Sandwich & Food to Go News - Issue 182

Sandwich food to go news INTERNATIONAL

www.sandwich.org.uk

ISSUE 182 JULY 2019

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04/06/2019 12:14

CONTENTS EDITOR SIMON AMBROSE t: 01291 636343 e: simon-ambrose@btconnect.com NEWS Page 05. An investigation has been launched by Public Health England, The Food Standards Agency and other local authorities following the deaths of three people in a listeria outbreak linked to sandwiches served in two hospitals.

Page 06. British food manufacturer Samworth Brothers has launched a new food-to-go business and delivery service brand, with a one-stop solution bringing together a number of market leading products.

Page 10. The Co-op has struck a meal deal with Superdrug which will see it supply the health and beauty chain with an extensive food-to-go range including sandwiches, salads and fruit.

PROFILE Page 20. Outstanding long-established Bristol sandwich bar Sandwich Sandwich won Gold in the Independent Sandwich Retailer category in this year’s Sammies Awards.

ADVERTISING PAUL STEER t: 01291 636342 e: paul@jandmgroup.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS t: 01291 636335 membership@sandwich.org.uk

Page 22. Former social worker Lorraine Duthie took the bold decision to give up her career and open a healthy takeaway in Peterhead instead after her husband had a serious heart attack.

The result was Lettuce Eat Healthy, which has gone from strength to strength since it opened, and now also includes a café and a successful catering business.

NEWS FOCUS Page 15. Pret A Manger has reached an agreement to buy rival high street chain EAT’s 90 shops, providing an exit for private equity owner Horizon Capital.

©Published by J&M Group.

Page 15. The decision by the Food Standards Agency to back full labelling for foods that are prepacked for direct sale has been described as ‘complete madness’

by Jim Winship, Director of the British Sandwich & Food To Go Association.

PLUS Full coverage of The Sammies and Sandwich Designer of the Year.

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www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 3

12:14

HELP US TO

HELP YOU

The British Sandwich and Food To Go Association aims to ensure the best market conditions for our industry.

From lobbying Government to organising British Sandwich Week, we aim to provide the best environment for you to trade in, plus a wide range of benefits.

This all comes with membership: Facing the Brexit staffing 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 offer really keen prices for shop and business insurance – and independent retailers can get free membership if they use them.

KPMG Accounting offer – Members can take advantage of a three months free accounting offer 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 offers exceptionally keen exchange rates.

Business rates and financial help – We have teamed up with a specialist business finance consultancy who provide members with advice on everything from business rates to raising finance.

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.

HELP US TO

HELP YOU BY JOINING TODAY

Plus you get free password access to

our online magazine and guidance

Visit www.sandwich.org.uk

Or Call Sandra on

01291 636348

NEWS

Investigation launched following listeria deaths linked to sandwiches An investigation has been launched

by Public Health England, The Food Standards Agency and other local authorities following the deaths of three people in a listeria outbreak linked to sandwiches served in two hospitals.

The supplier of the sandwiches, The Good Food Chain, (not a British Sandwich & Food To Go Association member) identified cross contamination and had shut down its plant at the time of going to press. It serves 43 out of the 153 hospital trusts in England.

The business had been supplied with meat produced by Salford-based North Country Cooked Meats, which subsequently produced a positive test result for the outbreak strain of listeria.

Two of the victims who died were at Manchester Royal Infirmary and another was being treated at Aintree Hospital in Liverpool. Six people became seriously ill, with the first case diagnosed on April 25 and the most recent one on May 15. There are no cases in Scotland or in Wales.

It has yet to be explained why Public Health England (PHE) and the NHS had taken so long to warn the public after they confirmed the deaths were linked in May. A spokesperson for The Good Food Chain said: “Following investigations

by Public Health England and the Food Standards Agency, The Good Food Chain has confirmed that its production facility in Stone, Staffordshire was cross contaminated by an ingredient from one of its approved meat suppliers.

“Working with its Environmental Health Officer, The Good Food Chain has taken the difficult decision to voluntarily close its production facility to enable it to eradicate the issue and ensure it can continue to supply a safe product to customers and consumers.

The business continues to work closely with Stafford Borough Council Environmental Health Officers to bring the incident to a swift and satisfactory solution.

“The business has operated in the food industry for almost a quarter of a

Stock photo

century and has an excellent reputation for food safety and quality. Its Stone facility is regularly audited and recently renewed its BRC Grade A accreditation and a five-star rating from the local Environmental Health Officer as well as holding STS accreditation. On an ongoing basis, The Good Food Chain regularly laboratory tests its supplies, finished products and environment in line with industry guidelines and best practice.”

In 2016, a report commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that at least nine listeria outbreaks had occurred in UK hospitals since 2003 – almost all caused by sandwiches.

The authors identified that sandwiches were commonly stored in fridges or canteen display units which weren’t cold enough, or on trolleys in warm wards prior to being served.

The British Sandwich & Food To Go Association has issued guidance in the past that clinicians should make sure that patients in vulnerable groups with lowered immune systems should not be served chilled foods containing salads.

Dr Nick Phin, Deputy Director at the National Infection Service at PHE, said: “Our thoughts are with the

families of those patients who have died.

“We, along with the FSA, colleagues in local authorities and the NHS have worked quickly to determine the likely cause of this outbreak and taken action to reduce the risk to the public’s health.

“To date, there have been no associated cases identified outside healthcare organisations, and any risk to the public is low.”

Dr Colin Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA said: “Our sympathies are with the families of those patients who have tragically passed away.

“We have taken action along with local authorities to minimise the risk based on the evidence so far. The FSA will continue to investigate how the outbreak occurred and if further steps are required to protect vulnerable groups.”

Listeria infection in healthy people is usually either unnoticed or may cause very mild illness.

However, it can have more serious consequences for some people, particularly those with pre-existing health conditions and pregnant women.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 5

NEWS

Samworth launches new food-to-go business BRITISH food manufacturer Samworth Brothers has launched a new food-to-go business and delivery service brand, with a one-stop solution bringing together a number of market leading products.

Fresh Food For Now Company marks the evolution of the existing Ginsters van operation into a fresh new business, offering vendors a complete food-to-go solution with an extended range of brands and products to cater for the on-the-go consumer.

The new brand builds on the previous Ginsters van sales operation, with additional Samworth Brothers brands such as Honest Crust, Ginsters, Soreen, West Cornwall Pasty Co. and Pro2Go from SCI-MX, plus partner brands such as Dairylea, Fridge Raiders, Cheese Strings and Del Monte.

GInsters vans are being rebranded with the new Fresh

Food For Now Company logo.

Operating across 16 nationwide sales offices, the company will complete 20,000 deliveries a week, supplying forecourts, motorway service stations, student union shops and convenience stores countrywide.

The UK food-to-go sector is a growing market, predicted to be worth £22.8bn by 2023, and with consumer needs constantly evolving, the transition to a business which encompasses a larger variety of brands comes at a timely period, it says.

Fresh Food For Now Company will deliver to retailers across the country and provide them with extensive category management expertise and flexible ordering systems.

To further support retailers, Fresh Food For Now Company will also be launching a new website,

6 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Samworth Brothers has launched new brand Fresh Food For Now Company, delivering to retailers across the country and providing retailers with extensive category management expertise and flexible ordering systems

offering advice and support for retailers and providing market and customer insight.

Customers will also be able to use the website to submit orders to further simplify the ordering process.

Anthony Johnson, Managing Director of Fresh Food For Now Company, says: “Our new offering is designed to make a difference at the fixture every day.

We pay special attention to evolving trends, ensuring we are able to supply a range of products that our retailers can sell and that consumers will love. We’re looking forward to providing personal and expert help for every customer - large or small. Our new flexible ordering system and in-store merchandising service will cater to the needs of all retailers, and ensure we are getting the right products in the right stores.”

The full range now extends to sandwiches and wraps, savoury pastries, pasta pots and salads, rolls and subs, toasties and paninis, healthier snacks, sushi, samosas, halal, fruit snacking and meat and cheese snacking.

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NEWS Costa promotes Neil Lake to Managing Director COSTA, the coffee and food to go business recently acquired

by Coca-Cola, has promoted Neil Lake to role of Managing Director of its UK & Ireland business.

Lake joined Costa Coffee in September last year as Retail and Operations Director having previously worked as a Senior Executive for Coles supermarkets in Australia. His career spans retail operations, store development, merchandise and general management.

Lake will start in his new role on 1 July, replacing Jason Cotta, who is leaving to take up a Chief Executive role having worked for Costa for over eight years.

Dominic Paul, CEO of Costa Coffee, commented: “Neil brings with him extensive strategic and operational experience at a global level, with a strong track record of driving sustainable results.

“Following our recent sale to The Coca Cola Company, this is an incredibly exciting time for Costa Coffee, especially within the UK&I where we are focused on unlocking a new phase of growth and further enhancing our customer experience. Neil is perfectly positioned to lead the UK&I team, leveraging his depth of retail experience and passion for Costa’s customers and team members.”

Lake added: “Costa Coffee is a growing global business and I am excited for the opportunity to work to simplify, invest and grow the UK&I market, focusing on our customer experience, teams, partners and channel innovation.”

Coca-Cola recently set out its plans to accelerate its push into coffee market, which includes introducing ready-todrink (RTD) Costa products.

Guy Truman joins Around Noon London’s fast-expanding team FOOD to go manufacturer Around Noon has made a number of senior appointments in London as its business continues to expand significantly in the UK market.

The manufacturer of products including sandwiches, salads, wraps and yoghurts has appointed a new Commercial Director, Site Manager, Production Manager and Customer Support Manager to be based at its facility in Slough.

Guy Truman, who has 25 years’ experience in the ‘food to go’ market with Brambles Foods, Adelie and Street Eats, joins the Board of Around Noon Foods Ltd as Group Commercial Director.

Wesley Jenkins, an expert in ‘lean manufacturing’ who has 15 years’ experience with companies including Adelie Foods and Greencore, becomes Around Noon’s Site Manager in Slough.

Sue Olds, who has 25 years’ experience in the industry, joins the company from Adelie Foods as Head of Production. Meanwhile, Shelly Levy, who has previous experience with Pasta King and Street Eats, joins as Business Support Manager.

The company has also just acquired a new fleet of Around Noon branded vans to be based at Slough, strengthening the company’s distribution network to service clients throughout England.

8 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Around Noon employs around 340 people in the UK and Ireland and its clients include a range of bluechip companies, including leading convenience retailers, contract caterers and coffee shop chains.

Founded and headquartered in Newry, Northern Ireland, Around Noon acquired the Slough-based Chef in a Box business from Donegal Investment Group Plc in 2016. It has rebranded and invested significantly in the business to grow its footprint in London.

Howard Farquhar, Around Noon’s Executive Chairman, says that the latest hires are a signal of the company’s intent to continue its growth trajectory throughout the UK, over the next few years. Gareth Chambers, Around Noon, CEO, added: “We are delighted to welcome Guy, Wesley, Sue and Shelly to the business. They all come with incredible experience and track records in the food to go market and I have no doubt will add considerable value to the Around Noon business,” Around Noon recently appeared in the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table for the second year in succession. The company was also recently ranked the seventh fastest growing food company in the UK in a prestigious report produced by the financial company Alantra, in conjunction with The Grocer magazine.

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NEWS

Co-op and Superdrug in food to go supply deal THE Co-op has struck a meal deal with Superdrug which will see it supply the health and beauty chain with an extensive food-to-go range including sandwiches, salads and fruit.

The trial will see Co-op become Superdrug’s food-to-go partner and initially supply its own-brand products to seven branches located at railway stations and airports.

The Co-op will supply a range of more than 40 products – including vegan and gluten-free choices.

Shoppers add a Superdrug snack and drink to the Co-op own-brand ‘main’ to complete the meal deal, which will be priced at under £4 in airports.

The Superdrug branches are located in East Midlands, Bristol and Edinburgh Airports, and in Brighton, Sheffield, and London’s Victoria and Fenchurch Street Railway Stations.

The range includes Co-op’s bestselling own-branded chicken and bacon sandwich; salmon and prawn sushi; vegan onion bhaji wrap, an allday breakfast sandwich and its falafel tabbouleh salad - with all of the fresh meat used in Co-op’s own-brand sandwiches 100% British.

The move continues the expansion of the Co-op’s own-branded products into new channels, and follows the wholesale agreement to supply 2,200 Costcutter Supermarket Group stores, its move into franchise stores and, the acquisition of Nisa.

Chris Brown, Superdrug Head of Personal Care & Convenience, comments: “We are delighted to be introducing Co-op food-to-go in some of our travel branches. We know our customers will appreciate the range available, and the fact it offers a great value choice for busy commuters and travellers.”

Matt Hood, Trading Director, Co-op Food, said: “We are continually exploring new ways to bring our award-winning products closer to shoppers and to reach new customers. Becoming food-to-go

partner for Superdrug is an exciting development as Co-op continues to grow its brand, further increasing the accessibility of own-brand products.

These transport hubs provide an exciting and dynamic location to meet the shopping needs of busy consumers and offer our value and values conveniently.”

The Co-op picked up the sandwich and food-to-go convenience retailer award for the fifth year running earlier this month (May) at The Sammies Awards.

10 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

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21/02/2019 14:58

NEWS

Abokado becomes first UK grab & go chain to serve edible insects!

Abokado has launched an edible insect line - crunchy crickets - in its stores across London as part of the company’s new spring menu.

The whole crickets from supplier Eat Grub will be available as part of the brand’s customisable range of toppings for customers purchasing its salads, poke bowls and hotpots.

It’s difficult to imagine that customers will be making a ‘bee-line’ exclusively to sample the product, but the move is certainly likely to have novelty value ….. and who knows, they may well be ahead of the game.

According to Abokado, the sweet chilli and lime crunchy roasted crickets will ‘complement’ the rest of the new spring dishes such as the ‘Nutritious Noodles’ salad range, which includes Katsu, Miso

Chicken & Cali crab, together with the ‘Superbox’ salads and healthy all day grazing pots.

The insects will also be available in grab packets, along with the brand’s current range of impulse snacks such as nuts, edamame, popcorn and Popchips.

Abokado will also be offering grub samplings in store and as part of local street marketing, to introduce both new and existing customers to Eat Grub across London.

The company said it had made the decision to stock the insects as an innovative new product, which is both nutritious and environmentally-friendly, in line with its own core values.

Abokado’s managing director Kara Alderin, a newly converted fan of edible insects, said: “Abokado is all about

customisation and offering our customers variety of different options to enhance their meals. We currently have around 12 unique toppings and dressings on offer, and this is an exciting addition to the range. Quirky maybe, but packed with flavour and protein, these little crickets are the way forward in healthy, sustainable snacking. Abokado has always prided itself on paving the way with new ideas and this is a natural step in our innovation.

“Don’t forget that 15 years ago when Mark [Lilley] and Lindsay founded Abokado, sushi was still not a mainstream food in the UK. The same goes for kale, quinoa and chia … all now a firm part of our daily diets. In a few years insects will also be a normalised food in our everyday diet.”

Crussh launches debut retail range with Sainsbury’s CRUSSH Fit Food & Juice Bars has launched a range of retail products, including vegan and protein-based lines, into 61 Sainsbury’s convenience stores across London, following a successful trial in 10 Sainsbury’s stores since July 2018.

The roll-out is part of the healthy food & and juice chain’s on-going strategy to strengthen its convenience and food-to-go offering and expand into areas outside of traditional high street stores.

Crussh also continues to operate its concession site in Sainsbury’s Pimlico, which opened in June 2017, selling their full range of ‘fit food’, freshly made juices & smoothies and organic coffee.

Shane Kavanagh, CEO of Crussh comments: “We have worked with Sainsbury’s since 2017, and we are delighted to be strengthening our relationship by launching our range across convenience stores throughout London. We’re thrilled that our customers will now be able to buy our ‘fit food’ in 61 Sainsbury’s stores, giving us a great opportunity to introduce our food to new customers whilst hopefully adding something new to the Sainsbury’s food to go range.”

