jellybean recommends…
We’re a happily hybrid working lot at jellybean – between working from home and days off-site visiting clients, attending insight sessions or leading photo and video shoots – days in the office are always filled with much needed work and life updates with colleagues.

Austrian Eats
I was fortunate enough to banish the January blues earlier this year with a ski trip to the Austrian Alps. I returned full to the brim with cheese and chocolate – here are some of my favourite spot
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Lumina Intelligence Q3 Food Strategy Forum
I was lucky enough to attend Lumina Intelligence’s most recent Food Strategy Forum with fellow bean Caitlin, to understand the latest insight and trends shaping the food and beverage sector.

Arena: Creating a Sustainable Future in Foodservice & Hospitality
Hosted for the first time at St James’ Sofitel, Arena’s most recent event centred around arguably the most pressing issue facing the industry and the world at large: how can we all work to create a more sustainable future? With a key insight address from CGA and a dedicated panel discussion from some of the industry’s most senior leaders, it was an event not to be missed and so of course, as the leading foodservice agency, we were there in force.

Bring on the Barbi
Summer has arrived at last, and along with the smells of freshly cut grass and petrichor, surely not much beats that of a newly lit BBQ.
29th May – 4th June marks the UK’s 27th National BBQ Week (with many of us at jellybean planning our own bank holiday BBQ). The history of BBQ arguably dates back to when man first cooked meat over fire. Barbecue itself, comes from the word barbacoa, for the process of cooking meat over an open flame so named by the indigenous Taino people of the Caribbean and brought back to Europe by Spanish explorers in the 16th century.

The 2023 UK Food & Drink Shows
As April drew to a close, the UK Food & Drink Shows, comprising National Convenience Show, Farm Shop & Deli Show, Food & Drink Expo and Foodex Manufacturing Solutions returned to the NEC, Birmingham. As the leading integrated foodservice and retail PR & marketing agency, jellybean was in attendance, not only to see the latest product innovations and hear from the luminaries lined up to speak at the shows’ stellar seminar programme, but also in a professional capacity, supporting the brilliant William Reed events team with the show press office.

The Foodservice Summit 2023
The inaugural Foodservice Summit, brought about by the wonderful team behind Bread & Jam Fest, was held at the beginning of March in an effort to help foodie start-ups crack open the often misunderstood world of away from home and showcase the many opportunities that the foodservice market can offer brands. As a leading foodservice agency we were of course there and were in fact proud to be a sponsor of this exciting new addition to the foodservice calendar.

12 Days of Giving – The Princess Alice Hospice
The Princess Alice Hospice is a charity well known by jellybean, not least because our office sits directly above the Leatherhead branch of their charity shop!

NOTTO: A Review
Conceived by one of Britain’s best chefs and located just a stone’s throw from culinary institutions such as The Ritz and Fortnum’s & Mason’s, you’d be forgiven for thinking that NOTTO may be beyond the budget for a casual get together.

Some Like It Hot
As Hallowe’en, Bonfire Night and (dare we utter) Christmas roll around once again and the summer heatwave feels like a distant memory, classic winter warmers are popping up all over the place. Roast season has well and truly returned, and soup, casserole, and pie inspiration seem to be saturating social media feeds.

Food Waste
The issue of food waste has been high on the agenda for some years now.
Back in 2016, ‘wonky veg’ became a headline news item as consumers realised how much perfectly edible produce was being turned down by supermarkets because of tough size and appearance standards.

Trinity, Clapham

Spring Eating
The spring equinox has come and gone, the clocks are poised to spring forward this weekend and with the sun shining it feels, dare I say, that winter may be behind us. With the changing of the seasons, there’s also natural shift in the food we eat, as talk of soups, stews and casseroles fades out and a wave of comms around Easter and even BBQ arrives.

Spotlight on Dark Kitchens
As the leading foodservice marketing agency, keeping a close eye on market developments is part of our bread and butter. And although the Coronavirus pandemic was an incredibly tough period for our industry, it also inspired chefs, suppliers and operators to get creative and adapt their businesses, resulting in a multitude of new trends.

12 Days of Giving – Clare
There are so many worthy causes out there to support throughout the year and over the festive season but this year, for Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the fantastic Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

The return to live events
There’s been a nice rumbling around the office in recent weeks. A new energy and excitement that comes from one thing only – live events. As we’ve gone through September, the office has been full of colleagues planning events, attending functions and swapping stories.

Tech in 2021
The pandemic has already had many far-reaching repercussions and will undoubtedly continue to shake up the landscape of the foodservice industry as we know it. Yet one positive we can take is the increased uptake of new technology which is estimated to have been accelerated by three to four years in a few short months.¹

Going #ToHellAndBack – Clare
No-one needs reminding of the hellhole that was 2020 and whilst recovery is still very much in its infancy, it does at last feel as though we may be heading towards some form of normality.

A Long Weekend in Lisbon
I recently had the joy of visiting Lisbon – Portugal’s vibrant capital – a city perched on the edge of the River Tagus and bathed in warm September sunshine.
With a rich, seafaring heritage and situated, as it is, so close to the Atlantic, fish and seafood are the order of the day at restaurants across the city, with the infamous Bacalhau (salted cod) and Sardinhas (sardines) appearing almost ubiquitously on menus. Delve deeper though, and Lisboans know seafood on a much grander scale.
On our first evening we headed to Cervejaria Ramiro, a family-run Seafood Restaurant which started its days as a local ‘beer hall’. With warnings of hour-long queues we ventured out early and managed to get seated within about 10 minutes (although longer would have been well worth the wait). Sizzling prawns and garlicky clams were fantastic openers before we tackled the largest crab I’d ever seen – all complimented with local Sagres beer.
Lisbon also plays host to Time Out’s first food hall. Launched in May 2014, the market is a snapshot of all the best culinary offerings Portugal has to offer. Open from 10am to midnight, the market buzzes throughout the day without ever seeming to experience a ‘down-time’. Having done a thorough sweep of all the stands, we opted for Marlene Vieira, a female chef with roots in Northern Portugal with a flair for reinventing traditional Portuguese cuisine. A portion of Fried Cuttlefish and Squid Ink Risotto later and I was sold – Vieira’s dishes are absolutely fantastic.
Of course, no trip to Lisbon would be complete without paying a visit to Belém – the home of the famous Pastel de Nata. At just one euro a pop, they appear in Patisserie windows across Lisbon but Pastéis de Belém is the undisputed origin of the sweet, custard-filled tarts. Served with individual packets of icing sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle til your heart’s content and rest easy, knowing that the hilly streets of the city centre more than justify the delicious calories.
Four days in Lisbon passed in a blur of food, drink, hills, trams, tiles and sunshine. If you get a chance to visit this wonderful city, don’t pass it up – you won’t be disappointed.
