21 minute read
Flying the ag for UK food and drink exports.
Flying the fl ag for UK food and drink exports
Food and drink exports across the UK are recovering from the challenges of the pandemic with manufacturers taking advantage of new trading relationships across the world, according to research by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
T he FDF’s UK Food and Drink Exports report has revealed the latest breakdown of food and drink exports from across the UK during 2021, showing that Scotland, Wales, the West Midlands and the North East of England had the strongest export growth. This re ects encouraging recovery from the supply chain problems caused by Covid, as well as the fact that businesses are adapting to the new UK-EU trading relationship, feel the FDF - an important sign that the food and drink industry can play a vital role in levelling up the country.
Key ndings from the report include Scotland accounting for the largest share of UK food and drink exports, with almost 30% of total exports (this was worth £5.7bn, up 14.6% since 2020). Wales is the only UK nation to exceed pre-Covid export levels. This was driven by strong exports of cereals, up 173% since 2020, and now worth nearly £140m to the economy. The North East saw the largest increase reaching £280m – a 20.4% increase from 2020 - while the West Midlands grew by £810m, a 12.6% rise from two years ago.
T he share of exports to non-EU markets is increasing, the FDF found, with a strong growth in London, a s companies take advantage of the opportunities to grow exports through the UK government’s new global trade deals. However, more can be done to improve the implementation of the UK-EU trade agreement, to help companies recover exports in the EU alongside growing market share in other global markets, they feel.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not factored into this report, and they are yet to understand its full impact on our sector’s exports and on the global supply chains on which our sector relies for some ingredients, such as vegetable oils, cereals and white sh, the FDF acknowledged.
T he FDF’s chief executive, Karen Betts, said: “It’s very encouraging to see exports starting to recover across many parts of the UK, with companies starting to pull out of Covid-related disruption and adapting to the UK’s new trading relationships with countries around the world. Every product we export is rooted in our culture and our communities, and it’s great to see that our food and drink is sought out by consumers all over the world.
“Our report also shows the vital role that food and drink manufacturing plays in every community across the UK’s four nations, and how central our sector is to prosperity at home as well as in driving exports overseas.”
Minister for Exports, Mike Freer, added: “It’s brilliant to see food and drink companies from every corner of the UK selling their products to the world, growing our economy and supporting jobs across the country. Our 12-point Export Strategy, Export Support Service and new network of agri-food and drink attachés are all ways we’re supporting businesses to boost their exports and take advantage of exciting new opportunities across the globe.”
Investment in Papa Johns adds up for former accountant
Papa Johns has opened in Newton Abbot, Devon, with the company’s newest store located on Queen’s Street, and being o cially opened by Mayor Councillor, Carol Bunday, and Sally Henley Newton Abbot town development manager, who also attended the launch.
The new store will be run by franchisee Dr Renato Raho, consultant, accountant and former McDonald’s franchisee who has already recruited a team of 20 local sta to help run the operation.
“After a career in the city and then building a couple of businesses including my McDonalds franchised restaurants, which I ran successfully for seven years, Papa Johns o ers relocation and a brand new, exciting challenge,” said Renato Raho.
“The investment ‘adds up’, and the premium product and delivery model presents unrivalled opportunities. Myself and my partner, Lisa Kitching, who is also highly experienced in the QSR sector, are now looking forward to developing our portfolio of Papa Johns stores in the South West region.
“With the majority of customers taking advantage of the Papa Johns delivery model, our goal is to make sure regular customers and visitors to the English Riviera can enjoy their favourite fresh pizza treat where and when they choose. However, we know it’s the people behind the pizza who really make the magic happen. Our team is the key ingredient, facilitating convenience and ensuring pizza can be added to the menu of fun experiences enjoyed by friends and families whatever the occasion. We are now actively recruiting for more new sta to help us run the additional stores we have planned over the coming months in this exciting phase of expansion.”
Amit Pancholi, business development director, Papa Johns UK said: “Renato’s nancial knowledge and business acumen combined with his energy, interest and experience in sta development in a QSR setting means he is particularly well placed to deliver the success of multiple new stores planned for the South West. His focus on ‘right people, right place’ aligns closely with our values and we will support him and his team in their planned programme of store openings over the next few years.”
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Food and drink sales in Britain’s cities back in growth as workers and visitors return
Restaurants, pubs and bars in Britain’s major city centres are achieving solid growth in sales from pre-COVID levels, according to new research from CGA and Wireless Social.
