Susan Wickes, Author at Jellybean Creative Solutions

Blog Archives

Industry News

11th July 2023

AI in Food and Drink Marketing

As the leading food and drink agency we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the game when it comes to innovations and trends. Today, we delve into the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on the world of food and drink marketing. It’s the hot topic of the moment and as with any new development of this scale, there are a number of pros and cons when it comes to harnessing the potential of AI.

Susan Wickes

Charitable Work

12th June 2023

Hospitality Action Summer Challenge

As a Hospitality Action Ambassador, I was delighted when the bean team was up for this year’s Summer Challenge, sponsored by CH & Co. As they say, this is not our first rodeo as we have taken part in and even sponsored previous challenges for HA. This time around, we have managed to rally 13 budding beans to run, walk, swim, and cycle their way to our goal of 500 miles. Hopefully helping to reach HA’s goal of 75,000 miles and £150,000 between 9^th and 19^th June. Of course, it would be when we finally get a bit of sun, but with our sunscreen applied we have all been busy clocking up the miles. Whether dog walking, getting off the train a stop early, hitting the pavement for an early morning run, or dusting off the bike for a weekend ride we have ‘bean’ doing our bit!

The fact that Hospitality Action is such a great cause has definitely motivated the team, as the £150,000 target could:

Susan Wickes

Awards & Events

6th June 2023

Craft Guild of Chef Awards 2023

It is fair to say the foodservice industry is one in which you can pretty much guarantee you will be well-fed and industry awards are no exception. So there can’t be a tougher gig for a brigade of chefs than the Craft Guild of Chef Awards. Talk about a tough crowd! The crème de la crème of the chef world eating your food – eek! So, it’s a big ‘hats-off!’ to the team at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge as the menu they served up at this year’s Craft Guild of Chef Awards was truly fit for the best chefs in the industry (good job really).

Susan Wickes

Industry News, Insight

27th April 2023

Arena Savoy Lecture

The annual Arena Savoy Lecture is a highlight of the foodservice calendar and as the leading foodservice agency we dusted off our gladrags and headed up to town to join the great and the good of the industry.

Susan Wickes

Awards & Events

14th April 2023

Public Sector Catering Awards 2023

The Public Sector Catering Awards (preciously the Cost Sector Catering Awards) celebrated it’s 30^th year last night at the Hilton London Metropole. The awards are the gold standard for public sector catering, which is often the unsung hero of the foodservice world. Be it catering in education, hospital catering, care home catering and even catering for the military and the prison service, public sector catering is the oft-unseen force that keeps Britain running.

Susan Wickes

Awards & Events

29th March 2023

The Contract Catering Awards 2023

Monday night may not traditionally be ‘party night’, but this Monday was the exception, as it saw the 11^th annual Contract Catering Awards held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London’s Tower Bridge. The night attracted the great and the good of the contract catering world to celebrate the best in the business, from healthcare to CSR, education to innovation, and everything in between. The night kicked-off with bubbles and networking, and then it was onto the main event – the excellent meal and the awards themselves, as the excited nominees (including my local cobbler’s nephew – long story!) would finally find out who would be walking away victorious.

Susan Wickes

Insight

13th March 2023

The Food to Go Market 2023

The MCA Food to Go Conference is always a must attend event and this year was no exception. As a leading food and drink agency we make it our business to stay on top of the latest trends, so we were there to hear from a stella line-up of experts from market insight to operators. The day was, as ever, jam-packed, but here are our top take-outs…

Susan Wickes

Insight

17th February 2023

Government Plans for Public Sector Catering Met with Outrage

News that the Government plans to centralise regional buying and distribution agreements across food and catering supplies to appoint one single ‘super supplier’ for schools, hospitals, care homes, local authorities and developed administrations, has sent shockwaves through the foodservice industry. The plan which seems to be at best ill-advised (if advised at all) and at worse, a step towards a monopoly has been met with criticism across the board, as industry experts, suppliers and wholesalers air their concerns at the lack of consultation.

Susan Wickes

Industry News, Insight

2nd February 2023

Is omnichannel the next big thing for restaurant brands?

Leveraging the consumer pull of a restaurant brand to create a range of products in retail is not a new idea by any means. Indeed, since 1998 Pizza Express has had their incredibly successful FMCG range in retail. Then followed Nando’s, Itsu, Greggs, YO!, TGI Fridays, Ed’s Diner, Chiquitos and Harry Ramsden’s. There is also Carluccios’s, Zizzi, Wahaca, Wasabi, Wagamama and more! In fact, we recently worked on the launch of Cinnamon Kitchen into Tesco, a range of premium Indian fine dining ready meals developed by Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Club group of restaurants (you can read more here).

