free
ISSUE
2018
SUMMER 18
#4
EDITOR: Chris Busher NEWS EDITOR: Alice Jarret-Kerr LAYOUT DESIGNER: Natasha Kolia, Jose Laborda
THE BELAZU INGREDIENT CO. HERALD
@BELAZU_CO @BELAZU_CO BELAZU.COM 020 8838 1912 MARKETING@BELAZU.COM
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WINNER OF TASTE OF LONDON: BEST ACTIVATION This year we hosted one hell of a show at Taste of London’s Food Festival in Hyde Park (13-17 June) and we’ve even got the trophy for ‘Best Activation’ to prove it! We had demonstrations from longstanding customers and food influencers including Anna Hansen, founder of The Modern Pantry; Ramael Scully, owner of his eponymous restaurant, Scully; Nargisse Benkabbou, author of the brand new Moroccan cook book Casablanca; Ryan Riley, founder of the Life Kitchen - a charity initiative which offers free cooking classes for people living with cancer, and their families; Toby Burrowes, head chef at the multi-award winning restaurant Elystan St; MasterChef finalists: Alison, Giovanna and Lorna, collectively Three Girls Cook; Romy Gill MBE owner and founder of Romy’s Kitchen; Alexandra Dudley food writer,
stylist and author of Land and Sea; Chris Wheeler, executive chef at Britain’s 5 AA Red Star Country Club Stoke Park and, of course our fantastic resident innovation chef and former head chef at Moro AKA, Henry Russell. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in helping to organise the event, to those who made the magic happen each day and, of course, to the team who dealt with the aftermath. Hope you enjoyed what is claimed to be the World’s Greatest Restaurant Festival. We’ve gratefully received all of your feedback on the event but please do continue to update the marketing team if you have any suggestions for Taste or with regards to any other development initiatives that could help improve our processes going forward.
COSTCO SEMI-DRIED TOMATOES
VERMOUTH VINEGAR
EDITOR’S NOTE See you all again in 3 months with more news!
HELLO! HOLA / CIAO / CZESC SZIA / DOBRY DZIE HALLO / OLA / NAMASTE
It has been a bumpy first half of the year with sales performance vs budget being hit and miss from month to month. We broke the £3m month hurdle in May and then again in July where we achieved over £3.25m in sales which was well over our budget. Year to date we are pretty much bang on budget and the prospect for the rest of the year looks good with more new customers coming on board as well as a better than
expected performance of our Proactive NPD. If we continue the way we are going and keep the pressure on we will hit the 2018 budget and achieve our biggest like for like growth in recent years.
S T N E V
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Peter Oden
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
WHAT’S ON
TREND?
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We ran a Belazu Kitchen that consisted of activities such as making fresh pasta to accompany our green, red and purple pestos; decorating cupcakes and creating healthy juices for guests to take away in a free cup. There was also a bouncy castle, bungee trampolines and a band was running entertaining karaoke sessions.
TAHINI | £6.34* *with staff discount The annual event continues to achieve record attendance and this year, on Saturday 30th June, we were joined by 82 Belazu employees and 260 visitors to Iffley. The attendees were greeted with a big BBQ and our resident innovation chef Henry made some fresh and flavourful salads.
UPCOMING
EVENTS 2
Live Life In Full Flavour
T N E RTM
A P E D NEWS PURCHASING On the road with the Buyers (and Technical)
Inbound Freight
grown by individuals on their own plots of land (they are also found in the wild) who sell them on to agents and processors. They are usually picked in the morning because the youngest, smallest buds fetch the highest prices. In addition, as day temperatures rise, the thorns on the bush stiffen making them more difficult to pick.
Following a benchmarking and tender process in 2017 we have now completed the switch of a significant proportion of our inbound freight to our new provider Benfleet. This includes all of our sea freight from Greece, Egypt, Israel and Turkey.
Some individuals sell them directly from the field to the processor while some growers are able to do an initial preservation in brine and sell later.
We have moved three of our largest ambient suppliers in Italy and our largest Spanish supplier from road freight to inter-modal freight. Inter-modal freight uses rail for part of the journey and is more environmentally friendly than road freight.
