Supplier Spotlight: From farm to finish line!
How United Fresh Brought Exceptional Local Produce to Cheltenham Festival Week
This year, Cheltenham Festival Week wasn’t just about the racing. It was about celebrating heritage, craftsmanship and the close-knit ties between the land, food and the people who brought it all together.
We’re proud to have played a pivotal role in making this vision a reality, ensuring that guests in the Royal Box at Cheltenham Racecourse experienced something truly unique and special. Beef sourced directly from Tweenhills Farm, a local farm located within the immediate area surrounding the iconic racing grounds.
Our clients, Cheltenham Racecourse and Jockey Club Catering (JCC), through Levy and Foodbuy UK, wanted to showcase exceptional local produce on the grand scale of Festival Week. But bringing that ambition to life required expertise, strong partnerships and seamless coordination.
That’s exactly what we delivered.
Working closely with Tweenhills Farm and our specialist butchery partner Country Butchers, we created a completely unique and exclusive farm to fork solution that delivered on both quality and sustainability.
Nestled in the Gloucestershire countryside, David Redvers, the owner of Tweenhills, is renowned for his world-class stallions and has a deep history within the racing world and Cheltenham Racecourse itself. Alongside his championship-winning stallions, he also raises an exceptional herd of Pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle. Due to their long-standing relationship with Country Butchers, the farm has an exclusivity agreement with them, who purchase the premium beef every year. This only further highlights the rarity and value of this supply chain.
Through our partnership with Country Butchers, we were able to offer this product to our client, ensuring full traceability, consistency and a level of care that is rare in modern supply chains.
Once ready, the cattle were processed at a Red Tractor certified abattoir before undergoing a traditional four to five week dry aging process. Unlike wet aging, which prioritises efficiency, dry aging is an artisan’s craft that enhances depth of flavour, tenderness and character. Only the highest quality.
For Cheltenham Racecourse and JCC, this was about more than just quality. It was about making conscious, sustainable choices. Through United Fresh, every step of the journey from farm to abattoir to butcher to racecourse happened within just a few miles, reducing food miles and ensuring the entire carcass was used throughout Festival Week, leaving no waste.
Warren O’Connor, Regional Executive Chef at Cheltenham Racecourse, reflected on the success of the partnership.
"Tweenhills beef went down a treat, the quality and taste of the meat was amazing, plus buying the full carcass was very cost effective especially when you’re doing the numbers we do for the festival."
Beyond the plate, this collaboration also provided an
opportunity to invest in the next generation of chefs. Two Levy apprentices
were given the chance to break down the carcasses, a rare experience that
demonstrated the trust and support placed in young talent.
This was more than just a meal.
It was a carefully curated partnership that ensured guests at Cheltenham Festival enjoyed a dining experience as special as the event itself.
Check out the fantastic companies in our supply chain that came together to create this unique and spectacular supply loop:
Would you like to discuss how we could deliver an outstanding supply loop to your site?
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