Monday 19 October 2009

Free gift when you buy any Magimix Nespresso or L'Expresso coffee maker


Coffee, Tea and Toast, sister website to Pots and Pans, is giving away a free set of four Maxwell & Williams Demi Cups and Saucers with every Magimix Nespresso or L'Expresso coffee maker that is bought. The Maxwell & Williams Demi Cup and Saucer set normally retails for £16. All you have to claim you free set is to make sure you add them to your order when you buy your Magimix Nespresso or L’Expresso coffee maker.

Maxwell & Williams are widely regarded worldwide for producing stylish tableware. This set of cups and saucers features black and white circles, known as the Spin design. The cups are prefect for serving your espresso in.

Most Magimix products were originally designed for commercial use, this helps to explain why they often last longer and out perform other brands. Their coffee machines use the nespresso capsule system. This has been designed to ensure that they will produce a perfect espresso or cup of coffee every time you use them.

This offer is available while stocks last.

Friday 16 October 2009

Quadrille food books now in stock

If you have visited our website recently you might have noticed that we have started to sell a range of food books from Quadrille Publishing. This is an addition to the cookware and kitchenware that people usually associate with Pots and Pans. This is not the first time though that we have sold books, during the summer we started to sell Australian Women’s Weekly recipe books through our website. We expected these to be popular but have been surprised by just how successful these titles have been. As a result of this success we decided to expand the range of food books available on the website.

When we started to look for other publishers to stock we worked out a set of criteria that we would use to judge publishing companies. Ideally we wanted to stock only the best food books possible, we wanted to add the leading companies. We also thought that it was important if we were going to sell food books that they were books that we would want to purchase ourselves.

You only need to look at some of the authors who are published by Quadrille to see that they are one of the leading publishers of food books. Their current catalogue includes books by chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, James Martin, Mary Berry, Bill Granger and Anjum Anand as well as many others.

As we mentioned earlier recipe books have proved to be exceedingly popular with our customers. People are often looking for recipes for meals that are easy and quick to prepare but do not make any sacrifices when it comes to taste. They are looking to achieve the right balance between food that tastes good but involves the minimum time and effort to make. Recipe books are often the best place to find this type of recipe. Collections of recipes allow you to share in the knowledge and experience of some of the top chefs from one easy access point. Then there are people who are looking to be more adventurous with their cooking, they are perhaps looking at trying new ingredients, styles of cooking or even new cookery techniques. These are people who look to food books for inspiration or new ideas.

Over recent years there has been a growth in people’s knowledge and awareness of food and cooking. A major reason for the new found sense of adventure people have for cooking can be attributed in part to the rise of celebrity TV chefs.

The success of the television show is often mirrored by the volume of sales of the book associated with the programme. Included among the Quadrille books that we have added to our online shop are the Gordon Ramsay recipe books that accompany his critically acclaimed television show The F Word. James Martin, the chef who is rapidly becoming the ‘face of BBC Cookery programmes’ is another television chef whose books are being published by Quadrille. The collection of James Martin’s recipes for desserts is currently one of Quadrille’s best selling titles. The current catalogue also contains several books by Anjum Anand which tie in with her popular television series about Indian cookery. The current catalogue is not limited to the new generation of television chefs. Another famous name on the Quadrille rota of authors is Mary Berry, who is perhaps the most respected cookery writer in this country.

What all of these chefs share is a strong passion for food, you can feel this passion coming through the pages of their books. This is helped by the high publishing standards adhered to by Quadrille, the design and layout of their books is always exquisite. The sumptuous colour photography that is found in each book helps bring the recipes alive on the page.

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Wusthof Knives benefit from appearing in Julie & Julia

We have seen an increase in both the number of sales as well as the interest in Wusthof Knives over the past couple of months. Wusthof Knives are always one of our better selling brands. If you have ever owned or even used a Wusthof Knife you will understand why they are so popular, they are one of the best knives on the market. They are exceedingly well constructed which is one of the reasons that they are such a popular choice with both professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts. What we were seeing was a spike in activity on the Wusthof Knives pages of our website, though we were at a loss to explain it! We had seen this with another product recently, the reason for the increased interest in that case was a leading magazine had published a very complimentary review of that product and very kindly linked through to our website in their article. In this instance we could not find any new links or even news about Wusthof Knives on the internet...

Then we took a telephone order from a customer for a Wusthof Knife Block Set - while placing their order they asked if they were used in the film Julie & Julia? This film has already generated an incredible increase in the sales of Le Creuset products, which feature extensively throughout the film, and the same appears to be the case for Wusthof Knives - if only the marketing people from Wusthof had been as on the ball as Le Creuset! Both companies have received tremendous benefits from having their products featured in this film, and as cookware retailers, we've definitely seen an increase in sales.

