NEWS

NEWS PM urged to act on ‘crippling’ staffing crisis in post-Brexit food & drink industry

By Greg PItcher

Key bodies from across the food supply chain have written to Boris Johnson warning that labour shortages are “crippling” vital areas of the sector.

A letter signed by 40 trade associations urged the prime minister to act on the staffing crisis by relaxing tough post-Brexit immigration rules for workers looking to return to the UK as COVID-19 restrictions are finally eased this summer.

A detailed study by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence earlier this year estimated that 1.3 million people left the country between summer 2019 and summer 2020 – a period that included the start of coronavirus restrictions and the UK’s exit from the EU.

The letter, signed by the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), the Craft Bakers Association and the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers among others, said those who remained “seem unwilling” to fill vacancies in the sector.

“We ask that all those who have worked in the UK over the last three years are given the freedom to return to work here with less restrictive immigration regulations on a short-term basis,” it added.

British Sandwich and Food to Go Association director Jim Winship, who organised the letter, told FFD: “It’s a huge issue across the industry. Many of our members can’t get staff; restaurants with full order books have had to close.

“If this isn’t resolved, we will see businesses fail. If you can’t get staff, you can’t produce food and you get inflation and other issues.”

BIRA chief executive Andrew Goodacre said the government “needs to recognise the problem and put in place some temporary measures”.

He added that as well as relaxing immigration rules for returning workers who left due to the pandemic, ministers should change the apprenticeship programme “so more people can be employed in the food retail and hospitality sectors”.

Kirsty Barden, business development manager at food sector trainee scheme Management Development Services, said companies throughout the food supply chain were struggling to fill both temporary and permanent roles.

Many EU-born workers had returned home during the lockdowns and realised they could have a better standard of life outside the UK, she added.

“Some have found similar work back home on the same pay as they had here. Factories and food processing plants in Eastern Europe are often now the same standard, with similar working conditions and similar pay.”

Food & drink businesses are struggling to recruit staff

Star ‘sorry’ over farm shop furore

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has issued an apology after hundreds of fans of his new Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm flocked to his Diddly Squat Farm Shop last month, forcing the police to intervene.

The crowds – which grew after news spread that the star was visiting – led to major traffic jams in the area surrounding the farm shop, in the village of Chadlington, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

In a tweet the following day, the 61-year-old said: “People of Chadlington.

“I’m truly sorry about the traffic around our farm shop last weekend.

“We are doing everything we can to improve the situation.”

First Taste of the West 2021 results announced

The first phase of Gold, Silver and Commended prizes has been announced in the Taste of the West 2021 product awards.

The judges for the regional food & drink awards scheme – working independently due to COVID restrictions – have awarded 351 Gold, 138 Silver and 59 Commended awards so far in this year’s programme, with around 400 products yet to be judged.

Among the many standout producers with multiple awards already under their belts is Old School House Chutneys & Preserves from Yeovil in Somerset. It won five Golds awards, including two for its marmalade.

The vegan class – now in its second year – has seen several Gold winners, including Tempeh Meades from Bristol, which won Gold with its Tempeh and The Organic Plantmilk Company T/A ReRooted with its range of plant-based milks made in Totnes, Devon.

Products entered in the second phase of judging were sampled and tasted in June, and a further list of results is due to be announced later this month.

Following publication, the highest-scoring Gold award-winning products will be judged again to determine the top three products in each class.

These top three products are then judged a third time to establish the overall champion product in every category, and the 27 champion products then go on to battle it out for the coveted Supreme Champion Product of 2021.

tasteofthewest.co.uk

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT... SUMMER LABOUR SHORTAGES

EMMA MACDONALD

DIRECTOR,

THE BAY TREE, DEVON

“We have a problem with our hauliers who cannot find the drivers to deliver stock, so we are not getting the service we should be, and some deliveries are taking twice as long to get to customers and us. This is due to drivers being laid off last year, I assume, and now they have either got another job or gone back to Europe.”

DAVID RIPPINGTON

MANAGER,

THYME & TIDES, HAMPSHIRE

“We have struggled to get staff for our kitchen and the front and back of house. The students have not come and a lot of people have returned to the EU because of the pandemic and Brexit. People are uneasy about starting a new job. They don’t know if they would get furlough rights or sick pay.”

