National Hospitality Day was launched last year to celebrate the brilliant, resilient restaurants, pubs, hotels, bars, cafes, and the amazing people who work within them. Despite the worst of the pandemic, the industry demonstrated just how hospitality makes our communities better. Last year, over £50,000 was raised as businesses were asked to incorporate a fundraising element into their activities to support charities (specifically Drinks Trust, Springboard, Hospitality Action, Only a Pavement Away and Licensed Trade Charity).
In foodservice marketing we’re used to magazines, but this was a first. It wasn’t the kind you thumb through like Stockpot or The Caterer. No, this was ‘Magazine’, the venue located just a stone’s throw away from the O2, where this year’s annual Craft Guild of Chefs Awards was held. As ever, it was the hot ticket, playing host to the great and good of the chef world. Raymond Blanc no less was in attendance, along with celebrated chefs from across the industry. Guests and nominees enjoyed a fabulous meal (no pressure catering team!) the highlight of which was for me the fish course, sponsored by our client McCormick’s and featuring their amazing hot sauce – Cholula, which I applied liberally to mine.
Lumina Intelligence estimate the food-to-go sector will reach £23bn by 2025.
More than 200 people attended the MCA Food-to-Go conference in London on March 9th, where Lumina Intelligence spoke, and delegates heard presentations from a range of food-to-go operators including Café Nero, Greggs, itsu, Leon, Pret and Pure.
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.
Social media marketing is often treated as a numbers game. The bigger the figure, the better you’re doing, but we understand that when it comes to effective marketing, quality always trumps quantity.
Valentine’s day is a popular holiday to celebrate with our loved ones – whether this is a partner, family or even a pet (27% of people would buy a present for their pet and one third would rather spend the day with their pet than their partner (National Retail Federation) – Whisky, will you be my valentine next year?
Between inflation, supply chain issues and energy prices, it seems price rises are never-ending. And sadly, the brewing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is signalling yet more price increases for their primary exports: wheat, gas, and fertiliser.
As 2021 comes to a close, Lumina has announced what they believe will be the top 3 megatrends to shape 2022 and beyond. As a leading food and drink agency we wanted to hear the latest from this trusted insight specialist, so without further ado, here we go…
The UK obesity crisis is costing the NHS £6bn a year, so in July 2020 the government launched its strategy to tackle obesity. Part of this strategy is to stem the rise in children living with obesity, and with 80 % of all food advertising expenditure in children’s airtime on terrestrial channels focused on HFSS foods, the promotion of such products has become a focal point.
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.
As a proud Hospitality Action Ambassador, I thought I knew all there was to know about Hospitality Action, but in the inaugural Ambassadors Briefing even I came away having learnt a thing or two.
Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain and chair of the National Food Strategy, was commissioned by government to execute an independent review on how to achieve a sustainable and fair food system. The terrible health crisis that took over the world in 2020 has shown with alarming clarity the damage being done to our health by the modern food system. Diet related illness is one of the top three risk factors for dying of Covid-19 and has cemented the need for the UK government and businesses to take bold action and revamp its National Food Strategy Plan.
Along with the disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us – including myself – have had our own disasters in the kitchen (Let’s not talk about the time I tried to make mozzarella sticks with Babybels). With all the free time we’ve had, many of us have turned out attention to the kitchen and thought…’let’s try and learn some new cooking skills.’
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
It’s been a long road, but despite the threat of a third wave, the roll out of vaccinations does mean there is light at the end of the tunnel for the hospitality sector, which has been devastated by the past 16 months. 2020 saw 11 weeks of normal trading and 41 weeks of restrictions, not to mention the joys of Brexit uncertainty. This led to a total market decline of -47.8%, with an outlet percentage decline of 1.2% in 2020. However, as we head towards the second half of 2021 hopefully things are looking up.
It is estimated that almost 1 in 5 people in the UK suffer from an allergy and that 10 deaths a year are caused by people not knowing what ingredients are in the food they are eating. In the wake of the death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse from an allergic reaction and her parents subsequent lobbying, new legislation is being introduced to protect allergy sufferers and give them confidence when buying pre-packaged food.
On the 17th May we were finally allowed to dine-in in British pubs and restaurants. No more hunkering under heaters or shielding our plates from hail stones – Hurrah! As foodies through-and-through the bean team were delighted to be able to finally eat inside and enjoy some old favourites and even try some new experiences.
Here at jellybean we pride ourselves on our ability to offer clients our expertise across a vast number of specialist subjects. With 25 beans across five divisions, there’s scope to have our fingers in lots of pies and hone our crafts at the same time. Whilst some of us get giddy with excitement at the thought of planning a face to face press launch, others get their kicks from activating shopper marketing solutions, creating video animations and even getting to the heart of a brand with a complete redesign and repositioning project. We’re a close-knit bunch of beans – thanks Microsoft Teams for helping us keep it that way during the past year – and as well as sharing gossip from our out of office lives we make it a priority to regularly share our professional learnings, latest insights, new tools and platforms which we and our clients would benefit from knowing about.
As a leading food and drink agency we make sure we stay ahead of the game when it comes to the latest foodie trends. So we always look forward to see what trends The Food People predict will be shaping menus and shopping baskets. We may be nearly half way through 2021, but with a rather stuttering start to the year due to Covid, now seems as good a time as any to take a look at what they are tipping to be the next big foodie trends. So, here we go…
There are currently over 10,000 fish & chip shops in the UK with a market value estimated at a staggering £1.2bn. They serve around 382 million meals a year of which 167 million are just fish & chips. That’s six servings for everyone in the UK. In fact, 80% of people visit at least once a year and 22% of people visit every week! Whether enjoyed on a harbour-side dodging pesky seagulls, or impatiently snaffled from under the paper on the way home – it’s fair to say Brits love fish & chips, especially when covered in salt & vinegar.
