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…
As the gender pay gap hits the headlines and organisations such as People 1st highlight the inequality of the sexes in hospitality, it was heartening to attend the FSM Awards this week, where each course was presided over by a female Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Award winner. Not only that, in an industry that is often seen as male dominated, there were a dozen female nominees, the same number as their male peers and two categories – the Education Award and the B&I Award – where all the three nominees were female. When it came to announcing the winners ‘girl power’ reigned in an impressive 5 categories, including the Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented to Sue Parfett and Kate Martin of Brookwood Partnership, for their amazing work in the education sector over the past twenty one years since they founded the business back in 1996.
Last night the Asian Media & Marketing Group hosted the 29th Asian Trader Awards. The event held at the Park Plaza, Westminster is one of the highlights of the year for the independent retailing industry and gathers all the key players together to recognise and reward the very best of independent retailing.
I love pizza, and pasta for that matter, especially after spending two glorious weeks touring Italy this summer. So it was with great delight that I accepted the kind offer to join our lovely continental cheese clients Futura Foods on their sponsors table at the 28th annual Pizza & Pasta Awards at London Lancaster last Thursday.
With People 1st estimating that 1.3 million employees will have to be recruited by 2024 to keep-up with the growth in the hospitality market and with the ever present concerns over the impact Brexit will have on immigration, the work of Springboard UK has never been more important. The charity has dedicated the last 27 years to promoting the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry as a great place to work. In partnership with organisations large and small and through education, awareness and specific initiatives like Future Chef, it is helping young people achieve their potential. It is also supporting adults who are unemployed or facing multiple barriers to progression get into a career in hospitality.
As a leading foodservice agency we always keep up to date with the latest trends in the market and as part of this on-going commitment we regularly attend the MCA de-briefs. This month we were particularly interested to see that their latest event covered the contract catering sector*, as this is an area of the foodservice market which many of our clients target and one that is often overlooked by the wider world, despite being responsible for feeding us from cradle to grave. The morning briefing encompassed both the wider market, from their Eating Out Panel and a deeper delve into the contract catering sector. The complete report is very comprehensive and available to MCA Forum members or to purchase, but below are some of our key take outs to whet your appetite.
November started with a bang as the Eat Out Awards celebrated the most exciting and innovative pubs and restaurants in the country. As the leading foodservice agency, Jellybean was in attendance with myself, Susan and Laura D. there to enjoy the evening, live tweet and enjoy taking a selfie or two – you can see what we got up to using the hashtag #EatOutAwards17.
Having spent a very enjoyable day judging back in July, I was excited head up to The Grosvenor House Hotel last night to see the winners of the Foodservice Quality Food Awards of the collect their rather impressive ‘Q’s. With bubbles flowing and guests filling up the event room there was a definite air of anticipation, as those shortlisted waited for the results to be revealed.
Last night we joined over 800 people from across the grocery and convenience retail industry at the Grosvenor House to celebrate and reward retail excellence.
The Arena Face2Face with Alastair Stewart is a key date in the hospitality diary and has seen some of the most influential figures in the industry put through their paces by one of ITV’s most highly regarded newsreaders. This year it was the turn of Matthew Brabin, CEO of ISS UK & Ireland. Held at The Berkeley; a stunning new venue for Arena; the proceedings began with the obligatory bubbles (along with samples from sponsors Costa Coffee and Britvic) and networking, followed by a delicious three course menu from the team at The Berkeley. Then it was onto the main event, the ‘Face2Face’ interview.
Tuesday night saw the great and the good of the sports and leisure catering world gather at Bafta to see who would be walking away with…no, not a Bafta, but one of the highly coveted Sports and Leisure Catering Awards. As the leading foodservice agency we were of course in attendance to hear from editor of SLC Magazine, Joe Bill and enjoy the comic musings of TV’s Mark Durden-Smith, as well as a surprise interview with Roy Westwood from Levy Restaurants (who run the catering at the O2). With sponsors set-up around the reception room, guests mingled whilst trying everything from pastries to pizza, washed down with some cold brew coffee cocktails – delicious!
As the leading foodservice agency, we had the pleasure of attending the 2017 Eating Out Market Data Briefing at the prestigious M by Montcalm in Shoreditch. These MCA events provide a wealth of insightful information about the foodservice industry, such as market forecasts, menu analysis, consumer activity and current trends. It’s a great way to stay on top of what’s going on in the market – which is why Jellybean is always there.