The joint Top Cities report combines CGA’s sales data with device log-in data from Wireless Social, a connectivity solutions provider for hospitality and leisure businesses, to provide a ‘vibrancy’ ranking of Britain’s 10 most populous cities over the four weeks to 7 May 2022.
It shows that nine of the 10 cities recorded higher sales over the four-week period than in the same period in 2019. Bristol tops the list of most vibrant cities, and sales growth was also above 8% in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.
In the longer run, Manchester and Liverpool have achieved the highest sales growth since the start of the Top Cities research in late 2021. These two cities have picked up where they left off before Covid, when CGA research showed hospitality was achieving some of its strongest sales growth and new openings there.
ABOUT WIRELESS SOCIAL: BRITAIN’S 10 BIGGEST CITIES, RANKED BY VIBRANCY
Rankings for the four weeks to 7 May 2022
(numbers in brackets indicate position for the previous four weeks to 9 April 2022)
1. Bristol (5) 2. Glasgow (1) 3. Birmingham (2) 4. Manchester (3) 5. Leicester (4) 6. Liverpool (6) 7. Leeds (7) 8. Edinburgh (9) 9. Sheffi eld (10) 10. London (8)
However, log-in volumes in all 10 cities remain well below 2019 - an indication that sales growth is being driven by higher spend and increased prices rather than by more frequency, suggest the researchers. The report also shows that London’s sales remain short of 2019 levels, though with more commuters and tourists returning, the capital is getting closer to growth. Optimism about city-centre restaurants, pubs and bars is tempered by high infl ation, with costs rising sharply in food, energy, labour and other key areas; steep price rises are also starting to squeeze some consumers’ spending, they report.
CGA client director Chris Jeff rey said: “After more than two years of turmoil, Britain’s biggest cities are getting back to their pre-Covid vibrancy. We continue to see a release of pent-up demand, especially for late-night dining and drinking, and the steady return of workers to offi ces has been a welcome boost. However, footfall remains some way off what might be expected at this time of year, and Covid issues have been swiftly followed by intense cost pressures on businesses and consumers alike. While the long-term outlook for city-centre hospitality is good, signifi cant challenges lie ahead.” The series of Top Cities: Vibrancy Ranking reports is based on a powerful combination of sales data from CGA’s Managed Volume Pool of more than 8,000 pubs, bars and restaurants, and Wireless Social’s guest data gathered from more than one million log-ins.
Papa Luigi mark Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with celebratory ‘show pizza’
Peterborough-based, Papa Luigi, who claim to be the UK`s fi rst ever pizza delivery company, and who have shared the last 40 years of the Queen’s reign since they started out themselves, created another pizza featuring Elizabeth II to mark the Jubilee celebrations which took place across the country.
Peterborough has so many Italians living there, it is now nicknamed Pizzaborough, report Papa Luigi, who have regularly organised children’s pizza parties and display their culinary skills via ‘show pizzas’ - usually portraying the great and fun things that are happening around the globe. So when it was the World Cup, it was a pizza of Harry Kane with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations prompting them to make a pizza featuring the Queen, having done similar some 20 years ago for the Golden Jubilee.
“There is a true Italian feel to our business, and my business partners Antonio and Sebastiano Scibelli are staunch royalists and insisted we created another pizza of Her Majesty. She does look a wee bit older with this pizza, but as wonderful as ever,” commented chief designer and pizza maker, Stef Malajny.
“The show pizzas are not easy to create, and I wanted to get the Queen’s favourite pearls correct, so I decided on round sliced mushroom stalks, and they came out perfectly, we were all very pleased with the results.”
Papa Luigi will be celebrating 40 years in business soon; a business which nearly didn’t get off the ground when the pizza delivery van was stolen three days before the launch of the new venture. However, the young entrepreneurs stayed positive, putting out an appeal for the van in the local newspaper with the chap who found the van also off ered a job and still fi rm friends with the owners.
FSA provides consumer guidance as more fully refined oils may be used as ingredient substitutions
The Food Standards Agency has advised consumers that some food products may now contain other refined or fully refined food grade vegetable oils, despite being labelled as containing sunflower oil.
Their update provided advice to consumers that fully refined palm oil, fully refined coconut oil and fully refined soybean oil are being used in some products without changes to the label being made (they had previously issued advice to consumers around the use of refined rapeseed oil due to the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on product availability).
Emily Miles, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency said: “It is an absolute priority for us that food is safe, and what it says it is. If industry decisions are made around the substitutions of these oils, we expect accurate labels to be prepared and printed as soon as possible so that consumers can be confident in the food they buy. Any inaccuracies in labelling must only be temporary. We are working closely with industry to raise awareness among consumers of any potential changes to ingredients.