The retail range, which is exclusive to Sainsbury’s, includes a selection of Crussh ‘healthpots’, and wraps, including a number of vegan and protein-based lines.

12 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Highlights include: Tuna & bean healthpot (GF, High in protein, 1/5 a day) Butter bean & cherry tomato healthpot (GF, Vegan, Low sat fat, 1/5 a day) Avocado & edamame healthpot (GF, Vegan, Source of protein, 1/5 a day) Spicy chipotle corn & avocado healthpot (GF, Vegan, Low in sat fat, 1/5 a day) Glorious greens healthpot (GF, Low in sat fat, 1/5 a day) Lentil & feta healthpot (GF, Source of protein, 1/5 a day) Spicy Chipotle Chicken wrap (Source of protein) Avocado & red pepper wrap (Vegan, 1/5 a day).

NEWS

Greencore boosts food to go growth by 7% FOOD to go again proved to be the star performer in the Greencore stable, with 7% growth in all categories to £447m in its interim results to March 29th. Profits before tax surged 58% and pro forma revenue rose by 5.4%.

Food to go growth was driven by volume growth and a strong operational performance, said the company. There were contract extensions with several grocery customers and enhanced relationships “via an expanding set of capabilities.”

Current initiatives include: enhanced food to go salad and sushi capabilities, channel extension with existing grocery customers, new business wins outside grocery and continued growth in distribution.

Net debt was reduced significantly following the sale of its U.S food to go business last year to Hearthside Food Solutions LLC. CEO Patrick Coveney, commenting on the results, said there was now a range of new food to go product and channel opportunities.

“Greencore has had a good first half to the year, with clear financial and operational progress as we have extended our leadership position in key food to go categories in the UK. We have reshaped and strengthened our capital

structure, and now have a robust foundation from which to pursue a range of new food to go product and channel opportunities.

“While recognising that trading conditions in the wider UK grocery sector remain challenging, the growth outlook for our business continues to be encouraging, underpinned by favourable consumer trends and ongoing investment by our customers. As a result, we believe that our market positioning, capability set, customer relationships, well invested asset network and proven economic model will deliver strong future growth, cash generation and returns.”

Morrisons revamps meal deal offer MORRISONS has announced plans to revamp its meal deal offer with more “adventurous and international fillings”, priced at £3.50, and including main, snack and drink.

Additions includes a new Bratwurst sandwich, made from onion bread, beef & pork sausage, sauerkraut and mustard, as well as crispy fried onion, mayo and onion chutney.

Other options include the Chinese pork wrap, Teriyaki Salmon Sushi Salad and BBQ Burger Brioche.

Rob Gallagher, Food to Go Buyer at Morrisons said: “We’re looking for ways to make lunch more exciting. Customers tell us they’re looking for adventurous sandwich fillings inspired by international cuisine - which is why we’ve developed our Bratwurst sandwich.”

Chapati Man sells New York Master Franchise Chapati Man, the Spicy Indian Wrap festival and event catering business, created in London by husband and wife team Chris and Andrea Rai in 2007, has sold the Master Franchise rights for the State of New York.

The Chaat is Safe Inc., headed by Tejas Vemparala, have

purchased the licence rights to open fixed food-to-go sites and food trucks across the Big Apple and the State of New York.

Chris Rai, the owner and co-founder of Chapati Man, believes “this a huge statement for the brand and concept”, adding “breaking into the

US market is a massive achievement. I can’t wait to see our Indian elephant branding on the streets of the Big Apple.’’

Tejas Vemparala who has seen Chapati Man grow successfully in the UK over the past decade said: ”We’ve observed the growth of the popularity of Chapati Man in the

United Kingdom and are confident we can hit the ground running here in New York, one of the icon cities of street food.”

The deal builds on the recent sale of franchise rights in London and the Master Franchise rights for Sri Lanka, with an eye on further UK and international expansion.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 13

Leon reveals record sales as international expansion picks up pace LEON’S sales have rocketed by 24.5% to £95 million in the 12 months ending 31 December 2018. This performance resulted from menu innovation, continued investment in culture and the ongoing restaurant roll-out programme.

The company delivered a steady adjusted Ebitda of £3.5m, despite absorbing around £1.7m of additional costs from higher wages, business rates, food prices and the start-up costs of opening in the USA. Ebitda in the UK rose 8% to £3.9m. During the year, the company’s strong trading also enabled it to reduce net debt by almost half to £3.1m, giving it a strong financial platform for further expansion.

Leon, which started in 2004 with its first restaurant on Carnaby Street, added nine more restaurants in 2018, creating around 225 jobs. It now has 63 restaurants across the UK, Europe and the USA, with 54 of these in the UK. The brand’s rapid growth comes at a time of uncertainty for the restaurant industry, with casual dining brands such as Giraffe, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Prezzo all shutting sites.

The company will accelerate its new store opening programme, with plans to open between 15 and 20 new restaurants, creating another 500 jobs. In the UK, this will include restaurants in Wimbledon, London’s Southbank and Leeds. It has Ireland and the USA firmly in its sights this year. There are plans to open 20 restaurants across Irish cities by 2023,

with the first restaurant, in Dublin’s Temple Bar, opening soon.

The response of customers to its plantbased menus has also been a huge boost.

In January 2018, 46% of sales were vegetarian and 34% vegan. By January 2019, sales were up to 64% and 55% respectively.

To maintain the momentum, it launched its Plants Aren’t Just for Veganuary campaign at the start of this year, which began with the successful launch of the LOVe Burger and will be followed by new vegan and vegetarian options launched throughout the year.

On the sustainability front, its efforts have concentrated on three areas – moving to 100% renewable energy, significantly increasing the number of plant-based dishes, and reducing the use of plastic.

In 2018 it became the first quick serve restaurant to offer an all-day menu on which the majority of options are plant-based. The business removed plastic straws in April 2018, taking 1.3 tonnes of plastic out of its restaurants, and introducing bio-degradable cutlery removed a further 20 tonnes. On top of this, a majority of its restaurants – and all those in which it sources its own energy - are powered by a 100% renewable energy.

Co-founder and CEO John Vincent said of the year’s performance: “2018 was a strong year for Leon. Against a tough backdrop for our industry, our

14 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

fantastic team showed that when you have a great menu, excellent service and welcoming locations, people will come.

“We have all seen the struggles being faced by the casual dining industry, with cautious consumers choosing carefully at the same time as businesses contend with increased costs, and so we take nothing for granted. However, seeing the business deliver 18 consecutive months of like-forlike growth whilst opening a further nine restaurants shows we’re responding to the challenge in the right way.

“It is encouraging to see that what we set out to do as a business when we started in 2004 - to deliver Naturally Fast Food that is good for you while being good to the planet – is proving popular with guests not only in the UK where we started, but now also overseas. We took some big steps in 2018 to take the Leon concept to new markets including the US and Ireland, and this expansion will pick up further pace in the year ahead.”

FOCUS

Pret A Manger snaps up EAT Pret A Manger has acquired EAT’s 90 shops, ending a rivalry that goes back 23 years. The move raises a number of questions: is there really the demand for that many more Veggie Pret openings in London, as Pret now suggests; what’s the scale of closure on overlapping sites, and what exactly went wrong at EAT? Simon Ambrose investigates Pret A Manger has reached an agreement to buy rival high street chain EAT’s 90 shops, providing an exit for private equity owner Horizon Capital.

The agreement is still subject to approval from the competitions watchdog the Competitions Markets Authority (CMA), which recently pulled the plug on a merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda.

Pret has been at pains to emphasise that it plans to convert as many of EAT’s shops as possible to Veggie Prets, but in view of the required demographics involved in the catchments this is surely unlikely to add up to a massive number.

Veggie Pret serves a high proportion of young, mainly female customers, and affluent office workers, hence Soho as the test ground for the first site.

The first permanent Veggie Pret was opened in September 2016 and has since expanded to three further locations across London and Manchester.

As it stands, there are apparently no initial plans to close any of the EAT stores or cut staff numbers and the branches that aren’t converted into veggie-only cafes will be turned into a standard Pret, says the company. If the deal does go ahead it would mean that there will be more than 640 branches of Pret sites across the UK, up from 550 now.

But it’s surely inconceivable that there won’t be closures, with a number of London locations hosting both Pret and EAT stores in the same high street, some almost doors away.

The acquisition also presumably includes EAT’s central kitchen at Wembley, although this wasn’t confirmed as we went to press. Pret, of course, famously, has on-site kitchens in the majority of its stores.

Pret is owned by investment giant JAB Holdings, which acquired a

major stake in the chain last year in a transaction worth £1.5billion.

Clive Schlee, CEO of Pret said: “The purpose of this deal is to serve a growing demand of vegetarian and vegan customers who want delicious, high quality food and drink options.

We have been developing the Veggie Pret concept for over two years and we now have four hugely successful shops across London and Manchester. The acquisition of the EAT estate is a wonderful opportunity to turbo-charge the development of Veggie Pret and put significant resources behind it.”

If the Competition and Markets Authority approves the deal, the EAT name will disappear from the high street just over 23 years after it was founded by husband and wife Niall and Faith MacArthur near Charing Cross station in central London.

It also brings an end to the long rivalry between the two chains, which in the early days saw Pret and EAT more or less neck and neck and both vying for national expansion.

But while EAT stores eventually opened as far north as Scotland, Pret totally outstripped them, both in terms of expansion and profile, as EAT eventually started to contract.

On a number of occasions in the company’s history it announced

grandiose expansion plans that never materialised. As late as 2014 the company had 114 stores and said it was looking to increase its portfolio by around 100, but five years later numbers were down to 90.

In 2016 it launched a new concept in its Finsbury Pavement store, designed by Afroditi Krassa, the renowned architect behind Heston’s Perfectionist Café at Heathrow Terminal 2 and Dishoom, but it never gained traction.

The majority of EAT’s outlets are now in London but it also has some sites remaining in key towns and cities around the UK, including Birmingham and Manchester, as well as airport outlets in Bristol, Edinburgh and Heathrow.

One awkward element to the deal is that Andrew Walker, CEO of EAT, was himself managing director at Pret for 12 years. Will there be a job for him after the acquisition and indeed, would he want to stay?

His reaction to the new deal: “EAT’s passionate and talented team are what make the business; their commitment to providing our customers with great food and excellent service is at the heart of the company’s outstanding recent performance. I am delighted that their efforts have been recognized through this transaction. It has been a privilege to lead EAT for the past 3 years, and I believe this acquisition creates new opportunities for employees and customers alike.”

Andrew Aylwin, Chairman of EAT said: “Pret is a fantastic brand and this transaction represents a strong strategic fit with benefits for all concerned. I would like to thank Andrew Walker and his team for the outstanding job they have done revitalising the brand and business in the last few years and the company’s shareholders and lenders for their support.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 15

FOCUS

EAT: What went

wrong?

EAT’s demise as a brand provides some fascinating comparisons with Pret, its long-term rival, which has gone from strength to strength.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG? Inspired initially by seeing Starbucks abroad, EAT was founded by Niall and Faith MacArthur in 1996, with the first store opening in Villiers Street, London. It was perfect timing, with sandwich bars really starting to find favour with customers looking for quality lunch time offerings.

Pret had already paved the way, along with companies such as Birleys, having opened 13 years before in 1983.

Niall MacArthur, originally from Scotland, had read English literature at Cambridge and gained an MBA from City University Business School before joining Bankers Trust in the early 1980s.

He worked for the bank in several overseas locations during his career, including stints in Los Angeles, Milan, New York and Paris, running the group’s European Treasury operations,

marrying Faith during that time, until the pair opened their first EAT shop in London’s Villiers Street in October 1996. The business ultimately grew to around 120 outlets employing over 2,000 people.

Just a year later, venture capital group 3i invested an initial round of seed capital, and a year after that, EAT won Sandwich Bar of the Year at The Sammies, the first of several awards.

3i sold its stake to Glasgow’s Penta Capital in 2005 in a £39m refinancing, by which time the chain had grown to 45 shops.

Following continued expansion, advisers were hired three years later to look at how best to take the business further forward.

The process was thwarted by the onset of the banking collapse. EAT was linked to a number of potential buyers in the intervening period – including a possible takeover

16 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

by supermarket chain Waitrose – before a deal with Lyceum Capital (now Horizon) in March 2011.

Initial plans were to treble the size of the business within three to five years, with international expansion a possibility thereafter.

In June 2013 the MacArthur’s stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business, choosing to remain on the board in a non-executive capacity.

In 2014, EAT entered into a refurb programme to ensure the core business was in good shape before the focus shifted to opening new stores. With 114 stores it was looking to increase its portfolio by around 100, but again the expansion failed to materialise.

Pret’s former MD Andrew Walker joined as chief executive in 2016.

But competition from

Pret A Manger, food delivery services and rival chains such as Itsu and Leon were already denting EAT’s growth plans, although it continued to be profitable.

In the year to 30 June 2017 like-for-like sales grew 5%.

The previous year’s numbers revealed shareholders had agreed to write off £94.5m in loan notes as part of a debt-for-equity swap. The Sunday Times reported that Lyceum abandoned plans to raise a £400m fund, blaming weaker sentiment among international investors.

At a MCA conference this year Andrew Walker detailed some of the changes he was making, including regrouping around its core London base, focusing on making its London stores more profitable and international openings.

“Part of our new model for EAT is trying to speed up

FOCUS

service because, at the end of the day, people are very time poor, particularly at breakfast,” he said. “When I worked at Pret I remember being very jealous of EAT because they launched so many new products, but they never launched them quite well enough.

“My goal now is to carry on innovating but launch them even better. In the stores we’ve reformatted already, we’ve introduced several new initiatives: we’ve moved coffee to the end to avoid the disconnect between what customers have ordered and what the barista gives you. Repositioned at the back now, the customer who orders the coffee is connected to the barista that gives them the coffee back.

“We’ve also put in a hot cabinet which is backserved, so we can keep filling it during the day - people

can grab their hot food and get out quicker. The new hot cabinets also mean that people who want cold food can get in quicker - as a result cold food sales figures have gone up, although our hot food sales figures have stayed the same.

“The combination of the two initiatives has resulted in a significant sales increase – last week those stores were up by 20%, so for us it’s a good result.

“The second part is the food, and we’ve spent a lot of time on this – we’ve hired a very good chef (Arnaud Kaziewicz, a former finalist on MasterChef) and he’s added a real dynamism to the offer. In the last 15 months we have relaunched virtually every category and the quality of our food has gone right up.

“The third part, ambience, costs a lot of money and as a

result it’s slightly behind the curve, but hopefully we’ll get the ambience one day.

“Then we are also opening internationally. Why are we doing it at the moment? It’s quite a difficult question to answer but the truth is that it is an investor led drive for more money! As a brand I would rather have waited for another few years until all these three elements I’ve mentioned have been completed - we’re on the journey but we’re not quite there.

“Having said that, we are getting quite excited and we’ve done some wonderful work with our partners – SSP, TRG and others. We opened in Madrid a year ago, we’ve recently opened in the Gard de Nord; we’re going to Malaga, Barcelona and Alicante by May and also Bahrain Airport. European countries are quite excited about bread-led grab and go.

They’ve got two choices: Pret or Eat and I would say we are a bit more innovative and flexible, and we’ve built up some good relationships.”

EAT brought in accountancy firm KPMG earlier this year to restructure the company. It closed 10 of its sites as a result to “offset challenging industry pressures” and focus on its London operations.

Accounts filed to Companies House show that EAT Limited made a loss before tax of £17.26m on turnover of just under £95million in the year to June 28 2018.

So where over the years did it all go wrong, and how did EAT lose out to its long-term rival? Darwinian mechanics of survival of the fittest certainly comes into play here and one could make a case for EAT not succeeding ultimately simply because Pret became so strong.

Andrew Walker provided another explanation when he told a packed lunch!

show seminar in 2017 that EAT had previously lost its way, although it still had the capability to be fantastic.