Our supplier is the only supplier in Safi, a port city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, that takes capers directly from the field, rather than brined in barrels, to give them a much better control over the quality. Annually, we buy just over fifty tons of capers split between two different sizes worth in excess of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.
We have also switched our Nocellara shipments from chilled road freight to chilled sea freight from this month.
Gemma and Marika braved scorching temperatures to visit our two existing Moroccan suppliers (olives and capers) and a potential new supplier. This was the first time we were able to witness the actual harvesting of capers.
The caperberry, of which we buy sixteen tons from Morocco, is the fruit of the caper bush which grows following the flowering of the un-picked buds.
All of these changes will save us in excess of one hundred thousand pounds per annum and additionally the switch to rail and sea freight has reduced our carbon footprint by over fifty tons of CO2.
Capers are the edible buds of the caper bush (Caperis Spinosa). The bushes are generally
Nick Henderson
Fire A fire at UK Snacks who supply our fried chickpeas has presented us with a major supply issue. The scale of the fire has completely destroyed their factory and, as a result, will be unable to supply us for the foreseeable future. Nick Watts has been working hard to identify a new supplier who can pick up the mantle and supply us with the volumes we need. I am pleased to announce we have identified a new source and will begin purchasing from them in July. This was particularly critical as our Socca Nut Mix, which represents the majority of the demand for the fried chickpeas, continues to grow in volume through a number of new significant customers. 4
Nick Henderson
PURCHASING DIRECTOR
‘Say Cheese’ This quarter has seen us switch supply for the majority of our hard vegetarian cheese, reggiano cheese and pecorino cheese to a new Italian supplier. Zanetti are a large Italian cheese manufacturer supplying customers
PURCHASING DIRECTOR
around the world. Unlike our previous supplier, who purchased the cheese wheels and only grated them themselves, Zanetti do the entire processing in their own factories. In addition to having BRC AA accreditation they are also very focused on sustainability and have undertaken numerous initiatives in the areas of water conservation, energy reduction, and waste management. We buy in excess of one hundred tonnes of cheese per year spending almost half a million pounds which makes it a very important raw material for us.
Nick Henderson
PURCHASING DIRECTOR
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10%OFF DISTRIBUTOR PRICE SALES Year to date we are 9% up on last year and our biggest growth driver has come from Proactive NPD, which is fantastic because our customers are making the most of the hard work that our innovation team have been putting in. The bulk of this Proactive NPD is going into the Casual Dining channel who have bought 1.83% more Proactive NPD than they did last year. The Supermarket channel is also lapping up our Proactive NPD with £154k of sales year to date driven by the Green Tapenade and the new Tomatoes in jars. New customers continue to come on thick and fast with the biggest win so far going to Lily who has brought on Annabel at 46 and then David with Bighams who are finally taking our Roasted Tomato Paste. Most of the value from new customers is coming from within the Foodservice FO and the Casual Dining channel. Other notable wins are Mindful Chef who are using some of our signature pastes, Café Rouge and EAT are taking a load of incremental SKUs, Bill’s have updated their menus and now include our olives and pastes and JP Morgan and PWC are now using us too.
HR/FINANCE We’re really excited to announce that we have streamlined our HR systems and now have an umbrella programme in place where all of our employee resources will feed in to make sure that we are being as efficient and thorough as possible. This includes new real-time clock in machines that were installed in July and a payroll system that we’re hoping to have live in August. We’re also planning to introduce 360 degree surveys and Manager’s Manager interviews to give every one the chance to leverage
Within the world of Supermarkets Belazu’s performance has been strong this year. Ocado are up 39%, Sainsbury’s are up 22% and Waitrose are up 8.2% putting the brand in a strong position. This has been further strengthened with the addition of Tesco (which went live on the 6th of August), the pesto listing in Ocado and hopefully the oil and vinegar listings in Waitrose in November.
