Approximately one third of children in the UK are now classified as overweight and the government are working hard to reduce this in order to save lives and prevent health conditions later in life. Plans set out over the next ten years include clearer food labelling, a soft drinks industry levy, reducing sugar by 20% in products and improving physical activity programmes in schools. Our very own Neil Brenson recently blogged on the Public Health England guidelines around this sugar reduction plan, read it here.
Shopper marketing and shopper loyalty in convenience can sometimes be unnecessarily over-complicated and over-thought. That’s the positive conclusion I came to after attending the him! Convenience Tracker Programme (CTP) Unveil event. The headline findings show it’s all pretty simple stuff as to why convenience shoppers shop and what needs to be done to keep them coming back and spending more.
This year the Arena summer event headlined Mark Fox, CEO of Bill’s Restaurants, along with a panel discussion around the importance of the supplier/operator relationship, chaired by Peter Martin VP of CGA. As a leading food and drink agency we were of course in attendance at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower to hear what everyone had to say. The panel discussion featured representatives from operator-side M&B and Gaucho, and supplier-side Reynolds and Brakes. M&B cited the challenge of Brexit as a key issue for the business having put a £12m hole in their forecasts back on June 24th when the referendum result was announced. Of course operators are keen to get the best commercials out of suppliers, but they also appreciate that if they want good reliable suppliers that the relationship needs to be a sustainable one, whether that is guaranteeing volumes or other reassurances of commitment. The frustration of suppliers coming to operators with ‘solutions in search of a problem’ was highlighted by Chris Hopkins of M&B who urged suppliers to focus on the right innovation, i.e. innovation that shows how they can meet the needs of their customers better than they do currently. This of course requires suppliers to understand the customer mind-set and need states, so with this in mind it would serve suppliers well to do research to identify issues or opportunities to focus their innovation (something jellybeancan of course help with! – plug over).
Back in the day (circa 1985) food to go was an M&S sandwich or a Ginsters pasty from a petrol station. Today, as our lives get busier and our tastes more adventurous and eclectic, the food to go market has risen to the challenge. With street food, healthy choices and cuisines from around the world, matched with lightning fast service and convenient locations, food to go it seems is getting it right. Food to go really is delivering for the ever more so discerning consumer exactly how they want it, when they want it and where they want it. So you would be forgiven for imagining that the humble sandwich has been overtaken by some of the more glamourous new-comers, but you would be wrong. Despite the rise in wraps, salads, bagels, soup pots, porridge pots, curry pots, paninis, bento boxes, poke, burritos, sushi, burgers, and much more, sandwiches are still no.1. As they are the most popular lunchtime food product to go according to MCA Insight and their Food to go report.
At the annual Association of Convenience Stores Summit we heard from a host of speakers about their perspectives on the convenience market. One key recurring theme throughout the event was food-to-go, which is perhaps unsurprising given a third of delegates in the room said it was the no.1 priority focus for their business. So with the IGD predicting that food-to-go will be worth over £21bn by 2021, here are seven key take-outs. Neil Brenson of leading food and drink agency jellybeanreports.
The annual National Convenience Show and Farm Shop and Deli Show have just taken place at the NEC in Birmingham. Around 600 food and drink brands across a huge variety of different categories were there in all their glory, trying to capture the attention of what was a record attendance of retailers and operators this year. As you’d expect from a leading integrated agency that specialises in all things food and drink, we were there taking in everything that these great shows have to offer.
The MAA run monthly events called #GreenJam which are designed to get account handlers together with industry experts to knowledge share, with the topics changing each month. I personally find them really interesting and inspiring as the insights can be applied directly to our work here at Jellybean. You even get a free glass of wine on arrival – bonus.
As the leading foodservice agency we make it our business to stay abreast of the latest trends and developments in the eating out market. To that end we always make sure we attend the MCA forum debriefs to get the latest market insight. This week we joined the great and the good of the world of operators and manufacturers to hear the latest news on market dynamics, menu trends and consumer demand in the eating out market. As ever there was a huge amount of great information, but here are our top ten take outs…
The cost sector is often seen as the somewhat unglamorous slide of the catering world, but if you were lucky enough to be at the Hilton Metropole on Thursday night it certainly didn’t look that way. The annual Cost Sector Catering awards from Cost Sector Catering Magazine celebrate the amazing work across contract catering, education, healthcare and much more and it has to be said everyone scrubbed up rather well for the night.
