THE family-run Yorkshire Dales Meat Company is to supply nearly 30 cuts of meat to the Co-operative Food store in Leyburn.

The award-winning company recently won a contract to supply 26 Co-op stores in Yorkshire and the deal with the Leyburn store is on top of that. As a result it has taken on an extra butcher at its factory near Bedale.

The products it will supply include lamb shoulder, lamb legs steaks, lamb breast rolled, pork belly, pork steaks, pork leg boned and rolled, beef rump steak, beef fillet steak, brisket rolled, beef casserole steak and topside boned and rolled.

Run by father-and-son team, Stephen and James Knox, the company sources meat from the family’s 230-acre farm and from trusted local suppliers, who meet their standards and specifications.

The firm employs 30 staff including a team of butchers, drivers and sales support staff, who are based at its factory in Patrick Brompton.

James Knox, managing director, said: "We’re delighted to be extending our product offering with the Leyburn Co-op. It’s great news for the business and gives us the opportunity to demonstrate our breadth of offering

"It’s clear that the Co-operative is very much in tune with the current consumer trend towards food provenance and buying quality produce."

Kate Jones, head of local sourcing at the Co-op, said: "We are delighted with the initial response to our local sourcing initiative which has seen us team up with more than 50 new Yorkshire suppliers across the county.

"However, the agreement we have come to with the Yorkshire Dales Meat Company to sell their products in our Leyburn store takes the initiative on to a new level and hopefully it is something we could do with other local suppliers in other suitable locations.

"Our vision is to champion a better way of doing business for you and your communities and what better way for us to do this than to sell as many locally produced goods as possible."