Now in its third year, Zest Quest Asia is always a popular awards ‘do’ with Jellybeans and with Cyrus Todiwala at the helm preparing the menu, it is easy to understand why.

With Chinese and Asian-style food valued at almost a £3bn market in the UK and 70-80%* of people who eat Asian food, eating it out of home, Zest Quest Asia does a great job of encouraging young chefs to create pan-Asian dishes good enough to bag a place in this competition. During the day of the awards, six colleges from across the UK were tasked with preparing and cooking a 4-course pan-Asian menu in just 2½ hours for a team of esteemed judges, including Andrew Bennett MBE, Director of Food & Beverage at The Park Lane Hilton; Steve Munkley, Executive Chef at The Royal Garden Hotel and Cyrus Todiwala OBE, to study, taste and mark. The judges and teams then had just enough time to get dressed for the drinks reception and gala dinner, which is when we arrived!

Guests of long-standing clients Tilda (and one of the main sponsors, who has been behind the event since its inception), we were greeted by espresso martinis and some of the tastiest (and substantial) canapes we’d come across, these were made courtesy of 2015 Zest Quest Winners, Farnborough College and we have one of the delicious recipes (Aromatic Hoi Sin Duck & Jasmine Rice Spring Roll), if you want to try your hand at some pan-Asian cooking.

Dinner was called and we didn’t have to wait very long to find out the 2016 champions, for the second year running, a local college took the crown, this time Milton Keynes College. It’s always great to see the smiling faces of the winners, but it was also nice to see the other colleges who had narrowly missed out, congratulating them on stage. The winning grins broadened further when it was announced the prize was an educational trip to Bangkok, Thailand – the ‘land of smiles’ itself!

Dish after delightful dish was served alongside Tilda’s infamous ‘Grains of Truth’ game and generous helpings of prize draws and raffles. The evening was rounded-up with a stunning dessert, which looked (almost) too good to eat and a standing ovation for the team of chefs at T5’s Hilton.

We’re already looking forward to 2017’s Zest Quest Asia event!
*Source: Wing Yip Oriental Food Report 2016

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

When it comes to unsung heroes school caterers are definitely up there. Juggling challenging budgets, picky pupils, government guidelines, special dietary requirements and of course forever doing all they can to keep parents and governors happy. But every year the EDUcatering Awards seeks to give these hard working individuals the recognition they deserve with a gala awards night. This year the awards took place at the prestigious Royal Garden Hotel. With over two hundred and fifty entries across fourteen categories and twenty eight judges, only the highest quality entries made it through to the list of nominees and then only the very best were lucky enough to walk away with a coveted EDUcatering Award.

The evening kicked-off with the irrepressible Alan Dewberry, who began proceedings in his inimitable fashion, however this year he handed the compere baton over to Tim Baker, Head teacher of Charlton Manor Primary School, which is known for its standout school meals programme. The evening flew by in a haze of good company and fabulous food from the team at the Royal Garden headed up by Steve Munkley, but some of the highlights included…founder of Mary’s Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow being honoured with The Special Award (which was collected by London Mary’s Meals fundraiser Gerrard McMahon), a standout performance from the renowned Sylvia Young theatre school pupils and of course Jeanette Orrey, founder of the Food for Life Partnership at the Soil Association, receiving her Lifetime Achievement Award. You can of course view the full list of winners here, but without naming them all, suffice to say congratulations must go to all the nominees, winners and of course the sponsors and organisers H20. A great night for a great sector!

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

The out of home market, foodservice, eating out, away from home, catering, HORECA – whatever you call it, it’s a growing market that has long been the poor cousin to retail.

This comes down to a number of reasons, one, retail, although highly competitive and hard on margins, is a bigger market and realistically the number of trade buyers you need to convince to make your brand a success can fit into one room (although you probably wouldn’t want them to be). Then, once you understand your consumer, it’s all about reaching them wherever they may be, with a strong (ideally emotionally engaging) message and then prompting them to purchase with effective shopper marketing during their retail journey. Whereas with the out of home market, although margins can be healthier, it is a complex and fragmented beast, which, when viewed by the untrained eye, can be rather daunting. First there’s the route to market listings that need to be secured through the national big hitters as well as the myriad of regional wholesalers, then there’s the challenge of communicating to thousands upon thousands of buyers with vastly different agendas, both independent and group and ensuring that messaging is tailored to them and their particular needs. You might manage to get listed at head office in a huge organisation, but if it’s an undisciplined multiple (not working off a centrally developed menu) pulling those sales through is quite another challenge. Whilst the independents can be fickle creatures opting for whatever is on promotion at the time. Sounds fun doesn’t it! (And that’s just the start).