“We have carried out a rapid risk assessment on three fully refined oils that the food industry is proposing to use in a variety of products to replace sunflower oil, supplies of which are being restricted by the war in Ukraine. The risk assessment focuses on people with a food allergy, and the immediate food risk from fully refined palm oil and fully refined coconut oil is very low and for fully refined soybean oil it is negligible, which means that allergic reactions to these fully refined vegetable oils are very rare and - if they do occur - are mild.
“We encourage industry to consider using the healthier and more sustainable oils from this list if substituting their ingredients. Consumers should contact the manufacturer or brand for more information if they are unsure of the content of any product or have concerns about substitution.”
Guidance has been issued to local authorities on the factors they may wish to take into consideration to assist in making proportionate enforcement decisions on a case-bycase basis and bearing in mind the wider consumer interests. The rapid allergen risk assessment for these oils has been published as part of the FSA’s commitment to making public the science and evidence underpinning their advice and guidance.
Where substitute oils are used, the FSA expects businesses to inform consumers about any related product change, whether that product is purchased in store or online, using, for example, point of sale notices and information on their websites. When considering alternative oils which can be used as a replacement for sunflower oil in these extraordinary circumstances, the FSA has applied a number of tests to determine if a proportionate enforcement approach should be taken to labelling inaccuracies arising from temporary substitution of ingredients.
These provisional tests have been developed to support decision making going forward around interim measures to support the food supply chain and these tests will help ensure food is safe, consumer interests are protected and the food supply chain is not disrupted, say the FSA. The FSA Board is aware of the situation and says that it will be keeping it under review, including industry’s progress back to compliance, they add.
At the time of going to press, in its latest update, the FSA stated: “The FSA would like to update you following previous communications concerning the reformulation of products due to supply chain issues linked to the current conflict in Ukraine. Please note that previous guidance sent out to Local Authorities (LAs) still applies and the request for LAs to adopt a pragmatic approach in relation to supply chain matters linked to Ukraine is still in place.
“Following industry queries seeking further clarification, the FSA has drafted industry guidance concerning the provisions within the existing legal framework for labelling where there is grouping of vegetables oils. This guidance provides further clarification on the application of labelling provisions in the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation.
“The guidance describes the relevant labelling rules, including on grouping refined vegetable oils on the ingredients list when there is expected to be a variation in the use of one or more oils. It also provides guiding principles for how to provide compliant consumer information when the use of oils is expected to vary.
“This guidance is the subject of LA enforcement letters via the Smarter Communications system for England, Wales and Northern Ireland recently sent under OFFICIAL security marking so that businesses signed up to the Smarter Communications platform can access.”
Should you have any queries relating to this, the FSA is advising emailing them to receiptandmanagement@food.gov.uk. (the first point for any queries should be your responsible LA).
New support for Highland food and drink firms
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has announced that it has awarded a £371,895 contract to SAC Consulting to provide a mix of virtual and face-to-face support activities over the next three years, focused on innovation and the development of new products and services.
They will include business and stakeholder engagement, networking and collaboration, and demonstration and learning opportunities.
There will be specific support for young entrepreneurs in the sector, with links to HIE’s IMPACT30 programme, which aims to help foster the next generation of business leaders.
The new support services contract is funded by the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal and forms part of HIE’s wider support for the food and drink sector through the Northern Innovation Hub (NIH), a £14.2m initiative led by HIE as part of the Deal.
NIH is funded with £11m from UK government, £1.2m ERDF and £2m from HIE and focuses on developing innovation in small and medium sized enterprises in the Highland Council area.
Claire Munro, HIE’s senior project manager for the Northern Innovation Hub, said: “The food and drink industry is one of the Highlands’ most important sectors and a key rural employer with significant growth potential. That’s why it is one the four key sectors prioritised in the Northern Innovation Hub.
“This new programme of support will encourage and support Highland-based food and drink companies to continue their recovery and growth and ultimately create more quality jobs. Importantly, it will support young entrepreneurs in the sector too. We are very pleased to be working with SAC Consulting and look forward to seeing our region’s businesses benefit as a result.”
Alistair Trail, principal food and enterprise consultant for SAC Consulting, said: “The Highlands region has a great reputation for producing fantastic food and by delivering this exciting and innovative project we will endeavour to help the businesses in the region grow and encourage new entrepreneurs into the sector.”