DEEP-ROOTED REASONS But under the surface there were even more deep-rooted reasons.

Insiders say that while the MacArthur’s were brilliant entrepreneurs, they lacked the skills to really keep a large chain evolving.

An interesting article three years ago in the Retail Gazette bears this out. In 2013 as they stepped back from the overall running of the chain, the MacArthur’s brought in Adrian Johnson, former MD of Costa and later Strahan Wilson, previously Finance Director at Burger King as CFO. According to the article, EAT at that time was still a classic entrepreneur’s business, one with decision making that centralised around the owners, as well as “a hotchpotch of spreadsheets”, impractical and cumbersome for the burgeoning chain.

“It was a nightmare,” Wilson told Retail Gazette.

“We had around 27 barely interlinked spreadsheets across three completely unrelated planning horizons.”

“The business had no medium-term visibility of financial consequences,” he explained. “So it struck me that this should be the very first thing I needed to sort: streamlining the accounting and planning processes.”

Another problem in retrospect were that they were increasingly private. While Pret always made sure its PR machine was rolling and promoting its profile, which always helps in the business community, EAT remained insular. Andrew Walker during his tenure did his best to lift the profile, as well as try to turn the business around, but by then it was probably already too late.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 17

PACKAGING

Proseal to be acquired by US corporation in £220m deal PROSEAL, a supplier of tray sealing technology to sandwich manufacturers, is being acquired by Chicago-based JBT Corporation.

JBT, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the company for a purchase price of approximately £220m, subject to regulatory approvals.

The deal will allow Proseal to further expand its business by providing access to JBT’s global sales and service network. Closing is expected in the second quarter of 2019.

Established in 1998, Proseal employs 350 staff in Adlington, Cheshire, with additional facilities in Richmond, Virginia and Melbourne, Australia. It supplies high-quality tray-sealing machines to markets worldwide.

Under the terms of the deal, the management team which is led by the founders - Steve Malone and Robert Hargreaves - will remain in place

and the Proseal brand will also be retained.

Commenting on the deal, Steve Malone stated: “We are delighted to announce that Proseal is to become part of JBT, which will significantly enhance our global presence. This deal will ensure Proseal’s continued growth and success through access to JBT’s global sales and service network, enhancing our customer support overseas as well as growing our business into new markets.

“The acquisition represents an important expansion of JBT’s capabilities, adding significantly to our end-of-line market position and advancing our strategy of providing full-line customer solutions,” stated Tom Giacomini, JBT’s Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. “Moreover, we believe Proseal’s technology affords growth opportunities around the globe.”

“Tray sealing is relevant to many of our FoodTech customers, particularly in the rapidly expanding market for convenience foods,” said Carlos Fernandez, JBT’s Executive Vice President and President, Liquid Foods.

Biopac UK release Art Series Compostable Coffee Cup Range to the UK BIOPAC UK has released a range of commercially compostable art series cups featuring designs from 12 UK artists.

This is the first of many new innovations and products made possible by joining forces with Australian-based sustainable packaging company BioPak. This partnership will see Biopac integrate with BioPak to bring to the UK the best of both companies.

The art series has been successful across Australia and New Zealand, profiling emerging local artists and their unique artworks that explore themes relating to the natural environment and sustainability.

For the UK release, they will be featuring designs by local UK artists, one of these being Tom Askew

the artist behind the design ‘Blue Flower’. Tom said, “It’s an exciting opportunity to be part of a project which is looking to make a difference to the environment, especially when nature is such a big inspiration to me and my illustration work.”

The cups are made from sustainably sourced paper lined with Ingeo bioplastic – which is made from plants, not plastic. Choosing bioplastic over plastic reduces carbon emissions by 75%. These paper hot cups can be commercially composted and are designed to be part of the circular economy.

There are more announcements to be made regarding Biopac UK and BioPak Australia’s relationship over the coming months. Biopac

18 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

UK’s Technical Director, Mark Brigden says: “These art series cups are just the beginning of a string of compostable packaging innovations we have in store for businesses and consumers who, like us, want to preserve and protect the environment for current and future generations.”

The UK Art Series is available in 4oz, 8oz, 12oz and 16oz single wall hot cups. There are a mix of three different artists per size.

GREAT INGREDIENTS, GREAT FOOD. Dawn Farms is the largest dedicated supplier of cooked meat ingredients and fermented and dried sausage products outside of the US. As the preferred supplier to the world’s leading pizza brands we offer a guaranteed ready-to-eat (RTE) product which can be used safely on pizza, in sandwiches and salads or pasta dishes without any need for further cooking.

Visit www.dawnfarms.ie to discover the ingredients that set us apart.

p o p h o S h c i w n a d o S t l s BBrri d l o G d l s e i m m a a s S n W i W Fantastic Bristol sandwich bar Sandwich Sandwich (so good they named it twice) took the coveted Gold in the Independent Sandwich Retailer category in this year’s Sammies Awards.

O

utstanding longestablished Bristol sandwich bar Sandwich Sandwich won Gold in the Independent Sandwich Retailer category in this year’s Sammies Awards.

The Baldwin Street store won the award on a variety of aspects including eating experience, service, product range, hygiene and cleanliness.

The mystery shop judges visited the outlet and, aside from scoring top marks in every aspect of the report, the judges’ comments

included: “Very friendly and so busy, full of regular customers. The recipes and combination of ingredients were spot on. Despite being so busy, the service was quick and professional and the staff showed so much passion and knowledge of the sandwiches. With very attractive and appetising displays of food and excellent service standards, Sandwich Sandwich is a very worthy winner.”

The family-run store has been a staple in the westcountry city for over 30 years and is well known

20 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

for its wide selection of high-quality, home-made sandwiches.

Situated in the heart of Bristol, the shop’s delistyle menu largely comes from locally sourced local ingredients. Their sandwiches are stuffed full of delicious ingredients and customer reviews are uniformly good. If there’s a consistent theme it’s that while not the cheapest, their sandwiches are large and the quality is fantastic.

Their best seller on the cold sandwich front is their southern fried chicken with

coleslaw and creole sauce.

There’s also an excellent range of hot sandwiches - their biggest seller here is the crispy chicken stack with onion rings and chipotle mayo.

Other hot sandwich stacks include Herby Pulled Pork with Mac n’ Cheese, sweet onion & mustard relish; Spicy meatballs in tomato sauce with swiss cheese, crispy onions & jalapeno mayo; and Posh fish butty with crispy battered fish fillet, rosti potato, minty mushy peas, dill pickles, chunky tartar sauce,

THE SAMMIES cheddar cheese & iceberg lettuce.

There’s also a flatbread range and the spicy beef chilli flatbread is a particular favourite, thanks to its generous tasty filling. But the overall flatbread top seller is the jerk chicken with sautéed onions, cheddar cheese and jalapenos.

Also worthy of note are the shop’s soft-boiled Scotch Eggs, with almost legendary status in Bristol.

Originally from London, Chef Nick Kleiner and his wife Anita originally ran Cotham Sandwich Co. before transforming the shop into Sandwich Sandwich.

There are now four shops across Bristol. In addition to the Baldwin Street flagship store, Temple Way, Clifton and Cotham Hill all boast Sandwich Sandwich shops, which are hugely popular with locals and commuters.

And there’s more expansion to come. “We would like to open two or three more stores in Bristol and also explore the catering side of the operation. We do outside catering already but we really want to grow that side of things over the next few years.”

Expansion further afield is also a future possibility but likely operational problems of long-distance control and maintaining consistency of product across a growing chain always figure for any sensible operator. “We’re temped to open outside the city - particularly in London, where I came from around 20 years ago. but it’s difficult. You need to have someone there who is in tune with the food that we do, for one thing,” muses Nick.

The store’s hallmark is the home cooked deli feel, which is geared to look as inviting as possible. It’s an officecentric lunch time business, targeted particularly at office workers and students, of which there are many in Bristol, a university city.

“We’re not so much about shoppers because they want to sit and have a coffee – we are more in and out,” explains Nick.

They use a central kitchen at Baldwin Street and food is delivered fresh every morning to the other three shops. Service is absolutely at the heart of the business.

“It’s obvious,” says Nick.

“Apart from the food, it’s the most important thing. If

you’re happy, people want to be around you – that’s how it works.”

So how did they arrive at the curious but arresting shop title? “It was my father’s idea originally,” says Nick. “He was thinking along the lines of the ‘New York, New York’ song and we adapted it to ‘Sandwich Sandwich, so good we named it twice’, but the second part got dropped – it

was just too long.”

Like all great awards programmes, the Sammies covers every aspects of the sandwich and food to go industry with awards for companies large and small.

There is recognition for everything from Best New Sandwich to Marketing and Retail. The Independent Retailer Award takes the Sammies judges around the country looking at quality independent sandwich shops.

Nick at Sandwich Sandwich said: “It’s great to be recognised with a national award.

Sandwich Sandwich is a Bristol institution but to be recognised nationally is such a wonderful accolade for our family-run business.”

Amazingly, all their fillings are home made – including cooking all their meats – unusual for a sandwich bar to take care of everything, but it’s the only sure fired way to guarantee quality, which is one of the hallmarks of the operation.

How do they develop new products? “Just inspiration really. We go out to eat a lot and we spend a lot of time visiting sandwich shops in America.”

Even more amazingly, unlike the majority of sandwich bars, they have a very low turnover of staff.

“We’re a family,” says Nick.”

rd a w A r e il ta e R fé a C t n e d n e p Inde

Lettuce Eat Healthy, Peterhead

F

ormer social worker Lorraine Duthie took the bold decision to give up her career and open a healthy takeaway in Peterhead instead after her husband had a serious heart attack.

The result was Lettuce Eat Healthy, which has gone from strength to strength since it opened, and now also includes a café and a successful catering business. This May, after only four and a half years

in the business, she landed a Sammies Award for Best Independent Retailer Café, a stunning achievement for someone with no previous experience in the business.

“We started off as a takeaway because of the size of the unit that I had,” she told us. “My husband had a very serious heart attack when he was only 40, and the prognosis was not very good; my main aim was to start getting people in the local town to eat healthier

22 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

- that’s why we’re called Lettuce Eat Healthy.

“Everything was freshly made on the premises using local ingredients wherever possible, and we started by selling soup, sandwiches and salads with just three staff and myself. There was quite a bit of competition from other cafés in Peterhead but none doing what I was doing, with fresh made sandwiches made in front of customers from our own menu. Our bread is made by

a local baker 20 miles away, made to our specifications.”

By November it was starting to get cold, and she decided to put on a daily special – a Macaroni Cheese - on their Facebook page. It took off right away and sold really well. “The next day we were getting phone calls asking what our next daily special was. That then led into baked potatoes and the menu just evolved from what our customers were wanting.

THE SAMMIES “I’d always been a big foodie, but it became particularly important because of my husband’s medical condition, and I had always wanted to run a business like this myself.

“My husband is actually now back at work, but he may come into the business in the near future, because we’re now up to two delivery vans and we are supplying food to a lot of meetings and businesses.”

As an illustration of how busy they are, they recently supplied a function for 250 people two weeks running.

At the time of speaking they had film crews coming over from Abu Dhabi and they were going to be supplying them with packed lunches.

“They phoned just out of the blue.” They were also about to supply the Lord Provost of Aberdeen and guests with lunch.

Their sandwiches were - and still are – sub style.

The best seller then and now is The Highlander which includes brisket beef, bought cooked and shredded from the local butcher, combined with an onion marmalade, Scottish cheddar or mozzarella, and an option of haggis on the top. It’s then put into the Merrychef oven.

“We sold 3,820 of those in the first year of opening, nearly all to our men customers. We actually got so fed up with making them that we put them as the second option on the menu, rather than the first. Out thinking was that because men were creatures of habit, they would select the one straight from the top, but no, they just kept buying the same one!”

“Then we started to do outside catering because we were being asked by people for meetings at work or corporate events. That really took off and before we knew it we were doing buffets and urns of soup and that became another element of the business.

“Last year we opened an extension at the rear of the shop to seat another 40 people and we have been so busy since then. That gave us the status of a café with table service and an extensive menu and I now have 18 other staff. Everything is still freshly cooked though!

“I joined the British Sandwich Association within a year of opening my doors.

I felt I wanted to take the business very seriously so, I thought, why not, we’ll go straight to the top. I felt I wanted to know what was going on outside my door and beyond. Now I know what’s going on in Parliament and the current legislation - I also read the magazine Sandwich & Food To Go News cover to cover.

“We entered the Sandwich Designer of the Year last year with a sweet sandwich and got through to the final.

We didn’t win but it was a real eye-opener for us: there were people from companies like Greencore in the final

doing things with sandwiches that we’d never seen before!

We’re quite naïve in our wee corner in north-eastern Scotland. It was worth it to go along just to see the sort of things other people were doing. For instance, things such as a charcoal bun, which I had never come across before, and is now on our menu today, I’m happy to say.

“It proved a bit difficult to get hold of initially.

Eventually we found a supplier, although they wouldn’t normally deliver as far as us. But when I phoned him up and told him we’d won the Sammies award he sent a rep. up the next week.

“It was such a pleasure to go down to London and pick up the award. To me it was, like, “The café is being recognised by the people who really know the business.”

“Our takeaway numbers are actually going down now because more people are sitting in after opening the

café extension. It’s a really nice environment. We have a word for it in Scotland which is a ‘Sitootarie’, meaning an under-cover outside area. So we’ve designed it to look like you’re sitting outside, although you are actually inside. The roof is made of perspex covered with branches and twigs and there’s decking on the floor, so it looks like the outside.

“The majority of our customers are local people.

But we’re open on a Saturday – we do an all-day breakfast – and we have a lot of tourists then. Cruise ships are also starting to come to Peterhead because they’ve deepened the harbour and that will also mean more new customers. So, all in all, I’m very excited about the future. When new people come in they request new food or introduce you to new food. For me you can never stop learning and the day you stop being passionate about the business, is the day to hang up your apron.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 23

LABELLING

New Colour RFID Label Printer available in Europe DTM Print has announced that the new RX500e Color RFID Label & Tag Printer from US manufacturer Primera Technology, Inc. is available for customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

RX500e is the newest full-colour, on-demand RFID built-in label and tag printer. Labels are printed, encoded and verified in a single pass. Finished labels are then cut with the internal guillotine-style cutter and dispensed one at a time. On-demand printing makes the printer ideal for applications where just a single label at a time with unique information is required. Batches of many labels or tags at a time can also be encoded and printed.

The built-in UHF RFID reader/ encoder module is supplied by Honeywell. It is compliant with EPC Global Gen 2 Class 1 and ISO 18000 –6B and –6C specifications for the widest range of deployments in realworld applications.

Print resolution is best-in-class at up to 4800 dpi. Print speeds of up to 63.5 mm (2.5”) per second make label and

tag production fast and convenient.

“Printing full-colour RFID labels and tags adds a new, value-added feature to the technology,” explains Andreas Hoffmann, Managing Director of DTM Print. “With RX500e, you can add colour coding, graphics and highresolution photos to RFID labels and tags. With colour, you are essentially adding an extra layer of accuracy and safety.”

All customers get the design software BarTender UltraLite and NiceLabel Free (both for Windows) free of charge, which can be downloaded from the DTM Print website (dtm-print.eu/downloads).

Both are ideal for designing the labels, however with RX500e the RFID encoding capability is important, which is available in upgraded versions of the software.

The RX500e Color RFID Printer sells for € 2,695 (MSRP) and is available through authorized DTM Print resellers and distributors in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

For all units within the EU

(including EFTA countries) DTM Print offers up to 24 months warranty: 12 months provided with the purchase and the option of extra 12 months for free after registering the product on the company website (register.dtm-print.eu) within the first 6 months of purchase.

Complete product details are available at http://dtm-print.eu.

New reusable label for foodservice A new reusable label for the catering industry, which can eliminate the need for at least 500 single-use labels, has been unveiled by Pro Foodservice Reps Ltd. PuraCycle labels help food service operators save money, eliminate waste, meet health standards and go green, says the company.