So why bother? Why not just ignore it? Well, as the out of home market accounts for over a third of consumer spending on food (38.8p in the pound), is valued at £85.3bn and growing at 2.8%*, I think you’ll agree that although it might be a tricky nut to crack it’s well worth it! However, when it comes to convincing the board and colleagues who may not appreciate the out of home opportunity there is nothing quite like facts and stats (and of course the accompanying ‘so whats?’) to give credence to your argument for budget, resource and focus on the out of home market. That’s why we’ve created our ‘Out of Home Facts in a Flash’ infographic – lifting the lid on the out of home opportunity in an easy to digest format which is available to download here. We hope it helps you fight the foodservice corner and of course you know where to come when you decide to go for it!

*M&C Allegra Eating Out Report 2015

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

Now in its seventh year the M&C Allegra ‘Eating Out in the UK Report’ quarterly debrief offers a great snapshot of the out of home market. Usually the sole domain of subscribers, we were lucky enough to be invited along to hear what’s what in the out of home market, hot off the proverbial presses. Held at The Royal Society, a rather fitting location for such an academic study of the foodservice market, the findings were derived from both top down and bottom up research, with a few assumptions thrown in for good measure to deliver insight across the market.

With a cram-packed agenda interspersed with some musical interludes handpicked to match the subject matter (yes, it was a new one on me but was, I have to say, rather endearing) the morning session covered: an overview of the market and its size, the competitive landscape, consumer trends and their journey from pre, during and post all through to the future outlook of the market. There was a lot to take in, but with some furious note taking I managed to get some handy take-outs…

• The out of home market (including retail on the go) is valued at £85.3bn with around 329,683 outlets, with retail, travel and leisure making up £18.8bn and 98,443 outlets, hotels, pubs and restaurants making up £62.4bn and 168,430 outlets, and contract catering (both B&I and public sector) making up the remaining £4.1bn and 62,900 outlets.
• Market growth – Good news! Current turnover growth is a healthy 2.8%.
• Market drivers – Are the 5A’s – affordability of eating out, absorption of foodie culture, adaptability of operators, accessibility across the UK, availability of a range of cuisines.
• Consumer spend on eating out – is running at 38.8p in the pound, bouncing back from recession times when it dipped to 37.7p.
• Eating out expenditure & frequency – Frequency is up 5% driven by 18-34 year olds, but average spend is down 3% (again as millennials tend to spend less and visit lower end outlets), however participation is up 1% (and expected to rise further) which means average spend per head per month is up 1% and total spend it up 2%. In general Londoners and millennials over-index when it comes to eating out, but interestingly there is life outside London and 18-24s in the North are increasing spend. Indeed with rents through the roof in capital the regions are increasingly key to growth.
• What’s growing and what’s not? – Branded new fast food and street food is growing (although from a low base) and in general branded and managed operators in pub, bakery and hotel segments are seeing growth (with smaller agile millennial brands nipping at the heels of the bigger boys and the danger of brand fatigue ever present). London and the East Midlands is growing, as far as foodservice outlets, whilst independent restaurants and tenanted pubs feel the squeeze.
• What do consumer want? Well from the consumer panel research undertaken it seems what they ‘really really want’ (as the spice girls put it) is a treat! (Don’t we all!). Generation Y tend to choose where to eat based on cuisine type and use vouchers regularly, while older consumers go for convenience, and women are of course the decision makers! (No surprises there). As far as branded concepts go, millennials are open to experimentation and newer brand like Chicken Shop, Friska, Red’s True BBQ, Dishoom, Pizzabuzz and Thaikhun are certainly ones to watch.
• The eating out journey – Younger consumers will tend to view menus online to decide on where to eat out. Food quality is important, but other factors such as service rank just as highly, especially when it comes to repeat visits, whilst recommendations and online reviews are hugely important for all age groups – as no man is an island.
• The future – On the up side this is a market sector set to grow by over £9bn by 2018 (a rise of 48% on the previous 3 years!). Eating out activity is expected to rise, driven by generation X and Y and consumers termed as ‘pleasure seekers’. Food culture has gained cool status, whilst the current price-led issues in the grocery sector benefit the out of home operators. Plus, more landlords recognise the benefits of foodservice outlets. However, on the downside, how the national living wage will impact on profitability is not yet known. There are rising property costs in London and across the country. In some areas there is concern over market saturation, whilst as operators try to be everything to everyone there is a danger of them losing their identity and competitive edge. And, of course, the rise in home delivery choice and quality may adversely impact the eating out market.
• In a nutshell however, MC Allegra put it this way ‘Tune In – Millennial Movers Making Waves in Upbeat Eating Out Market’.