Free gifts updated

We have updated our free gift offer for orders of £50 or over on our website again. Now when you spend £50 or over on our online cookware shop you can receive a free Grunwerg Adagio Blue Cheese Knife and Pizza Cutter Set, all you need to do is add it your order. Both items in the set have been designed to be stylish as well as practical. The handles have been ergonomically designed so that they are comfortable to hold and at the same time easy to grip. The Grunwerg Adagio Blue Cheese Knife and Pizza Cutter Set normally retails for £6.99.

The free gift that you can receive if you spend £100 or over has not changed. You can still choose to receive a free Natural Origins Pizza Cutting Board and Pizza Cutter Set. This normally retails for £15. There is only one free gift per order and they are only available while stocks last. It is worth checking the website on a regular basis though as the free gifts are updated on a regular basis. For more information you can visit the Free Offers page on our website.

Don’t forget that we are still offering free delivery on orders over £75. This is for customers in Great Britain, customers outside of Great Britain will receive an equivalent discount.

Lastly, there is still time to enter this month’s free prize draw. This month the prize is a simplehuman soft touch bin which normally retails for £109.99. For more details of how to enter this months prize draw you can visit the competition page of our website.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

60 Minute Makeover features Pots and Pans


Various products from our online cookware store have been used in the new series of 60 Minute Makeover. Our products are featured in several episodes of the new series which started on ITV on the 7th of September.

The first episode of the new series that used products from Pots and Pans involved designers Colin and Justin transforming a house in Carshalton, Surrey. The details of this episode of 60 Minute Makeover as well as a list of the products that were used are available on the shows section of the ITV website. It was gratifying to see that several of the 60 Minute Makeover designers choose to use our products. In another episode Scott Waldron makes over a house in Great Moor, Stockport he used a wide selection of products that are available on our online cookware store.

It was interesting to note that the different interior designers would often choose to use the same products. Le Creuset, Denby Pottery, Raymond Blanc Cookware by Anolon and Alessi were popular with several of the designers on the show, they all feature in several episodes of the new series. Another product that was used on several different makeovers was the Voodoo Knife Block. If you watch the programme carefully you will notice this appearing in several different episodes. It has obviously proved to be popular with the interior designers who work for this programme.

You can view how our products that we supplied to 60 Minute Makeover fitted in to the overall makeover on a dedicated 60 Minute Makeover page on our website.

Excellence in Housewares Awards Ceremony Tonight


It is the Excellence in Housewares 2009 Awards tonight. Pots and Pans have been nominated in two categories, Excellence in Direct Retailing and Excellence in Retail Display – Independent. These awards have been described as being the ‘Oscars’ of our industry. Last year Pots and Pans won the Excellence in Online Retailing award, the award still takes pride of place in our office. We have sent a ‘small delegation’ down to London for tonight’s ceremony, we are all keeping our fingers crossed that they will have two good reasons for celebrating later tonight. We realise though that we face some very stiff competition in both categories.

We have updated the free gift for anybody who spends £100 or over on the Pots and Pans website. Now when you spend £100 or over you can choose to receive a free Premier Natural Origins Pizza Cutting Board and Pizza Cutter. This normally retails at £15. You can get more details about this free gift on our website.

Other news is the Pots and Pans lottery syndicate had a win in the Euro Millions lottery last week. Between 10 of us we scooped just over £12, this works out at just over £1.20 per person, this almost covers the £1.50 cost that each of us put in to enter the lottery. Debate is raging over what we should do with our winnings, the general consensus is that we will be using it to buy tickets for this weeks lottery.

Friday 2 October 2009

Win a simplehuman Soft Touch bin in this month’s free prize draw


This month in the Pots and Pans free prize draw we are giving someone the chance to win a simplehuman Slim Soft Touch bin. This month’s prize the 45 litre brushed silver simplehuman Soft Touch normally retails for £109.99, if you buy it from the Pots and Pans website you can save yourself £13, we are selling it for £96.99.

The core philosophy of simplehuman products is ‘a mission to make you more efficient at home’. Their products have been designed to help make it easier to do everyday tasks. All of their products combine providing an ergonomic solution to everyday tasks with a highly stylised look and feel that makes the products easily recognisable as being produced by simplehuman.

The simplehuman Soft Touch bin features an innovative opening mechanism which makes this bin a great alternative to the standard pedal bin. To open a Soft Touch bin you press down on the lid which then pops open. The top section itself lifts out and the inner bucket has integrated handles which makes it easy to remove the contents of the bin. The lid has been constructed from durable polycarbonate which as well as making it dent proof ensures that it is easy to clean. The Soft Touch bin has been designed so that it will sit flush against a wall this stops the bin from being obtrusive.

If you are interested in winning this fantastic prize you can find the instructions for how to enter on the competition page of our website.