Category: Industry News
Foodservice Agency

Catey Awards 2018 – A night to remember

Thanks to our friends at The Caterer, Jellybean had the delight of attending the 35th Catey Awards at the beautiful Grosvenor House on Park Lane. Our evening was spent celebrating the finest individuals from across the UK’s restaurant, hotel, foodservice and pub & bar sectors and recognising the hard work, passion and dedication that is vital to the success of our hospitality industry.

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Foodservice Agency

I Imbibed!

One of the things I’ve missed most during my time away from foodservice agency; Jellybean has been the buzz of a trade show (for those of you who don’t know, I’ve recently returned for my fifth year at the fabulous agency). Yesterday morning, I slipped on my walking shoes (read: drinking boots), packed my iPad and printed off my visitor pass – I was off to Imbibe Live 2018.

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Food and Drink Agency - Moroccan Extra Virgin Olive Oil

We’ve struck gold with Moroccan Extra Virgin Olive Oil brand…

Super-premium extra virgin olive oil brand Morocco Gold, is the latest new client to join the Jellybean food and drink agency family. The owners of the single estate extra virgin olive oil from Morocco appointed Jellybean following a competitive pitch earlier this year. We are excited to be working with this luxury food brand on an integrated B2B and B2C campaign which will create widespread brand awareness and drive long-term sustainable sales through traditional retail and e-commerce channels. Here’s the low-down on this high quality oil.

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Foodservice Marketing - Drinks Trends - Jellybean Creative

Drinks Trends

For an event entitled Alcohol Trends and Innovations the day’s conference included a surprising amount of content around the drive for low and no alcohol. Doubtless driven by those pesky Millennials and Gen Z lot who don’t seem to value the good old fashioned binge drinking culture my generation and those before worked so hard to establish (only joking). Equally the omnipresent march of the health and wellness trend, will have had a fair amount to do with it, as consumers look to reduce calories, drink less and generally consume more wholesome food and drink. That’s not to say volume drinking is dead, Jägermeister themselves don’t condone or promote the ‘Jägerbomb’, but there is no denying this consumer-led ritual is alive and well in UK bars and clubs. However, despite the UK having a drinking population of 30 million (the large majority of whom, 96%, drink within the recommended limits, with only around 4% straying into the realms of ‘a problem’ – I’ll refrain from naming any beans) there is an overall trend for consumers to drink less, but better, with an increased focus on the quality, provenance and brand story. Drink still plays an important part in our social culture, both out of home in bars and restaurants (on trade) and when purchased in retail to drink at home (off trade).

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Foodservice Marketing - 25th Craft Guild of Chefs Awards

25th Craft Guild of Chefs Awards

This Monday saw the 25th anniversary of the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards held at The Grosvenor House Hotel London. Coined the ‘Oscars’ of the chef world, the awards celebrate excellence across the industry. This year’s awards ceremony was particularly special as it marked a quarter century of these prestigious accolades. The night began in style with the champagne and canapés as guests circulated the Grosvenor House mezzanine level overlooking the impressive Great Room, catching-up with old friends and new. As a leading food and drink agency we were there in force with invites from both Dewberry Redpoint and client McCormick.

As ever, Jellybean Creative the leading foodservice marketing agency were there to support the awards and report back for the Jellybean blog.

The team at the Grosvenor House had the unenviable task of catering for some of the leading chefs in the country on a grand scale (quite an ask) but they did us proud with a delicious four course dinner followed by port and cheese and of course coffee and petit fours. Then it was on to the focus of the night the awards themselves…a drum roll please for the winners…

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MCA Menu & Food Trends Report April 2018

MCA Menu & Food Trends Report April 2018

As a leading food and drink agency, specialising in foodservice, retail and convenience, we make it our business to stay on top of the latest trends. Pulling key tangible insights from market information and trends data is crucial to the work we do with our clients and therefore attending events such as the MCA debrief comes high on our agenda.

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MCA Insight Tour

MCA Food Study Tour 2018

On the 6th April 2018, our very own Beans, Natalie and Nick, attended the MCA Food Study Tour in London to discover the latest food trends and of course, in true Jellybean style, try lots of new food and drink from up and coming concepts. They found some good’uns – take a look!

Please accept marketing-cookies to watch this video.