It is great to see that the brand’s growth is coming from both existing customers with existing products (organic sales are up £264k) as well as new customers and new products (sales of £221k) which are driving our 26.9% growth in supermarkets and further proving that all the work that is being done with the brand is paying off.
Peter Oden
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
strengths and develop skills to improve overall efficiency within the business.
It’s nearly two years since we started production in the Nut Factory and it has seen some incredible growth and some very notable & prestigious customers including:
It’s worth remembering that it was a considerable outlay to get the nut room constructed and build the custom up from scratch. A big well done to everyone who has had a hand in building this side of the business. The nut business is currently up 53.4%, that equates to an extra 60 tonnes of nuts – so far this year - which is the same weight as 10 African Elephants.
Charlie Hodges
SALES DIRECTOR
WAREHOUSE During this quarter we’ve picked 3,283 more orders and night shift processed 554 more orders compared to the same period last year.
In addition to this, we’re starting the half year employee appraisals and the 2018 company survey is on the horizon!
Cheryl Watson
FINANCIAL CONTROLLER
We’ve reviewed the stock taking process and have now been able to reduce departmental write offs making this a much more efficient system.
Blerim Syla
WAREHOUSE MANAGER 5
MARKETING Spring and summer mean events for marketing. We have attended 6 events already this year, where have sampled around 15,000 people. The highlight was Taste of London held in Regents Park in June. Over 5 days, we held live cooking demos with 10 chefs, hosted countless customers, got through 2 pallets of alcohol and 4 pallets of stock. For all the hard work Belazu won the Best Activation award. Outside of events, we have continued to develop Belazu.com, where we have already doubled the
TECHNICAL
‘We are always looking to develop supplier relationships and ensure that they continuously meet our high standards’ The technical team has been busy carrying out technical visits to our suppliers of: • Capers • Black and Beldi olives • Cuquillo olives • Kalamata and Chalkidiki olives • Herbs and spices • Basil paste We are always looking to develop supplier relationships and ensure that they continuously meet our high standards. 6
sales comparing to last year, but we have much bigger ambitions so work continues! On social we grown our followers by 25% and the amount of people seeing our content by 500%. In PR, we have hosted sessions in the Pembury Kitchen for The Guild of Food Writers with external experts Dr Simon Poole and Judy Ridgeway, we held a lunch for Sainsbury’s and the publishing team at Sainsbury’s Magazine and a VIP lunch for journalists and influencers in Bristol. We have achieved coverage in The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and The Independent to name a few. We were on TV with Jamie Oliver, featuring recipes from his
We have seen a significant reduction on customer complaint numbers and have hosted a number of customer audits on site with the likes of Hilton hotels, Azzurri group and Benugo. As always, our customers were very happy with the working standards seen on site. However, the biggest highlight this quarter is the launch of our new paperless system called “Compliant”. Food safety related factory records are now captured on tablets distributed throughout the factory. This new system is currently being tested, so paper records are still in use until we are fully confident that all data is being captured efficiently and it is stored correctly. After a trial period, we will stop using paper records, which will significantly reduce the overall use of paper on site. The plan is to roll this system over to Health & Safety, Engineering and
Quick and Easy cookbook. In insights, we have hosted interviews with consumers and chefs to try and understand why people buy and love Belazu. This has allowed us to refine the brand positioning and innovation process and have been able to start work on advertising creative. Watch this space! On the creative front, we have held 10 photoshoots for recipes and products, designed 20 product labels and a plethora of POS.
Chris Busher
MARKETING MANAGER
Hygiene soon. There are a few technical issues we are still trying to overcome, that as well as doubling up with digital and paper records has slowed the process, so a big shout out to all tablet users who are being super patient, keeping a great attitude and have faith in this new system. The implementation of big changes like this is not easy, so a massive thanks to all of you!! Lastly, it is that time of the year again to start thinking about BRC. As we are “unannounced”, the inspector may come at any time! At Belazu, we are always “BRC ready” but, if there is anything on your “to do” list that is related to this audit, now is the time to tick it off the list!
