They have scooped up a bronze and silver award at the 27th annual Dunninghams Great New Zealand Sausage Competition for their chicken, cranberry and chestnut, and chicken, leek and bacon sausages.
New World Timaru entered six sausages in total, but both wins came in the gourmet poultry section.
The annual competition featured more than 800 entries across 16 different categories.
"We first started entering 2022, we didn’t win any awards that year.
"Last year, we entered again and won a bronze so we thought ‘OK, we’ll give it a go again this year’ and we ended up winning a silver and a bronze, which was great."
He was proud of the team’s efforts, Mr Lancaster said.
"We had a feeling we’d do well, it’s always good to have some recognition and some validation.
"Just getting that validation is pretty cool and especially when you’re going up against Heller’s and butcheries that have won awards and in the national butchery team.
"It’s nice for you to have something that’s work-related but outside of work to go to."
A lot of thought went into which sausages to enter, he said.
"We do quite a lot of sampling, we cook some up and just let customers try them.
"We kind of knew what a core range was based on feedback from the customers, what’s popular and what sells."
To take part in the competition, samples are sent away to be judged and then entrants are scored on texture, mouth feel, flavour, aroma and consistency.
An overall winner is crowned as well as winners in each category.
The top 5% are awarded gold, the next 5% silver and the next 5% bronze, so only the top 15% of sausages in each category receive an award.
He believed a nice trend was developing, Mr Lancaster said.
"I was saying to Andrew [New World Timaru store owner] that we got a bronze last year and a bronze and silver this year, so we’re building up to take that gold next year."
