Lumina Intelligence estimate the food-to-go sector will reach £23bn by 2025.
More than 200 people attended the MCA Food-to-Go conference in London on March 9th, where Lumina Intelligence spoke, and delegates heard presentations from a range of food-to-go operators including Café Nero, Greggs, itsu, Leon, Pret and Pure.
November 2021 saw the climax of an exciting cooking competition – Golden Tomato Cook – which we developed for our client Mutti, the Italian’s favourite tomato brand*. Inspired by Mutti’s Pomodorino d’oro award which is presented to the famer who supplies the best quality produce each year, this new consumer culinary competition recognises and rewards the UK’s best tomato cook. Menus were judged on making the tomato the hero of the dish, originality, presentation, menu appeal and taste. Mutti’s mission is to raise the tomato to its highest expression and this contest challenged consumers across the UK to do exactly that by creating a three-course tomato-based menu using the Mutti Essentials range.
Paw Pose Rescue UK was set up to help rehome dogs from Hungary. They believe that every dog deserves a chance of a happy home – no matter what their background or circumstances. Most of their rescue dogs come from kill shelters, which means a rescue is often their only chance of survival.
In April last year we sadly lost a convenience retail legend and all-round top bloke Raj Aggarwal who was taken all too soon by Covid 19. He was just 51. The following day Raj’s father also sadly died.
It all kicked off this week when 12 European football teams, including the Premier League “big six” teams, decided to create a breakaway European Super League.
Slowly but surely the hospitality industry is restarting after the pandemic. Like everyone, especially those whose livelihoods directly depend on the sector, we hope the easing of restrictions will be permanent.
Kent Search and Rescue (part of the Lowland Rescue unit) is a charitable organisation dedicated to assisting the emergency services in the search for and rescue of vulnerable missing persons. Its voluntary members make themselves available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. They provide an essential service for the local community by responding to and supporting Kent Police, the Local Authority and other emergency services when they need to search for a vulnerable person who goes missing.
I was recently asked by The Grocer magazine to feature in an article about how lockdown and CV-19 has impacted the way buyers and sellers do business. As an agency, like everyone else, we have had to adapt and pivot during these strange times. Together with our valued clients we have been able to navigate through unchartered waters and find new ways of working and new ways of selling. In the feature I discuss many of the strategies and examples of things we have been doing to help our clients find their sweet spot and achieve success with their virtual sales pitches and marketing campaigns.
Now more than at any other time in recent history, food and drink suppliers, retailers and the whole of the supply chain are in the spotlight as they pull together to feed the nation. For food and drink brands looking to not just survive but thrive through these unprecedented times, now is not the time to step back from trade communications – quite the opposite is true. Stepping up, planning and managing effective trade communications is the right thing to do as it will ensure suppliers are providing retailers, trade press and other key industry stakeholders with the support and information that is desperately needed and so critically important.
Right now, business in retail and across the supply chain is very far from usual. Amidst the hell of this pandemic, the mantra of ‘business as usual’ should be followed by suppliers because that’s exactly what retailers need now more than at any other time in recent history. Effective communication, business continuity and your firm support is critical to them and critical to feeding the nation. Retailers need to hear how suppliers are working hard to not let them down and how they are pulling out all the stops to meet the unprecedented demand for food and drink.
I think many of us may take for granted that the tools we need to do our jobs are readily available to buy or will be provided by our employer, but for those less fortunate in poorer communities around the world, employment opportunities, training and tools are not so easy to come by.
I was recently asked to contribute to a feature in Convenience Store magazine about how a growing number of retailers in the sector are creating their own label brands and delivering a real point of difference and big profit opportunities. In the article https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/your-business/retailer-brands-make-your-mark/596052.article I provided some important advice and top tips for any retailer who is looking to develop and launch a brand for themselves. For a full and extended list of the top 10 steps you need to follow and how to get you brand launch right you can read them here in this blog.
What continues to fascinate and excite me about the convenience sector is just how resilient and entrepreneurial independent retailers are. In the face of tough competition, with bigger supermarkets all around them, as well as increased cost pressures that impact their margins, they continue to innovate and thrive. As the leading Convenience Retail Marketing agency, Jellybean is working with Chicago Town Pizza to demonstrate this opportunity,
I was recently interviewed by The Grocer magazine for its feature on “how to get in front of a food and drink buyer”(The Grocer 27th April 2019). You can find a link to the full article here.
Helping challenger brands to explode onto the market
A prestigious food and drink award, particularly one that is voted for independently by consumers and or industry professionals has the power to help a challenger brand explode onto the market and unlock huge sales growth.
We recently attended the annual MCA Food to Go Conference at Ham Yard Hotel, London. With the MCA forecasting that the Food to Go market is set to reach a value of £21.2bn in 2019 and continue outperforming growth from the wider eating out market, it therefore represents a vital area of growth for operators. We heard from an array of fantastic speakers including Welcome Break, Sustainable Restaurant Association, LEON, Pret A Manger, Yo! Sushi, Eat and many more.
Here are 5 Food to Go Trends arising from the day that we think will impact and drive Food to Go growth in 2019.
We recently attended the HIM Future of Convenience 2019 event and spent a fascinating day immersed in the exciting and ever-changing world of convenience retail. We heard from an array of speakers from retailers, suppliers and industry experts.
Today marks the official launch of an exciting new Jellybean Creative Solutions’ platform and service for challenger brands wanting to take-off in the food and drink market. JellyPad has been created especially for innovative and disruptive brands and offers a suite of essential food PR & marketing services from our expert team who have a wealth of experience and a proven track-record in launching and growing new food and drink brands.
Swapping Foodservice PR for ER – Volunteering as a Community First Responder
God forbid you need to dial 999 this Christmas or at any another time of the year. But if you do and you need emergency medical assistance, what many of us don’t realise is that the first medically trained person who comes to your aid could well be a Community First Responder (CFR), rather than an ambulance crew.
