As a long-time supporter of Hospitality Action, we were delighted to support them by creating the marketing material for their Festive Fundraising Dinner: An Evening with Raymond Blanc OBE. This fabulous event will see Raymond Blanc OBE, his Executive Head Chef Gary Jones and Chef Pâtissier Benoit Blin from the two Michelin-starred Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons prepare a lavish Christmas feast at Chino Latino, at The Park Plaza Riverbank in London on Monday 26th November.
Last Thursday saw this year’s search for foodservice’s most innovative food and drink products (as well those of us involved in food and drink marketing) culminate in a glittering ceremony, as the highly prestigious UK Foodservice Quality Food Awards celebrated the very best of the industry. Held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, the event welcomed hundreds of the foodservice industry’s key players and of course as the leading food and drink agency with a raft of clients up for awards the we were there in force. Along with the beans and some of our lovely clients, including The Real Soup Company, Manilife and Savse, there was everyone from nationwide wholesalers to ground-breaking independents – all keen to see whose products had been judged good enough to receive a highly coveted Quality mark.
This Arena Autumn event rang the changes, with a new venue in the shape of the imposing Banking Hall in the heart of the City of London. The line-up included a talk on the market from Simon Stenning of MCA and the headline interview hosted by Mark Lewis of Hospitality Action with Frank Gleeson, CEO and Regional President of Northern Europe Aramark and Jon Knight, CEO of Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group. With the day billed as ‘When contract catering meets the high street’ for obvious reasons, Simon took to the stage to take us through an overview of the eating out market and then onto the dynamics affecting the branded restaurant and contract catering world. Some of the key take-outs included:
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…
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.
Thanks to our friends at The Caterer, Jellybean had 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.
One of the things I’ve missed most during my time away from foodservice agency; Jellybean has been the buzz of a trade show (for those of you who don’t know, I’ve recently returned for my fifth year at the fabulous agency). Yesterday morning, I slipped on my walking shoes (read: drinking boots), packed my iPad and printed off my visitor pass – I was off to Imbibe Live 2018.
On Wednesday 20th June, MD Susan and I attended the first ever Afternoon Tea Awards, hosted at the Westminster Boating Base by our friends at H20 publishing, the good people behind, amongst others, Hotel F&B magazine.
On 8th June two of our beans – Laura and Leigh – joined the MCA Food Study Tour around London to discover the latest food trends that are impacting the out of home market.
As a leading foodservice agency, we work closely with development chefs day in and day out, so it seems fitting that in our newly appointed role as PR agency to the Foodservice Quality Food Awards that we should announce a new category for 2018. Drum roll please… The Development Chef Award is aimed directly at manufacturers (rather than operators) and recognises these as-yet unsung innovators for their highly commendable work in getting NPD over the line.
This Monday saw the 25th anniversary of the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards held at The Grosvenor House Hotel London. Coined the ‘Oscars’ of the chef world, the awards celebrate excellence across the industry. This year’s awards ceremony was particularly special as it marked a quarter century of these prestigious accolades. The night began in style with the champagne and canapés as guests circulated the Grosvenor House mezzanine level overlooking the impressive Great Room, catching-up with old friends and new. As a leading food and drink agency we were there in force with invites from both Dewberry Redpoint and client McCormick.
As ever, Jellybean Creative the leading foodservice marketing agency were there to support the awards and report back for the Jellybean blog.
The team at the Grosvenor House had the unenviable task of catering for some of the leading chefs in the country on a grand scale (quite an ask) but they did us proud with a delicious four course dinner followed by port and cheese and of course coffee and petit fours. Then it was on to the focus of the night the awards themselves…a drum roll please for the winners…
Jellybean had 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.
As the leading foodservice agency we’ve long been supporters of Hospitality Action and the great work they do for those in our industry who have fallen on hard times. So when they invited us along to their Big Fat Quiz (as a thank you for some of the pro-bono design work we had done for them) we couldn’t wait.
We’re proud to announce that Jellybean has been appointed as the PR partner for the highly prestigious UK Foodservice Quality Food Awards – a leading food and drink integrated marketing agency joining forces with the number one quality mark for people and products in the industry.
The Arena Savoy Lecture is the jewel in the crown of the foodservice networking calendar, so as the leading foodservice agency, we were of course there in force. We were joined by our lovely clients from McCormick Flavour Solutions, official sponsors of the event, with their French’s Mustard and Frank’s Red Hot Sauces. The evening kicked-off with networking and bubbles (but of course) and the first talk of the evening, as Kate Nicholls, CEO of newly formed UKHospitality took to the stage to share what the merger of BHA and ALMR means for the industry. In a nutshell, the new trade body aims to ensure that the hospitality industry has a united and singular voice, which when you consider that the sector employs £2.9million people, accounts for 10% of UK employment, 6% of business and 5% of GDP, not to mention £130bn contribution to the economy (more than fashion and all the creative industries combined) and £40bn contribution to tax receipts, equal to the entire defence budget or the Brexit divorce bill, is a rather large voice indeed!
Last night Jellybean attended 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.
This March saw the return of the UK’s largest and most prestigious hospitality event, Hotelympia. Happily, it also marked Jellybean’s fifth chapter as PR partner. As the leading foodservice agency, we were proud to once again spread the word in the lead-up to the show and also to run the dedicated press office throughout the four days. Read More
Proving that food served in the workplace can compete with the great British high street, B&I Catering’s StrEAT Food Awards returned this week with a live cook off and ceremony at Islington Metal Works.
With a focus on street food – the second fastest growing market segment according to MCA’s UK Eating Out Report – the annual awards celebrate innovation within the contract catering sector. This year, 16 finalists went head-to-head, hoping to wow judges with their creativity in the gripping live cook off. Each chef was tasked with creating three different dishes – one signature dish, one incorporating the sponsor’s ingredients in a technical round and one meat-free speciality.Read More
Earlier on in the month, we made our way through the hustle and bustle of the Hotelympia crowd and took a seat at the Hospitality Futures stage, for The Ultimate Dining Experience panel discussion. The panel was led by one of our very own Beans, Susan Bolam, MD, along with Ben McCormack (Editor of SquareMeal) and Dave Rooney (Creative Director and Founding Partner of LXA). Held in the heart of Hotelympia, one of the premier foodservice events in the calendar, we set out to discover what the perfect restaurant would look like and asked ourselves ‘What is The Ultimate Dining Experience?’
We’re tremendously excited to be returning to a revitalised Hotelympia next week where the beans will be out in force, running the dedicated press office throughout the four-day show.
