The bacon sandwich conundrum
height=”100″ />Before he decided to try and change the world through food (and disappoint a lot of kids by taking away their treats), Jamie Oliver was my favourite chef.
Partly it was the fact that he whizzed around on a scooter and partly that he showed even as an adult, you can still slide down the banister rail.
Mostly though, it was because he knew how to make a killer bacon sandwich. The logic was pretty simple – big bits of toasted bread, lots of quality bacon, lashings of ketchup and the little twist, a glug of olive oil over the toast.
But sadly this breakfast delight is set to become more expensive, with both bacon and olive oil expected to rise in price over the year.
As The Guardian reported yesterday, olive oil prices have increased by 62 per cent over the past three months due to droughts in Spain and consumers will feel the impact soon to the tune of a 25 per cent rise.
Meanwhile, droughts in the US and Russia have resulted in animal feed prices spiralling out of control. As a result, UK pig farmers are looking to cull their herds as they can no longer afford to feed so many of their greedy swine. A fall in the supply of pig meat, with continued high demand, will mean higher prices for bacon, too.
So the weather across the world is conspiring to bankrupt me through my love of a bacon sandwich. But I’m not willing to take this lying down. So what would you advise?
Should I just absorb the extra costs in order to retain the same quality? Should I go for lower quality ingredients, but keep the manufacturing process the same? Or perhaps I should abandon the bacon for a bowl of porridge oats? Share your thoughts below.
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You can’t skimp on quality! For a truly great bacon sandwich you should be willing to pay the price, so man up and pay up!!
Can’t fault your logic Derek.
Going back to first principles, the bread should not be toasted-good old white sliced is the best. This obviates the need for olive oil that should never come near a bacon sandwich.
Dry Cure bacon is worth the extra cost.
The only thing that I would add is mushrooms!
What an absolute quandary! If this was any other sandwich I would go for lower quality ingredients but a bacon sandwich with bad bacon is sacrilege. Unfortunately you will have to absorb the cost and buy cheaper tea bags to make up for it! If the cheaper tea bags don’t quite even up 25% increase may I suggest you forgo biscuits!
In an effort to maintain quality but control price, you could look at the manufacturing process and start making your own bread, thereby increasing the quality of that component. This could offset the increased cost of decent bacon, which should never be compromised. It would mean a greater investment on your part, but the satisfaction in the final product would be worth it.
If you are producing the final product yourself then identifying an issue with your supply chain should allow you to take pre-emptive action and invest in a stock of good quality products and store them in suitable conditions to maintain your current expenditure over the period, or at least hold off the impending increases. With a potential cull of the herds there could be an opportunity to procure good quality bacon at cost and therefore achieve a saving?
If you are sourcing them from a third party though, you’ll either need to accept the potential increase, subject to negotiations with your providers (can value be added elsewhere in the deal?), or potentially consider bringing the operation ‘in house’ (see above).
A bowl of porridge is no substitute for a good bacon sandwich.
The answer is obvious bring as much of the operation as possible in-house. Get an Oxford Sandy and Black or Gloucester Old Spot piglet and fatten it up with the prolific food waste you woood otherwise throw away (assuming you are typical of of most UK consumers). A quick butchery course, you can then cure your own bacon at home, sell surplus or trade it for more bacon, bread (also rising rapidly in price) and olive oil. Vegetarian “bacon” is not an option!!
Surely bulk buying is not the option, a simple JIT process of only procuring what you need and when will allow you to maintain quality without excessive expenditure allowing you to source suitable alternatives.
Supporting Alistair’s idea, buy some chickens as well, and stick a fried egg into the sandwich too. Mmmmm.
Go down the demand management route to maintain quality. Invest your savings in a competitive differentiator: A Beer.
Have fun.