It is often said that there is a lack of real insight in the foodservice marketing compared to consumer and retail, but with the likes of Horizons and the often untapped resource that is wholesaler ‘sales out’ data, we work with our clients to effectively unearth those killer nuggets of insight that can help brands open up the foodservice opportunity. We have partnered with Horizons on a number of projects through the years, as well as incorporating its Key Club sessions into our staff training to ensure we keep our edge as the leading foodservice marketing agency. We strongly believe that only by really understanding the market landscape, influences and trends can you create effective campaigns which offer cut-through and deliver ROI for brands in the OOH arena. To that end we always make a point of attending the Horizons annual breakfast briefing to get the very latest insight on the market.

This time around the event was hosted by Dentons – the largest law firm in the world! But we weren’t surrounded by lawyers, instead anyone who’s anyone in the industry was present to get the inside track on what is happening and a glimpse into the year ahead from Peter and his team. As ever the session kicked-off with an introduction from Mike Southon and a state of the nation view on the economy from Peter Andrews of the Bank of England. Due to ‘Chatham House Rules’ I can’t divulge the details but as he took me back to the days of A level economics with a range of charts and graphs detailing the state of the economy one thing was clear (in contrast to the briefings of the past few years) things are looking up.

Then it was on to Peter and the Horizons team to take us through the foodservice market. Below is my executive summary of the presentation…

The Market Headlines – F&B sales in 2014 rose to £46.6bil (+3.8% nominal growth, +2.9% real growth). 2015 will continue to see growth as we return to 2008 levels (the previous peak) as Horizons believes (at constant prices) F&B sales will total £47.8bil up by £1.2bil in the coming year. Whilst long term the market is likely to hit £56.3bil in 2019 (+3.9% nominal CAGR).
Winners and Losers – Based on growth the top performing sectors include: pizza delivery, managed pub brands (e.g. Wetherspoons), pub restaurants (driving the restaurant sector), primary schools and coffee shops. Overall groups are performing better than independents and casual dining groups & fast casual (e.g. Pret) in particular are doing well. Lowest performing sectors are: staff catering, healthcare, police stations(?!), Chinese and oriental take-away, airline catering, fish & chip shops and cafes. Moving away from operators to the route to market, 2014 looked positive with growth across all temperatures and channels, with the strongest growth showing in fresh and contract distribution.
Vouchers – Gone are the days of blanket 2-4-1s. Now discounting is hard-wired into the menu engineering and is used tactically around occasions and opportunities to attract consumers in and drive sales in a far more sophisticated and strategic way.
Operator Margin – Good news! After the days of food inflation and consumer price inelasticity which put huge pressure on operator margins, we now see food prices lower and selling prices increasing, giving operators better margin and therefore money to invest in the future.
Growth Factors – Population growth, an increase in meals served in the profit sector, an increase in average spend per meal and inflation at +2.2%.
Eating Out – Overall, consumers are eating out more in 2015. With penetration growing, as well as average spend rising. 25-34 year olds have the highest eating out penetration.
Cuisines – Burgers remain the No.1 item on menus with US inspired, world cuisines (including Peruvian & Lebanese), health & wellbeing and premiumisation and indulgence all coming through strongly on menus from the Menurama insight.
Ones to Watch – Based on the fastest growing small brands (5-25 outlets) and growth of >20% since 2011, here are some of the names to watch out for: Fuel Juice Bars, Dunkin’ Donuts, Abokado, Tortilla Mexican Grill, Pieminster, Boost Juice Bars, Chozen Noodle, Decks, Five Guys, Farmhouse Inns, Wildwood, Brasserie Blanc, Coast to Coast and El Mexicana.
Trends – As far as concepts go, the strong trends include: healthy quick service / fast causal, Italian (all sorts), Mexican fast casual / casual dining, British casual dining, steakhouse casual dining and coffee shops.
Beyond London – Smaller brands are avoiding the prohibitive rents of the capital and opting for other top conurbations such as Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow and Leeds. Some are even actively focusing on market towns and secondary cities to drive growth.
The London Bubble – The eating out market in London is growing, out-performing (as usual) the rest of the country. This has been driven predominately by groups. Why the London bubble though? Well it has a lot to do with the demographic mix with a higher concentration of consumers in their twenties and thirties who tend to eat out the most.
The UK Leads the Way – It’s fair to say that London has one of the most dynamic, influential and vibrant eating out sectors, indeed over 50% of the top casual dining brands in Europe are UK based e.g. Nandos, Pizza Express, Frankie & Benny’s, Harvester and Hippopotamus. These alone account for half of the top ten casual dining brands in Europe, with Nandos topping the chart achieving F&B sales of over $700mil based on their latest year-end figures.
Risks for 2015 – Despite the more rosy outlook for the eating out market there are still some risks which could throw everything off-kilter, including: the economy (volatile oil prices, Eurozone etc.), political uncertainty (May’s election in the offing), international uncertainty (terrorism, Syria, Ukraine etc.), the British weather (and all its many extremes), the unexpected (e.g. ‘horsegate’) and even operators hitting the headroom ceiling, as growth opportunities are ‘maxed out’.
Crystal Ball – The foodservice market is never an easy one to predict, but looking ahead to the rest of 2015, Horizons believes (at constant prices) F&B sales will total £47.8bil, up by £1.2bil. QSRs, restaurants (including pub restaurants) and hotels will continue to grow, whist, staff catering will see a downturn and healthcare will remain static. Indeed education is the most promising area of the cost sector, showing growth which is mostly driven by the universal school meals initiative.
2015 in a Nutshell – Less uncertainty! Phew!

