Nick Brake

The Rutland Charcuterie Company was set up by Nick Brake – former butchery and charcuterie student at The School of Artisan Food – and operates out of converted farm buildings in the small village of Braunston-in-Rutland.

It was whilst living in France that Nick and his wife Nicky got hooked on charcuterie and on their return decided to explore the possibilities of producing it here in the UK. Nick studied butchery and charcuterie for a year at The School of Artisan Food for a year and gained the essential skills and knowledge to set up a business of his own.

They teamed up with Rich Summers who was teaching Nick on the course at the time. Having converted outbuildings on the farm they started to work on product development. Curing and air drying is a lengthy process and it took over a year to perfect the product.

The Rutland Charcuterie Company launched at the beginning of June 2014 with a seriously delicious range of British Charcuterie made from locally sourced free range meat. Venison salamis to duck bacon, biltong to a pork pie.

The company started selling at local farmers markets, shows and festivals getting great reviews for their range of products. The company is delighted to have just won a bursary for the BBC Good Food Show in Harrogate for spring 2015. Nick said: “This is just the best news. To have won such a prestigious award as a fledgling company is unbelievable. It is so exciting to have such a fantastic opportunity to showcase The Rutland Charcuterie Company in front of such a wide audience of food lovers, to both consumers and the trade.”

At the time of writing the full website was about to go live with an on-line shop facility, opening up new possibilities to get The Rutland Charcuterie Company products delivered to all parts of the country.

The production premises recently gained Full Approved Status from Environmental Health to enable them to now supply wholesale to the trade.

Find out more about Rutand Charcuterie.

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