UK Government Minister for Scotland Iain Stewart added: “Scotland’s food and drink is one of its major export success stories, and the industry is of particular importance to rural communities.The new support services being delivered at the Northern Innovation Hub will help the industry to grow, which will bring more jobs and investment to the Highlands. The UK government is providing £11m for the Hub as part of £2bn of support for regional projects to level up communities across Scotland.”
Elliot Wakefield has been named the winner of Riso Gallo’s UK & Ireland Young Risotto Chef of the Year 2022, securing the title with his Pumpkin Risotto.
Chairman of the judges, Paul Gayler, said: “It was another hotly contested final this year, one of the closest run finals for years. However, the judges were in total agreement that Elliot’s pumpkin risotto dish was full of flavour, complexity and character, while retaining the classic disciplines found in a great risotto.” The 20 year old chef, from Weybridge, studied his craft at the University of West London, and currently works at Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill, London. “I chose to cook this dish because when I was 12 years old my parents took us on holiday to Milan. I tried this dish and fell in love with it. It’s a dish that is close to my heart and I am thrilled that it won me the title!” said Elliot Wakefield, who has won an allexpenses paid three day work experience with renowned judging chef Fabio Pisani and his team at the 2 Michelin starred Il Luogo Aimo e Nadia in Milan, Italy. 18 year-old Samantha Watkins came second with her Wild Mushroom & Roasted Chestnut Risotto, winning a staige at the Italian Embassy in London. The final judging panel included Paul Gayler MBE (consultant chef), Danilo Cortellini (consultant chef at the Italian Embassy), Adriano Cavagnini (executive chef at the Bvlgari Hotel), Fabio Pisani from Il Luogo Aimo e Nadia in Milan, Davide Degiovanni (head chef at 5 Hertford Street), Fransceco Dibenedetto (head chef at Bibendum in London), Mark Reynolds (executive chef at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium) and food journalist, Barney Desmazery.
Jason Morrison, MD Riso Gallo UK commented: “We have seen another great final for our UK & Ireland Young Risotto Chef of the Year competition. We have a wonderful calibre of judging chefs, and to see the passion in our young finalists is very rewarding. For over 165 years, Riso Gallo has supplied many of the top chefs across the world with Italian rice of the highest quality. We understand their passion and commitment to their craft, and the years of training they undertake. We launched this competition to help foster and reward the next generation, who can inject personality, passion and creativity into their own vibrant, exciting risotto dish. Our UK & Ireland Young Risotto Chef of the Year has gone from strength to strength each year.”
The Riso Gallo UK & Ireland Young Risotto Chef of the Year 2022 is now in its fifth year and is aimed at budding chefs aged 17 -23 years, whether in education or out in industry. The Grand Final was held in London at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on 4 April.
Riso Gallo, which claims to be the first international brand in the sector to have produced rice from sustainable agriculture, is supplying the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with its range of sustainable rices for use in their catering facilities. The club was named the Premier League’s greenest club following a study carried out by the UN-backed Sport Positive Summit, with a range of sustainable measures implemented across their operations.
HELP US TO HELP YOU
The Pizza Pasta & Italian Food Association aims to ensure the best market conditions for our industry. From lobbying government to its organisation of the prestigious Pizza Pasta & Italian Food Awards, we aim to provide the best environment for you to trade in plus a wide range of bene ts.
Facing the sta ng challenge – Our business needs good people. We are lobbying to ensure Brexit does not lead to the door shutting on the people we need to keep going.
Reducing Energy and Telecoms costs – Our specialist advisor will shop around to get you the very best deals – and it’s free!
Insurance with Free Membership – Our specialist insurers o er really keen prices for shop and business insurance – and independent retailers can get free membership if they use them.
KPMG Accounting o er – Members can take advantage of a three months free accounting o er from leading accountants KPMG.
Training – Our discounted on-line hygiene training is focused and saves you money and time.
Assured Guidance – Members following our Assured Advice are protected from enforcement challenges.
Free Advice – From legal to technical advice, our members have free access to experts.
Buying ingredients or equipment from abroad? Our agreement with Cornhill o ers exceptionally keen exchange rates.
Business rates and nancial help – We have teamed up with a specialist business nance consultancy who provide members advice on everything from business rates to raising nance.
Cutting Fuel bills – Members can enjoy savings of up to 5p per litre on diesel & petrol, and up to 10p per litre at motorway pumps, with a free no-obligation fuel card.
London hotel discounts – Save money when staying in London using the unique Association booking code with Grange Hotels.
Call or email for your local distributor: T: +44 (0) 1453 828 890 E: enquiries@dairypartners.co.uk