Available for food containers and bottles, they are made from highly recyclable materials and have a reusable whiteboard surface.

Their durability, even through industrial dishwashers, helps prevent the accumulation of paper and tape waste entering the waste system.

The labels come with ‘foodservice’ markers, which

are non-toxic, odourless and cost effective. The pens contain resistant “washerase” ink that stays legible even when exposed to either boiling or freezing water, steam or condensation.

Once used, ink can be simply erased with friction before washing the container and reusing, so there is no need to invest in a dedicated label printer.

PFR managing director Andy Piggin said: “Peeling, picking, scratching or scrubbing ordinary labels can leave a nasty residue that builds up over time.

In contrast, our PuraCycle labels are an award winning, sustainable, cost-effective

24 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

solution for every aspect of food service. They will change the way operators go about labelling prepared food.

“They are at least 10 times less expensive than dissolvable labels per use, having been engineered to sustain 500 dishwasher cycles.

We believe outlets can start seeing savings in as little as 15 uses.”

They come in packs of 50 for containers and 25 for bottles with three pens.

The company encourages customers to customize their labels with company logos, corporate colours, specific text, and sizing to suit their requirements. It will be launching new products to the range later in the year. www.Puracycle.co.uk

Because there is no Planet B.

FSA’s mandatory full ingredient labelling decision is

“complete madness,” says BSA

T

he decision by the Food Standards Agency to back full labelling for foods that are prepacked for direct sale has been described as ‘complete madness’ by Jim Winship, Director of the British Sandwich & Food To Go Association.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advised that increased allergen information should be provided on pre-packed direct sale food to give consumers “greater confidence in the food they eat”. The decision forms the basis of the formal advice provided to government ministers, who will take the final decision.

But speaking at the opening of the finals of the British Sandwich and Food to Go Association’s awards event in London, BSA Director Jim Winship said that the decision could put more lives at risk.

“In a foodservice environment it is impossible to avoid traces of allergens crossing from one product to another,” he said. “Putting a

JIM WINSHIP

full ingredient list on a pack and highlighting the allergens it contains, will give false assurances to consumers in environments where there is such a risk of cross contamination.

“Unless we ban ingredients such as sesame seeds and dairy products from being used altogether, we cannot guarantee in these environments that

26 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

traces will not get into other products.

“It is complete madness that a Government agency responsible for food safety can blindly ignore the risks involved. This, perhaps, reflects the fact that only one member of the Food Standards Agency Board has any experience of manufacturing and distribution and not one member of the Board appears to have any background in foodservice.

“While we completely support making full ingredient lists available to customers we strongly believe this is best done in the form of recipe sheets that also state all the allergens used in the business and the risks of cross contamination. We want consumers to ask so that we can help them to make the right safe choices.

“By putting a label on a product and stating it only contains particular allergens, we are giving a false assurance to customers that a product is safe – something we cannot guarantee to be true.

To advertise call Paul Steer on 01291 636342 July 2019 27

NEWS FOCUS “The last thing we want is people being ill from eating our products – we absolutely want to ensure that those at risk are safe, regardless of any costs. However, we cannot anticipate everyone’s needs – that responsibility has to be shared between us and our customers so that we can make sure they are fully aware of any risks.”

The FSA argues that full ingredient labelling would deliver a significant improvement, and greater consistency by following the same labelling system that consumers are familiar with, as found on packaged food.

The Food Standards Agency Chair, Heather Hancock said: “Food allergies and intolerance affects millions of people and its impact can be as big or bigger than almost all other foodborne diseases.

“That is why we have concluded that more extensive food labelling is the right outcome to provide greater protection for consumers but introduced in a way that we can be confident will work.

“While it is impossible to eliminate the risks entirely, we consider that this change along with other measures we are prioritising will deliver more effective protection for allergic consumers.”

If ministers choose to proceed with the recommendation, food outlets will be required to provide a full list of ingredients on each product, highlighting nuts, eggs and dairy and other products that are frequent allergens. However, sandwich shops that make up food at the point of sale will not have to provide labelling, since it is assumed a conversation will take place between staff and customer.

They will still need to display signage, telling the customer to ask for allergen information if they need it.

While the new policy would improve customers’ trust in the food they were buying, the FSA admitted it would also introduce a risk of “mislabelling incidents, particularly in busy kitchen environments”. The FSA said it might also lead to businesses removing some foods from their menus and limiting changes to menus to avoid the costs of extra labelling.

The proposed changes follow the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who had an allergy to sesame seeds and died after eating a sandwich from Pret a Manger.

Ms Hancock said it was impossible

PROPOSED CHANGES If a sandwich is made to order in front of a customer, it doesn’t currently need a label. This will not change under the new plans.

Pre-prepared sandwiches made on the premises, don’t currently need a label, just a sign nearby prompting customers to ask about allergens. But if these recommendations are adopted, any sandwich that is wrapped and picked from a shelf will need to carry a label listing all ingredients, and highlighting major allergens. to eliminate risk entirely and that food safety relied on a “layering up” of protection, by providing labelling, staff training and customers taking personal responsibility.

She said the FSA had chosen the strictest of the options they had under discussion because “ultimately this is a

life-threatening issue for a proportion of the population”.

However, she acknowledged that there was a risk that business might find the new rules onerous and might consider not serving people with allergies altogether.

“We are balancing consumer protection, public health protection, with the ability of people being able to deliver good business service and choice for people with an allergy or intolerance,” she said.

The Board also agreed that the department should lead on a range of work to promote and accelerate the sharing of best practice across the industry and improve awareness in businesses and the public.

Pret a Manger has already started rolling out full labelling on all its products.

It has offered to share the details of the labelling roll-out with the Government and wider industry to help other food businesses adopt a similar approach.

‘We are giving a false assurance to customers that a product is safe – something we cannot guarantee to be true’

28 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

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g n i l l e b a l w e n r o i l E t u o l l o r e r a w t f o s g r began the roll out of ground-breakin Elio r ere cat t trac con ing lead ry, rua This Feb duct 200 of its UK sites. Elior’s RME pro new labelling software to more than Live the roll out of Planglow’s LabelLogic manager Ian Smith talks us through s and the impact it’s had on the busines

30 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

LABELLING

I

’ve been with Elior for 19 years and have grown my career within the business. I started out as a sitebased chef, moved into marketing, creating new recipes as part of the development team, then systems management eleven years ago where I first got involved as a RME product manager.

I’m responsible for menu management systems, which means that I oversee all of the menu data across the wider business - the systems that ensure everything is standardised, modular and ticking over just as they should.

Allergens form a big part of this, ensuring that our allergen data (along with all of our other menu data) is present, correct and always up to date across our entire supply chain.

Elior, and the many business’ that fall under the Elior brand, are based in a wide variety of settings: healthcare, B&I, education, retail, sports and leisure environments; you name it and we’re there. Our ethos is ‘the whole experience matters’ because our customers’ experience is everything and this is one of the many reasons that good menu management is so essential to our business as it ensures accuracy, consistency and accountability in all that we do.

We’d been using Fourth’s RME and Ten Kites software for several years.

RME is our back of house engineering platform for menu planning and recipe creation, it holds all our allergen and nutritional data. Ten Kites is then a front of house product which pulls data in from RME then publishes and displays it to our customers.

Introducing LabelLogic Live into the mix has meant that we can take all of that information and apply it to labelling as well. So we take a set of ingredients, turn them into a recipe, test, trial, cook, create the labelling, monitor sales then analyse every part of that process from start to finish.

Thanks to the open architecture of the Fourth Platform, Planglow were able to develop an API (Application Programming Interface - a standardised language that enables programs to communicate with one another) to take our recipe and ingredients data from Fourth and turn this into product labelling. This minimises human interaction with the data taking any human margin for error out of the equation, so from source to customer our data flows are sleek, automated and void of human interference.

LabelLogic Live saves us an unbelievable amount of time. We use around 36,000 ingredients at Elior which encompasses 26 allergen attributes, as well as reference intakes which, in turn, pull in around another ten pieces of data. Inputting that manually and matching the correct data to the right labelling field takes a tremendous amount of time - not to mention a meticulous attention to detail - but with LabelLogic Live this happens automatically. What’s more, we can refresh that data daily and accurately in

a matter of minutes - 1300 lines of data in 15 minutes to be precise!

We were already using Planglow’s previous labelling software LabelLogic when Neil - Planglow’s corporate account director - came to us and said he had a better solution. As soon as we’d seen what LabelLogic Live could do it was a no brainer. The API was then developed especially for us to work around everything we already had in place.

To roll out the software, Planglow’s account managers have been going into our regional offices, showing people how it works and getting them signed up. More than 200 sites are now using LabelLogic Live and because it’s so easy to use, the transition’s been very simple.

While we manage and control all our menu data centrally, LabelLogic Live allows us to set permissions that accommodate regional or even sitespecific differences, so our chefs can for example, create a bespoke product or a regional price difference. The software is always in line with legislation too, so, let’s say the list of allergens expanded - we’d be able to update all of our labelling, shelf edge cards and menus immediately.

The real beauty of it is, it doesn’t matter which label is selected (we use dozens across the wider business depending on the division or brand), LabelLogic Live has streamlined the entire process delivering accurate, consistent labelling across the board, the end user simply selects the label or labels for them.

The online chat function that comes with the software has been brilliant as well - not only in terms of providing instant support for our sites but I’ve often used this to ask the team quick questions along the way. I’m not really a technical person so while I oversee a variety of systems, join them together and make sure they work, the LabelLogic Live API has made that an altogether cleaner, easier and far sleeker process, without me getting involved in the more technical side.

In addition to further automating our data process in general, LabelLogic Live has helped us to meet a companywide goal of moving more of our data over to a cloud-based system.

Planglow turned the integration around very quickly too - around four weeks it’s simply been a very smooth process from start to finish.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 31

LABELLING FOCUS

Pret launches

Tim Smith

five-point

allergy plan P

ret A Manger has started a nationwide roll-out of full ingredient labels on all freshly made products and also set out a Five-Point Allergy Plan, designed to help customers with allergies or intolerances get the best possible information about its food and drink.

The Plan includes the launch of new tablets in every shop, and removal of allergens from a range of its products – Pret has introduced a new step in its product development process, where allergens are reduced wherever possible, without impacting quality or taste. There is also a new commitment to produce quarterly food safety reports.

The new labels were initially launched in 20 London shops, with further roll-outs

planned over the summer.

The move follows the completion of a successful pilot in two shops in London Victoria, which has seen staff label over half a million Pret sandwiches, baguettes and wraps since November 2018.

It draws closely on recommendations from Tim J. Smith, Chair of Pret’s Food Advisory Panel, as part of his review of Pret’s food policies.

Commenting on the plan, Clive Schlee, CEO of Pret A Manger, said: “The issue of allergies has struck a deep chord within Pret A Manger following the tragic deaths of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse and Celia Marsh. We said we would learn from the past and make meaningful changes. This plan brings together some of the most important changes we have been

32 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

making to help customers with allergies.

“At the heart of the plan is the roll out of full ingredient labels on Pret’s freshly made products. Thanks to the dedication of many Pret Team Members, we have been able to show that full ingredient labelling is operationally possible in small kitchens when proper care is taken.

“But labelling is only part of the challenge. We have listened to Pret customers with allergies and they have told us they face a range of issues when deciding to eat out – from limited menu choices to a lack of awareness and understanding from food businesses.

“Pret’s Allergy Plan will tackle many of these issues – and help to ensure that every customer has the information they need to make the right choice for them.”

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LABELLING FOCUS IN DETAIL, THE PRET PLAN INCLUDES: Full ingredient labels in every UK shop on all freshly made products. Following the completion of the recent pilot, full ingredient labels are live in 20 Pret shops– the first step in a nationwide rollout. As well as training Pret Team Members on the new labelling process, Pret has offered to share the details with the government and wider industry to help other food businesses adopt a similar approach.

Tablets with full ingredient information in every UK shop. Customers will be able to proactively search through Pret’s menu using new tablets, filtering out ingredients to find products they can consume based on their individual dietary needs. The new tablets will be rolled out over the course of the year.

Removing allergens from products without compromising taste. In a further step to reduce the barriers to eating out for people with allergies, over 70 Pret recipes have been reformulated to remove one or more allergens. The move reflects the addition of a new step in its product development process, where allergens are reduced wherever possible, without impacting quality or taste.

Pret to share quarterly incident updates. To help boost transparency across the food industry, Pret will produce detailed updates on food safety and ingredients on a quarterly basis.

An inside-out approach to allergy awareness. Pret will build on its existing allergy training programme – which includes Pret Academy, online, and on-thejob modules – to encourage the right behaviours and understanding of allergies in every shop. Specific measures include adding allergy awareness to Pret’s weekly “mystery shopper” programme; launching new upskilling programmes for 1,000

Baristas, Hot Chefs and other key roles – including an additional £1m investment in higher rates of pay for those who complete the additional training; as well as UK-wide training for Team Members on the new labelling process.

Meanwhile, Pret continues to work with Tim J. Smith and the independent Food Advisory Panel, which is made up of a range of campaigners, experts and policymakers. The Panel has been reviewing Pret’s food policies, from concept through to consumption, and will be advising on further changes over the coming months.

Why labelling allergens in foodservice carries dangers for all: the BSA view The British Sandwich and Food to Go Association believes that labelling carries more risks in the foodservice environment than it resolves, says BSA director Jim Winship.

In its response to the Government’s recent labelling consultation, the Association says that there is too much risk from cross-contamination in small food preparation areas to be able to give consumers total assurance on allergens. Furthermore, by labelling specific allergens in a particular product, consumers may assume products are entirely safe when most businesses cannot give such guarantees.

To further highlight the risks, the Association points to the daily product recalls from the manufacturing sector due to product mislabelling – and that’s from a highly systemised sector of the food industry. In foodservice, where food preparation areas are often cramped and where a wide range of different ingredients are being used, the risks of cross contamination are too high to be giving assurances.

The Association also argues that although there are currently 14

prescribed allergens, the reality is that there are more than this and the issue of allergic reactions is becoming an increasing concern as more and more young people seem to be suffering from these problems. Furthermore, some consumers have other dietary reasons why they do not want to eat a particular ingredient.

Recognising that it would be impossible for most foodservice businesses to fully label each product, the Association believes that the safest and best solution is for businesses to provide a full list of ingredients for each product and to make this information available to consumers in writing.

This could be done on a recipe sheet which could be handed over by staff on request or on a tablet or similar device in store. Such a sheet could also highlight all the allergens used within the business.

In its response, the Association also recognises that the current system of relying on staff to provide allergen information verbally carries risks and suggests that written information is better as consumers can make their

34 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

own decisions based on their particular needs. Where businesses also have to substitute ingredients, it is relatively straightforward to use a change a recipe sheet, particularly with some of the new software systems coming onto the market.

While focusing its response on the risks involved in labelling, the Association also highlights the logistical and cost issues for businesses in labelling which it says could tip the balance for some in terms of their commercial viability.

It also argues that the size of business is irrelevant as the critical factor is the ability to safely manage ingredients within the facilities available. While a business may operate under a major brand name, this does not mean that it does not have cramped food preparation areas on individual sties.

The Association has produced a statement setting out its position in full which is available on its website – www.sandwich.org.uk Jim Winship is Director of the British Sandwich & Food To Go Asssociation.

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PACKAGING FOCUS

FPA critical of Hubbub’s ‘bring your own Tupperware container’ strategy THE Food Packaging Association has stressed the need for a UK wide ‘on the go’ waste management system in response to a new report from environmental charity Hubbub, which highlights the scale of UK packaging waste problems.

Hubbub says that British workers’ ‘lunch on the go’ habit is generating 10.7 billion items of packaging waste annually – 276 items per person.

