Briton Brings Taste for Bangers to American Shores

By Lorrie Baumann

Jolly Posh Foods got started in the early years of the 21st century (2009) with a trans-Atlantic love story. Nick Spencer, the company’s owner, was born and raised in the United Kingdom, grew up and started working for Ernst & Young in London. That’s what he was doing when he met Connie, a Chicago native, in a London bar. Sparks flew.

The couple dated long-distance for three years until Spencer could persuade Ernst & Young to transfer him to New York. Connie moved there from Chicago to join him, and they eventually married.

Then, late in 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession, Spencer’s New York assignment with Ernst & Young had ended, and the couple decided that they’d move back to Chicago to be closer to Connie’s family and to start a little family of their own. “It wasn’t the best year for either of us to be looking for work, so we decided to start our own companies,” Spencer said.
Connie opened an independent law practice, and Spencer started thinking about what he could do that wouldn’t involve stepping back into the corporate world and that would take advantage of Chicago’s strength as a manufacturing and trade center for the food processing industry. “Nothing is easy, but I thought I’d start with something that, on the surface of it, sounded rather simple,” he said. “I was in the right place.”

He’d already realized, over the few years he’d lived in New York with Connie, that he was missing the good British food that he’d enjoyed in London. The “British food” he’d been offered in the United States reminded him of the nation’s historical cuisine – the stodgy “meat and two veg” that had come to characterize cooking in the British and Irish isles after World War II’s deprivations and rationing had come to an end but the post-war hardships remained.

But over the past few decades, Britain has seen a culinary revolution led by chefs passionate about resurrecting British culinary traditions with fresh ingredients and superior technique. “It was getting really, really good,” Spencer said. “The presentation and quality of food that’s either British or Irish that’s available in the American market doesn’t reflect the modern version of home.”

Spencer decided that his new business would introduce Chicagoans to the modern British take on a couple of foods already familiar to them – sausages and bacon. He made some bangers and took them out to farmers markets, then opened a little grocery store in 2012, then a little cafe and then a bigger restaurant near Wrigley Field. “We were having kids at the time – we now have three,” he said. “We decided to get out of the restaurant business and focus on the wholesale business, which is now the full-time effort.”

His Jolly Posh product line comprises five products – two flavors of Bangers, a Back Bacon made with pork loin, and Black Pudding (blood sausage) and White Pudding (pork and oatmeal sausage). His banger sausages come in two different flavors: the classic Traditional Pork Bangers seasoned with white pepper, nutmeg and ginger and a Pork and Herb Banger that’s seasoned with sage, thyme and parsley. “We stuff them in natural pork casings, and when you cook them, they’re plump, juicy and nicely sized,” Spencer said. “When you cook them, it’s just like buying them from your local butcher back home.” The fully-cooked bangers packaged for retail sale have five links in a 12-ounce package that retails for $7.99. “Microwave it, fry it, bake it – whatever you fancy,” Spencer said. “All you have to do is warm it up.”

Jolly Posh also offers Back Bacon, bacon that’s made from the loin of the hog – essentially a thinly-sliced pork chop – so it’s a lot leaner than American bacon. “It’s cured and not smoked for a lovely, meaty texture and flavor,” Spencer said. The 8-ounce package retails for $6.99 to $7.99, and a larger foodservice pack is also available. The final two products in the range include the Black Pudding and White Pudding, which are generally eaten as part of a full Irish breakfast, Spenser said.

“One fun fact about the bangers is that in Britain, we don’t really have a concept of the breakfast sausage, so we’ll eat bangers for breakfast, lunch or dinner,” he added. For breakfast, the main item on the plate might be bangers, while at lunchtime, the bangers might appear in panini or sandwiches. At dinner, the meal might consist of bangers and mash, which is bangers served with a generous helping of mashed potatoes, garden peas and gravy. Bacon is likely to appear on the table in sandwiches, in a pasta carbonara or even on top of a hamburger or a dish of macaroni and cheese, Spencer said.

Jolly Posh Foods products are distributed nationally by European Imports and Sysco, in the Midwest by Fortune Gourmet and Great Western Beef and by Food Innovations in Florida. For more information, email nick@jollyposhfoods.com or visit in the European Imports booth throughout the Summer Fancy Food Show.