As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the opportunities I have been given in an industry traditionally not known for its female-friendly workplaces. Today in 2021, there are organisations in place to encourage more women to set up agencies (I’m thinking of The Agency Collective) and initiatives by associations like The Alliance of Independent Agencies to promote diversity in the agency world. But I rather suspect there were no such organisations or initiatives back in 1987 when Fiona, our CEO, took the leap of faith to set-up what is now known as jellybean.
As the leading foodservice agency, jellybean is proud to have partnered with Arena to sponsor an exclusive boutique online event gathering foodservice sales and marketing professionals together to exchange insights around the challenges of the past year, and those of the months ahead.
I am absolutely thrilled that Jellybean is a Top 60 B2B agency (59) and a Top 40 Integrated B2B agency (38) according to the recently released 2021 UK B2B Marketing Agencies Benchmarking Report.
Did you know that Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world? To put it into context, it would take you the same amount of time to fly from Heathrow to Dubai, as it would to fly from one end of Canada to the other.
Like many of us, last year I got into the routine of a regular glass of something of an evening to unwind at the end of the working day, or to relax on the weekend. Lockdowns, tiers, lack of social contact, lack of anything better to do in general and working from home, combined with more daily exercise, all gave me a good reason to treat myself of an evening (thank goodness I didn’t have to home school, I would probably have started at 10am!).
At Jellybean, we love to raise money for charity. I’ve always wanted to take part in Movember and felt like this year was the perfect time to give back and do my part.
Like so many stories relating to charity support, this one concerns itself with family matters. Firstly with the birth of the Royal Marsden hospitals, and secondly with how they have come to help me and my family.
There are so many worthy charities that need support, funding, and resource. Over the years I have donated to many of them and will continue to do so, but The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity will always be my ‘go to’. My loyalty to it will never change, nor will my immense gratitude for the care that the Royal Marsden team gave my father in 1996.
The Children with Special Needs Foundation is my choice for the Jellybean 12 days of giving initiative 2020. I have been a supporter and patron for over 15 years of this wonderful local charity that was all set to celebrate its 25th year in 2020 and ramp up fundraising in this momentous year. Sadly, due to Covid, virtually all activity has had to be shelved and as a result essential funds have seriously depleted. CWSNF was inspired by Nick Ivil (who has Downs Syndrome and is still very involved to this day) and started by the inimitable and tireless Gordon and Ann Parris MBE. What sets this charity apart from so many others is that all the money raised goes to the point of need (all the hard working and enthusiastic team involved volunteer their time and expertise), every request for help is personally considered on its merits no matter how large or small the requirement and it is all about providing life-changing equipment and experiences to children with a wide range of special needs.
As a leading integrated food and drink agency we often get approached by TV production companies looking for food brands to take part in their programmes. However, when the call came earlier this year the production company on the end of the line was not only interested in working with some of our clients, but also with Jellybean. The question was posed…would you be open to coming on the show as a food marketing expert to give your opinion on a range of ads and different recent food marketing trends?
Like many of my fellow beans, I consider myself to have a well-rounded palate and a decent set of taste buds. So how (especially with my penchant for Indian takeaways) have I completely missed Pakora?
We thought we knew cocoa, until that is we started working with Olam Cocoa to launch their new range of deZaan premium cocoa powders – which made us think again! We couldn’t believe the range of colour and taste variants they had developed, taking cocoa from an everyday staple to something to truly inspire professionals in the kitchen. And it seems the more you discover about cocoa, the more there is to learn – from pH to dutching, fat content to intrinsic and extrinsic colour (who knew!). Working with Olam Cocoa on the launch of their new responsibly sourced professional range has been a real education.
This September saw Jellybean work with flavour innovator McCormick Flavour Solutions to stage its live-streamed ‘End of Summer Sessions’, featuring two of the UK’s most respected chefs hosting two unique digital inspiration demos, from their respective kitchens.
Please note this interview took place before the new regulations were announced on 22/9/20.
This week Lumina’s Hospitality Innovation Series of webinars featured an interview and Q&A with leading chef and restaurateur Adam Handling. Adam started his culinary training as the first apprentice chef at the famous Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. He went on to work in London before becoming sous chef at the Malmaison hotel in Newcastle. He then moved back to Scotland to become the Fairmont Group’s youngest ever head chef at the Fairmount St Andrews. Following that he took on the role of head chef at St.Ermins Hotel in St James Park. From there, he entered and became a finalist in series 6 of Masterchef The Professionals in 2013. Since then he has set up his own group of critically acclaimed restaurants notably: Frog by Adam Handling, Eve Bar, The Frog Hoxton, Adam Handling Chelsea and Ugly Butterfly. Sadly as a result of the impact of Covid19 both The Frog Hoxton and Ugly Butterfly (his zero waste pop-up) have closed, but as one door closes another opens as Adam went on to reveal….
As we continue to struggle as a nation to cope with the impact of Covid-19 on a local, national and international level, and adapt our lives to a new normal in order to keep the R number below 1 and implement strategic lockdowns in specific communities, I stop to reflect on the impact this pandemic is having on our 2020 project helping girls in Zimbabwe continue their education. Whilst we complain about compulsory quarantine after a 2 week holiday in Spain, rally against wearing face masks in busy public places, miss having mass social gatherings with our friends and family and struggle with continuing to work from home in an ever changing landscape, spare a thought for a country that is suffering from a poor harvest, rampant inflation and a growing Coronavirus problem.
If you made arrangements with friends or business associates to meet up at a certain time and place and just failed to turn up with no excuse, apology or forewarning you’d quickly end up with no friends or and/or unemployed. So what makes people feel they can book a table at a restaurant and then just not turn up?
As Jellybean celebrates its 33rd year in business and manages its way through the Covid 19 lockdown I take a rather irreverent look back and reflect on what was happening in the UK in 1987 – the year that it all started and our business was established. I am sure it will jog some memories and I hope it brings a smile to a few old faces who remember those days as fondly as I do.
Yesterday’s announcement to open up hospitality and UK tourism from 4th July was just the life line the industry had been campaigning hard for. Married with the unseasonably good weather we’re currently experiencing, it looks like we may be about to see a staycation boom this summer (with Bojo’s blessing). After being cooped up for so long there is a sense that certainly a sizeable chunk of the population rather fancy a change of scene having stared at the same four walls for the past three months.
