Latest Industry News
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Tuesday, March 9th, 2010, (4:48 pm)
STARBUCKS LAUNCHES INSTANT COFFEE THAT REALLY TASTES LIKE REAL … REALLY
A few weeks ago we got hold of a few sachets of Starbucks new Via Instant Coffee. We’d run out of the freshly roasted beans, and hadn’t bought some of the previously “best” instant, so we chanced it and made up some cups of Via. We honestly couldn’t believe it … the quality was amazing. The rest of the sachets were swiped in no time, and we pleaded for some more.Starbucks says:
“It is designed for drinking at work and at home, or when a Starbucks store simply isn’t nearby, sales of Starbucks VIA™ far exceeded expectations during the 32 store trial and proved a hit with thousands of coffee lovers.
• Sales of VIA™ exceeded expectations by 25 per cent during the year-long UK trial with most customers moving from buying three-packs to 12 packs during the period[i].
• In June 2009, an independent review by Which? said that Starbucks VIA™ is ‘better than your average cup of instant’[ii].
• A successful trial with easyJet led to a decision being taken in January to offer Starbucks VIA™ on all easyJet routes.
• It was voted “Most Innovative New Product” by Allegra Strategies in May 2009[iii]. -
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010, (3:38 pm)
US BREWER CHOSES INNOVATIVE DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION
We are told that Boulevard Brewing Company, based in Kansas City, is one of the largest craft breweries in the US. Three years ago the company constructed a new brewhouse which brought with it a new software system for controlling the flow of ingredients. While the new software system performed, the workstations in use proved to be too few and far between throughout the plant, too expensive to replicate and alarmingly inconsistent. The workstations locked up on several occasions which meant ingredients were stalled and soured, costing the company over $100,000 each time this happened.“The PCs were locally controlling processes and represented a huge liability because if something goes down, the whole process stops. If we go down, we can’t make beer,” said Tony Lux, Purveyor of Technology at Boulevard.
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Tuesday, March 9th, 2010, (8:17 am)
AMERICANS PLAN TO TAX SOFT DRINKS AND PIZZA TO LOWER OBESITY
The University Of Carolina at Chapel Hill has published a study which has reviewed the diets of 5,000 adults during the period 1985 to 2006. Their conclusion is that a tax on soft drinks and pizza would reduce caloric intake sufficient to lower the average weight in the US by 5 lbs per year.
The document was published in The Journal Archives Of Internal Medicine yesterday and suggested that the US would save $147 bn a year in health costs.
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Monday, March 8th, 2010, (7:49 pm)
INNOVATIVE PROMOTION FROM TRIDENT GUM
Trident chewing gum is to launch a brand new on-pack promotion, giving consumers the chance to win tickets to a host of worldwide festivals every week.
The ‘Perpetual Festival’ promotion will be launched in April alongside newly designed packaging which brings a more simplified and cohesive look and feel to the Trident range, providing enhanced shelf standout. Giving the pack a more adult feel, the new design effectively portrays the positive qualities of gum with its refreshment and long lasting flavour.
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Monday, March 8th, 2010, (7:31 pm)
COSTA LAUNCHES NEW COFFEE CLUB
Costa Coffe has launched its new ‘Coffee Club’, a free and easy card based reward programme enabling customers to earn points with every purchase to spend on any food, drink and merchandising product in Costa stores nationwide.
There are three key benefits: -
Monday, March 8th, 2010, (12:19 pm)
FIVE TYPES OF HEAT – REVENGE IS SWEET!
After one of the coldest British winters in living memory, Domino’s is putting a bit of spice back into our lives with the launch of its hottest pizza yet – Meltdown-The Revenge.Set to tingle the taste buds of those who are brave enough to take on this fiery pizza, the new addition to the Domino’s menu is covered in an array of mouth and eye watering toppings.
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Monday, March 8th, 2010, (11:30 am)
ANCHOR BUTTER IS RE-POSITIONING THE BRAND
Anchor Butter, the third biggest brand in the BSM category from Arla Foods, is repositioning itself as the “Original Butter Co.” as part of a massive £10m marketing campaign for 2010. The new positioning will be based on the heritage of Anchor, the oldest butter brand in the UK and will include new packaging which will be on shelf from the end of March.Iconic packaging design
The simpler, bolder and cleaner packaging design builds on the strong visual equities and heritage of the Anchor brand. The Anchor branding features alongside a larger red Anchor which acts as a focal point helping consumers locate the pack on shelf; while a softer yellow adds warmth and the olive green script evokes a sense of freshness. -
Monday, March 8th, 2010, (7:00 am)
ENGLISH WINES LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN RUN-UP
Over the course of the next few months, English Wine Producers (EWP) will be presenting activities and launching information to highlight the UK wine industry, from the release of the new vintage wines to outlining the industry’s new labelling changes.