The research of over 1,200 UK full and part-time workers revealed they use an average of four packaging items for each lunch purchase, with 76% picking up a main item e.g. sandwich container, 70% a packet of snacks and 65% a napkin. With the majority (64%) saying they buy lunch on the go more now than they did five years ago and spending 13.6 billion annually, this is naturally leading to an increase in packaging waste, much of which isn’t recycled or recyclable, it says.

But the FPA is critical of Hubbub’s suggested remedies. To help create a new culture of meal planning and reusable lunch packaging that reduces food and plastic waste, Hubbub, in collaboration with Norfolk and Suffolk Councils, have launched a new campaign, which aims to encourage people across the UK to bring their own containers to on the go venues, funded partly by stores providing discounts to them, or make their own lunch.

FPA’s Executive Director Martin Kersh said in response: “The recent Hubbub report on waste arising from the on the go lunch trade reinforces the need for a huge step-up in infrastructure to help UK citizens dispose of waste so that much more is recycled, be that at home or away from home (where so much more consumption is taking place).

“When the UK’s domestic kerbside waste management system was established we consumed very little on the go. While this thriving sector has grown and developed, our facilities for on the go waste management have barely changed. Defra’s Collections Consistency and Extended Producer Responsibility consultations should become the springboard for creating an UK-wide on the go waste management system consistent with that at home.

Wherever we live, work and play we should have consistency in how we dispose of packaging and food.

“Hubbub’s report recommends the public use their own containers when buying their lunch time sandwiches, salads and hot meals. Some may choose to do this, but if undertaken on a large scale there will be serious negative implications for food waste, hygiene and logistics.

‘Whilst bring your own or make your own will work for some people, the simple fact is that 21st century life is time poor and we must design

36 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

infrastructure to reflect this. It is simply untenable for catering and café operators to provide food to go unwrapped or in the consumer’s own containers for reasons of logistics, cross contamination and food waste – everyone knows an unwrapped sandwich soon becomes curly and dry. Increasing the amount of damaged and food unfit to eat would exert a far greater negative environmental impact than the savings made and would and reverse the progress made by the industry to reduce food waste.

“The foodservice industry is being asked to provide more information on allergies and calories for which labelling is so crucial and imagine the queues in a busy lunch service outlet or takeaway if the server had to change gloves after each service to eliminate the risk of allergy cross contamination rather than buyers picking up a pack on shelf for which the label provides full information.

“Hubbub’s success with its excellent Leeds By Example campaign, partly funded by retailers selling takeaway lunch items, proves perfectly why the UK’s on the go waste management infrastructure needs to be addressed and the benefits this achieves. The FPA has for many years campaigned for an UK wide, consistent system which would incorporate much of Hubbub’s thinking.

Perhaps at long last we will have the resources and will to make it happen.

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NEW lunch ad A4

NEWS Uber Eats launches a new delivery app UBER Eats has launched a new delivery app to offer “pick-up” services, as the online food delivery battle intensifies.

It comes after Deliveroo announced it would be introducing a similar option with “thousands” of its restaurants by the end of the year. Just Eat also provides their Lunch Collection service in major UK cities, according to the Evening Standard.

All three delivery giants are attempting to cash in on the dine-in and pick-up market. It accounts for 92.2 per cent of the UK food service market orders, according to MCA’s Food Service Delivery Report.

Meanwhile, Just Eat has blamed the spring sunshine for missing its growth targets.

The FTSE 100 company said takeaway orders increased by 21pc in the first three months of the year, but an unusually warm start to the year was blamed for stalling UK orders, which increased by just 7.4pc. UK growth slowed from 13pc in the final quarter of 2018 - analysts had expected closer to 9.6pc, according to The Telegraph.

Just Eat said growth was impacted by “the unseasonably warm weather in February; and Easter falling entirely in [the second quarter] this year”.

Just Eat reported revenues were up 28pc compared to the previous year, to £228m.

Interim chief executive Peter Duffy admitted the company saw “softer UK order growth” but was making good progress. Just Eat said it still expected to see improved UK growth over the course of the year.

Scottish Government aims to boost food to go in convenience stores THE Scottish Government is out to further boost food-to-go in convenience stores throughout Scotland by injecting funding of £300,000. This follows the success of the initial similar move last year.

The grant programme aims to support and encourage the capacity of independent convenience store retailers in Scotland to innovate and respond to changing customer demands through the development of a food-to-go offering. It also encourages retailers to consider their policies on reducing food waste and packaging. The programme will be administered by Scottish Grocers’ Federation.

Grants will be awarded for the installation of a new food-to-gostation on a 50% match-funding basis, capped at £7,500 (50% paid by the retailer, 50% paid by the fund).

Funding is offered on the net cost of any works being undertaken.

Funds will be dispatched on the completion of works and will be subject to evidence that the work has been completed. Retailers must also show that they are compliant with legislation covering food hygiene and health and safety.

The grant programme is open

38 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

to independent convenience stores within a definition of a SME – less than 250 employees. Retailers who received funding from Phase 1 of the Programme are not eligible to apply for a second time. Those who did apply in Phase 1 but were unsuccessful are eligible to reapply.

Multi-site retailers with less than 250 employees can make only one application per company within any 12-month period of the grant programme being in operation.

But grants will not be awarded for the installation of franchised food-togo stations.

Retailers have to ensure that they offer locally sourced products within the food-to-go station as well as offering a balance between consumer led choices of food-to-go and healthier eating options Retailers have to describe how they will promote healthy eating options and Scottish products in their stores within the first 12 months of the grant being awarded.

They also have to show how they will plan to reduce their food waste and packaging within the food-to-go offerings. Retailers would be expected to locally source a selection of products (from the local area or from elsewhere in Scotland).

D

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NEWS

Deli-Lites awarded prestigious AA food safety rating NORTHERN Ireland food-to-go company DELI-LITES Ireland has earned the coveted AA Food Safety Rating certification from the British Retail Consortium, the accreditation body for Global Food Safety Initiative certifications. It’s the fourth consecutive year the firm has achieved the highest BRC standard.

CEO Brian Reid, said: “We have always been serious about food safety and quality and consider it as part of the company culture. We’re exceptionally proud to be one of only a few food companies in Northern Ireland to achieve this platinum standard, AA accreditation.

The entire team works hard to reach these standards and as a company we’re committed to supporting them by continuously focusing on employee development and training.

“BRC provides the industry-wide benchmark for food safety and quality and its basic standard is fast becoming a minimum requirement for major retailers.

Level ‘AA’ is the pinnacle for us to achieve and is testimony to the efficiency of our systems and processes and our attention to detail.

“The recognition from accreditations such as these are also an important tool in

demonstrating our exceptional food safety and hygiene standards to our customers, which ensures we can build strong client relationships, delivering the best quality food as a trusted partner.”

The AA Food Safety Rating was introduced by the BRC in 2015 to recognise exceptional safety practices, distribution centre cleanliness and employee training.

As part of the multi-day audit, BRC inspectors examined key aspects of DELILITES safety programmes, including cleaning and sanitation, pest control,

maintenance, personal hygiene, staff training, supplier control, receiving, shipping and storage, waste management, traceability and more.

DELI-LITES Ireland was founded by Brian and Jackie Reid in 1999 and is based outside Warrenpoint, employing over 250 people. The business produces around 15m hand-made sandwiches, wraps and salads annually and distributes across Ireland. Its customers include major retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Debenhams, Boots and Applegreen, as well as local food service companies.

FSA urges vigilance in light of food hygiene rating scam THREE local authorities in Wales and one in England have received reports of a person claiming to be from the FSA or the local authority, approaching food businesses demanding money for a food hygiene re-rating and warning that failure to pay will result in a fine.

The FSA say that neither it nor local authorities would demand money in this way. Local authorities are responsible for carrying out inspections of food businesses to check that they meet the requirements of food hygiene law.

They give businesses food hygiene ratings based on the findings of the inspections for which there is no charge.

Local authorities may charge only when the re-rating inspection is requested by

the food business and will not demand that a request is made.

“If you are concerned that your business may have been targeted by a scam referencing food hygiene inspections or the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, do not provide any details or make any payments and ask for ID from the caller.

If you have any suspicions, please report these to your local authority,” it says.

Angela Towers, Head of the Food Hygiene Rating Team of the FSA, said: “Although the number of reports of this particular scam are low, we are concerned that businesses may lose money to fraudsters pretending to be from the FSA or a local authority. If you are approached by someone asking you

40 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

to hand over money in this way, do not make any payment and always advise your local authority.

We are working closely with local authorities to monitor these reports.”

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is set out in law in Wales and Northern Ireland where display of the rating sticker is mandatory but display of the rating sticker is voluntary in England. The scheme is run by the Food Standards Agency and, in Wales, the Welsh Government, in partnership with local authorities.

The Food Standards Agency is the government department responsible for food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

M A R T I N M AT H E W & C O

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OUR BRAND Martin Mathew & Co, home of the Riverdene brand of canned foods, is a leading Importer and Distributor in the UK, supplying canned and ambient packed foods, oils, vinegars and pasta to the catering, foodservice, manufacturing and retail sectors.

OUR SANDWICH FILLINGS We supply a range of sandwich fillings including sweetcorn, tuna, corned beef, jalapenos, sundried tomatoes and a range of jams and peanut butters.

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SAMMIES British Sandwich Industry Awards 2019

T

he Sammies Awards 2019, held at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel, will undoubtedly remain a wonderful memory for many of our winners and even those who didn’t win!

The evening saw guests celebrate successes from across this vibrant industry, from high street favourite Greggs collecting a hat-trick of awards to some wonderful independent sandwich shops across the UK celebrating glory. Greggs awards included the prestigious British Sandwich Industry Award, given to CEO Roger Whiteside, and the Marketing Award for its ground-breaking and highly publicised Vegan Sausage roll launch.

42 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

EAT. were back in the saddle with a brace of awards, and M&S had plenty to celebrate, also winning two awards, including the all-important Multiple Retailer of the Year.

With 34 awards given out during the course of the night there was plenty to celebrate. Celebrity chef Theo Randall was on hand to present the awards alongside comedian Simon Evans, who regaled the audience with a memorable comedy performance. The All Covered Up Party Band were the perfect accompaniment as the guests took to the floor to dance the night away.

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

SANDWICH AWARDS WINNERS 2019 THE BRITISH SANDWICH INDUSTRY AWARD • Roger Whiteside OBE, Greggs This award is presented on merit to a business or individual whom the BSA Management Committee consider deserves recognition for the work they have done to advance the UK sandwich and food-to-go markets.

SANDWICH & FTG INDEPENDENT RETAILER AWARD Sandwich/FTG Bar • Sandwich Sandwich, Bristol Delicatessen • Wally’s Delicatessen, Cardiff Cafe • Lettuce Eat Healthy, Peterhead This award is subdivided into three categories and recognises shops with ten outlets or less.

SANDWICH & FTG EN-ROUTE SANDWICH RETAILER AWARD • Jamie Oliver, deli by Shell The Sandwich & FTG En-Route Sandwich Retailer Award considers any retailer, recognising retailers within the travel sector including forecourts, stations, airport, trains and airlines.

SANDWICH & FTG CONVENIENCE RETAILER AWARD • Co-Op Designed to recognise the retailer that has done the most to develop its sandwich business, taking into account: marketing, innovation, packaging, product quality, sales growth and market share.

SANDWICH & FTG MULTIPLE RETAILER AWARD • M&S This award is presented to a multiple retailer that has done the most to develop its sandwich business, including marketing, innovation, packaging, product quality, sales growth and market share.

SANDWICH & FTG CHAIN RETAILER AWARD Championing those in the chain sector (10 or more outlets) whose core business is the sale of sandwiches whether made to order; pre-packed on site; bought in prepacked from a central commissary or where sandwiches are sold alongside coffee and bakery products and who are driving the business forward and achieving the most impressive development in the qualifying period. This award is judged in the following two categories and the winners are:

Sandwich/FTG • Subway Bakery • Greggs SANDWICH & FTG WORKPLACE AND CATERING RETAILER AWARD • WH Smith Recognising excellence amongst those providing sandwiches and food to go products in a catering or workplace environment.

SANDWICH & FTG MANUFACTURER AWARD • Bradgate Bakery, Ashton Green This award is presented to the BSA accredited manufacturing site which the judges consider has introduced the most impressive and effective initiatives to improve the quality and food safety of sandwich manufacturing during the qualifying period.

SANDWICH & FTG BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AWARD • Data Therapy, Platopus Website Product Recognising progression in the industry, this award is aimed at recognising the individuals driving successful change in the industry.

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019 THE NEW SANDWICH AWARD New Sandwich Award - Hot • Asda, All Day Breakfast Toastie New Sandwich - Cold • Crussh, Butternut, Harissa and Vegan Feta The New Sandwich of the Year Award is for a new pre-packed sandwich (not a range), which has been successfully launched in a retail or catering environment.

NEW FTG PRODUCT AWARD Hot Category • EAT, Roast in a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap Cold Category • Boots, Egg & Avocado Grain Box This award aims to recognise good innovation in the food to go market.

The judges will assess entries on factors such as innovation, taste, eye appeal and commercial viability.

SANDWICH & FTG MARKETING AWARD • Greggs, The Launch of the Vegan Sausage Roll This award recognises the importance of marketing and identifying initiatives to achieve specific strategic goals.

SANDWICH & FTG HEALTHY EATING AWARD Sandwich Category • Greggs, Mexican Bean Wrap FTG Category • EAT, Chicken Satay & Chargrilled Broccoli This award aims to recognise the work being done by businesses in the sandwich and food to go markets to provide consumers with interesting new healthy eating products.

SANDWICH & FTG CAFÉ RETAILER AWARD High Street • Starbucks In-Store • M&S Cafe The Café Retailer Award is open to businesses with ten or more outlets selling sandwiches and food to go products NEW PRODUCT AWARD WINNERS Ingredient • Norseland - Ilchester Apple, Sage & Onion Cheese Equipment/Packaging • Coveris - M&S Sushi Packaging Innovation is a critical part of developing any food chain. This award aims to encourage the work being done by suppliers and manufacturers to develop new products for the sandwich and foodto-go market.

During the evening we raised £1,7 95 for our charity Dravet Syndrome

Thankyou to Jack

sons for the wine

44 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

.

Thankyou to Freshpak for sponsoring the programme.

“

I would like to thank your team and yourself for an excellent association which truly cares for its members.

”

Michael Curley. The Buffet Shop Ltd. Helensburgh

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+44 (0) 1525 712 261 marketing@colpac.co.uk

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Greggs’ CEO Roger Whiteside OBE pictured collecting his award from FSC’s Commercial Director, Jeremy Simpson, Theo Randall, Jim Winship and Simon Evans.

The British Sandwich Industry Award Roger Whiteside OBE, Greggs

Lettuce Eat Healthy’s Lorraine & Michael Duthie collect the Sandwich & FTG Independent Retailer Award for their café in Peterhead from Greggs’ Malcolm Copland.

Sandwich & FTG Independent Retailer Award • • •

Helen Kerfoot, Category Buyer from the Co-Op and the Co-Op team collect their award from RAP’s Sales Director, Martin Beaver.

Café - Lettuce Eat Healthy, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire Delicatessen - Wally’s Deli, Cardiff Sandwich Bar - Sandwich Sandwich, Bristol

FSC’s Commercial Director Jeremy Simpson and team collect their award from Greencore’s Robert Potts.

Sandwich & FTG Convenience Retailer Award

Sandwich & FTG En-Route Sandwich Retailer Award

The Co-Op

Jamie Oliver, deli by Shell

46 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Julian Weeks from Tulip presents IPC/Subway’s Director Mike Attwood with the Chain Retailer Award for the best Sandwich/FTG Bar

Pictured with Theo Randall and Simon Evans, Dawn Farms Business Development Manager Gian Del Gesso presents Starbucks Director of Research, Development and Innovation Alex Whittle and UK Marketing & Product Team Lead Neil Littler with the Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award for the High Street retailer.

Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer Award Sandwich / FTG Subway

Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award High Street – Starbucks

Julian Weeks, Commercial Director for Tulip presents Greggs’ Non-Executive Director Peter McPhillip and CEO Roger Whiteside OBE with the award for best Bakery in the Chain Retailer Award.

