Gift wrapping has never been my strong point. The results have always been more distressing than dazzling and here I am being judged by professionals – putting the finishing touch to the ultimate festive gift – the Christmas hamper.
In the bustling HQ of The British Hamper Company, I am learning the precise art of ribbon tying under the expert eye of Rebecca Bennett, a student who is one of thirty temps hired to work over the festive season. She is my very patient teacher today. “You just need to pull the ribbon tightly towards you,” she shows me for the third time.
Rebecca, 21, and the rest of the Christmas temps have joined the core year-long team of twenty staff. They are on the floor packing as if it were the night before Christmas in Santa’s North Pole workshop.
Founded by Mike Tod, his wife Liz, and their eldest son James, the British Hamper Company has been sending Christmas hampers all over the UK and the world for a decade, from its base in the East Midlands cathedral city of Lincoln.
“There was one temp we hired who just couldn’t get the ribbon-tying right. It’s quite a dextrous skill. We gave him so much training, but he just couldn’t do it, so he had to go.” says Mike, 61, pausing for what feels like quite a long time before adding; ” to another department!”
Mike is no Scrooge. Selling hampers is all about spreading festive joy after all, but ribbon-tying is a serious business.
He adds, “Keeping the ribbon is the hardest thing for people to learn. They either put too much effort or not enough. Once you get the hang of it, though, you become very efficient.”
The team is so efficient that a small hamper is packed from scratch in four minutes by Rebecca – tied with a picture-perfect bow. The medium hampers take six minutes, and the large ones take around nine.
Line leaders check all hampers have been packed correctly before the all-important finishing bow, and then they pass through quality control again.
It’s a very intricate process and my contribution isn’t quite cutting it. Making sure the two ends of the ribbon are exactly the same length when I cross over to tie my hamper is proving far too difficult considering my non-existent skills.
“When the ribbons come loose, they don’t really look good,” explains operations manager Dimitri Timofeev. “It’s Christmas — everything has to be perfect.”
This painstaking attention to detail has paid off. This festive season — in its tenth anniversary year — British Hamper Company products have been given the Royal seal of approval.
Their fudge and biscuits are now being stocked in the Tower of London and is expected to be available in more royal palace shops soon.
“Our products recently became available to buy in some farm shops, but to have the contract with Royal Palaces – to be one of their suppliers — that is just really exciting!” says Alice Tod, Mike’s daughter who also works in the family business – helping to source the best artisan produce.
She’s done a sterling job. Their hampers of classic British treats have also impressed the nation many consider the foodie royalty of the world – France.
“Our delivery sales to France are strong,” says Alice – so much so that the family recently showcased at a Trade show in Paris. “One of the samples we put out was our Cornish fudge – everybody went absolutely crazy for it. They didn’t really know what fudge was – they had never tried it — it is just so British so it created a massive amount of intrigue. “
The fudge is created on the Cornish coast, with local sea salt and caramel.
As part of my contribution to quality control, I have a taste — it’s rich and sweet with a lovely, salty balance. I also taste-test the most moreish cheesy buttery biscuits I have ever eaten.
When the company was founded in 2014, it launched with a range of hampers, including the British Afternoon Tea Gift Basket- which has proved hugely successful stateside.
Mike previously worked for a mining company and James was a rural surveyor. They both spent a lot of time in Australia for their jobs when they had the idea to go into business together to promote the beauty of British artisan produce — exporting overseas.
“We noticed that although we like the food in Australia, it doesn’t have the breadth of artisan production we do in the UK. We don’t have a fantastic food reputation globally,” he says. “And so many people are making good food in this country – there are so many artisan producers.”
James, 37, adds: “We saw there was a gap in the market for foodie gifts for expats around the world as by 2014, e-commerce was really, really ramping up.”
Care packages for those missing home comforts is one thing but hampers specifically curated around specific occasions such as birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter and Valentine’s Day proved irresistible to the international market.
The hampers are now a firm favourite in the US, and exports to Australia, Asia, the UAE and Europe are rising fast. Christmas hampers are a part and parcel of British tradition too – made famous by the 300-year-plus British institution that is London’s Fortnum and Mason.
The Tods in Lincoln have been holding their own, though.
Alice, 32 joined just before the Christmas rush in 2014 working from 7am to 2am in an effort to meet orders for a thousand hampers. She recalls: “We hadn’t prepacked any number because we didn’t think we needed to. We quickly learnt from that mistake!”
Fast-forward a decade, and they pack over two thousand a day during the Christmas sales period, which begins in September. They are aiming to meet 35,000 orders this festive season.
The best-selling hamper – which also comes in the traditional wicker basket is the Happy Christmas Hamper – which includes iced Christmas Cake, the All Butter Cheddar Biscuits, Festive Spiced Cookies and of course, the famous sea salt fudge.
There’s also the Mulled Wine and Merrymaking hamper with Portuguese red wine and a mulled wine spice kit of nine aromatic spices.
The Tods also sell hampers to cater to dietary needs such as the Diabetic Mother’s Day Hampers (non diabetic hampers are available too) and halal hampers.
There are also gluten-free and vegan selections, although Mike says the latter’s demand has decreased over the past couple of years.
The last Christmas hampers will be packed a few days before the big day but the Tod family will be working up to Christmas Eve checking delivery deadlines have been fulfilled so nobody is left disappointed, and of course, ensuring that when customers do get their hamper – it has the most exquisitely tied bow.
