A rallying call for UK foodservice manufacturers waiting out the storm.

When a jockey becomes unseated in the throng of hard-fought steeplechase; they are taught, as if it needed teaching, given the immediate danger of being crushed to buggery by pairs of onrushing fetlocks, to adopt the foetal position and pray.

It’s an instinctive move; the ground-shaking terror of 500kgs of neighing muscle and sinew saddled by fellow whip handed halflings travelling at 50mph will do that to a person. Yet, as the pack evaporates into the distance, the jockey, no doubt battered, bruised and, in this race at least, beaten, is almost always stoical.Change your muddied silks and get back in the saddle, for the next race awaits.

To tenuously continue the horseracing analogy for a little longer (it is Cheltenham Festival week after all) the foodservice industry, having summited an imperious water jump of birch and spruce, landing gingerly but still in the race, has, for now at least, fallen firmly back amongst the chasing pack.

UK food manufacturers saw production costs rise 4.4% in 2025 – and for smaller businesses, the hit was closer to 5.3%*.Extended producer responsibility, NI hikes, business rate hikes, the Soft Drinks Levy extension, and now HFSS legislation coming into play; it’s been a policy pile-on that nobody voted for. Indeed, the number of UK food manufacturers has fallen for two consecutive years – the first sustained decline since 2010*.

For companies serving the industry we love, the instinct for inertia – to curl up into the foetal position and wait for the baying storm to pass – is understandably strong.

Yet history teaches us that it was those companies who went dark during the 2008 recession, the 2020 lockdowns, and the 2022 cost-of-living squeeze that all faced the same problem on the other side: they had to spend significantly more to rebuild presence, trust, and cold hard business that their more consistent competitors had quietly accumulated while they were in hiding.

Inertia in a quieter market doesn’t preserve resource, it simply spends it invisibly, on lost ground you may never be able to recover.

The brands who cut marketing budgets, go quiet on socials, pull back from trade press, and postpone NPD launches won’t just miss the recovery (and signs that the recovery is coming are good) they’ll have handed their customers and market position to a competitor who stayed in the race.

So, this a rallying cry. As the leading UK foodservice agency with almost 40 years in the business, seeing clients through boom, bust, quasi-bubonic plague and beyond, we’re here to help wrest you from inertia and get you back in the leading pack. So, how can we help you reset and retain your leading edge?

Content and Thought Leadership
One of the biggest underused levers to make potential buyers sit up and take notice. Most manufacturers produce the square route of nothing – so the bar is low and the opportunity, high. A monthly LinkedIn article, a short form video from your development chef, a one-page trends briefing sent to your database; all of these help build presence over time and position you as someone worth talking to. The key is consistency. Let us work with you on a bespoke content strategy. With a roster of respected copywriters, creatives, and former journalists on hand, we know how to uncover the hooks and angles that sell.

LinkedIn (done properly)
Less ‘my dog just died, here’s what it taught me about B2B sales’, more authentic, genuinely useful content from real people within the organisation – your MD, technical director or NPD chef. A foodservice buyer scrolling LinkedIn will stop for ‘here’s why operators are getting protein wrong in 2026’ far faster than they’ll stop for ‘delighted to announce our new range of X.’ Personal profiles dramatically outperform company pages for reach and engagement. Get your senior people posting this instant!

Trade Press and Earned Media
Contrary to popular opinion, traditional PR still has a place in foodservice. It may be harder to come by and often only guaranteed with the addition of advertising spend, but outlets like The Caterer, Food Manufacture, Public Sector Catering and – for equipment brands – Catering Insight and Foodservice Equipment Journal, are always on the hunt for comment, opinion, and case studies. Most manufacturers only engage when they have something to sell. The smarter strategy is to become a go-to voice on a specific topic through a savvy press office function that prioritizes topics that will be of real use to readers, not just didactic product, or service-focused bulletins. That’s not to say you can’t relate these pieces back to your own offering, but there must be a balance. Third-party credibility is – and always has been – worth more than any ad; with a black book of gatekeeper contacts and the ability to sell stories that journalists and their audiences will truly value, it’s a space we’ve owned for many years. Let’s talk.