You Tube Video

Food and Drink Awards - National Burger Awards - Foodservice Agency - Jellybean Creative Solutions

The National Burger Awards 2018

The National Burger Awards is the a world away from the usual formal black-tie award events of the foodservice calendar. Held at The Islington Metal Works it was a smoky, boozy, bustling, celebration of burgers in all their wonder – our kind of food and drink awards. And with burgers topping the charts at lunch according to the MCA’s latest report and increasingly their already strong share of dinner, this is a trend that looks set to stay with burger concepts popping up on high streets all over the country, many of whom were represented at the awards.

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MCA Top of Mind Briefing - Foodservice Trends - Jellybean Creative Solutions

MCA Top of Mind Briefing 2018

The annual MCA Top of Mind Report debrief offers both an overview of the eating out market over the past year, as well as some predictions for the year ahead. Now in its 11th year, the briefing took us through macros trends, 2017 consumer behaviours, predictions for 2018, a state of the nation across casual dining, growth drivers, the results of their decision maker survey and of course concepts to watch for 2018.

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Food to Go Conference 2018 - Jellybean Creative Solutions

Food to Go Conference 2018

The MCA annual Food To Go conference is a must attend for anyone in this dynamic sector and this year boasted some heavyweight speakers including the godfather of food to go, Julian Metcalfe of Prȇt and Itsu fame and Gerry Ford founder and group CEO of Caffè Nero. Currently the UK food to go market is set to reach a value of £20.7bn in 2018, outperforming the wider eating out market and retail with growth set to be around 2.8% compared to the 1.5% predicted growth for the eating out market, making it a land of opportunity for operators. But why is this? Well quite simply there are more of us, working longer and commuting more, we are ‘time-poor’ and grabbing food ‘on the hoof’ as table meals are replaced by food in the car, on the train, at our desks, etc. Whilst the proliferation of outlets and choice means that picking up food on the go is easy and we have a wide range of cuisines and formats to choose from.

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Pub 18 - Trade Show for the Pub Industry - Blog by Foodservice Marketing Experts Jellybean Creative Solutions

Pub 18

The UK pub market is valued at £22bn* and despite the current economic headwinds it is an exciting and vibrant sector. From the craft beer revolution to the proliferations of gins and outlandish cocktails there is more to today’s pubs than the humble pint.

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Euromonitor International - New Concepts in Foodservice

New Concepts in Foodservice

The foodservice industry is changing. Consumers are no longer seeing the concept of food as a strict commodity. It’s becoming more of a lifestyle choice and experience. This coupled with their greater awareness of options – from the booming grab & go market to Michelin-starred restaurants – makes now the perfect time for operators in all global markets to get creative with foodservice concepts and offer consumers something fresh and exciting. Read on for the latest in foodservice trends.
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Food and Drink Agency - Focus for convenience growth in 2018 - top 5

Focus for convenience growth in 2018 – top 5

As 2017 draws to a close in what has been one of the most tumultuous years in convenience retail, I wanted to find out how the industry is feeling and what they are doing to face up to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the sector.

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Foodservice Agency - The Caterer Product Excellence Awards

The Caterer Product Excellence Awards

The coveted Caterer Product Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the very best food, drink and equipment products in the foodservice market. As such we are always keen to gain this solid-gold endorsement for our clients’ products and of course the acclaim it brings with it. To that end we spend a great deal of time in partnership with our clients identifying the products we feel are possible award winners and drafting that all important award entry. This year we had a record six products shortlisted for the awards, quite some achievement in itself, and as Lisa Jenkins took to the stage we were crossing our fingers along with all the other nominees.

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Foodservice Marketing - Arena Christmas Event

Arena Christmas Event

The Arena Christmas lunch is quite frankly the official start of Christmas in the world of foodservice and this year was no exception. Held at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, the event kicked-off mid-morning with a talk from Peter Backman on the highs and lows of 2017 and what we might expect in the coming year. Taking us on a whistle-stop tour through the four quarters of 2017 some clear trends emerged…

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Food and Drink Agency - P&H collapse: the winners and losers

P&H collapse: the winners and losers

The collapse of Palmer & Harvey yesterday has sent a shockwave through the convenience and wholesale channel. It is deeply distressing for the 2,500 employees whose jobs have been terminated with immediate effect and of course extremely worrying for the 90,000 outlets who rely on P&H deliveries for their very livelihoods. Sadly however the demise and failed rescue packages have been well documented, so the writing was on the wall. The final nail in the coffin was perhaps Tesco’s £3.7bn takeover of food wholesaler Booker which got the go-ahead from the competition authorities. This effectively gave the green light for Tesco Booker to take in house the valuable contracts that P&H held to supply Tesco and One Stop stores. Neil Brenson of Food and Drink Agency Jellybean Creative sums up the situation as he sees it.

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