All in all it was a great event, informative and entertaining in parts, so little wonder it attracted the likes of Five Guys, Wagamama, Pizza Express, McDonalds and of course the great and the good from supplier side brands. But if you weren’t there and these snippets have peaked your interest you can find out more at www.mcallegra-fs.com

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing agency and communications agency. We help top brands with foodservice public relations, food and drink pr, 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.

We’re not afraid to highlight other people’s great work here at Jellybean. Especially when it comes to great work that addresses serious issues in the food and drink industry we love so much – here’s a great one from Intermarche in France.

Currently part of the ‘Designs of the Year 2015’ exhibit at our very own Design Museum in London, this campaign titled ‘Inglorious Fruit and Vegetables’ tackles the problem we face globally where 300 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables are thrown away every year because they are unusual looking.

As 2014 was the International Year Against Food Waste, Intermarche made the decision to tack onto the back of this activity and address the issue head on.

Stars of the campaign were the ‘Grotesque Apple’, the ‘Ridiculous Potato’, the ‘Hideous Orange’, the ‘Failed Lemon’, the ‘Disfigured Eggplant’, the ‘Ugly Carrot’ and the ‘Unfortunate Clementine’.

The pay off to all of this was that now it’s even easier to eat your five a day as these fruit and vegetables are as good as ‘calibrated’ fruit and vegetables, only these ‘inglorious’ ones are 30% cheaper. So a great PR message, and a saving for customers. Win Win.

To counter any concerns from consumers that these inglorious products were inferior in terms of flavour, Intermarche produced a range of ‘inglorious’ soups and juices which they sampled in store – if you’re chopping, souping, juicing or dicing these fruits and vegetables, what does it matter how they look when you buy them?

The results? An overall store traffic increase of 24%  with a reach of 21 million people on social media after one month.

The recipe for success here as we see it? Well, it seemed like a perfect combination of:

• Allying your work to a great piece of PR activity which has real penetration as well as a truly worthy cause
• Great creative with a sense of humour
• Boots on the ground in stores to sample the fruits and vegetables and to answer questions
• Traditional PR
• Social Media

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing agency and communications agency. We help top brands with foodservice pr, food and drink pr, 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.

In a high stakes game of one-upmanship, someone will, inevitably, take things too far and end up with torn trousers and/or pants. Or no trousers and/or pants. Or in tears. Or in a ditch in tears with no trousers or pants. And so it is with foodservice trends.

So it is with the rise and rise of posh/gourmet junk food and the increasingly ersatz notion of food porn. At first our sensibilities were captivated with names and concepts such as Meat Liquor, Patty and Bun and Bubbledogs – and  the instagrammed fare of bubbling cheese, buns overfilled to excess and mountainous fries that inevitably filled social media as accompaniment.

Increasingly however, the lexical currency of this movement has shifted to incorporate words such as ‘dirty’, ‘shack’, ‘evil’, ‘filthy’ and ‘porn’, to the point that I’m surprised the newsletters heralding these openings aren’t held more often in cyber quarantine alongside dodgy emails from faux African royalty and sex tips from an author whose primary point of concern really should be grammatical, not anatomical.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no truck with the food these outlets serve, nor with people wanting to give the UK a taste of something different (even if it is at the cost of new arterial matter). My problem is with the un-enticing names that people sometimes choose for their brands – unless they come in the shape of a warning, descriptors are supposed to draw people in, not fill them with fear and disgust.

Who wants to eat in a filthy shack? And the last time porn and food were successfully combined, Mickey Rourke’s face was relatively normal. That was 29 years ago.

Last week saw yet another London opening of the decidedly dirty variety, begging the questions, what’s next? How far can we push the envelope?

It’s all got too much. Someone’s going to end up with torn pants.