The highlight of the industry’s calendar is the St George’s Day Trade & Press Tasting, taking place this year on Friday 23rd April at Chelsea Football Club.
This is the showcase event for the UK wine industry, with EWP members’ wines highlighted alongside smaller, boutique wineries from the country’s six regions. The tasting will launch new vintages and wines and provide an opportunity to meet many of the producers and other representatives from the industry, as well as meet new faces and wines released for the first time. Additional features will include the launch of English Wine Week 2010.
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Monday, March 8th, 2010, (7:00 am)
ENGLISH PROVENDER COMPANY PROMOTES PRODUCTS FOR MOTHER’S DAY
The company says “Mother’s Day, which falls this year on March 14th, is when all mothers everywhere should sit back, relax and let the rest of the household take the strain.And you can’t give your mum a better treat than by offering to cook the Sunday lunch.
A traditional roast is a good start – but it’s the finishing touches that make all the difference. The English Provender Company choose only the finest ingredients for their wide range of condiments, so whichever type of roast you cook you’ll have the perfect partner to serve with it… and a very impressed mother!
Everyone knows that lamb and mint sauce is a match made in heaven, but English Provender has gone the extra mile with their delicious English Mint Sauce.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (6:06 pm)
FDIN / Mintel GNPD INNOVATIONS CLUB
Here is this week’s featured product from the FDIN / Mintel GNPD Innovations Club. While Mintel GNPD itself scans the globe on a daily basis for new food & drink products and collates them into the world’s largest New Products Database, the Innovations Club members receive a quarterly selection of actual products which are specially gathered and categorised for sampling in the office or lab.According to the Mintel Report Gin, White Rum and Other White Spirits – UK -March 2009, consumers in the UK have become more concerned with the quality of ingredients and health benefits in their food and beverages, which has in turn driven growth for premium goods with provenance.
This has led to an above average growth rate in the super-premium white spirit sub-category as consumers in high socio-economic groups with expensive tastes demand superior spirits.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (3:00 pm)
TOP DAIRY BRANDS SIGN UP TO REDUCE PACKAGING WASTE
Dairy companies are among the vanguard of organisations signing up to reduce packaging waste under the Courtauld Commitment 2.Unveiled today, Courtauld 2 is the successor to the highly successful initiative set up in 2005 by food suppliers, retailers and the government’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Signatories have committed to reduce the carbon impact of their packaging by 10% over the next three years.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (11:30 am)
INSECT PICK AND MIX LAUNCHED AT THEME PARK
Following a successful trial run last week, managers at Chessington World of Adventures have confirmed chocolate coated insect larvae, cheese and bacon flavoured crickets and chocolate ant wafer biscuits will go on sale as snacks in the theme park’s new Wild Asia land, which opens in March 2010.
Close to 2000 guests sampled the insect pick ‘n’ mix at the Surrey theme park on Friday 19th February, and with 100% giving the snacks the thumbs up and saying they would buy them if available, it was a no-brainer for the park’s general manager, David Smith:
“The feedback received on Friday was fantastic and it created a lot of excitement on park. The ant wafer biscuits were the favourite and we even had someone call us after we finished the trial via guest services asking for more samples! Our goal is to become Britain’s Wildest Adventure and we are confident these snacks will help bring out the adventurous streak in our guests!”
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (11:04 am)
SINGLE CITY MEN CHUCKING BANANAS TOP THE WASTED FOOD LIST
A new survey carried out by Retail Acive shows that bananas are the nation’s most thrown away item, and young single men are the biggest culplrits.