Bakery - Greggs

M&S Helen Brennan collects the Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award for best Instore Café from Dawn Farm’s Business Development Manager Gian del Gesso.

Instore – M&S Café

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 47

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Helen Brennan and Steve Kemp from M&S collect their award from Raynors MD Matt Raynor and Director Heather Raynor.

Sandwich & FTG Multiple Retailer Award M&S

Around Noon’s CEO Gareth Chambers presents the award to WH Smith’s FTG & Franchise Partnerships Manager Zahra Coggins and members of the WH Smith team.

Sandwich & FTG Workplace and Catering Retailer Award WH Smith

Agrial Fresh Commercial Director Anthony Greenwood presents the award to Data Therapy’s Managing Director Yousaf Shah and Product Evangelist Kieran Saunders.

Sandwich & FTG Business Development Award Data Therapy, Platopus Website Product

48 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Bradgate Bakery’s Head of Technical Paul Buxton and Commecial Manager Fiona Allen receive the Sandwich & FTG Manufacturer Award from Millitec Managing Director Richard Ledger.

Sandwich & FTG Manufacturer Award Bradgate Bakery Ashton Green

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Sales Executive Adriana Kempt from lunch! presents EAT’s Head of Food Emily Williams, Launch Manager Jessica Ayling and Development Chef Katy Pigg with the New FTG Category Award in the Hot category.

New FTG Product Award Hot Category EAT, Roast in a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap

Boots’ Assistant Food Development Manager Amanda Johnson and the Boots team collect the New FTG Product Award from lunch!’s Adriana Kempt.

Cold Category Boots, Egg & Avocado Grain Box

50 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Greggs’ Customer Director Hannah Squirrel and Brand Communications Manager Fiona Mills collect the Marketing Award from Harvey & Brockless’ Commercial Director, Jonnie Archer.

Sandwich & FTG Marketing Award Greggs, The Launch of the Vegan Sausage Roll

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Mission Foods Business Development Chef Kim Hartley (second left) presents the Sandwich Healthy Eating Award to Greggs’ Category Manager Hannah CaseyBurnett, Product Development Manager Emily Edmonds and Group Development Technologist Carolyn Booth.

Sandwich & FTG Healthy Eating Award Sandwich Category Greggs, Mexican Bean Wrap

Mission Foods Business Development Chef Kim Hartley presents the FTG Healthy Eating Award to EAT’s Head of FTG, Emily Williams.

FTG Category EAT, Chicken Satay & Chargrilled Broccoli

www.sandwich.org.uk www.sandwich.org.uk September July 2019 2018 51

SAMMIES AWARDS 2019

Lisa Harrison, Senior Brand Manager, Norseland, collects the New Product Award in the Ingredient category from Upfield’s Head of Out of Home Marketing Alan Black.

Asda’s Buying Manager FTG Richard Jones and team with the New Sandwich Award for best hot sandwich.

New Product Award

The New Sandwich Award

Ingredient – Ilchester, Apple Sage and Onion Cheese

Michael Conway, Coveris’ Sales Director FTG Division collects the Equipment/Packaging Award from Theo Randall and Simon Evans.

Equipment/Packaging - Coveris

52 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Hot – Asda, All Day Breakfast Toastie

The Alan Nuttall Partnership CEO Foodservice Solutions Jamie Joyce presents Crussh’s CEO Shane Kavanagh and Operations Director Nick Nathan with the New Sandwich Award for best cold sandwich.

Cold – Crussh, Butternut, Harissa and Vegan Feta Wrap

www.tastesensationltd.com Committed to sourcing only the best ingredient, to create the finest blends.

Free postage and packing.

Samples available on request.

Add a touch of magic to any sandwich with Geeta’s Chutneys Also great as an ingredient for Sandwich Fillings, Marinades, as well as for Toasties & Jacket Potatoes.

Product information and samples: Contact Geeta’s Foods Ltd on 020 8450 2255 or at trade@geetasfoods.com.

Stockists: Contact Pettywood & Co Ltd on 01264 345500”

d r a w A y tr s u d n I h ic The British Sandw

O E C S G G E R G , E D I ROGER WHITES

R

oger Whiteside, CEO of Greggs, has had a transformative effect on the company since joining in 2013.

A few months after taking over, he laid out a five-year plan, announcing the firm’s switch to a purely food-on-the-go focus across its shops.

The previous strategy, in which the shops were either bakeries, coffee shops or food-on-the-go shops, was not working. The new concept was to take all the best bits of all three and put it into one shop, laid out to include seats, and its ambience.

“It massively simplified the business. But the jury was out,” he’s said in the past. Analysts were saying ‘it’s a quaint bakery but can it compete with Costa, Tesco Express, and Pret A Manger?’ and the diehards still buying bread in bakeries were saying ‘they’ve lost the plot, they’re not going to sell bread anymore!’. We had to win.”

And win he certainly has.

Within two years the share price rocketed: it’s been on an upward trend in terms of financial results ever since and only recently Greggs reported £1billion in sales for the first time.

“Any leader in that position with a ‘turnaround’ has to buy time and that’s exactly what I did. I said: ‘Look, give me three years before you sack me and I’ll show you there’s progress ahead of us.’ I didn’t expect the numbers to turn as early

as they did. It shows you how much latent power there was in the brand!”

His Midas touch continues. The Newcastle bakery posted a 15% rise in pre-tax profits to £82.6 million in 2018, with sales rising 7.2% to just over £1 billion.

Company-managed shop like-for-like sales were up 2.9% in the period.

Greggs said that while the first half of 2018 was impacted by extreme weather, it was able to bounce back and perform ahead of expectations.

For 2019, Greggs hailed the “enthusiastic reception” and “extraordinary” level of social and general media coverage surrounding its vegan sausage roll, which has helped spur a spike in footfall.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside paid homage to the impact of the roll alongside the firm’s full-year results.

“Whilst there are significant uncertainties in the months ahead, Greggs has started 2019 in great form, helped in part by the publicity surrounding the launch of our vegan-friendly sausage roll.

“We hope to continue benefiting from this strong momentum during the first half of 2019 before facing stronger comparatives later in the year.

“We have a strong financial position which we plan to use to invest in Greggs’ potential for further growth, whilst also delivering good returns for shareholders.”

54 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

THE ROAD TO GREGGS

Roger Whiteside began his career at Mar ks & Spencer where he spent 20 years, ultimately beco ming head of its food business during its golden perio d including the launch of the Simply Food concept.

Taking a leap of faith, he joined the foun ding team at Ocado in 2000, where he spent the next four years helping to lead the team that establishe d the innovative online grocer in partnership with John Lewis and Waitrose.

His next challenge saw the successful turnaround of the off-licence chain Thresher Group for Guy Hands’ Terra Firma before joining Punch Tave rns, emerging from the demerger of that business as CEO to guide them through a difficult period which included a transformational new direction and refi nancing.

Joining the board of Greggs as NED in 2008, Roger was appointed CEO in 2013 at a low point for the business suffering from the effects of reces sion and new competition.

Six years on he has led a historic shift in strategy that has delivered record sales and profits.

Sandwich & FTG Convenience Retailer Award Co-Op Co-op is no stranger to the Sammies Convenience Retailer Award with 2019 being the fifth consecutive year the convenience retailer has taken home the title. The judges continue to recognise the efforts made by the retailer to continually improve and develop its food-to-go range.

This amazing growth has been driven by a food to go relaunch, supported by a marketing campaign and new trial stores and concepts. The brand has undergone a full packaging redesign and efforts have been made to consider environmental factors with

the sushi packaging now 100% recyclable. The range has also been expanded

vegetarian and vegan offering.

Laura Clark, Co-op’s Food to Go developer, said: “As a convenience retailer, we pride ourselves on offering a diverse, innovative and delicious food-go-range that will appeal to our shoppers and members. We are always looking for new and exciting on-trend flavour combinations and work hard to develop a range of Free From, vegan and healthy options too.

We are proud to back British farmers and source 100%British cooked meats and use only free-range eggs for our range.”

to include a new ‘Well & Good’ healthy tier, in addition to a strengthened

Sandwich & FTG Multiple Retailer Award M&S M&S were worthy winners of the Sandwich & FTG Multiple Retailer Award.

The high-street retailer has always been a popular food to go choice but this year the judges were suitably impressed with the significant transformations undertaken on the ‘Eat Now’ range. The M&S team have worked closely with Greencore to deliver according to consumer needs, recognising what’s good and working hard to demonstrate innovation.

The launch of their Best

Ever Prawn Sandwich is a prime example of where they are making their most popular sandwiches even better. From the other end, new products like the sushi sandwich demonstrate how innovative new products are encouraging new customers into the store.

M&S Product Developer Bethany Jacobs is delighted to see M&S recognised in this year’s Sammies as the Sandwich & FTG Multiple Retailer. “The team have worked hard to really engage and deliver in

the food to go sector and recognition at the Sammies really demonstrates that M&S are delivering what the consumer wants. M&S

has come a long way from its days of pioneering the first pre-packaged sandwich and we strive to continue to be pioneers in this sector.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 55

Sandwich & FTG Marketing Award Greggs The Sammies 2019 were a year to celebrate for High Street favourite Greggs, taking home four awards including best Chain.

The other wins included the Marketing Award, recognising the company’s launch of the Vegan Sausage Roll, the Healthy Eating Award for their Mexican Bean Wrap and the Industry Award for CEO Roger Whiteside OBE’s contribution to the industry.

Greggs are no strangers to the Sandwich & Food to

Go Awards and the business has been recognised over the years by the BSA. This year though, winning four awards showcases how the brand has developed. Collecting the Marketing Award, Customer & Marketing Director for Greggs, Hannah Squirrell praised the team for the innovation behind the product: “The whole team had fun with the marketing campaign behind the Vegan Sausage Roll and we were lucky to be at the forefront of the vegan trend.

Customers are choosing healthier food options and at Greggs we like to respond to their evolving needs

in a way that stands out and enables us to appeal to both existing and new customers.”

Sandwich & FTG En-Route Sandwich Retailer Award Jamie Oliver, deli by Shell SHELL’s new food to go range Jamie Oliver deli by Shell, despite only launching January 2019, was recognised by the judges as the Sandwich & FTG En-Route Sandwich Retailer winner. The range offers over 80 new products on sale in over 500 Shell service stations varying from the classics, like sandwiches and wraps to sushi and hot pots.

The judges were impressed with the product range and tasty choices, whilst also considering the healthy element with a specific 117% more fruit pots and salads compared to the previous deli2go range. The range has been created in close collaboration with Jamie Oliver and his team, with a huge emphasis placed on healthy eating with extra vegetables added, nutritious oatmeal and wholegrain bread and 60% of the range sitting within green

or amber on the traffic light system.

Jamie Oliver deli by Shell has been developed and produced by FSC and FSC’s Commercial Director Jeremy Simpson is proud that the range has been recognised by the British Sandwich & FTG Industry Awards, saying: “We have developed this range in close collaboration with Jamie Oliver and his team. There were so many elements to consider, producing a fresh, innovative choice of products, improving the traditional and developing some new and exciting offerings. The focus has been on delivering healthy offerings for the UK driver with a wider choice of food on the go and healthy choices that are both easy and appealing. The range is less than a year old, so to be recognised is a real testament to the work that has been put in.”

56 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer Award Bakery – Greggs No high street is complete without a Greggs and the high-street food on-thego retailer again proved themselves as the Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer Winner within the bakery category.

A year of significant strategic progress has seen the store further develop its menu to offer a greater product offering with hot drinks, breakfast, hot food and healthier choices all driving sales. The launch of the Vegan Sausage Roll has proven to be a key catalyst in driving that menu diversification, bringing a new type of customer into Greggs as the store begins to cater more and more for vegetarians, vegans and those looking for healthy lunch time options.

The judges noted how Greggs have responded to high street challenges and further developed their business, catering for different dietary requirements and making their products even more accessible with the opening of drive-thru locations, service stations and transport hubs. Greggs’ Head of

develop menus, make the products available and share the Greggs message.

It is thanks to that huge team effort that we can celebrate this award from the Sammies, as we continue to drive, innovate and develop. It’s great to be recognised and know that our investments are paying off. We will continue to work with our customers, creating the menus they want and ensuring our food is readily and easily accessible.”

Category Planning, David Ross, is delighted to see the Chain recognised, commending the team for the efforts made across the business: “We have made it our mission at Greggs to become the customers’ favourite for food to go and that mission requires input from across the business to

Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer Award Sandwich/FTG Bar – Subway Subway triumphed over its competitors to win the ‘Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer’ Award at this year’s awards, recognising Subway’s commitment to provide a wide range of great tasting, balanced sandwich choices.

Subway serves over three million customers each week with all salad ingredients freshly prepared each day and each Sub or salad made-to-order in front of the customer. The judges commented on Subway’s ability to flex and adapt, helping them to deliver to an ever-changing market. In response to customer demand Subway has recently launched its first ever Vegan Sub and Salad and the brand’s new Ultimate Cheesy Garlic Bread. These exciting

new menu additions enable the brand to continue to cater for everyone, whether that’s offering more choice for ‘meatfree Mondays’ or for those following a flexitarian diet.

Colin Hughes, Country Director for Subway UK & Ireland, said: “It’s an honour to be recognised as the Sammies Sandwich/FTG Bar winner of the ‘Sandwich & FTG Chain Retailer’ award and the accolade is a great recognition of the high level of service our stores deliver to customers year round. At Subway, we are always looking to develop innovative new ways to bring our customers the delicious food they love, so they can make what they want, when they want.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 57

Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award High Street – Starbucks Starbucks collected the Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award for the best high street café retailer.

The Café Retailer Award is open to businesses with ten or more outlets selling sandwiches and food to go products and the judges recognised Starbucks for the choice and quality of its product offering. Aside from the coffee, the retailer stocks a good range of sandwiches and food to go options from hearty breakfast sandwiches to vegan lunch pots.

Starbucks first opened in the UK in 1998 and today has over 300 stores across the UK, including airports, station forecourts and drivethru retailers. Its product offering has developed specifically for the UK market with a strong food to go selection. The menu includes a good selection of gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and dairy free options as well as healthy eating choices alongside other menu items.

Neil Littler, Starbucks UK Marketing & Product Team Lead, said:

“We are delighted to be recognised as the High Street Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer winner. The Sammies Awards are THE food-to-go industry awards so to be recognised is a huge achievement for the business, acknowledging how

we have grown the business aside from the coffee offering. Starbucks can provide more than just a coffee, and this award demonstrates Starbucks’ product offering, whether it be a coffee with friends or a lunchtime meeting.”

Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer Award In-Store – M&S Café M&S Café is actually the UK’s third largest coffee shop chain, selling 35 million cups of coffee each year in 450 outlets.

To be recognised by the British Sandwich & FTG Association as the Sandwich & FTG Café Retailer is further endorsement to the success of the chain.

Steve Kemp from M&S was delighted to collect the award and enthused about

how successful the Café has become for the retail giant, commenting: “M&S Cafes are great. They really deliver, whether it be lunch with a friend or a coffee whilst shopping. We work really hard developing the Café product so it is wonderful to receive this award from the Sammies, further proof that we are creating the café that our customers want.”

58 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

New FTG Product Award Hot – EAT., Roast in a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap seasonality of ingredients, with all food made from scratch every day.

EAT.’s Head of Food Emily Williams collected the award and shared her pride: “It’s great to receive national recognition from the British Sandwich Association and The Sammies Awards. We work hard at EAT. and really listen to our customers.

The Roast in a Yorkshire Wrap was created based on consumer trends of new grab and go formats, and by working with the best quality ingredients we are able to create something we are really proud of.”

EAT.’s Roast in a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap certainly satisfied a bunch of hungry judges. The innovative Yorkshire pudding wrap, crammed full of succulent turkey, stuffing, crispy bacon and cranberry sauce, delivered a quality lunch with all judges commenting on the quality of the ingredients used and the light but crispy Yorkshire pudding used as a carrier.

