who was just one when the company was started – has just joined to complete the cycle

Luxury Vegetable Burgers Win Award

Paramount wins accolade at The Seafood Awards 2009

We are again celebrating after receiving a Great Taste Gold Award for our Hannaford’s Luxury Vegetable Burgers.

The Burgers, a delicious mixture of puy lentils, grated carrot, onion and spring onion, are flavoured with exotic spices. The chunky vegetables and puy lentils give the burgers a wonderful rustic texture and prevent the burger becoming stodgy.

Ali said “We are so proud to be given this award. We pride ourselves in creating some of the finest seafood and vegetarian dishes around – this is the third year running that we have received a Great Taste Award for our products”

Puy lentils have been widely marketed as one of the new “superfoods”. They are full of soluble fibre which plays a role in preventing colon cancer as well as being high in B vitamins and minerals such as iron.

Buying frozen food means that you only need to take out what you are going to cook, preventing waste and saving money. Hannaford’s dishes are perfect cooked from frozen, so you don’t even need to think about defrosting them earlier in the day!

The Great Taste Awards are widely considered to be the “Oscars of the food industry“. The judging is recognised as the most thorough in the UK. This has never been truer than in 2009 where each entry was blind tasted by two teams of independent experts who worked separately, but concurrently, to recommend products to go through to the next stage.

Each judging session was then subjected to a supreme jury who blind tasted each entry to confirm the award they are given.

Paramount have again triumphed to win Highly Commended in the Best New Seafood Product - Oil Rich Fish category for our West Country Whitebait Fillets at the Seafood Awards 2009. The awards are run by Seafish, the authority on seafood.

Ali said: "We were so pleased to be presented with this award. The West Country Whitebait Fillets are an innovative product which uses Sprats caught locally from the shores of Devon and Cornwall.

The West Country Whitebait Fillets, made exclusively by Paramount, are an innovation in seafood developed by Ali herself. The preat are locally sourced and tick the boxes for sustainability, integrity and health - being full of Omega 3 and vitamins A and D.

We use a larger Sprat which we fillet and coat with our rustic natural breadcrumb to provide a modern twist on a traditional favourite.

We have developed a product which will undoubtably have a mass appeal on menus across the country.

Going up against more familier fish such as salmon and tuna only serves to prove that in this economic climate people are looking for comfort from their traditional favourites.

How to cook naked .................

Hannaford's - our retail range is expanding

Paramount have reviewed all their 100g uncoated fishcakes to give you a flexible addition to any menu. All the fishcakes can be deep-fried from frozen, or for a healthier option, flash-fried and then finished off in the oven.

For a real home made look, they can also be defrosted and then re-shaped to serve as mini fishcakes for starters, or combined to make larger fishcakes for a luxury main meal option.

Paramount are building on the huge success they have had with their Hannaford’s retail range by launching a further 4 products in 2009. The products are available through Nisa Today's who have been working closely with Paramount to develop further the upmarket frozen offering over the last few years.

The new products include Hannaford's Luxury Fish Pie, a single portion consisting of a succulent selection of salmon, smoked haddock, prawns and Alaskan pollack in a creamy leek sauce, topped with our famous mashed potato.

The Sea Bass, Ginger & Lime fishcakes are a great way to include this premium fish into your diet at an excellent price. Our Luxury Veggie Burgers are popular with vegetarins and meat eaters alike. Made with Puy lentils - widely marketed as a 'superfood' - grated carrot and onion they are flavoured with a hint of exotic spices. Our succulent Haddock Mornay completes the new lines.

These dishes complete the range of twelve seafood and vegetarian dishes.

Click the logo above to visit the Hannaford's website.