Town’s 2010/11 season may have brought few trophies on the field but the club’s catering department celebrated a notable victory earlier today. The Blues’ Portman Pie has been named the best in British football after winning the Hospitality and Catering News Pie League.
The pie got the nod from Blues supporters Blues and visiting fans, beating Blackburn, Reading and Manchester United to the title.
Denis Sheehan from Hospitality and Catering News and representatives of league sponsors Moduline were at Portman Road today to present the club’s head of conference and banqueting, Mike Rieder, with the award. Matt Purling from Adnams, Dave Boniface from piemakers Kentish Mayde and Town chief executive Simon Clegg were also present.
Rieder told TWTD that the triumphant pie is result of several seasons’ work: "I’ve worked with Kentish Mayde now for eight or nine years and developed the pie directly with their baker.
"It’s my recipe, which has been taken on, and in the last couple of years we’ve put in an Adnams bitter, which really enriches the pie.
The taste of victory
"The quality is superb, it’s a little bit more than your run-of-the-mill pie but it’s definitely worth paying for, and we’re very proud to get the award.”
Sheehan says the league developed after they were contacted by a fan midway through the season: "It all started through our website where a Crawley fan, who had gone to Old Trafford for their FA Cup match, posted a comment to us saying what a great day out he and his family had had and how he had enjoyed the pie at Old Trafford.
Photocall in the former Pie-oneer Stand
"He also asked us who did the best football pies, which we felt was a question worth asking the subscribers to our newsletter and the visitors to our website. So we did that, and were overwhelmed with the response.
"We got hundreds and hundreds of comments, lots of humour - some that we couldn’t publish - but everyone seemed to be incredibly passionate about their club and their pie offering.”
Club employees sample the winning pie
Rieder thanked the fans who championed the pie: "We are very grateful to all the supporters who voted for us.
"We’re really proud to have won the award. It’s a great product, at a good price and hopefully the fans enjoy it on a matchday.”