‘We thought we were being original,” says Andy Shovel, co-founder of the plant-based brand This. Having advertised for a meat “sommelier” to taste new products as part of a marketing campaign last year, Shovel was dismayed to hear that This was not the first company to co-opt the term, traditionally used to describe the person in charge of wine in a restaurant.
In April, Subway recruited a crisp sandwich “sommelier” in collaboration with Walkers. Poppy O’Toole, a trained chef and the “Potato Queen” of TikTok, would visit the chain’s branches and advise customers on how to perfect their crisp and bread combinations, “imparting some of the flavour training and techniques from my Michelin training”, she said. Brewers, meanwhile, have had “beer sommeliers” for years, as those championing craft varieties sought to distinguish themselves from industrial-scale operations. As Sophie Atherton, the UK’s first accredited female beer sommelier, puts it: “Many of us are essentially ‘beer ambassadors’ – sharing our expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm to promote beer as a drink to be taken seriously.” The “sommelier” title has also spread to tea, honey, mustard, olive oil – even chocolate and oysters.
