News

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, 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

Moa Group Sells Brewing Company

Moving its focus to its hospitality businesses, where it sees greater profit potential, Moa Group has announced it is selling Moa Brewing Company for $1.9 million. The brewing company will be sold at the end of February to Mallbeca, a company linked to chief executive Stephen Smith and his family interests, the group said in a statement.

The unprofitable Moa Brewing Company last year reported an operating loss of $1.4m on revenue of $14.2m. Chairman Geoff Ross said the board and management had been mulling the future of the brewer for the past six months and decided the best result outcome for shareholders was to allocate capital and management attention to the areas of the business with the greatest growth and earnings potential.

“This has been a difficult decision for the board; however, we know that this is the best outcome for all shareholders,” commented Ross.

Craft brewing was a tough industry because many do it for love rather than money, making it harder for rivals to compete and turn a profit, noted Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Moa group’s hospitality businesses, which include bars and restaurants under the brand of Savor Group, had performed above expectations since being bought in April 2019, and the subsequent purchase of Non Solo Pizza and development of new venues have shifted the group’s focus to hospitality.

As a result of the sale, the group will change its name to Savor from March, and Savor Group founder Lucien Law will take over as managing director. Ross will relinquish his executive role and remain as chairman.

ON THE MENU FOR 2021: Meat Fresh from the 3D Printer

KFC has partnered with a Russian bioprinting company to bring 3D printed chicken nuggets to the menu.

Coined as the ‘meat of the future’, the lab-created chicken meat is KFC’s response to the growing demand for meat alternatives and the increasing need to develop more environmentally friendly methods of food production. It is also KFC’s next step in creating a ‘restaurant of the future’. 3D Bioprinting Solutions, the fast-food giant’s Russian partner. Is developing additive bioprinting technology using chicken cells and plant material to recreate the taste and texture of chicken meat, with almost no animal involved in the process. The lab-produced meat aims to achieve the signature KFC taste by using necessary ingredients such as breading and spices. “3D bioprinting technologies, initially widely recognised in medicine, are nowadays gaining popularity in producing foods such as meat,” said Yusek Khesuani, co-founder of 3D Bioprinting Solutions.

“In the future, the rapid development of such technologies will allow us to make 3D-printed meat products more accessible and we are hoping that the technology created as a result of our cooperation with KFC will help accelerate the launch of cellbased meat products on the market.”

The advantages of utilising the bioprinting method include the absence of various additives used traditionally in farming and animal husbandry and the ethics of a production process that claims to not cause any harm to animals.

The revelation of KFC working to create chicken of the future has come after the recent announcement from an Israeli start-up that it has created the first-ever 3D printed plant-based steak. Redefine Meat Ltd, is targeting steak houses and other restaurants in Israel, Europe and Asia with its 3D-printed facsimiles of beef cuts, from fillet to rump and brisket. The start-up has just raised US$29 million in funding to build a large-scale pilot factory and begin sales later this year.

“We want to change the belief that delicious meat can only come from animals,” expressed Chief Executive Officer, Eshchar Ben-Shitrit.

“We have all the building blocks in place to make this a reality.”

Our famous Gourmet Beef Patties have been a hit around the globe for over 20 years - now it’s time for the next generation - the brand new Homestyle Beef Burger Patty.

• Succulent New Zealand beef • Rounder for better bun fit • Thinner for faster cook time • Rustic handmade look • Part-cooked and individually frozen • 22 patties per sleeve, 3 sleeves per carton.

To order now contact your distributor or Angel Bay rep, or go to: www.angelbay.co.nz.