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.
The National Burger Awards is the a world away from the usual formal black-tie award events of the foodservice calendar. Held at The Islington Metal Works it was a smoky, boozy, bustling, celebration of burgers in all their wonder – our kind of food and drink awards. And with burgers topping the charts at lunch according to the MCA’s latest report and increasingly their already strong share of dinner, this is a trend that looks set to stay with burger concepts popping up on high streets all over the country, many of whom were represented at the awards.
On the 12th February 2018 Jellybean was lucky enough to attend the fifth Zest Quest Asia Gala Dinner and Awards night as a guest of our lovely client and sponsor of the event Tilda.
The MCA annual Food To Go conference is a must attend for anyone in this dynamic sector and this year boasted some heavyweight speakers including the godfather of food to go, Julian Metcalfe of Prȇt and Itsu fame and Gerry Ford founder and group CEO of Caffè Nero. Currently the UK food to go market is set to reach a value of £20.7bn in 2018, outperforming the wider eating out market and retail with growth set to be around 2.8% compared to the 1.5% predicted growth for the eating out market, making it a land of opportunity for operators. But why is this? Well quite simply there are more of us, working longer and commuting more, we are ‘time-poor’ and grabbing food ‘on the hoof’ as table meals are replaced by food in the car, on the train, at our desks, etc. Whilst the proliferation of outlets and choice means that picking up food on the go is easy and we have a wide range of cuisines and formats to choose from.
The UK pub market is valued at £22bn* and despite the current economic headwinds it is an exciting and vibrant sector. From the craft beer revolution to the proliferations of gins and outlandish cocktails there is more to today’s pubs than the humble pint.
Those of you who are familiar with the near-legendary Jellybean Blog will know it to be a regularly updated repository for all the latest news, views and insight on the foodservice, hospitality, out of home and convenience retail sector. But those of you who might be new to the party perhaps don’t. And so it is with great pleasure that we can announce, right here, right now, that we’ve been rewarded for our efforts by the Surrey Digital Awards, as we’re proud to announce that we’ve been shortlisted in the ‘Best Blog’ category. Stick the champagne on ice someone. Read More
When the rest of the world is kicking-up their heels, pulling crackers and donning their rather fetching paper hats in December, the world of hospitality is hard at work making it all happen. So it makes sense that the ‘Hospitality Rocks’ event took place last Friday night when all the excitement of Christmas was out of the way and those who work in the hospitality industry could draw breath and finally enjoy their Christmas party – and what a party it was!
In the current challenging environment, togetherness is everything. Hearing from peers and sharing best practice can make for a better understanding of the world and our place in it. Crucially it can act as inspiration to think and do different.
The coveted Caterer Product Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the very best food, drink and equipment products in the foodservice market. As such we are always keen to gain this solid-gold endorsement for our clients’ products and of course the acclaim it brings with it. To that end we spend a great deal of time in partnership with our clients identifying the products we feel are possible award winners and drafting that all important award entry. This year we had a record six products shortlisted for the awards, quite some achievement in itself, and as Lisa Jenkins took to the stage we were crossing our fingers along with all the other nominees.
The Arena Christmas lunch is quite frankly the official start of Christmas in the world of foodservice and this year was no exception. Held at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, the event kicked-off mid-morning with a talk from Peter Backman on the highs and lows of 2017 and what we might expect in the coming year. Taking us on a whistle-stop tour through the four quarters of 2017 some clear trends emerged…