Salad, fruit and vegetables seem to be the biggest wasted category generally followed by milk.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (9:20 am)
HEINZ ‘TREATS’ THE INFANT FEEDING CATEGORY
Heinz is continuing to invest in its babyfood portfolio this year with the launch of Heinz First Steps Toddler Cookies and Heinz Organic Stock Cubes. The launches demonstrate Heinz’s ongoing commitment to push innovation forward through the infant feeding category.Heinz First Steps Toddler Cookies offer parents a biscuit that is specially formulated for young children, making them a far more suitable treat than adult alternatives. Parents are currently restricted to buying adult snacks for their toddlers due to the limited offering available. The new range includes:
- Heinz Toddler Chocolate Cookies (30g, 6 cookies per pack) – RRP: £0.59
- Heinz Plain Chocolate Chip Cookies (30g, 6 cookies per pack) – RRP: £0.59 -
Friday, March 5th, 2010, (9:00 am)
WAITROSE TO STOCK UBUNTO COLA
Proving that Fairtrade isn’t just about bananas and coffee, Waitrose is proud to be the first supermarket to stock Ubuntu Cola, which launched on Monday 1st March. As a leading ethical retailer, Waitrose is supporting the makers of the first Fairtrade pop, by exclusively stocking it in fifty branches nationwide.‘Ubuntu’ is a South African term for humanity and kindness. The company, The Ubuntu Trading Comapny, which sources sugar from Malawi, will donate at least 15% of their annual profits to the Ubuntu Africa Program. ‘Ubuntu’ is about sharing, and the people behind the pop believe in investing their profits back into the soul of the company: the farmers and their families growing the sugar cane, and the people of Malawi.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (8:15 am)
HOW TO IMPROVE THE ODDS OF NPD SUCCESS
The Food & Drink Innovation Network is running a seminar on Thursday 29th April 2010 to look at why nine out of ten new products fail and how to dramatically improve the odds of product success.The seminar is called Even Better NPD Strategies and is based on “countless interviews” with NPD specialists around the world. It will be in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
The consensus is that new product success relies on getting your “fuzzy front end” right. This is the strategic piece of NPD as opposed to the executional or implementation piece.
As ever, the FDIN has lined up an excellent cast of speakers who will cover:
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (7:17 am)
SCHWARTZ FLAVOUR PAIRING CHALLENGE AT HOTELYMPIA
Ian Morgan, executive head chef, and Dan Boniface, Group Manager Cambridge, from Cucina, a private sector school meals provider, have won the Schwartz Flavour Pairing Challenge Competition at Hotelympia!The Schwartz Flavour Pairing Challenge created a real buzz in the Live Theatre on Wednesday when ten pairs of chefs battled it out in a close run contest.
The teams had to demonstrate real innovation with flavour using this year’s Flavour Pairings from Schwartz with just 45 minutes to prepare, cook and present a two-course meal; either a starter and main course or a main course and sweet. Competitors had to include two of theSchwartz Flavour Pairings from the 2010 Flavour Forecast, one pairing in each dish.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010, (5:00 am)
BRITS SPENT OVER 8 HOURS ON FOOD TV LAST MONTH
Pear and Black Pudding Pie
Three Quarters Of Brits Spent 8.6 Hours Glued To Food TV Last Month But They Still Love Mum’s Cooking, Says Foodnetwork.co.uk
Foodnetwork.co.uk is highlighting Mum’s influence on the country’s cooking habits by hosting a competition to collect recipes handed down from mums nationwide.
“37.2 million of the nation’s adults (77%)* spent more than one working day watching food and cooking programmes last month, yet most of us freely admit that Mum remains our biggest inspiration when it comes to food and cooking,” says Food Network UK’s spokeswoman Annabel McQueen.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010, (10:44 pm)
CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MARKETING HALF DAY FOOD & DRINK SEMINAR
The Chartered Institute of Marketing has a very active Market Interest Group for Food, Drink & Agriculture. It meets regularly and attracts
business leaders who attend presentations on a range of topics delivered by key industry figures.This conference aims to inform anyone interested in marketing their food and drink products on-line; not just the promotion but how brands and communities are built as well as some of the practical issues of getting and selling on-line, fulfilment and collecting the cash – safely and securely.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010, (10:31 pm)
FOOD INDUSTRY RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT REPORT ON HEALTHY LIVING
Responding to the launch of the ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: Two Years On’ report, Julian Hunt, FDF’s Director of Communications, says:
“We are encouraged to see that the Government feels its obesity strategy is helping to slow the rise in child obesity levels and we are pleased that its report acknowledges industry’s ongoing efforts to help consumers lead healthier lifestyles.
Our members have shown real leadership in their response to this challenging issue. Our ground-breaking work to change the recipes of popular foods, improve the nutrition information on retail packs and develop innovative workplace wellbeing schemes are all making a real difference. And we remain committed to working in genuine partnership with the Government to keep the momentum going.”
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010, (4:00 pm)
WALES WILL PRESENT PRODUCTS AT BARCELONA’S ALIMENTARIA
Welsh food and drink producers are preparing to travel to Spain for the latest date on the international food exhibition calendar – Alimentaria (March 22-26). Held at the Fira de Barcelona, Alimentaria is one of the world’s leading events for the food and drink industry, and the largest food trade event in Spain.Five Welsh companies will be exhibiting at the event assisted by International Business Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Food, Fisheries and Market Development Division.
Alimentaria is an important show for producers looking to expand on the world stage, with 4,000 leading food and beverage manufacturers and distributors expected to visit along with 150,000 buyers, and representatives from 155 countries.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010, (7:00 am)
CALLING ALL BAKERY STUDENTS AND TRAINEES
The ABST is the Alliance for Bakery Students and Trainees (previously the National Federation of Bakery Students and IBB Alliance).