With such a comprehensive round-up on the market, once again congratulations must go to Horizons on a hugely informative event. Thanks also to Dentons for hosting and providing a stunning view and pretty impressive breakfast spread. Not to mention our facilitator Mike Southon and the panel discussion group from Dentons, Elior, Wafflemeister and of course Peter Backman himself. Catching-up with friends and contacts afterwards I know I wasn’t alone in thinking that the early start was well worth it – the early bird and all that! Now I’d better get off and put all this solid information into action for our clients!

To find out more visit http://www.hrzns.com/

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, foodservice marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop us a line today.

As the leading foodservice agency we get invited along to a fair few events during the year. It is fair to say that the world of foodservice is full of lavish events and gala awards, but in the blur of Park Lane venues and gourmet dinners there is one that stands out from the crowd. The FPA (Foodservice Packaging Association) Annual Awards breaks the unwritten rule that all foodservice black tie dos must be held in London, by heading off to the seaside and holding its night of the year at The Grand. In the classic opulence of this Brighton landmark the event also starts far earlier than most with afternoon tea and an exhibition of award entries for guests to peruse. Then from 6pm there are cocktails and mingling, so by the time dinner is served at 7.30pm the mood is, to say the least, ‘buoyant’.

Add to the mix a delicious meal from Alan White and his team at The Grand, a charity raffle and silent auction to raise money for Hospitality Action and Springboard, and of course, the awards themselves – you have a great night. But The FPA didn’t stop there. Oh no, this year as compere they had none other than Keith Chegwin – oft known as ‘Cheggers’! Fresh from the Big Brother house with tales of Katie Hopkins and a compere set straight out of panto, Cheggers put his all into the evening and even did his homework before the night, managing to comment on winners’ and sponsors’ websites and product ranges (on occasion informing them of things they didn’t even know!). After the fun and games, including some strictly dancing heads and tails and even a chance to win a boating experience for two (bring on the mini inflatable dingy) it was then onto the main even of the night – the awards!

I was honoured to be asked to judge the marketing award and awaited the announcement eagerly to see the consensus of the judges as the winner of the FPA Marketing Award was announced*. Myself and fellow judge Lorraine from Arena were even asked to stand up and received a somewhat embarrassing round of applause (all the time hoping that those who failed to win the marketing award didn’t ‘hunt us down’ at the bar and interrogate us as to why).

The awards culminated with the Member’s Award which is voted for (unsurprisingly) by the membership of FPA, to honour the person who has done the most to promote the foodservice packaging industry. As the description was read out it soon became clear that our friend Martin Kersh of the FPA was the winner – much deserved it was – congratulations Martin! But congratulations must also go to not only all the winners including, TriStar Packaging, Planglow*, The Smith Anderson Group, Duni, Vegware, Prêt a Manger, Euro Packing and Sybron UK, but also to the sponsors, 3663, BPI Recycled Products, Bunzl, Celebration Paper and Plastics, Wrap Film Systems (our new client), Coveris, SCA and SEDA. And finally congratulations to the team behind the FPA, including Martin, who as ever, managed to put on a fabulous event which lasted long into the wee small hours and was greatly enjoyed by all.

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, foodservice marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop us a line today.

Catalogues and websites are all well and good and fulfil a purpose, but you simply can’t beat the vibrancy of a tradeshow floor as the place to feel the heft of a product, to get a real sense of its purpose, to taste, touch and try something for yourself.

Done well, a show can inspire even the most seasoned of visitors, but it takes a winning mix of innovative products, expert speakers, and decent attractions to pack them in and keep them coming.

Enter 2015’s Hospitality Show (Birmingham NEC, 19th-21st January) which, this time around, was pitched as a celebration of the ‘Best of British’. Visitors came in their droves from across the UK to join in the festival of innovative new products and show stopping new attractions – contributing to a giant 20 per cent rise in attendance, compared with previous years.

Gangways were packed to the rafters throughout the three days with attractions such as the Business Briefing Stage playing host to big name interviews, inspiring panel sessions and the unveiling of the first-ever Star Product Awards winner. Show debutante, The Staff Canteen Live with its lineup of leading chefs and the competitive spotlight of Salon Culinaire, also provided irresistible draws for the culinary world.

Visitors and exhibitors alike were unanimous in their praise of the show’s “special atmosphere” hailing it as “inspirational”, “the best yet” and “the only place to source hospitality’s newest products in 2015”.

Show highlights included Orderella’s revolutionary smartphone app being crowned as the best new product in hospitality and Gram UK scooping the online People’s Choice gong for its SUPERIORPLUS 72 refrigeration cabinet, both part of the show’s Star Product Awards Top Ten.

It was standing room-only for mercurial, Michelin-starred chefs Simon Rogan and Daniel Clifford, the former imparting his years of experience at the pass, while the latter provided an inspirational live cooking demo.

When they weren’t addressing a packed Business Briefing Stage or HOSPACE Hub, the Hospitality Show’s band of over 35 business mentors, including celebrated chef and restaurateur, Andreas Antona, Head of Innovation for Coup de Pates, Neville Moon, entrepreneur Martin Williams and training guru, Marcus Kilvington, were helping show visitors address business challenges in free one-to-one mentoring sessions.

The PR team has been lucky enough to be involved with show organiser, Fresh Montgomery, for the past five years, expertly running the press office and providing PR strategy on six shows including Hospitality and its bigger sister, Hotelympia. From a Jellybean perspective, each show is planned like a military operation – many of our clients, including Coup de Pates, Hobart, Ferrero and Essential Cuisine, exhibit, meaning almost everyone on the office is involved at some point in the chain, from stand design to marketing material, content collation to on-site attendance, and beyond.

With kind words showered upon the show from exhibitors and visitors alike, we’re proud to be a part of yet another success.

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing and communications agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, foodservice marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop us a line today.