Email Marketing
A short, regular email to a targeted list of prospects and customers – trends, ideas, useful content, occasional product news – keeps you warm with people who aren’t ready to buy yet. When they are, you’ll be top of mind. Most manufacturers either don’t take the time to do this, or they simply do a one-sided product push that sells the features of a product as opposed to the benefits. Think of it as an informal and informative newsletter update rather than a corporate sales tool and you’ll start to build genuine goodwill over time with an ‘owned’ audience, eventually creating your own die-hard tribe of advocates.

Targeted NPD Sampling Campaigns
In our latest chef insight report, Reading Chefs’ Minds, we uncovered that 2 out of 3 chefs consider a free sample or trial product pivotal to the final purchasing decision. Getting your product into the hands of individuals with buying clout is now more important than ever. Rather than sending samples into the void, build a structured programme: work with us to identify circa 100-specific target accounts; we’ll help you personalise the approach to include things like menu application ideas and impactful literature, alongside the samples, while arranging a follow up within a week with to book in a call or face to face meeting. A well-run sampling campaign to a tight list will outperform a broad one every time. The personalisation signals that you’ve done your homework and could turn any cold leads warm in one fell swoop.

Authentic Chef-to-Chef Marketing
If you have a development chef or food team, use them. Invite target customers to hands-on sessions – either at your development kitchen or theirs. Run webinars on specific culinary challenges. Film short recipe application videos and post them on your socials. Our Reading Chefs’ Minds report uncovered that now more than ever, chefs value and respond to other professional chefs on social media and want to see more authentic recommendations and reviews. Authentic, technical credibility communicated peer-to-peer cuts through in a way that fluffy marketing bollocks simply can’t. (See our recent blog on why operators are ignoring your brand).

Case Studies
Foodservice buyers are risk averse, even more so in a quieter marketplace. The most powerful thing you can do is show them that someone in a very similar set up has trusted you enough to take the leap. A single well-written case study or a video testimonial – with a real operator, real results, and a winning quote – will do more for your sales pipeline than a brochure ever could. Most manufacturers have the stories; very few have them written down and packaged properly. Talk to us today about how to turn great anecdotal customer feedback into a sales-busting behemoth.

Distributor and Wholesaler Enablement
This one is often chronically neglected. Your distributors can’t sell what they don’t understand or remember. Regular briefings, sharp one-pagers, product training engaging through trade shows, a clear answer to ‘why should I lead with this?’ – all of this makes for an effective army of (and unpaid) field sales operatives. In a quiet market, keeping your distribution partners engaged and well-equipped could be one of the highest ROI activities available.

Awards and Accreditations
Entering (and winning) the right awards can give you third-party validation to plaster across your many marketing touchpoints. It’s also a legitimate excuse to reach out to lapsed contacts with good news, which is always an easier conversation than a cold pitch.

Good Old Fashioned Targeted Outreach
In a relationship-led market, sometimes the most effective tactic is a well-researched, personally written email or LinkedIn message to a specific decision-maker at a specific target account. Not a cookie cutter blast sent blindfolded – a genuine, tailored note that shows you know their business and have a relevant reason to talk. Twenty of those, done properly could legitimately outperform a thousand generic emails. It may take longer but as we know in this weird little world of ours – trusted business relationships are built over time. Better still leveraging your network to make introductions and referrals, especially chef to chef, can really work as we know from experience and insight how chefs respect other chef’s opinions.

To put it plainly, the race isn’t over. It’s only just begun.

While your competitors are still locked firmly in the foetal position at the foot of the first, you could be back in the saddle – building agency and arriving at the recovery with thoroughbred momentum.

We’ve helped foodservice manufacturers navigate every storm this industry has thrown at them for nearly four decades. We know what works, what doesn’t, and crucially, what to do right now to make sure you’re not the brand that has to spend twice as much to claw back ground you never intended to concede.

So, let’s have a proper conversation about where you are, where you want to be, and what a smart, targeted plan looks like for your foodservice business in 2026.

Get in touch today to request your free 30-minute consultation: https://www.jellybeancreative.co.uk/foodservice/

* Food and Drink Federation (FDF) / Food Manufacture, February 2026

Nick Clancy
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