Owned by brothers Nigel and David Hofmann, H Hofmann & Sons has been a family business since 1896 and has an excellent reputation and a loyal customer base to its 6 butcher, bakery and confectionery shops across Wakefield.
Hofmann’s has an outstanding reputation for its famous award winning pork pies and sausages, which have been crowned Yorkshire Champion several times, a credit to the butchers consistency, as well as the Meat Trades Journal’s Best Sausage Maker in the Country 2011, and Yorkshire and Humberside’s Winner of British Sausage Week’s National Banger Competition with its ‘Ennis Sausage’, dedicated to Olympic icon Jessica Ennis.
All their meats are sourced locally from Yorkshire farmers ensuring full traceability and the butchers pride themselves on using only top quality meats to sell and put into the products they produce. Over the years, Hofmann’s award winning products have been presented to The Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street.
Nigel credits their popularity to tailoring their offering to the modern 21st century shopper “eating on the hoof” during their busy working day. At lunchtimes, Hofmann’s is famous for its roast carvery sandwiches, as well as homemade pies, bread and confectionery products, which are produced in their own bakery behind the Westgate shop. Nigel believes it’s what makes them so special; “We make as many products as possible ourselves, knowing what goes into the food and that its made using good quality, fresh, local ingredients”.
Wakefield butcher wins Best Sausage Maker in Britain title.
It is a secret recipe for success that dates back more than 100 years.
Wakefield butcher Nigel Hofmann’s tasty bangers have just won him the title of Best Sausage Maker in Britain. Judges at the Meat Trade Journal contest held in Bolton voted Hofmann’s pork sausages the best of 26 entries from butchers across the UK.
A delighted Nigel said his closely-guarded winning recipe was handed down from his great-great-grandfather, Charles Hofmann. Charles opened the family’s first butcher’s shop in Westgate in Wakefield after emigrating to the UK from Germany in 1896.
Nigel, from Sharslton, said the recipe has been tweaked over the years to cater for modern tastes but never radically altered. He added: “We have got a winning recipe that we use all the time. There’s no point in changing something if it’s not broken.” Entry to the ‘champion of champions’ competition was by invitation and Hofmann’s got the nod after their bangers were voted best of the bunch at the North East regional finals last October.
So what makes Hofmann’s sausages sizzle better than the rest? Nigel, who said Hofmann’s produce around a ton of hand-made sausages every week, he said: “It’s down to the quality of the ingredients. We buy the pork direct from a farm in Selby. “We only buy the finest ingredients and have the herbs and spices mixed specially for us.” Hofmann’s has been in the national finals on four previous occasions, so success tasted even sweeter when it finally came. Nigel said he makes a wide range of sausages with added flavour twists, but maintains the old standard is best. “If I’m going to have sausage for a meal on a night I always go for the pork sausage. It doesn’t need anything added to it because it’s just so good as it is.”
Hofmann’s pork pies won the Best in Show award at the competition in Bolton.
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Nigel Hofmann celebrates winning Best Sausage Maker in Britain.
Hofmann's - Our History