Owen Potts and his products

Owen Potts is the creative brains behind the Potts and Owen Potts product ranges. Owen has worked in the food industry for over 15 years, and has steadily made his name as an inventor of inspired recipes.

If you’ve ever bought a gourmet salad dressing, or a luxury jam, chutney, or condiment, there’s a very good chance you’ve tasted one of Owen’s creations. He’s developed recipes for sauces, jams, condiments and dressings for everyone from supermarket premium brands and household names, to farm shop and deli brands. In fact, we counted around 1,000 recipes developed in 2010 alone!

As Owen explains: “I’ve always had a passion for food, and took my first steps in the food industry as a temp in my early 20s. I felt at home in the industry very quickly, and soon went on to become a production manager before establishing my own business developing chutneys, condiments and sauces, and offering new-product development consultancy to other companies.”

Thanks to his expertise and enthusiasm, Owen is regarded as a great source of knowledge in the industry. His peers often ask where to source ingredients, how to use them, and even how to choose equipment for their industrial kitchens.
 

The Owen Potts range

When we set out to develop our new range, we wanted to capitalise on Owen's knowledge and flair by giving him the chance to develop products he's proud to put his name to.

“I took my inspiration for the Owen Potts range from traditional British cooking and flavours discovered on family holidays. I use high-quality ingredients and often add my own twist to bring new flavour combinations into the mix. The result is a range of products that add something extra to everyday meals, and a touch of indulgence to special occasion dining,” says Owen.

The range includes dressings, condiments, traditional European cook-in and pour-over sauces, and delicious dessert sauces.
 

Owen’s early years

Owen puts his creative flair down to his passion for food – a passion that emerged at a very young age. Visits to grandparents kindled Owen's culinary interests and were a highlight of his childhood: “My Grandma would cook delicious roast dinners, and loved to make tasty green tomato chutney and damson jam, all from local Worcestershire produce. Her love of cooking was a big inspiration to me.

“Growing up near Manchester and Liverpool, I also remember a vast range of restaurants offering all types of cuisine. I loved eating out with my family, and I developed a taste for Greek, Indian, Caribbean, and Chinese foods – not to mention Lancashire hotpot – pretty early on in life.

“I’ve also been lucky enough to travel extensively, and have visited India, Indonesia, Japan, and most of the UK and Europe. Wherever I go, I seek out local flavours and delicacies that I can bring home to use in my own recipes.”

By his late teens, the experimental approach that’s earned Owen his reputation for culinary innovation was firmly in place. It started with trying out ever-more-exotic combinations of sandwich fillings – think Stilton cheese and blackcurrant jam, and you’ll get the idea. Before long, friends looked forward to Owen's dinner parties with egar anticipation – but with cooking treated as an art form, they couldn’t count on the meal reaching the table before midnight! However, once it arrived it was always worth the wait – stuffed tortelloni, with the pasta and stuffing both made from scratch; slow-cooked curries that spent four hours in the oven to ensure the flavours really developed; that experiment to find out what whiskey tastes like if you soak chillies in it for a couple of weeks…

Looking back, it was inevitable that his working life would involve food.

“I love that my day job keeps me exploring – whether I’m visiting suppliers, being asked to develop recipes using a certain ingredient, or creating new products to expand a range, I’m always searching out new ingredients and coming up with imaginative ways to use them.”

Owen’s passion for invention and quality ingredients are evident throughout the Owen Potts range.
 

Join Owen Potts’ tasting panel

Now you can help Owen ensure he makes products that you want to eat. If you can spare a little time every couple of months to try our new products and share your views on how people can use them in their meals, we'd love to hear from you.

Our tasting panel are invited to give feedback on one or two products every month or every other month. We’ll send you a free sample of the product and a short questionnaire asking for your feedback. Just try the product, answer a few questions, and help us to perfect our range!

Interested? Send us an email and we’ll let you know if you’ve been chosen to join in: tastingpanel@pottspartnership.co.uk