In the true spirit of one-upmanship, we’ve created some hot concepts that may or may not come to fruition. As a leading agency, our creative collateral is subject to the rules of intellectual property. Though should you wish to use any of the below ideas for your own brand, my fee is negotiable.

Grease Grave

Diners are met by waiters and waitresses dressed as mourners at your Uncle Dean’s funeral and invited to sit in shallow soil pits before enjoying the contents of a full wake buffet (vol-au-vents, mini onion bhajis, chipsticks, angel slices etc.) all deep fried and served on silver platters with ornamental doilies (also deep fried).

Drinks:  Hot brown tea, weak coffee

Conversation snippets you are most likely to overhear:  “Gone too soon, but what a wonderful spread…”

Atmosphere: Muted

The Sh*t’s hit the Fan

So saturated in oil is the food in this establishment, that diners must wear protective clothing, similar to what one would wear for a skydive (air suit, goggles etc.) before having sodden husks of deep fried burgers and sausages fired at velocity, directly into their faces through large industrial fans. Diners must adopt the technique of the whale shark collecting plankton to catch as many greased goods in their open mouths as is humanly possible.

Drinks:  Food is so sodden that, here, there is no difference between a solid and a liquid

Conversation snippets you are most likely to overhear: The noise of the fans and the overall concept do not lend themselves to talking. Talking is for after. In the form of counselling.

Atmosphere: Edgy, blowy, greasy

Burp Shack

With the news last week of a London cocktail pop-up that allows sophisticates to inhale, as opposed to imbibe, their expensive cocktail of choice, food porn innovators have wasted little time in dirtying-up the concept, inviting savvy diners to directly breathe in the belches of minor celebrities who have, ahead of time, eaten from a select menu of fried chicken, ribs and burgers. The z-list gas is released through a network of hidden pipes with a different celebrity guest expected to fulfil his or her quota of burps each night. The specially sealed room reaches maximum acridity around 9pm. Diners are advised to book ahead.

Drinks:  Water, sipped until the nausea passes

Conversation snippets you are most likely to overhear: “Give him his due, that Joey Essex can burp for Britain – if only he could monetise it”

Atmosphere: Sinister

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice marketing agency. We help top brands with food service pr, food service 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 can always be found at Arena events and the Arena Summer Event last Friday was no exception. Held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower the day offered not one but two attractions on the bill, with Technomic running us through their observations and predictions for the UK casual dining market, followed by words of wisdom from Andrew Guy, CEO of Ed’s Easy Diner (a good pairing). As ever with Arena events it’s not just about the speakers, it’s also very much about the networking and we were lucky enough to catch-up with old contacts and meet some interesting new ones.

Technomic kicked off the day and shared their facts and stats on the market as well as their observations and here are my top five take outs…

1) Bills, Byron, Loungers, Ed’s Easy Diner and Côte are the fastest growing full service restaurant chains – all offer a defined concept which consumers buy into.
2) Top performing sectors – coffee/café sector is growing at 11.6% followed by Sandwich at 9.1%. Overall the top 100 UK FSR growth rate is 5.9%.
3) Fastest growing LRS’s are Papa Johns, Costa, Domino’s, Itsu and Subway.
4) There are 10 F’s of Fast Casual – food quality, fine ingredients, fitter wholesome food, fresh, first-rate décor, fair price, fast service, friendly employees, flexible offering and full view preparation.
5) Finally, the big trends are, wait for it…Fast Casual, Healthy (in its broadest terms), Odd Couples (mash-ups), The Heat is On (with spice and hot sauces creeping onto menus), It’s all About the Pig (with Pork making a real come-back) and Around the World (as menus converge and trends become global).

Then it was on to enjoy a delicious lunch from the team at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, followed by a talk from Andrew Guy of Ed’s Easy Diner. With decades of experience in the casual dining sector he knows a thing or two about how to run a successful concept and he had these pearls of wisdom to impart…

Firstly Andrew made it clear how dedicated he is to developing the people in his organisation. As a Trustee of both Hospitality Action and Springboard his commitment to supporting the industry is unquestionable, indeed every new Ed’s (of which there are currently 41, with 17 new sites planned and a target to hit 80 by the end of next year) is recruited for via Springboard. The only criteria being that they ‘hire smiles’ – no experience is required, just the right attitude and a willingness to learn and a determination to get ahead. Their ethos, driven by Andrew, is very much focused on home-grown talent and he was at pains to stress that talent is all around you and that if an internal candidate is 50% right then they are a far better bet than an external one who is generally an unknown quantity. Andrew made the valid point that ‘talent hits the target that others don’t hit and genius hits the target others don’t see’ with the kicker that really you don’t often need geniuses you mainly need just talent.