We might be challenged by a client to make a certain budget fit their end vision, or challenge outwards with a creative idea to push the envelope. A challenge could constitute the scaling of an outrageously high mountain, running or cycling an uncomfortable – or seemingly overwhelming – distance, facing a fear or a fight. The thing about a challenge is that it can be small or large, but ideally not a daily occurrence. Certainly not for something that we would ordinarily take for granted, like getting dressed, eating or drinking.
Food is an incredibly important part of Easter traditions for families up and down the country and as a nation we spend millions of pounds on food at Easter every year. This is something that hasn’t escaped the attention of the supermarkets and out of home operators who continue to pull out all the stops to cash in. It’s a real battleground. Whether it’s hot cross buns for Good Friday, Easter eggs for gifting, a pub lunch, an evening meal out, or the traditional Lamb and trimmings to cook at home for the family – our nation’s appetite for food continues to grow.
Around 2.5 billion people worldwide consume street food on a daily basis* and over the past few years the popularity of street food in the UK has grown enormously. This has been fuelled by the often prohibitive rents and rates of high footfall city-centre sites, the increasingly time poor consumer looking for ‘food on the go’ and an ever growing demand for new and exciting world cuisines.
The food industry has just been served with a healthy spoonful of bitter sweet sugar guidance from Public Health England. The new voluntary guidelines will limit the amount of sugar found in products across nine food groups. If you work in food and think this doesn’t apply to you then think again. It’s going to impact on all corners of our industry, from retailers to manufacturers, QSR’s to coffee shops. The word is, if food companies don’t follow the advice, then it could signal full-on regulation in the future and you know what that means…. sugar tax! Yes, just like we’re about to see introduced on soft drinks. So, it’s time to take action on sugar.
Forget Pokémon Go, Snapchat filters and the Mannequin Challenge, there’s a new craze taking over jellybeanTowers in the form of an activity tracker – the Fitbit.
Six of us Beans have already been swayed by the brightly coloured wristbands which promise to track your activity, sleep and food intake.
The annual Arena Savoy Lecture is the jewel in the crown of the Arena foodservice networking calendar, with the great and the good of the industry in attendance. This year the line-up included the traditional key note speech, as well as a panel debate on the hot topic of Brexit, entitled Challenges and Opportunities. With representatives from finance – Bob Silk from Barclays Hospitality and Leisure team, law – Sebastian Calnan from EMW Law and crucially operator side – Jason Myers of Busaba Eathai, chaired by Vernon Hunte of the BHA, there was a good balance of viewpoints to inform the discussion. Each voiced their informed views on Brexit and what is certainly a hugely complex and challenging process.
Yes folks, it’s that time of year again when the convenience trade show season kicks off. From Nisa Stoneleigh to the National Convenience Show and P&H’s Pro Retail, the calendar is certainly chock-a-block. Over the coming weeks and months, suppliers big and small will be investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in these shows, from stand builds, staffing, promotional materials, travel, accommodation, PR, marketing and of course that bar bill. With so much outlay, are these shows really cost effective? And what are the best ways to really guarantee sales success and ROI? Trust Jellybean, your retail trade marketing to take you though the top tips…
As a leading food and drink agency we are well aware of the importance of good food hygiene. In fact we even did a trade press campaign for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health some time ago on the subject. In recent years, however, food hygiene has hit the headlines with the FSA’s ‘Scores on the Doors’ initiative, resulting in high profile legal cases and even restaurant closures following poor ratings. With consumers checking the Scores on the Doors app to see what local eateries are up to scratch it’s very much top of mind for caterers and restaurateurs.
Having always been a chocoholic, I was very excited when I was given a gift to attend a 1 day chocolate class at Mark Tilling’s Squires Kitchen International School, in Farnham. Naturally I thought Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory here we come! The day began with a quick meet and greet with a few of my fellow students over some tea and biscuits, shortly after Mark introduced himself and gave us a quick overview of his work and what we could expect from the day.
Every year the team at the Recommended Agency’s Register trawl through the thousands of client ratings across a myriad of agencies and services to select the finalists for the annual RAR Awards in association with respected marketing website and magazine THE DRUM.
When it comes to food there is no higher accolade than the approval of the chef. So with this in mind you can understand why William Reed have launched their inaugural Chef’s Choice Awards with the strapline – ‘judged by chefs for chefs’.
