Guests in a block of luxury apartments in Birmingham won’t have to worry about food miles when raiding the minibar after the management signed a deal to fill it with Midland produce.
Visitors to Colmore Place will be able to sample local food and drink after the apartments became the first in the city to stock “Savour the Flavour Mini Bars.”
The minibar scheme is designed by regional food group Heart of England Fine Foods to make local produce more accessible to visitors.
The luxury apartments, on Cox Street overlooking St Paul’s Square, have signed up for 15 Mini Bars – one for each room, including two penthouses.
To be considered, hoteliers and bed and breakfast owners must commit to stocking a Mini Bar with produce from at least seven different regional producers from the West Midlands which covers Shropshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Birmingham and the Black Country.
Mini Bars in the Colmore Place Apartments are stocked with crisps from Glennans, nuts from the Ludlow Nut Company and Pragini, biscuits from Four Anjels, fudge from Country Fudge, cider from Hogans, beer from Woods, Wenlock Water, liqueurs from Monkhide and wine from Lulham Court.
Heart of England Fine Foods Birmingham marketing executive Neal Harris said: “I believe visitors staying in the luxury apartments will really appreciate the authentic range of quality products offered in Mini Bars. The Mini Bar provides a free local food guide so guests can easily see which food traditionally originates from which county.”
Colmore Place Apartments manager Nick Rawlings said: “The Mini Bars are working out extremely well, they are a great addition to the apartments.
“It’s great they’re stocked with regional produce, if you speak to most hoteliers they would rather go with local produce than mass produce.
“If it’s something you can’t generally buy in the supermarkets then I think people appreciate it more.
“And they’re good value, people automatically think that mini bars are going to be expensive but these really aren’t so I’m making sure we advertise that in the rooms.”
