Jamie Oliver serves up Jersey Royals as marketing campaign ramps up

Sunday 17 April 2022

The Jersey Royal will be taking centre stage at Jamie Oliver’s Cookery School in London next month, as the marketing for the island’s most important export crop ramps up.

With the digging season now in full swing, the Jersey Royal will soon be found in supermarkets and restaurants across the UK.

Each year, the season is accompanied by an extensive PR campaign, which is coordinated by Farm Jersey and funded equally by Government, Albert Bartlett and The Jersey Royal Company.

Farm Jersey Chief Executive Officer John Garton said: “The UK public relations campaign is now in full swing as Jersey Royals start to be exported in larger volumes - it started in November and runs through to the end of June.

“As part of this season’s Jersey Royal campaign, we are partnering with Jamie Oliver to create a Jersey Royal cookery class at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School.

“Taking place on 8 May, at the height of the season, the course is bookable by the public, where they will learn to cook Jersey Royals three ways, taught by one of the school’s head teachers.

Pictured: Jersey Royals are now being dug all over the island.

“To promote the course, Jamie Oliver has recorded a piece to camera about the course and the uniqueness of the Jersey Royal, which we’re using on all of our social media channel.  

“He has also provided the recipes with a corresponding image for use on the Jersey Royal social media and website. The school will also post on its channels, and on Jamie Oliver’s personal channels to promote the course and drive ticket sales.

“After the event, the Jersey Royal social media channels and website will host Jamie’s Jersey Royal recipes for consumers to try at home.”

As well as Jamie Oliver’s involvement, the £105,000 campaign will build up to daily coverage in the print and broadcast media. Last year, the potato featured on more than 750 pieces of coverage.

Pictured: Jamie Oliver has recorded a video on social media to promote his cookery school's Jersey Royal-themed class. 

Mr Garton said “Our aim is to build media coverage as Jersey Royals are available, hence it will increase as Albert Bartlett and Jersey Royal Company achieve national availability. 

“We set criteria for each piece of coverage so that we can score and track over time. The local team meets regularly to review progress against the plan and to receive regular reports from our PR agency, who do a great job.” 

This year, the campaign is encouraging people to share their videos on social media of how they love to crush their Royals, using the #JerseyRoyalCrush hashtag.

Pictured: Harvesting Jersey's biggest export crop.

Giving an update on the potato season, Jersey Farmers' Union President Peter Le Maistre said: "We must be grateful for the weather since planting began and the rain last Friday was fantastic as the crop badly needed it.

"It also meant a stop to irrigation, which is best avoided with the price of fuel being so high. The only negative note was the ground frost last week, which did hit some sheltered areas."