Ainhoa Astobieta
TECHINCAL DIRECTOR
OPERATIONS The borehole has now reached the required depth of 100 metres (330ft) and the next stage can now begin which means abstracting water from the Thames chalk basin aquifer. The shaft will first be lined with specialist steel piping and the borehole will be flushed to remove any residue such as flint, shale or mud. Once it is clean, the pump will be attached and the testing of the water can commence. This is expected to take around 2 months.
TRANSPORT NEWS FLASH: Cristinel is now a fully fledged transport clerk and is helping to take the weight off Paul as we continue to get busier. We’ve also started the interview process to recruit a new driver for our 7.5 tonne as demand for the Artic steadily increases. We’re eagerly awaiting our new fleet of vans that are all Euro 6 compliant. Euro 6 is the latest EU-wide emission standard that was first established in 1970 to regulate emissions. Three new methods have been introduced to help reduce harmful exhaust emissions that are
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£ 2.75
Once we have certification we can start using the water. Meanwhile… the car park is being resurfaced and this should start on 6th August with the view to be finished within 8 weeks. The A1 warehouse roof is also being replaced to eradicate the leaks that have been bugging us for a while. This, unfortunately, means that we are down to one goods in warehouse for 6 weeks so please be aware and patient with us.
Derek Wiles
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
found in diesel and petrol engines including Exhaust Gas Recirculation (ERG), Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). SCR is the method that applies to our new vans and uses a solution called AdBlue (AKA diesel exhaust fluid) to convert nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and water, this means we are significantly reducing our impact on the environment.
Paul Brown
TRANSPORT MANAGER
PEMBURY KITCHEN Since the spring time, activity in The Pembury has become even more frenzied and that’s not just to do with all of this hot weather. There has been a continuous stream of customer lunches which has given us the chance to show off the best of what Belazu has to offer in a focused and hopefully inspirational way. We have had more than 20 presentations covering a broad spectrum of customers that represent different categories within the food industry. We welcomed high street chains such as Pret A Manger, EAT, Pizza Express, Mildreds, Friska and Pizza Pilgrims and managed to fit in a bit of blue sky thinking before we entertained airline caterers including Alpha LSG and Gate Gourmet. As well as customers, we have cooked for high profile guests from The Guild of Food Writers and The Guild of Fine Foods, students from Westminster College and a team of Belazu employees for the second internal cooking class this year. We also managed to squeeze in an away day to cook for a group of West Country Food Writers with Ross Gibbens at his Bristol restaurant, Wellbourne Clifton. It’s not all about winning, dining and showing off. We have been busy developing new products, some for specific customers and some that have been vetted by the ‘Top Table’, which entailed a rigorous in-house gate process before they were presented to our chef insight and research panel…
‘Believe it or not, we don’t just pluck ideas out of thin air!’ During these fastidious development trials to create new and improved nut mixes, pestos, pastes, oils and vinegars; and in order to perfect the texture and taste of a parmesan crisp, Jess and I have eaten our body weight in cheese and a treadmill has since been installed in the Pembury to offset all the calories we’ve consumed.
Henry Russell
RESIDENT INNOVATION CHEF
Visit belazu.com/recipes for an amazing variety of ideas to try at home
F F A T S NEWS
NEW
GOLDEN
STARTERS PETER
NYUL
HYGIENE
FLORENTINA
TANASE
TECHNICAL
SZYMON
KNAPIK
WAREHOUSE
ENIO CLAUDIO
BRAGA FREITAS
WAREHOUSE
SAMUEL
MOODY
SALES
ANDREEA
MIHALUT
PRODUCTION
MICHAL
KOCHANOWICZ
PRODUCTION
NICUSOR
SPIRIDON
HYGIENE
ELIO
GIORDANO
ENGINEERING
DANIEL
KASKO
PRODUCTION
CSABD
SZALAY
HYGIENE
NICOLE
WILLIAMS
WAREHOUSE
HERALD
JOSEPH
IT
ANASTASIA
KOLIA
MARKETING
OLIVE
Norbert Jozsa HYGIENE JUNE 2018 WINNER Excelling in new role and communication with the rest of the team has improved since Norbert took the role. Congratulations Norbert!