Susan Wickes

12 Days of Giving 2022

15th December 2022

12 Days of Giving – Hospitality Action’s Emergency Appeal

First came Covid and the hospitality world faced a crisis of mammoth proportions, added to that the challenges of Brexit and now we find ourselves in a cost of living and energy crisis. It is relentless.
Read More

Susan Wickes

Insight

12th December 2022

Lumina Eating Out Menu Trends

As a leading food and drink marketing agency covering both away from home and convenience channels (as well as consumer) we look forward to the quarterly Lumina Intelligence briefings to help ensure we keep up to date with the latest trends in the eating out market. Here are my top 10 take outs from yesterday’s Food Strategy Forum debrief…

Susan Wickes

Awards & Events

17th November 2022

A Gold Win at the B2B Marketing Awards 2022

The rain may have been torrential, but the spirits were high as we headed to Old Billingsgate for the 2022 B2B Marketing Awards. Having scooped a win in the B2B category at the Alliance of Independent Agencies Wing Awards, with our ‘You Don’t’ Know Philly!’ campaign for Mondelez UK, earlier this year we had everything crossed for the night ahead. This time the campaign was shortlisted for ‘Best Use of Customer Insight’ in what is essentially the Oscars of the B2B marketing world.

Susan Wickes

Industry News

6th October 2022

National Curry Week

If you ever needed an excuse to indulge in a curry, and believe me as a leading food and drink agency we need very little excuse, well, here it is. This week marks National Curry Week during which we have been hugely excited to launch an on-pack retail promotion for Cinnamon Kitchen. A newly launched brand which offers Indian fine dining at home with a range of premium ready meals developed by celeb chef Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Collection. The range which is available exclusively through Tesco includes everything you could need to re-create fine Indian cuisine at home, without any of the hassle or effort – result! Having tried it myself I can testify to the quality and frankly my local Balti may have some serious competition on its hands.

Susan Wickes

Awards & Events, Industry News, Insight

29th September 2022

Lumina Food Strategy Forum Top Takeout’s

You may recall my last Lumina food strategy forum exec summary blog was split into the good news and the bad news. I’m sad to say that the weight of bad news is rather overwhelming this time around, however that isn’t to say there isn’t some good news. As ever things are changing on a daily basis as this debrief happened on 21st September two days before the Chancellor’s ‘mini budget’. However, that said, it offers up a useful snapshot of the market. My top take outs from the debrief are as follows:

Susan Wickes

Insight, Jellybean News

27th September 2022

A Heavenly Food Tour Around Angel

The Lumina team are no stranger to a food tour, well versed as they are with the hottest new concepts in town. But this time they wanted to mix things up a bit and treat the Food Strategy Forum members to a tour around not Soho, but Angel and not one, but three meals! Had I had known I perhaps would have opted for an elasticated waist but that frankly is my only complaint.

Susan Wickes

Jellybean News

9th August 2022

A Stirring Time

jellybean 35th cocktail masterclass

As a leading food and drink agency we’re rather partial to a classy cocktail (or three) as you may have seen from our World Cocktail Day blog. So last Friday, to mark our 35^th anniversary, Fiona our CEO organised a cocktail making masterclass for all the beans. Held outside in glorious sunshine our mixologist Simeon founder and MD of Soul Stirrer greeted us with a deliciously sweet and sour jellybean cocktail ‘jellybean fizz’, complete with mini pack of jellybeans delicately clipped to the side (nice touch!).

Susan Wickes

Insight

8th July 2022

Lumina Food Strategy Forum Debrief July 2022

As ever the Lumina Foodservice strategy forum was a deluge of data and insight. A hugely informative and useful look at the eating out market and of course as a leading food and drink agency with over 35 years in foodservice we were there to ensure we keep on top of the latest market dynamics and trends.

There is of course good news and bad news, so we’ll start with the bad first (you’ll be relieved to see the good list is longer!) …

Susan Wickes

Industry News

20th June 2022

The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2022

In foodservice marketing we’re used to magazines, but this was a first. It wasn’t the kind you thumb through like Stockpot or The Caterer. No, this was ‘Magazine’, the venue located just a stone’s throw away from the O2, where this year’s annual Craft Guild of Chefs Awards was held. As ever, it was the hot ticket, playing host to the great and good of the chef world. Raymond Blanc no less was in attendance, along with celebrated chefs from across the industry. Guests and nominees enjoyed a fabulous meal (no pressure catering team!) the highlight of which was for me the fish course, sponsored by our client McCormick’s and featuring their amazing hot sauce – Cholula, which I applied liberally to mine.

Susan Wickes

Insight

16th May 2022

IGD Eating Out Report – Top Take Outs

Last week saw the IGD run their latest webinar on Eating Out: a world of challenges and opportunities. As ever, their insights presented by Rhian Thomas and Nicola Knight were well considered and highly relevant to us, a leading out of home agency, as we are always keen to stay ahead of market trends and consumer behaviour. The report was very comprehensive and certainly worth a read. But for those in a hurry, here are some key take outs:

Susan Wickes

12 Days of Giving 2021

20th December 2021

12 Days of Giving – Susan

It’s that time of year again! And sadly, with Covid still with us we haven’t been able to get out and about in person to volunteer this year, but we are doing the next best thing for charities who desperately need our support and that is to donate money! The charity I have chosen this time around is a new one for me and one I just started supporting this year. The RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution was a charity my grandpa supported back when I was a little one, as he had a boat proudly flying the RNLI flag and helped to raise money for them. I however had never really taken an interest in this charity, focusing on other causes close to my heart, like the British Heart Foundation, Blood Cancer, Cancer Research and NSPCC etc.

Susan Wickes

‹ Prev 1 234 5 6 Next ›Last »