EAT. continue to drive innovation in this sector with menus constantly evolving and new products introduced. The chain prides itself on changing its menus, based on the

New FTG Product Award Cold – Boots, Egg & Avocado Grain Box Boots Egg & Avocado Grain Box combines egg and avocado with red & white quinoa, couscous and green lentils and a pea & mint crush to create a tasty, healthy and high protein meat lunchtime alternative. The judges really liked the presentation of the product with a good mix of colours that also provided on tasting an interesting mix of flavours and textures that perfectly complement one another.

Boots have long pioneered the lunch on the go with their meal deals that blazed a trail offering a lunchtime selection packaged as a deal. The high street store has continued to stay on trend with new products and offerings

following consumer demand for healthier options and vegan and gluten free products.

Boots Assistant Food Development Manager Amanda Johnson collected the award and was thrilled to receive an award for a product her team has worked hard to develop: “We launched the Egg & Avocado Grain box last April fusing classic flavours with on trend ingredients to create a healthy lunchtime eat. Customer feedback has been positive and the box instantly became one of our top selling salads so now to win this industry recognition, further demonstrates that this salad really delivers.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 59

New Sandwich Award Hot – Asda, All Day Breakfast Toastie Asda’s All Day Breakfast Toastie impressed the Judges in the New Sandwich Award hot category for its innovative use of ingredients to create a very different breakfast sandwich that recognises the demand for breakfast any time of day.

With some stiff competition in this area, the judges commended the All Day Breakfast Toastie for the quirky use of baked beans as a topping to a generously loaded sandwich that includes quality ingredients like Cumberland sausages, smoked bacon and egg.

Asda are no stranger to The Sammies, with their products and services being commended over the years but winning the New Sandwich Award is a wonderful achievement for Asda’s Development Team, who work hard to continually develop new sandwiches and FTG menus, according to consumer demands. The All Day Breakfast Toastie is a response to that growing demand for breakfast throughout the day.

Asda’s Category Manager Sabrina Holland has been instrumental in developing this product and is delighted

to be recognised by the Sammies, saying: “This award means so much to the team.

We continuously work to develop and innovate, working on favourite products and then trying to offer a point of difference. This is what we have worked on with the All Day Breakfast toastie. The fun bean and cheese topping not only adds another element of flavour but also gives the sandwich that standout. To be recognised by the industry judges is great testament to our development team.”

New Sandwich Award Cold – Crussh, Butternut, Harissa and Vegan Feta Wrap Crussh’s Butternut, Harissa and Vegan Feta Wrap really stood out to the judges in the cold category of the New Sandwich Award for its innovation and its salute to healthy eating, being both vegan, dairy free and hitting the 1 of 5 a day targets.

The Wholemeal wrap takes a Middle Eastern flavour with a butternut squash, tabbouleh, harissa and vegan feta filling.

The judges were impressed with the feta – a high street first –made from coconut oil but the same taste and texture as the dairy equivalent.

Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars were founded in 1998, making them London’s original juice, smoothie and healthy fast

60 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

food retailer. Today they have 30 stores across London. They work furiously to be constant innovators and leaders in healthy eating, on a mission to improve the wellbeing of teams and customers every day!

Crussh’s Head of Food James Kidman commented on the win: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won! We work really hard innovating to deliver healthy, dairy free options that taste just as good as meat and dairy options, and 45% of our range is now vegan. As consumer diets are changing and more people adopt a flexitarian diet, we’re delighted our innovation in this area has been recognised by The Sammies.”

Sandwich & FTG Healthy Eating Award Sandwich – Greggs, Mexican Bean Wrap Greggs were a surprising winner of the Sandwich Healthy Eating Award, with their vegan friendly Mexican Bean Wrap which really delivered on flavour whilst ticking many of the healthy eating boxes.

The company has worked really hard developing a varied menu and encouraging a new and wider customer base.

Their Balanced Choice Wraps, which launched last summer, targeted younger consumers, vegans and flexitarians, and provided a delicious range of lower calorie sandwich options, impressing the judges with the tasty flavours and textures used to create this

healthy vegetarian and vegan option. David Ross, Head of Category Planning, is pleased to see Greggs being recognised as a viable option for those seeking a healthy lunch: ”Winning this award makes a real statement for Greggs and shows how hard the teams have worked to innovate and develop a menu that reflects changing consumer tastes, tapping into the demand for healthier lunch options. This award is a huge testament to the whole team from our Product Development Team to those working instore, putting the customer at the forefront of everything we do.”

Sandwich & FTG Healthy Eating Award FTG – EAT., Chicken Satay & Chargrilled Broccoli Protein Pot EAT.’s Protein Pots range launched in January 2019, specifically for those customers that are looking for functional foods that are still tasty and wholesome. The Chicken Satay and Chargrilled Broccoli Pot stood out for the judges for the visual impact of the dish and the quality of ingredients. The mix of quinoa and lentils with chicken and crunchy broccoli provided a satisfying mix of flavour and texture - all under 340 calories.

EAT.’s Head of Food Emily Williams is thrilled that the Protein Pots were picked out as a winner in the FTG Healthy Eating Award, as the team have been working hard to

deliver a range that targets not only those with health high on the agenda with a protein focus but also a great snacking range. Emily commented on the win: “Healthy Eating is such a big driver on the high street and one that we at EAT. believe we are supporting.

The Protein Pots range is just part of a wider healthy eating range that forms a big part of our menu . To see our Chicken and Chargrilled Broccoli Pot recognised is great recognition for our efforts to deliver healthy and high protein dishes, alongside vegetarian, dairy free and other healthy-eating-initiative inspired food.”

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 61

New Product Award Product/Ingredient – Norseland, Ilchester Apple, Sage & Onion Cheese Norseland were delighted to collect the new product award for the second consecutive year in the ingredient category.

This year it was their Ilchester Apple Sage & Onion Cheese that merited the win. The judges commended the cheese on its subtle mix of flavours and creamy consistency, recognising it as a tasty alternative to plain cheddar cheese. Norseland strive to develop and innovate and continue to add new products to the already successful range.

Senior Brand Manager Lisa

Harrison was delighted to collect the award, describing the win as a huge team effort:

“Innovation is key to what we do at Norseland and whilst we are delighted to

already boast a successful and popular range, it is always good to look at developing new products for the range.

Our Ilchester Apple Sage & Onion Cheese is in response to our development chefs looking at using new spices and flavour combinations that complement the creamy taste of our Ilchester Cheddar. It’s wonderful to see the product recognised by the British Sandwich Association as a product, whether that be as a sandwich filling or used as an ingredient in a FTG pot.”

New Product Award Equipment/Packaging – Coveris, M&S Sushi Packaging The equipment/packaging award was given to Coveris for their M&S Sushi Packaging, which impressed the judges with the simplicity of the design and the efforts made to reduce the packaging on the product.

The packaging was developed in a collaborative sustainability project with M&S and food manufacturer Greencore and makes significant progress in the recyclability and overall weight of the range. The launch in January 2019 saw M&S’s sushi packaging move from clear plastic lids, black plastic bases and FSC cartonboard sleeves to sustainably sourced FSC window patched cartons.

The launch delivers over a 30% packaging weight reduction across the range, uses 35% less plastic, removes difficult to recycle black plastic and features ‘Widely Recycled’ logos under OPRL guidelines, indicating 75% or more of local authorities have kerbside collection facilities for the materials used.

Coveris’ Food-to-go Sales Director, Michael Conway, said: “Coveris is extremely proud to win the prestigious and highly competitive New Product Award for Equipment/Packaging at the Sammies. We are committed to delivering sustainable and responsible packaging for the food-to-go sector and this award

62 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

demonstrates the value of collaboration in developing packaging towards a circular economy - commitments highlighted in our Pack Positive® sustainability strategy.

Through effective partnership with M&S and Greencore, we have improved recyclability and reduced pack weight, while developing the presentation and shelf presence of the range instore, a success story for food-to-go.”

Sandwich & FTG Business Development Award DataTherapy & Platopus Systems Limited The Sandwich & FTG Business Development Award went to DataTherapy & Platopus Systems Limited for their service development platform, which allows secure and reliable business applications and mobile apps to be built and deployed quickly.

The judges were able to quickly see and understand how the Platopus website tool could deliver and maintain FTG brand websites, whilst delivering accurate data and product information quickly and effectively.

We are living in a technologically advanced world and businesses need to have that online presence

which is something that Platopus can deliver through a simple yet hospitality-friendly, webbuilding tool which gives the

operator complete control of their site, helping deliver a branded website that is always up to date and can be managed in house.

One of the major benefits the judges could see from this tool is the option to deliver ingredient and allergen information quickly and easily, and manage any changes internally. DataTherapy’s Yousaf Shah is thrilled to see the tool recognised by the Sammies: “It’s fantastic for Platopus to receive this endorsement from the industry. We are striving to showcase the many benefits of the system and this win really helps endorse the efficacy of Platopus for businesses whatever their size. We are really hopeful that this win will really help businesses across the UK benefit.”

SAMMIES

Sponsorship Opportunities Our 25th British Sandwich Industry Awards will be launched at the Lunch! Show 2019.

If you are interested in sponsoring The Sammies next year these are some of the benefits: • • • • • • • • •

Dedicated profile page Logo’s in all Sandwich & Food to Go News Magazines from September 2019 through to July 2020 Editorial about the sponsor in our magazine which is distributed to over 5,000 people in the industry Opportunity to feature in Sammies e-bulletins sent to over 5000 retailers, suppliers and manufacturers Branding at the Lunch! Show 2019 Logo on all material during our daytime events and Sammies Awards evening Sponsorship of one award category and presentation to the winner Photo opportunity Table for 10 at the awards dinner

Please contact Sandra@sandwich.org.uk or call 01291 636348 for further information

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 63

BRITISH SANDWICH

DESIGNER OF THE YEAR 2019 : s r e n n i W r e n g i s e Joint D n o i t i t e p m o C e h t A First for The stakes were high during this year’s Sandwich & Food to Go Designer Grand Final which took place at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel on Thursday 9th May 2019.

64 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

For the first time the judges decided to award the Sandwich Designer title to two thoroughly deserved winners Sophie Whyman from Adelie Foods and Greencore’s Megan Fallows.

SANDWICH DESIGNER 2019

W

hat an outstanding competition to find the UK’s best sandwich designer this has been.

Megan Fallows from Greencore wowed the judges with her Cauli Cheese Toastie, based on her grandmother’s recipe. All the judges were bowled over by the taste and innovative use of the Jarlsberg cheese. Equally, Sophie Whyman’s Pear of Stars used the New York Bakery Star Bun to create an innovative sweet sandwich that left the judges hungry for more with her delicate mix of sweet flavours. With a result too close to call, both were made joint overall winners - the first time this has happened in this long-running industry competition.

With chefs participating from across the UK and inspiration taken from around the world, the competition was intense with a smorgasbord of flavours used in the stunning sandwich creations.

The chefs competed across six different categories with some exciting recipes. In the Royal Greenland MSC Cooked and Peeled Cold Water Prawns category, healthy eating was

definitely on the agenda with some fresh twists and innovative use of carriers like wraps.

Sam Browne’s Shredded Duck category took on a real oriental flavour with some wonderful Japanese-inspired recipes. No such thing as plain old chicken in H. Smith’s Shredded Chicken category with many of the sandwiches taking on an international feel with Thai, Kiev, Italian and Mexican sandwiches impressing the judges.

Norseland’s Jarlsberg proved its versatility whether melted as a breakfast sandwich or used as a tasty topping and New York Bakery’s Star Bun enabled our chefs to get really creative with even ice cream as a chosen filling. New for 2019, the Applewood Free From category really showcased how this dynamic industry is changing with some really healthy and innovative product used in the vegetarian lunch pots.

It was a tough job for the judges having to eat their way through 30 sandwiches and lunch pots, but with so much creativity on show, choosing a winner was an arduous but definitely satisfying task.

r a e Y e th f o r e n ig s e D h Overall Sandwic

Joint Winners

Megan Fallows, Greencore

Sophie Whyman – Adelie Foods

Norseland Jarlsberg Category

New York Bakery Star Bun Category

Sandwich Name: Mammar's left over Cauli cheese Toastie

Sandwich Name: A Pear of Stars

Megan created Mammar’s Cauli Cheese Toastie based on a recipe from her Grandmother. The delicious cauliflower bread, grilled with a bacon butter worked as a tasty carrier against a creamy cauliflower cheese filling. The crunch from the chargrilled broccoli and sprinkling of smoked bacon lardons created an interesting textural mix.

Highly Commended:

Chloe Somerville, The Real Wrap Company Norwegian Rarebit

Sophie’s sophisticated Frenchtoasted star bun combined layers of sweetness with crunch and a little bit of tang.

Amaretto poached pear, fanned over a bed of tangy lemon cream cheese topped with a baked peach custard star, shards of honeycomb and mapleroasted pumpkin seeds made Sophie a very worthy winner.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 65

SANDWICH DESIGNER 2019 Royal Greenland MSC Cooked and Peeled Cold Water Prawns

CATEGORY WINNER: David Worthington - FSC SANDWICH NAME: PRAWN AVO QUINOA SUMMER BODY ROLLS David’s Prawn Avo Quinoa Summer Body Rolls were packed with a plethora of rainbow vegetables including radishes, carrots, cucumber, avocado and edamame beans making a colourful, attractive and healthy eat. Packed with prawns, in a lime, coriander, mint, red chilli, garlic and ginger dressing and made with a crystal rice roll, this high in protein, low carb alternative to a traditional wrap proved itself to be a great option for eating on the move.

H. Smith Food Group plc Shredded Chicken

CATEGORY WINNER: Owen Aron – Greencore SANDWICH NAME: THAI CHICKEN BAO WOW Owen’s Thai Chicken Bao Wow gave H.Smith’s Shredded Chicken a real Eastern influence with its oriental flavours. Using a lemongrass and sesame bao bun as the carrier, Owen created a sticky tamarind caramel chicken juxtaposed with crispy wanton noodles and a crunchy carrot, papaya, cucumber and lime slaw.

Highly Commended: David Worthington, FSC - Chicken Kiev Ciabatta

Sam Browne Foods Shredded Duck

CATEGORY WINNER: Simon Broadribb – Uptons of Bassett SANDWICH NAME: DUCK VINE FATHER OF ALL WRAPS Simon’s Duck Vine Father of All Wraps showcased Sam Browne Foods shredded duck as a rich delicious filling.

The home-made BBQ sauce made with duck jus created a tasty flavour around the duck providing the perfect juxtaposition against the crunch of the pickled cucumbers in a brown wrap.

Applewood Vegetarian Lunch Pot

CATEGORY WINNER: Katherine McCloy – Greencore SANDWICH NAME: A POT OF COMFORT Catherine’s comforting Pot of Comfort used an Applewood cheese sauce to cover soft potato rings and juicy portabello mushrooms. A topping of grilled Applewood cheddar and crispy fried onions created a lovely contrasting crunchy texture to this dish.

Highly Commended: Stefano Vigo, FSC - Applewood Custard Pot

66 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

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Megan Fallows receives her award from Camilla Deane (Norseland)

r a e Y e th f o r e n ig s e D h ic Overall Sandw

Joint Winner

Megan Fallows Greencore

Norseland Jarlsberg Category SANDWICH NAME: Mammar’s left over Cauli cheese Toastie

68 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

SANDWICH DESIGNER 2019 HOW DID WINNING THE COMPETITION FEEL?

WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND?

It was incredible. I was genuinely shocked and also really proud when they said my name and Sophie’s at the awards dinner. There was a massive response from my colleagues at the Greencore table as well as from our customer’s table.

Everyone at work was shouting about it afterwards – it was brilliant. Then appearing on the One Show was amazing. I was just finishing off at work at around 5.30pm and I got a call from the One Show producers asking if I wanted to be on the show tomorrow! I wasn’t going to turn that down. So that morning I was creating a sandwich to present … and doing all the press as well.