PERSONAL
ACHIEVEMENTS Congratulations to Rhea Bayliss for completing the London Marathon in aid of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. Rhea finished in 5 hours and raised £2,200 for the charity that funds conservation projects across Africa and Asia. The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation helps to fight wildlife crime, protect natural areas and engage local communities in finding long-term, sustainable solutions to protect their native wildlife.
PROMOTIONS & ROLE CHANGES BEN
PLACE
NATIONAL ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
CHRISTINEL
TYRON
TRANSPORT CLERK
TRAININGS
SPECIAL
BABIES
Oliver Crumpton’s baby Evelyn Isabel Walford Crumpton was born three weeks early on Friday 29 June.
FOOD HYGIENE LEVEL 2
PAYROLL TRAINING
WEDDINGS STACIA VAS QA
P W E N
NEW Retail Pesto Range As some of you may have seen, we will be launching a range of 5 ambient pestos on Ocado from the beginning of September. These include Italian Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato, Oak Smoked Paprika, Truffle & Artichoke and Rose Harissa Pesto. The range differentiates itself by using higher quality ingredients such as Parmigiano Reggiano and pine kernels and avoiding cheap fillers like potato
NEW CUTTER GUIDE with more spacing in between both labels
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NE PA W CK S
S T C U ROD
BELAZU TAHINI
flakes, bamboo starch and cashew nuts which are commonly used by the likes of Sacla, Jamie Oliver and Napolina. The launch also introduces our latest pack designs which have served to diversify our range using bold and pertinent colours on the label. This will help customers clearly identify products and avoid any confusion that may have been previously present when deciphering our range.
BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS & COLOUR ADDED
We have just launched a new pack for our very popular Tahini. Do you know what makes it better than other Tahinis? First of all, we use 100% Humera sesame seeds. Secondly, the seeds are roasted perfectly to get a nutty flavour. Thirdly, they are slowly double grinded for a creamier and glossy texture. Last but not least, every batch is tested to ensure that the quality is always up to the highest standards.
A CATEGORY TAB for easy category navigation
R S C TY &
I R A CH
Our Planet Matters CAMPAIGN Along with international, educational charity projects in Morocco, the Belazu Foundation invests funds into ventures nearer home such as Make Lunch which addresses holiday hunger, School Food Matters that provides food education close to our HQ in
Greenford and, the installation of a new teaching kitchen for the students at Iffley Academy. We have also started our own Holiday Hunger project with the local Willow Tree Primary School.
AWARDS
Global Good Award Silver – Best Internal Comms Grocer Gold Finalist - Employer of the Year Finalist - Waste Not Want Not CEA Silver – Best Comms Bronze – Best Overall Programme Business Green Awards Finalist - Employee Engagement Campaign of the Year
COMING SOON... 20th september @ 12.00H PEMBURY KITCHEN
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WHAT’S THE
CLUE ACROSS
1. POMACE OIL 3. PRICEY SEASONING 5. PRESERVED LEMONS 6. QUINOA’S LITTLE COUSIN 7. A WHOLEGRAIN MUSTARD (2WDS) 9. PRODUCT OF MODENA 13. PARMIGIANO 14. BEST-SELLING PRODUCT 19. SPECIALITY PESTO 21. NEW NUT MIX 24. NORTH AFRICAN PASTE
23. MADE OF SESAME SEEDS 26. A GREEN HERB 27. SPICY PEPPERS 28. NUT OIL
DOWN 2. SMOKED _____ JELLY 3. THE OLDEST WHEAT GRAIN 4. BRIGHT GREEN ITALIAN OLIVES 5. ONE PESTO
8. GREEK OLIVES 10. PERUVIAN OLIVE 11. _____ MOLASSES 12. TYPE OF CAPERS 15. VINEGAR VARIETY 16. FAMOUS ISRAELI PASTE 17. SPANISH ALMONDS 18. SMALL TOMATOES 20. BELAZU’S FAVOURITE COLOUR 22. VARIETY OF PEPPERS 23. AROMATIC TURKISH HERB