KIRSTY BARDEN

MANAGEMENT

DEVELOPMENT

SERVICES

“We’ve had a massive increase in numbers applying to do graduate traineeships, and in the volume of employers requesting them. Businesses that used to take on one person over a summer are now taking on two or three. We would normally have an intake of 15 trainees every six months, and that will be increased to 26 this October.”

Brexit-related admin and cost increases causing Continental organic export issues

By Greg PItcher

British organic food exporters are close to abandoning EU markets after being hit with a wave of administrative burdens, cost hikes and logistical problems since Brexit.

Firms supplying organic products to the continent have spoken out about the difficulties they have faced since the UK fully left the EU at the start of the year.

Six months since the Brexit transition period ended, Soil Association trade relations manager Lee Holdstock said businesses had “run out of patience”.

He added that freight companies and large chain retailers were becoming less inclined to accept organic produce because of the administrative burden and the risk of costly hold-ups or rejections at ports.

“There are [organic food] businesses suggesting that if they get many more problems they will stop exporting to the EU,” he said. “Individual businesses have incurred extraordinary costs, and others are worried about incurring such costs. Some businesses will explore other areas; there will be a consolidation of exporting effort.”

Alex Smith, managing director at organic producer Alara Wholefoods, said the export situation since Brexit had been a “nightmare”.

“It has increased costs and lost us customers,” he said. “We had an organic export going to a customer in France, we didn’t quite get the paperwork right on one ingredient and the whole order was refused by French customs and sent back to the UK. It cost us an extra £3,000 in the end, about 25 per cent of our profit on the shipment.”

Alara has lost regular business in Italy and Portugal this year.

“Also our customers in Finland and Greece are buying a lot less. If they’re not buying large quantities of a product, it is not worth the hassle.”

Smith said Alara had been forced to shut its UK factory for one day a week after seeing its export revenue halve this year.

“The enormous buoyant organics market in Europe is being extraordinarily curtailed,” he said. “It is hard work to find new markets – we were building our European sales for 25 years and that has been ripped away.”

David Harrison, owner of London-based Peregrine Trading, said the distribution company had found it “impossible” to supply its Seggiano and Lunaio brands into the EU from the UK, and blamed problems with the way UK and EU certification systems interact.

He added: “There is so much understandable illwill towards the UK from our former EU partners that little or no progress is being made.”

British organic food exporters are close to abandoning EU markets

IN BRIEF

The newly emerging Walter Smith Fine Foods‘quick commerce’ has announced thechannel – which delivers closure of three storesfood and groceries to in the Midlands. Theconsumers in less than butcher chain revealedone hour – is currently over Christmas that itsworth £1.4bn according Denby Village, Westto a new report from IGD, Bromwich and Coventrythe insight and analysis shops would stop trading,providers for the food leaving it with 11 outlets –and consumer goods many of which are withinindustry. garden centres. Tracklements has hired Ben Hallam for the role of commercial manager, which includes identifying new market opportunities. Hallam joins the Wiltshire-based condiment specialist after 11 years at dairy firm Yeo Valley. Health food retailer Planet Organic has moved into the hot food delivery market and teamed up with high-end service Supper, which will courier a selection of to-go items and sushi from two Central London stores.

Sainsbury’s at Shires Retail Park in Leamington Spa is now offering the first-ever Carluccio’s counter. The concession from the popular Italian restaurant will offer lines from pasta to chocolate truffles and coffee and give consumers the chance to recreate its meals at home.

Amazon is opening its fifth convenience store in London, where it offers customers ‘justwalk-out’ shopping. The latest Amazon Fresh is on Chalk Farm Road, Camden and is open seven days a week.

Hopes for solution to UK–EU organic teething problems

Under the Brexit trade agreement, food certified as organic in Britain can be sold as such in the EU until the end of 2023.

This initially sparked relief from the sector, but it didn’t take long for cracks to appear. “We realised to our horror that, in essence, if a product is not grown or processed in a manner that substantially alters it within the UK then it is not within the scope of the agreement,” Soil Association trade relations manager Lee Holdstock told FFD. Several exceptions or workarounds exist, Holdstock said, but many UK food exporters have been caught out by technical issues within the EU’s much-maligned Trade Control and Expert System New Technology (Traces NT) system. They say certain seemingly valid certification codes can not be selected from a menu.

There has also been inconsistency from EU customs officials about the validity of using the codes that do exist in the system to recertify goods that were imported to the UK before shipping on – and also about what constitutes “substantial alteration”.

