We are delighted to announce that Dovecote Park have once again received an AA+ rating – the highest standard – at the unannounced BRC audit at our Stapleton site last week. BRC Global Standards - the standards and protocol arm of the British Retail Consortium - is a leading brand and consumer protection organisation, employed  by over 25,000 certificated suppliers in 130 countries, with certification issued through a global network of accredited certification bodies.

A BRC Global Standards certification acts as a ‘guarantee the standardisation of quality, safety and operational criteria’ and ensures ‘that manufacturers fulfil their legal obligations and provide protection for the end consumer’. As such, recognition by BRC Global Standards is now often an essential supply requirement of leading retailers – including Waitrose - manufacturers and food service organisations.   After a three day audit, which began on September 10th, we received an AA+ rating – indicating an ‘excellent’ standard and no major non-compliances. We received just four minor non-compliances across the entire audit.  

Simon Clark, Technical Director stated of the result:   ‘I am pleased to say that following the 3 day unannounced BRC Food safety audit this week we achieved the highest possible grade of AA+ with only 4 minor non-conformances. This is a fantastic achievement even more so with our increased complexity and new production areas. A massive thankyou to everyone involved – it really was a great team effort!’   Andrew McAllister, Managing Director, addressing the team after the result, stated:   ‘It is such an achievement for a site our size to get a top grade ‘back to back’ and it is something you should all be very proud of – well done!’

Dovecote Park made the decision in 2015 to switch to an unannounced audit – whereby a BRC audit could occur at any time without notice – necessitating that we were ready to be inspected at any time.   As you know, the site has seen a great deal of development over the last few years, with the construction of our bespoke dry age maturation chiller, our award winning venison processing facilities and our Burger King production area. While the site may have changed a great deal, our standards have not – we remain as committed to the highest standards of food safety and good production practice as we have ever been.   For Dovecote Park to have achieved the highest BRC rating in back-to-back audits is a significant accomplishment, and it must be emphasised that this does not happen without a great deal of work from our team.   We would like to take this opportunity to express our utmost gratitude to each member of our 700+ staff for their ongoing efforts in ensuring that our industry-leading standards are upheld and that our site remains safe, well-operated and audit-ready at all times!