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When Two Leaders in Innovation Meet it’s a Match in Culinary Heaven Burns & Ferrall, the innovative heart of Kiwi hospitality, is excited to announce its new partnership with world-leading foodservice brand, Alto-Shaam. Burns & Ferrall are the exclusive New Zealand distributors of Alto-Shaam’s range of cutting-edge kitchen solutions. “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Alto-Shaam to the Burns & Ferrall family,” commented Burns & Ferrall director, Tony Broome.
With a long history of innovation, Alto-Shaam constantly strives to find better ways to design products that solve its customers’ challenges, an ethos shared by Burns & Ferrall. “The two things that pop into my head when I think of Burns & Ferrall are passion and a drive to succeed, it’s a big part of why we wanted to work with them because we could see that straight away,” noted Tracy Bennett, regional sales manager for
Alto-Shaam, ANZ. Traditionally, AltoShaam has been known for its legacy holding technology, which was first to market back in 1957 and launched Alto-Shaam into the global market. This focus on the future of technology and the evolution of the kitchen are key aspects of the brand. Constantly looking for ways to make operations easier, one of Alto-Shaam’s recently developed technologies is its Vector Multi-Cook Ovens. Vector is the only oven that allows simultaneous, high-quality preparation of a wide variety of food. The secret to Vector Multi-Cook Ovens lies in the Structured Air Technology®. This innovation offers up to four ovens in one – each chamber with independent temperature, fan speed and cook time control. This oven can cook up to four different food items simultaneously with no flavour transfer. Another key aspect of both companies is the level of support each provides its customers. From training webinars to technical consults, AltoShaam strives to make the process of incorporating their technology as easy as possible. With its new state-of-theart showroom, Burns & Ferrall is the perfect match to facilitate this level of customer support.
From humble beginnings in 1948 to an iconic commercial and domestic kitchen company, Burns & Ferrall has an established reputation for customer service excellence and product support that is second to none. This new partnership will see the benefits of Alto-Shaam’s understanding of the application of its technology, combined with the benefit of Burns & Ferrall’s understanding of the industry. “Alto-Shaam links up perfectly with our other innovative brands,” noted Broome. Both companies agree that despite the challenges provided by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an exciting time for adaptation and evolution within the industry. “Thanks to our relationship with Burns & Ferrall we can’t wait to see the application of our technology into more Kiwi hospitality businesses,” concluded Bennett.
Potato Exports Plummet Amid Dumping Claims New figures show that potato exports to some key markets plummeted in December last year, and the New Zealand trade is struggling. Data shows fry exports were down nearly 40 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. Exports to New Zealand’s largest customer, Australia, were down nearly 50 percent and sales to the Philippines were down 77 percent. Potatoes New Zealand chief executive, Chris Claridge, believes a major factor in the drop in export is due to a dispute that broke out last year over claims European producers were dumping frozen fries into the markets around the world. “We can see increased numbers of European fries into markets we normally supply, that’s because they have to go somewhere,” noted Claridge. “Europe traditionally exported about 400,000 metric tonnes of frozen fries and to put that into context, New Zealand’s total annual exports is the equivalent of two weeks of European exports. So, they have the ability to swamp markets.” The effects of COVID-19 on hospitality sectors globally have also affected the drop in exports. Claridge expresses that New Zealand has a good reputation for frozen fries and some buyers respected that, and despite the drop in some markets, Thailand shows plenty of interest in Kiwi potatoes in December, up more than 60 percent at the same time in 2019. “New Zealand frozen fries are of a world standard and generally buyers will stick with their existing suppliers and not swap out on the basis of
price,” said Claridge. The New Zealand potato industry took the matter of European dumping of frozen fries into the domestic market to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for investigation in late October. “Let me make it clear, as an industry, we absolutely support free trade, but free trade doesn’t mean no rules and we are looking to stabilise and secure our domestic market,” concluded Claridge.
Cheesy Grins for Angel Food Angel Food has won the popular vote for the second year in a row at the 2021 Dairy-Free Awards, hosted by the New Zealand vegan Society. Since 2006, Angel Food has made dairy-free cheese alternatives suitable for vegans, vegetarians, or flexitarians, made without gluten, nuts and soy. The Kiwi company took out both the NZ Popular Winner with their Angel Food Cheddar and the NZ Popular Runner Up with Angel Food Cream Cheese. It is the second annual DairyFree Awards, which aim to highlight the best available plant-based dairy alternatives. The awards cover six categories of products: ice cream, cheese, milk,
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yoghurt, chocolate, and butter. “It’s wonderful to see the increasing number of dairy-free products out there, proving the market is booming and the public’s appetite for plantbased is growing. Our awards set a high bar for companies to step up to, providing quality Kiwi products available to all,” said Claire Insley, media spokesperson for the Vegan Society, “The companies receive acknowledgement for their hard work, vegans know they can trust the winning companies and it takes the guesswork out of it for those dealing with allergies and non-vegans looking to reduce their dairy intake.” In 2014, Angel Food launched
its very own dairy-free mozzarella alternative, the first commercial vegan cheese to be made on New Zealand soil. The company’s range of plant-based and allergy-friendly cheese products are now available in hundreds of stores nationwide and in countless iconic Kiwi eateries like Hell Pizza, Lord of the Fries and Zambrero. Angel Food’s foodservice products include Cheddar and Mozzarella, in both 1kg blocks and grated, Grated Smoked Cheddar, Cream Cheese and Parmesan. For a full list of the 2021 DairyFree Award winners, visit www. vegansociety.org.nz