At Ed’s they train up their new site staff by creating teams from existing sites and empowering them with the responsibility of developing the new recruits over a two week training programme which starts with a meal out at an existing site so they can get a real feel for the Ed’s way. Then if all goes well employees who have a ‘good year’ can apply to the management development academy and are guaranteed a junior management role when they graduate. Reuben, their Opps Manager, who I have been lucky enough to meet, is a great example of how the business progresses talented people as he himself worked his way up through the ranks to the top of the tree – surely a very inspirational story to drive those ambitious new recruits. With so much focus on the ‘cast’ its little wonder their customer service comes out as second only to their ‘Americana’ theming as one of their top three consumer drivers and beats their delicious milkshakes into third place! Not only that, in the recent CGA Peach Consumer Research they came fourth out of forty brands for customer service – so their approach is a definite winner.

But with a possible sale on the horizon what will this mean for the culture of Ed’s and its commitment to people development? Well Andrew put it this way. He asked staff if they could name their current board and backers, funnily enough they couldn’t, so in essence the change of ownership is really just from one group of people they can’t name to another and he is confident it will not impact on the culture of what is one of the fastest growing casual dining brands around. Surely when so much of their success to date rests on its people any new owner would have to be mad to rock the boat! So with a final hint at possible expansion into the USA with us Brits exporting Americana to the US (who would have thought it) it was time to end the day and say our farewells to friends old and new.

Congratulations must as ever go to Lorraine and her team on a great event and one which managed to raise £970 for Hospitality Action and Springboard. If you didn’t make it along you can catch-up #ArenaSummerEvent on Twitter or simply visit their website Arena Website.

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice 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.

Roles were reversed as the chefs downed tools and let the UK’s top food critics take over the kitchen at Action Against Hunger’s Too Many Critics.

The Merchant’s Tavern provided the backdrop for the 10th Too Many Critics event where food writers – led by Bill Knott and Charles Campion – were challenged to swap pens for pans and prepare a meal for some of London’s top chefs, restaurateurs and food industry professionals.

Under the watchful eye of Michelin starred chef Angela Hartnett, the team cooked a feast including a starter of chilled pea and bacon soup, roast chicken with lemon and tarragon for the main course and a gooseberry fool to finish.

After dinner, guests were invited to bid on a selection of incredible prizes during an auction in aid of Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian organisation which is committed to ending child hunger and providing families with sustainable access to safe water and good nutrition. In total, the event raised over £33,500 for the charity!

To find out more about the work Action Against Hunger does for child malnutrition across the world, please visit www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk

Jellybean Creative is a leading food and drink pr 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.

In the plump file named ‘things that foodservice does well’ – you’ll find, among myriad other examples, evidence of an industry like no other when it comes to honouring unsung heroes, be they young, up-and-coming chefs, charity workers, mentors or otherwise.

Last Thursday evening the tradition continued in some style with the annual Cost Sector Catering Awards – a chance to meet, eat, drink and marvel at some of the fine work done by in-house or contract caterers working in healthcare, schools, government departments, meals on wheels and welfare, prison catering, police, fire and MoD, as well as on-board travel catering.

The ceremony, organised by our friends at publishing house Dewberry Redpoint and held at the Hilton London Metropole, was packed to the rafters with the great and good of the industry, including a delegation of Jellybeans (actual collective noun) keen to mark the biggest night in the cost sector calendar.

With pre-dinner emceeing duties overseen by Dewberry Redpoint’s Andrew Archer, comedian Paul Sinha took the stage, following some fantastic food, to gee the room into an appreciative awards frenzy.
Headline moments came with Age UK chairman Dianne Jeffrey CBE, who has led both the Malnutrition Task Force and the Hospital Food Standards Panel in recent years, who was honoured with the Public Sector Lifetime Achievement Award (sponsored by our good friends at Hobart UK) while Geoffrey Harrison, the chairman and founder of Harrison Catering, received the equivalent Contract Catering gong.

All in all a fantastic night in which we were privileged to share. A night of unsung heroes. Well done to Dewberry Redpoint on another rather marvellous bunfight.

Follow this link for a full list of winners and a video from the night, click here.

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice pr 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.