together on an idea over which Steve had been mulling for several years after realising that the UK could greatly improve its food offer. “It was at this point that we realised we could help lead the renaissance of the great British pudding,” says Mark.

Drawing on a family background in the food business, which included his family’s bed and breakfast, father a butcher and sister, Tracey, a professional chef, Steve took on spare capacity at a local bakery with links to his family. With Tracey as chief pudding creator and Juliet as Company Secretary, Steve and Mark launched the business with a Christmas Pudding range at the Royal Welsh Christmas Fair in November 2007. “We worked with a local graphic design company to come up with a brand which has a contemporary appearance whilst, at the same time, conveying the more traditional values of creating delicious puddings using the best and freshest ingredients,” explains Mark. “We think that the resulting presentation we’ve come up with does both.”

Since then the range has expanded to include two sizes of Belgian chocolate, tangy citrus, ginger, sticky toffee and Seville orange puddings, all presented in biodegradable paper cartons or ceramic bowls. Describing their products, Mark expands “Our puddings are light, not clogging, moist, not dry, rich but not overpowering.” Always endeavouring to use mostly organic and local ingredients where possible, Tracey is working hard to create more pudding incarnations to add to the list and a range of custards and sauces is also under development.

All of which has stirred a lot of interest at their stand at the recent Mid Wales Mouthful show and the Real Food Festival at Earls Court. “We even had some celebrity chef interest,” Mark says. “Anthony Worrall Thompson visited us at both events and Angela Hartnett, formerly Gordon Ramsey’s right-hand woman, stopped for a chat.” The Pudding Compartment has also had enquiries from retailers across the UK and is already looking across the water in both directions. It seems that not much will slow down this fledgling company’s worldwide ambitions.