Together with fellow bean Nick, it was our absolute pleasure to spend half a day with the residents and staff at Hartfield House Care Home. Newly opened in Leatherhead, we were welcomed at the shiny new home by a bright and bubbly team and a wonderful group of residents. “The entertainers are here”, one of the staff members announced. At first, panic and nerves waved through me but then I remembered the significance of what Nick and I were doing; giving up our time to put smiles on these gorgeous residents’ faces and bring some extra joy to the already chirpy care home – the nerves soon vanished.
For Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving I joined the team at Celia Cross Greyhound Trust to help with all the great work they do and fully immerse myself in a doggy-filled day. Based just outside of Guildford, in acres of beautiful land, Celia’s was founded in 1977 and has been a registered charity since 1993. Celia’s Trust rescues and rehabilitates retired racing greyhounds and lurchers that have either been abounded or ill-treated; passionate about what they do, it offers a place of love and nurture, helping to lead (no pun intended!) to their forever homes.
For my charity morning, I decided to work at the Princess Alice Hospice charity shop. This charity is dedicated to making end of life care the best it can possibly be and supporting families through this difficult time.
‘Tis the season to be giving and eating too much.’ Whilst planning my Christmas it became quite apparent that my festive period is very driven by food and drink. However, this is not the case for everyone at Christmas. As we all know Foodbank donation baskets are popping up in most supermarkets all over the country. The thought of not being able to provide a meal for your family must be particularly difficult at this time of year, there’s no escaping Christmas! This notion inspired me to choose Epsom & Ewell Foodbank as my chosen charity for Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving.
When given the opportunity to support a local charity with time out of our busy foodservice marketing agency, I immediately thought of St Catherine’s Hospice and was lucky enough to be able to help in their Reigate Charity Shop. St Catherine’s Hospice day in and day out make a difference to so many people and their families, offering support and advice in their darkest moments.
I’m sure you’re aware by now what Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving is all about – It’s Jellybean’s way of giving during the season of goodwill. Throughout the year we support charities in some way, shape or form – and at Christmas it’s normally by fundraising in a very festive way. This year, however, we wanted to ‘do different’, and donate our time to a charity of our choice.
When it came to choosing a charity there was only one choice for me – it had to be Leatherhead Youth Project (LYP)! I have been a regular volunteer for over three years and jumped at the chance to support this charity further and give back half a day of my time for such a worthy cause.
I went to Just Springers Rescue a charity for re-homing Springer Spaniels to good approved homes, based in Redhill and founded by volunteer Liz Austin.
I met with Liz, Kate and George. Kate is an 8 year old retired show Springer Spaniel and was given to Liz as a mentor for George in 2018. Kate was the champion Springer Spaniel in Sweden before coming to England and won her class at Crufts. Kate is a qualified Canine Concern Care Dog and goes to a school in Blenchingly to listen to the children read. Liz told me that Kate has made a huge difference to the confidence of the children she listens too. Sometimes Kate falls asleep when the children are reading but Liz says that’s just her deep thinking and concentrating on the story!
George who is also approximately 8 years old and was rescued after being found underneath a car in a very poor state. George is now fit and healthy but still sees a chiropractor once every three months due to many broken bones from his previous owners.
Liz started the charity in 2008 and over 10 years Liz and her team have rehomed over 260 Springers, they usually rehomed between 25-30 a year. The main reasons for rehoming spaniels is usually due to change of circumstances, how much exercise the breed needs, or death of the owner or if it is a stray dog.
If a dog is found in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire or Kent the local dog warden will inform Liz. If the springer is not retrieved or reported missing the dog will be fostered by one of the committee members of Just Springers Rescue. The dog will then go through a number of assessments to understand its temperament and the needs of the dog. All dogs under 18 months are tested for service work, 9/10 police dogs are donated or rescue dogs. If the dog is successful it will be trained to identify many different scents, such as drugs, money and explosives.
Liz will then go through her waiting list of potential foster parents, which currently stands at over 50. If Liz thinks she has found a suitable new owner match she will contact them and arrange a time for them to come and meet the dog. It is very important that both the dog and new owners get on and it feels right. The next stage after a cooling off period is a home check to make sure the environment is right for that particular dog.
Just Springers have an Annual Show that they put on in July and organise an Annual walk for all the members of the charity, including all the springers that have been rehomed. Liz says she finds it so lovely seeing the dogs that have been rehomed coming back to the annual show and seeing how much they have progressed.
After my chat with Liz, I helped Liz prepare for her biannual newsletter. I wrote the names and address’ on over 100 letters which will then be sent to the charity members. After another stroke with Kate and George, Liz and I took the dogs on a walk. We gave the dogs a good run around then headed home after Kate rolled in something nasty! I had a great day at Just Springers Rescue, it was great to help a local charity that is close to my heart.
Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing and communications agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, foodservice marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop the leading foodservice marketing agency a line today.
Being a graphic designer, I have a very particular set of skills. Not quite Liam Neeson particular, but almost (not really) and these skills might, possibly, be fairly difficult for a charity to source for free. So, for my Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving contribution this Christmas, I gave four hours of focused design time to The Springboard Charity.
This year National Curry Week is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It was started back in 1998, by Peter Grove, to celebrate Indian cuisine as part of the UK’s diverse culture. According to research, in the UK we spend over £250 million a year on Indian food and have 9,000 curry houses and restaurants. London also contains more Indian restaurants than Mumbai and Delhi combined. Apparently we crave a curry mainly due to the fact that the spices arouse and stimulate the taste buds. So, to stimulate your taste buds this National Curry Week I would like to share one of my favourite curry recipes. It’s nice and simple and tastes divine!
Salut! My name is Morgan and I am currently doing work experience at Jellybean. As a French student and lover of the Great British Bake Off I decided to base my post on the national cuisine of Manon, who has sadly now left the tent. According to the Telegraph, French food is the fastest growing cuisine with French ready-meal sales having risen by 27% in the last year and restaurants such as Tante Marie and Côte Brasserie increasing in popularity. But I realised, ahead of Patisserie Week on Bake Off, that I do not know much about the history of French food.
Held at the prestigious Royal Garden Hotel, I had the pleasure of attending the first BITES Live conference from H2O Publishing and hearing all about the latest trends and brands shaping the food and drink offerings on our high street.
BITES stands for Brands, Insights, Trends and customer Experiences, which was perfectly covered by the array of exciting speakers discussing hot topics from experiential hospitality to how technology is shaping eating out. Here are my top takeouts from the day:
On my quest to discover the good and the great/the interesting and the innovative at this year’s Lunch! Show, I was delighted to learn of the wonders of Kombucha. I’ve shared my new discovery with my friends at Foodservice and Retail Marketing Agency, Jellybean, and now I would like to share them with you…
KIN TOH serves up a Mayan-Mexican avant-garde cuisine that combines methods and local ingredients from our native cuisine with international elements to offer our guest an experience where all senses are involved in each dish.
Jellybean Creative is a leading food service agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, foodservice marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop us a line today.
Our passion for food and drink across foodservice, hospitality, retail and consumer is what drives us, and has done for the last 31 years. We take an integrated approach to help our clients grow their brands and hit the sweet spot. It’s what we do and what we love. Great people, great clients, great work. Take a look below and we think you’ll see what we’re all about.
Foodservice
Profit sector, cost sector, out of home, on-the-go, chefs, buyers, front of house, back of house, – whatever your target, we’re the food service agency that knows it inside out. Foodservice is our heartland and we’ve been trusted by leading brands to guide them through this dynamic and complex market for the past thirty years.
Convenience Retail
Convenience retail is growing fast and it can be a highly lucrative market for food and drink brands. Using our vast experience and relationships we know how to get your product flying off the shelves and even more importantly, how to get it there in the first place! From category management to retailer engagement, start-up to blue-chip brand, whatever your challenge, we can help.
Consumer
Of course, we’re all consumers, but it takes a certain special magic to cut through and engage with the right creative message, on the right channel, catching your target audience at the right moment and we know just how!
With the UK casual dining sector going through a challenging period driven by cost pressures, we thought it was a good time to see how the fine dining sector was coping with industry challenges.
As my two weeks at Jellybean near the end, it is the perfect time to reflect on my experience with food and drink design.
I was greeted on my first day by a very welcoming and friendly team, and briefed on what the next two weeks at Jellybean had to offer. My schedule had been thoughtfully planned allowing me to spend time with both marketing and PR teams, giving me a broad understanding of each department and the work of the company as a whole.
Going to university and living in Brighton for the past two years and being part of such a vibrant city has been exciting and I have learned so much, including the best places to eat and drink! Whenever friends or family visit they always ask me for recommendations, so I decided it was about time to compile my top 5 restaurants and bars. During my placement at foodservice agency Jellybean I thought I’d get blogging and submit my review. It’s easy to get drawn into the fish and chip shops on the seafront, but if you want some really tasty food, here it is.
As a partner of the prestigious Quality Food Awards, and with a wealth of experience in foodservice – we’re a leading foodservice marketing & PR agency if you didn’t know (!) – Jellybean was asked along to support and amplify on social media, this year’s Foodservice Quality Food Awards judging process.
On the 13th of July Clodagh & Ellie were the lucky ones to be chosen for this month’s MCA Food Concept Study Tour.