“We are arguing to Defra that blending teas is a substantial change so that should come within the trade agreement,” said Holdstock. “We are now discussing ripening – if you ripen a banana is that a substantial change?”

He hopes a way forward can be agreed. “A dialogue group between both sides starts in July and it is hoped they will start solving practical issues.” DOWN ON THE FARM The latest from farm shops across the country

The Duke pub, in Radstock Bristol, has transformed its former skittle alley and restaurant into a farm shop, pictured right.

Holcombe Farm Shop

& Kitchen stocks local produce, has a butcher’s counter supporting local farmers, local gifts and local beers and ciders. The outside grounds now include a large decked seating area with a children’s play area. It opened its doors in May but is still on the lookout for a shop manager.

holcombefarmshop. co.uk/the-duke

Herringston Estate’s cattle farming owners always wanted a farm shop, so were delighted by a chance meeting with Tom Van Zyl, who during lockdown, delivered veg boxes to those in need and wanted to expand into a farm shop, and to start growing produce.

Many months of hard labour and restoring and renovating later, Water Meadow Farm Shop was born, and it opened its doors on 5th June.

facebook.com/ watermeadowfarmshop

The Duchess of Rutland’s, long-held ambition to open a farm shop, has been realised.

Belvoir Castle has just launched its first estate farm shop and high-end brasserie at the Engine Yard to showcase local produce from the Lincolnshire estate.

It will have an ethical and sustainable focus, built on a love of excellent food and drink.

The farm shop will source the highest quality, fresh and organic fruits, vegetables and groceries as well as freshly baked artisan bread.

engineyardbelvoir.com

In association with

Fabulous Farm Shops

GUIDE TO GOOD WINE

CAHORS

Fans of Dante’s Inferno know there’s a special place in Hell reserved for the Cahors commune, makers of a tart and tannic red. Fans of Disco Inferno know there’s a special place in Hull reserved for ‘70s tribute acts, at the Retro Rave Emporium. CHIANTI

Hannibal Lecter once enjoyed a nice Chianti, which is traditionally wrapped in a straw basket known as a ‘fiasco’, with some fava beans and a Census Taker’s liver. You might say this was a bit of a fiasco for the Census Taker too. RIOJA

Fragrant and silky smooth with a pronounced oak influence. The Rioja region makes so much, a yearly mock battle douses combatants in over 70,000 litres of vino. No victor is declared, but for a winning move, try combining Rioja with Mondovino Moroccan Spice Crackers.

CHÂTEAUNEUFDU-PAPE

In 1954, the mayor of this region outlawed all extraterrestrials after a spate of ‘flying cigar’ UFO sightings. He might have benefited from visiting the sitcom Psychiatrist, Dr. Frasier Crane, whose favourite restaurant, ‘ Le Cigare Volant’, was named after this event. MEURSAULT

Some Meursaults take up to seven years to perfect. Somersaults can take just as long to master, but shouldn’t be attempted while drinking. Meursaults are rich and powerful, with notes of stone fruit. Oak barrel-ageing adds hints of vanilla.

ALBARIŇO

Fresh and fruity, even though Albariño vines can live to be more than 300 years old. Could drinking this wine reveal the secret to the elixir of youth? An enjoyable experiment, even more so when tried with Mondovino Greek Olive Crackers. VENETO ROSÉ

Cryptocurrency emerged 10 years ago, and the popularity of ‘Dogecoin’ has grown steadily. When the Venetian Republic ruled over Veneto, their elected leader, the ‘Doge’, would spend his own Doge coins on regional rosés with floral notes and crisp acidity.

Indulge in a world of Mediterranean flavours perfectly suited to the world of wine. Greek Olive, Italian Tomato and Moroccan Spice Crackers.

SANCERRE

Flinty and citrusy with a zippy acidity. The Sancerre region created and perfected this style, though New Zealand makes similar Sauvignon Blanc of an admirable quality. The French consider this a fitting tribute, as imitation is the Sancerrest form of flattery.

PROVENCE ROSÉ

Novelist Émile Zola, who grew up in Provence, famously wrote ‘J’Accuse!’, a polemic against his own government. The rosés of Provence possess crisp minerality and ripe summer fruits. Can they be accused of complementing Mondovino Italian Tomato Crackers? Yes, guilty!