Nation may soon get its teeth into Teesside delicacy

May 13 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A CHEF plans to introduce Teesside delicacy the parmo to homes across the country and has opened the first ever factory to make the calorie-packed Boro favourite.

Geoff Johns has enjoyed eating parmos for most of his life and despite few people outside Teesside having heard of them, he believes his version of the cheese-smothered meat escalope will tickle the tastebuds of households up and down the country.

The entrepreneur is already in advanced talks with Asda, with the supermarket looking to trial Geoff’s chilled Jeff the Chef Parmos in their Tees Valley stores.

To achieve his target of producing 1,000 parmos a day, Geoff has moved into a factory on Skippers Lane Industrial Estate, South Bank, Middlesbrough, which he set up with the help of a £10,000 grant from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

He said: “I have always enjoyed parmos and always thought they could be enjoyed outside of Middlesbrough. We now have the capacity to sell them nationwide and really put the town on the map. A trial with Asda would only be the start as we are planning to approach firms such as Morrisons to really get things going.”

Making a parmo involves deep-frying a flattened chicken or pork fillet in an egg and breadcrumb batter, then smothering it in white sauce before topping off with melted cheese.

The dish, which is usually served with chips, was originally made with Parmesan, hence the name, and can clock up to 2,000 calories per serving.

However, Geoff is looking at ways to keep the calories at a minimum by using a particular type of breadcrumb as well as partly oven-cooking his parmos.

Geoff, who has cooked parmos as a chef at the Beechwood and Easterside District Social Club in Middlesbrough for over two years, is confident of hitting a turnover of £250,000 in the first year of the business before tripling this to £1m by 2012.

He is already contemplating a move to bigger facilities in the area and plans to add 15 more staff to his five-strong workforce by 2010.

Geoff said: “It’s a really exciting time for us. What we need now is to establish ourselves in the market to fully utilise our new factory and expand our workforce.

“There may be people out there who argue that parmos are unhealthy, but that hasn’t dented their popularity around Middlesbrough and selling fatty foods certainly hasn’t harmed sales at some of the North East’s major high street outlets.”

I have always enjoyed parmos and always thought they could be enjoyed outside of Middlesbrough