It feels like it has been an age since I last wrote about the ‘soon to come in’ Food Waste Legislation, and that’s because it has! However, we are now at a point where the UK government has given some clarity around the significant changes to waste handling that are now required of businesses across England.
jellybean was delighted to attend the MCA Live Restaurant Conference at the Ham Yard Hotel on November the 7th. The event featured insightful discussions from industry leaders on a range of topics, including menu engineering, tech innovations, delivery, and gender diversity. Here are the key highlights:
With working life increasingly dominated by virtual meetings, the opportunity to step away from the screen and engage in face-to-face interactions is a refreshing change of pace, so it was an absolute pleasure to attend the Arena event ‘An Audience with Tom Aitkens’ on Friday 15 March, held at the esteemed Rosewood Hotel in London.
As a leading food and drink agency we make it our business to keep up to date with the latest eating out market trends. The hugely informative Lumina Foodservice Strategy Forum last week provided a wealth of data and insight on our favourite topic…the out of home foodservice market.
As you may or may not be aware, the Environment Act 2021 passed in November 2021 along with the food waste disposal rules are set to change and the implications for any organisation generating food waste in England are sizeable.
The UK obesity crisis is costing the NHS £6bn a year, so in July 2020 the government launched its strategy to tackle obesity. Part of this strategy is to stem the rise in children living with obesity, and with 80 % of all food advertising expenditure in children’s airtime on terrestrial channels focused on HFSS foods, the promotion of such products has become a focal point.
Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain and chair of the National Food Strategy, was commissioned by government to execute an independent review on how to achieve a sustainable and fair food system. The terrible health crisis that took over the world in 2020 has shown with alarming clarity the damage being done to our health by the modern food system. Diet related illness is one of the top three risk factors for dying of Covid-19 and has cemented the need for the UK government and businesses to take bold action and revamp its National Food Strategy Plan.
It’s a fact that more and more people are choosing to reduce their meat consumption when eating out. There is a fundamental shift in consumers’ diets, and it isn’t only vegetarians and vegans seeking out plant-based menu options within hospitality. 65% of Europeans are looking to reduce their meat intake, which means there is a real need for operators to increase their meat-free options.
It is estimated that almost 1 in 5 people in the UK suffer from an allergy and that 10 deaths a year are caused by people not knowing what ingredients are in the food they are eating. In the wake of the death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse from an allergic reaction and her parents subsequent lobbying, new legislation is being introduced to protect allergy sufferers and give them confidence when buying pre-packaged food.
Thank you to #AskArena for another fascinating virtual event, discussing the road to recovery for Wholesale. Here are some of my take outs from the session:
I recently had the opportunity to attend a Q&A session with James Gill, Head of Agency & Channel Team for EMEA at LinkedIn, through the Alliance of Independent Agencies. It’s clear that LinkedIn has transitioned from what was essentially an online platform of CV’s, to the ‘go-to’ place for businesses and professionals to network, publish, share knowledge and consumer news. And with over 720 million members now on LinkedIn, it is a business tool that should not be ignored.
With the foodservice industry being forced in to a slow crawl due to the lockdown, and the grocery retail industry experiencing heightened demand, but with new rules, the wholesale market has faced some huge challenges head-on and shown some remarkable adaptability throughout the Corona Virus pandemic.
Two of my favourite things came together this bank holiday weekend – the coast and food! The Foodies Festival is the UK’s biggest food festival and celebrates food from across the globe in a tour around the UK including Bristol, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Oxford, as well as one of my favourite places, Brighton. Your leading foodservice marketing agency reports back with the skinny on the all that took place!
Thanks to MCA Insight and HIM for the fantastic and informative Food Strategy Forum last week. The new afternoon session allowed us to enjoy a fabulous lunch at the Soho Hotel before settling in to listen to the MCA team taking us through their 2018 summary insights into the Out of Home market performance and Foodservice Delivery.
Just as many brands are getting to grips with engaging millennials, Generation Z is emerging. Who are they? GZ are people who were born from 1995 onwards (13- 23 year old) – and they are starting to make their presence known as they enter the workforce and begin to earn their own income.
Thanks to our friends at The Caterer, jellybeanhad the delight of attending the 35th Catey Awards at the beautiful Grosvenor House on Park Lane. Our evening was spent celebrating the finest individuals from across the UK’s restaurant, hotel, foodservice and pub & bar sectors and recognising the hard work, passion and dedication that is vital to the success of our hospitality industry.
Working at a foodservice agency has a lot of perks. Eating our regularly is just one of them. But eating out has changed considerably over the past few years. Consumer demand for Asian cuisine, home delivered food, vegetarian and vegan options, all-day eating, allergen free foods, quick but healthy options and even ‘instagram ready’ dishes are shifting the eating out landscape.
jellybeanhad the pleasure of attending The National Pub & Bar Awards last night at Bafta in Piccadilly, thanks to H20 publishing. As the leading foodservice agency we’re avid supporters of the pub sector so were grateful for the opportunity to attend an evening dedicated to celebrating the hard working teams in the pub trade. And what a night it was too, mingling with some of the industry’s finest on-trade elite with the bubbles and Budweiser flowing.
Research has indicated that, as a nation, we throw away a third of the food we produce. Aside from the harmful methane it creates when it ends up in landfill, and the huge amounts of resources used to create it (such as water and fuel for transport) being wasted, the real choker for me is the 8.4 million people in the UK who are struggling to afford to eat. This is equivalent to the entire population of London. 270,000 tonnes of the food that goes to waste each year is still edible. That’s enough for 650 million meals.
Last night jellybeanattended another fabulous evening at the Cost Sector Catering Awards – not only celebrating the many fantastic people in our industry that were nominated for, and won awards, but also raising a glass to the team at Cost Sector Catering for seeing in the 25th anniversary of the CSC Awards.