It supports bakery skills students/trainees and promote education both in the colleges and across industry.
They are a none profit organisation run by volunteers from the bakery industry and are supported by the Worshipful Company of Bakers, the British Society of Baking, the National Association of Master Bakers, the British Confectioners Association and Improve – the sector skills council for bakery education.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010, (5:00 am)
MACPHIE VIENNESE MIX TAPS INTO NOSTALGIA
It seems that people can’t get enough of childhood favourites such as Battenburg, Arctic Roll & Angel Delight. As the market for small indulgences continues to grow, food ingredients manufacturer, Macphie, has developed a new Viennese Mix to capitalise on the trend for nostalgic, feel good foods of the past.The value of the Viennese biscuits market grew 9.3% to £18m in 2009 (TNS 52 w/e 6 September 2009) and this trend is set to continue. While Viennese biscuits are a firm favourite on retail fixtures, Macphie believes this can be reflected in the out of home market, where tremendous opportunities exist for a high-end, fresh-baked offering.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (6:44 pm)
TASTES OF ANGLIA’S 16TH FEAST EAST EVENT 4TH – 6TH MARCH
Tastes of Anglia will be holding its 16th Feast East event from 4th-6th March, kicking off with a dedicated trade day on the 4th.
The show has grown 166% since it started in 1994, making it a great opportunity for local buyers and deli owners to get their hands on some innovative, local products.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (6:39 pm)
CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF HEALTH OFFERS eLEARNING
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) today announces the launch of a new eLearning solution. The pressures of a modern workplace and increasingly transient workforces mean that businesses are seeking new ways to train and retain knowledge within the workplace.
46% of UK employees are now willing to move abroad for work,[1] with many already working away from the office. CIEH eLearning is designed to revolutionise the way that food safety and health & safety training is delivered.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (6:29 pm)
IT HEADACHES CAUSED BY ONLINE PROMOTIONS CAN BE SOLVED BY NEW DATA CENTRE MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS FOR MOBILE DEVICES
We are told that
Long suffering IT managers at food and drink companies will no longer have to endure IT headaches caused by successful promotions that marketing teams forget to warn them about.Global data centre services company, ControlCircle, has unveiled the first mobile application that allows IT services held in a data centre to be managed via a handheld mobile device. This means that the problems usually caused by unexpected or unprecedented levels of visitors to a company website can be swiftly rectified or avoided completely, without the need to log into a computer.
ControlCircle says that their mobile app literally puts the data centre in the palm of the IT managers hand. With many companies in the sector investing in traditional and online promotions to push visitors to websites for information, downloads or product ordering, the ability to instantly react to IT issues is paramount.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (11:20 am)
INCPEN WELCOMES COURTAULD COMMITMENT 2
INCPEN welcomes the announcement of Courtauld Commitment 2 (CC2), an agreement between WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and manufacturers and retailers to achieve more efficient use of resources throughout the life of grocery products and their packaging.Having worked towards taking a holistic approach to improving packaging and product supply systems for over 30 years, INCPEN is delighted to be joined in those endeavours by the Government’s resource efficiency body.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (11:00 am)
CARIBBEAN SAVOURIES LAUNCHES FROZEN PLANTAINS
Caribbean Savouries has launched frozen plantains. The product comes in two variations; fried plantain and baked plantain.They are microwaveable in one minute and oven ready in ten minutes.
We are told “They are quick and easy to prepare, ideal for people on the move, family meals or even a quick snack. High in Vitamin C and rich in minerals this is a very healthy Product for all members of the family.
Plantains can be served with sushi, meat or vegetables available in retail packs and also available for food Service/catering packs.”
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (7:00 am)
ANILA’S FREE FROM CURRY SAUCES TO BE SHOWN AT NATURAL & ORGANIC TRADE SHOW
Revised branding that highlights the health messages of Anila’s curry sauces and condiments will be showcased at the Natural & Organic trade show in April 2010.The labelling of Anila’s authentic range has been tweaked to emphasize the gluten-free, dairy-free, onion-free and garlic-free nature of her products.
The move has been made in response to an increase in demand for Anila’s curry sauces, chutneys, pickles and dips from those with intolerances and allergies.
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, (12:18 am)
BARISTA AWARDS AT HOTELYMPIA
Monday’s final of the UK Barista Championship, held at Hotelympia proved to be an exciting affair with John Gordon, of Gorilla Tampers based in London, taking the top spot. John will now go on to represent the UK at the World Barista Championships against 60 other countries in London this June.John is no stranger to barista competitions as he was a finalist in last years UK Barista Championship, as well as being a finalist in last years World Latte Art Championship in Cologne.