I must admit, I was quite nervous. Luckily, I’m very good at hiding the nerves - I was actually shaking! But it was a really good experience.

I started at the University of Derby’s Buxton Campus doing a Professional Culinary Art degree.

I then worked at Le Manoir Le Quat’ Saison near Oxford for two years before Greencore, always knowing that I wanted to be a development chef work in retail or foodservice, doing canapes, hot starters, fish and veg garnish section. It was an incredible experience – very hard work – but so worth it. It was great being mentored by Raymond Blanc – he’s so passionate about ensuring his team are doing the right cut or the right sauce – everything really. He was brilliant.

I thought that I might go into ready meals initially, but then I realised how dynamic and innovative the food to go sector was, so I decided to try that instead. I’m very glad that I did and I’ve been here for two years now.

HOW DID YOU RATE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING AT THE FINAL WHEN YOU SET OUT? This was my first time for the competition – I just missed out with the timing the first year I was at Greencore. I’m a bit of a shy person when it comes to things like this, but I thought do you know what, you’ve got to be in it to win it, so I went for it.

Did I rate my chances? I don’t like my imagination to run away with itself so I didn’t get carried away. I looked around at what the other competitors were doing and thought, hmmm, this is going to be a tight one.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE SANDWICH? My dad’s mum (mammar) used to make amazing Sunday dinners and the best cauliflower cheese. For me the best thing about her cauliflower cheese was the crispy, burned edges, stuck to the side of the dish and that was something I really wanted to get into my product.

The idea was to take something really humble and relatable as a food and give it a twist – hence the cauliflower bread, rather than a traditional sourdough for a toastie. I’m a great believer in using simple ingredients and doing them right, using their own natural flavours.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 69

SANDWICH DESIGNER 2019 I’d made the cauliflower bread before in the past and I decided to use it to make into the best cauliflower cheese toastie I could do. Then using the Jarlsberg cheese created almost a kind of fondue melt as the cheese sauce for the cauliflower – it was like silk, really brilliant.

The idea grew organically. Rather than sitting down with a pen and paper to work it out, ideas kept coming to me. It took about two weeks of thinking it over and adding new elements until I was happy with it – I actually entered four products altogether, so there were other things too I was working on.

Oddly enough, the cauliflower toastie nearly didn’t make it in at all! It looked like I was going to have to leave it out at one point, but then someone dropped out of the heats and I was able to enter it at a late stage I was really pleased about that because it was my own personal favourite product.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU? It’s all very well making products at home but it’s a different matter altogether when you have to do it in a competitive and unknown environment! I was prepared for the worst, but actually everything went very smoothly and according to plan.

Mammar’s Left Over Cauli Cheese Toastie Winning recipe INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

60g and 1 slice Norseland Jarlsberg Cheese 2 slices Fresh Cauliflower Bread, grilled with bacon butter 200g Cauliflower Cheese Mix 22g Smoked Bacon Lardons 4 pieces Chargrilled Tenderstem Broccoli

70 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

WHAT NEW TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING CURRENTLY THAT YOU’RE INCORPORATING IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT? I’m really enjoying what I do at the moment because I’m involved in bringing back the basics and making sure our ingredients are the best. For instance, I’ve been looking at what is the best ham for ham sandwiches recently, and for me it’s not something like Iberico, but Yorkshire, and I’m not just saying this because I’m biased, being from Yorkshire. Iberico is lovely but I want to fly a flag for fantastic British sliced hams like Wiltshire, honey roast or Yorkshire.

But we’re also seeing a lot of fusion cuisines at the moment and in fact we’ve done some work in this area recently – for example the sushi sandwiches we have recently developed for one of our customers.

WHERE IS YOUR TROPHY NOW? It’s on a shelf in my living room!

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Sophie Whyman receives her award from (left) New York Bakery’s Head of Innovation Hannah Sibley

r a e Y e th f o r e n ig s e D Overall Sandwich

Joint Winner

Sophie Whyman Adelie Foods New York Bakery Star Bun Category SANDWICH NAME: A Pear of Stars

72 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

HOW DID WINNING THE COMPETITION FEEL? It was absolutely fantastic. I’ve been riding on a high ever since. Apart from receiving the award, one of the real high points was appearing on the One Show on TV. We were only told that it was definitely going to happen four hours before, so it was a bit of a rush but really good fun!

A lot of people have commented on how relaxed I seemed on the Show! To be fair, I’m usually quite relaxed.

I switch that button off and try to chill out and just enjoy things, even when there’s 5.4 million people watching a show! It’s also a big asset with work – I’ve worked in some very stressful kitchens but I’ve always been able to park it outside the door or channel it into whatever I’m doing, so I’m lucky like that I guess.

There have been lots of congratulations from the Adelie workplace, and even from lots of people on the factory floor, which has been brilliant.

It was also great being joint winners with Megan. It was an honour and a privilege to win with her and it was also great fun appearing on the One Show with her.

WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND? I did a degree in Food Science at Leeds University, graduating in 2013, with an industrial placement in quality at Nestle during that time. After I finished I wasn’t quite ready to settle down, so I started travelling. After cheffing in a busy mountain-side restaurant in British Columbia as my first port of call, I never looked back, I also worked and lived in Spain, Italy and New Zealand.

Fast forward six years and I decided to make the UK my permanent home again and that’s when I started at Adelie.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE SANDWICH? I’ve taken a lot of influences from the people I’ve worked with during my travelling. One of the most influential for me was a head chef in New Zealand who really liked creating lots of different fusions of flavours. She loved cooking with fruit in sweet and savoury food – so I took my inspiration for the poached pear from her.

I was also inspired from my darling mother, who taught me how to cook from a very young age. When I was a child she was cooking every night and as a female and daughter you are inspired to be like your mother. I hoped I would make her proud by winning this and when I told her, she was like ‘OMG, I just can’t believe it!.’ Female chefs in general really provide a lot in the food industry and have a lot of good values, I think.

I also have a really sweet tooth, so I really enjoy trying sweet things so that was also an inspiration.

HOW DID YOU PUT THE RECIPE TOGETHER? It took me about an hour in total. I knew I wanted to create a sweet product because of working with the sweet brioche bread. It inspired me right away because the idea of doing a dessert sandwich is quite novel and new, so I thought I would channel that.

The rest of the elements just came together. I knew I wanted to do a poached pear with amaretto to give it a foodie, indulgent aspect, as an adult treat. With the custard I was feeling nostalgic, thinking back to school dinner peaches and custard, as well as the toffee. The maple syrup pumpkin seed brittle was inspired from my New Zealand experience where we did a lot of cooking with maple syrup.

SANDWICH DESIGNER 2019 I also aimed to have the right textures and bit of sour tang from the lemon cream cheese, as well as the sweet.

I pretty much stuck with my original formula…it didn’t change that much after I’d come up with the original conception.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AT THE COMPETITION? Getting everything down to the competition in London on the train and tube in a little cool bag and avoiding knocks from commuters was a bit tricky. Also, the custard was difficult because sometimes it won’t set and can be a bit loose. I had to bake the custard as a whole and then cut it out carefully around a shape and keep it intact.

HOW DID YOU RATE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING AT THE FINAL WHEN YOU SET OUT? I really wasn’t sure. This is my first job in the food industry.

I joined Adelie Foods in August 2018, so I was very new to it. I hadn’t even heard of the Sammies before I joined the company. But when the news got around that I was in the final, there was a lot of hype and excitement in the office about it.

I know that a number of competitors come back year after year, so it was really an incredible feeling when I heard that I was a joint winner.

A Pear of Stars Winning recipe INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • •

1 New York Bakery Star Bun 1 French toast star bun 75g Peach custard star 15g Honeycrumb 12g Maple seeds 75g Poach pears 25g Lemon cheese

74 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

WHAT NEW TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING CURRENTLY THAT YOU’RE INCORPORATING IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT? I’ve travelled quite a bit in south-east Asia and Indonesia and I’ve worked with some really good Japanese chefs, so they are all big influences for me. Thailand street markets are my own favourite – you can’t beat a good Pad Thai.

I particularly love using a blender and working up a really thick spicy and tasty curry paste and using that with coconut milk or tomatoes. I love making noodle soups or dumplings and also vegan is huge at the moment.

I also love to go to different restaurants and food service areas, as well as street food markets. London’s Camden area is a real favourite and there’s a vegan pie shop there to die for.

I also still do a lot of travelling and eating around the world all the time – this year already I’ve managed Iceland, Spain and France twice. Iceland has these amazing thermal grow houses, heated by thermal vents, so it’s really interesting and there’s some really good sushi there.

I do a huge amount of cooking at home too. The kitchen at home is mine and no one else’s – even my partner doesn’t even get to go in there, apart from a bowl of cereal in the morning!

WILL YOU COMPETE AGAIN? Yes, definitely, it was really good fun and a great networking experience.

NEWS

Packing a PUNCH for the food to go market Sandwich and food to go manufacturers are increasingly looking to Shaws’ premium chutney and relish lines for more innovative recipes

S

andwich industry supplier Shaws chutneys and relishes celebrates its 130th anniversary this year.

The bulk of the sandwich market that Shaws sell to still leans towards traditional sandwich pickle, cranberry sauce and onion chutneys to deliver that punch, But sandwich and food to go manufacturers are now increasingly looking to Shaws’ premium lines for more innovative recipes in response to a more sophisticated consumer palate, such as Fig & Honey or Spiced Apricot & Ginger chutneys.

Their sandwich pickle contains around 50% less salt and a third less sugar than the competition, with no added flavourings. They run a gluten, celery, nut and sesame free site, soon to be dairy free too. And all their products, bar the Fig & Honey Chutney, are vegan friendly.

They are also noticeably looking for products that work well with hot eats too, as they expand their menus into this lucrative market. Which means that Shaws products are finding more and more innovative food-to-go homes: in wraps, as dips, on gourmet burgers, baked into pork pies, even mixed into curries or spread over pizzas, as a flavour packed hack.

Meanwhile, Shaws’ in-house food technologist, Kate Pearson, is responding to this changing demand, developing a Herby Tomato Sauce that works equally well heated, for

example, for Real Wrap, and some smoky chilli jellies for casual dining chains, with that all-important named ingredient provenance.

“Spicy heat and named chillies continue trending,” she says, “and we are working closely with chilli importers to develop products which offer the best flavour and not just heat, including Habanero, Ancho, Amarillo, Pasilla and de Arbol chillies. It’s a careful balance keeping the spice heat at levels that all consumers can enjoy.

“Jams and jellies also continue to grow in popularity and are crossing over from casual dining into the foodto-go market, as consumers become more adventurous,” continues Pearson, “And it’s a great way to get heat into a sandwich, balanced by the sweetness of the sugars.”

The key trends across all food and drink sectors are driven by a more informed consumer concerned about their health, the planet’s health and the provenance of their food, including an expectation of vegan and free from diet offers and minimised salt, sugar and preservative contents. Just as they were through two world wars, Shaws are prepared.

When glass was scarce during WWI, Shaws built their own glass furnace to support the business. When austerity bit again during WWII, they cannily focused on vinegar brewing for preserving the scarce produce. And

when undercut by Eastern European picklers in the 1990s, they drew on that Yorkshire grit again, faced with a tough decision, as MD Jan Docker explains: “To close the business for good or diversify into producing more chutneys and relishes. We diversified and added salsas and sauces to our repertoire. The salsas remain our bestselling product by a country mile.”

Much remains unchanged. “We regularly consider upgrading our cookers,” says Docker, “but they are not only a part of the Shaws legacy, but a part of our trademark complexity of flavours. We are justly proud of our heritage, but not sentimental. If it doesn’t work for the brand or the customer, it won’t remain.”

The ebb and flow of Shaws products across the decades maps the evolution of British food-to-go; from the 60’s, when their pickled onion staples were on the counters of most Yorkshire fish and chip shops, through to today’s foodie trends of savoury jams, jellies and unpronounceable chillis.

Shaws products are available in 1.2 ltr and 2.2 ltr plastic jars or 10kg tubs; products are ambient stable for 12-18 months from production and for 2-4 weeks refrigerated once open.

The company supplies into the foodservice arena via the FoodFellas and direct to manufacturers.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 75

k e e W h c i w d n a S #British P

R Manager, Samantha Day reviews the media activity and hype surrounding this year’s British Sandwich Week which took place 19-25 May. British Sandwich Week is a very important week in the culinary calendar.

A chance to celebrate this staple British

76 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

cuisine in all its glory. More than a slice of meat between two slices of bread, the sandwich becomes a work of art during British Sandwich Week with chefs and restaurants creating gastronomic masterpieces, celebrating the humble sandwich.

BRITISH SANDWICH WEEK 2019

During the week we saw #BritishSandwichWeek trending across twitter, instagram and other social media channels. Restaurants, sandwich bars, pubs and hotels shared their sandwich specials online with special offers, bespoke sandwiches and general sandwich celebrations.

From newspapers and magazines to TV and radio, everybody joined in celebrating what is a staple British lunch.

British Sandwich Week made for great viewing.

We saw this year’s winning

Sandwich Designers Sophie Whyman from Adelie and Greencore’s Megan Fallows live on BBC’s The One Show making breakfast sandwiches for American TV Host Mindy Kaling. Also previous Sammies winner, Max Halley joined the Sunday Brunch team knocking up gourmet ham egg and chips encased between two slices of bread. The BSA also featured on BBC Radio across the country discussing the top five sandwiches and talking about the work of the British Sandwich Association.

dwich Week both articles about British San 0 ,00 300 r ove re we ere Th ran their own dia. The Daily Telegraph online and across print me ing 16 classic ite sandwich filling featur poll to find the UK’s favour dia included me the er stories also ran in sandwich fillings and oth used British kle Pic on nst Bra of the World. the 21 Great Sandwiches sta ich ck with a mouth-watering sandw Sandwich Week to create d with each ate ssic food combos associ each layer made from cla n to the 21st ma ugh plo y Boomer classic generation, from the Bab . century vegan sandwich

days before the launch The Sammies Awards took place ten to maximise coverage time g givin k of British Sandwich Wee rage was featured with for some of the winners. Positive cove ucts during this week of national winners promoting their prod sandwich celebration. out to millions of British Sandwich Week also reached ks to our poster than commuters across UK Railway stations ran in printed n paig cam e Th campaign with Network Rail. ss many of the acro ts poin on mati infor c poster and electroni ers to buy a mut com major UK transport hubs encouraging sandwich.

given us a great tish Sandwich Week has One thing is certain, Bri ation, its members British Sandwich Associ platform to promote the on the culinary nt eve become a major and the sandwich, and has oss social acr ing nd tre ndwichWeek calendar. With #BritishSa and every se an overwhelming respon media, we have witnessed with 2019 w gro to d this week continues year the positivity aroun mmies19 #Sa eek hW wic nd l yet. #BritishSa being the most successfu #sandwiches

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 77

PACKAGING Wagamama replaces black take-out plastic packaging WAGAMAMA has replaced all its black take-out plastic packaging with easy to recycle grey plastic.

Whilst its current black plastic is recyclable, it often goes undetected by optical scanners at UK recycling plants.

The new move by the top pan Asian restaurant brand will mean 15.4 million pieces of plastic can now be easily recycled every year.

The initiative is part of a bigger strategy by its ‘Midori’ (meaning green in Japanese) team which is dedicated to sustainability across its business.

They’re currently looking at alternative materials to improve recyclability and reduce plastic across their business.

Last year it replaced seven million single use plastic straws across its restaurants with biodegradable paper alternatives.

In addition, wagamama has also decided to eliminate annually 2.7million cardboard sleeves, used to indicate the contents of each bowl, with small cardboard inserts which slot into the centre of each lid.

Their take-out packaging is deliberately made with reuse in mind, and the company always encourages guests to reuse their leftover take-out bowls through their ‘rinse reuse recycle’ slogan.

Chief Growth Officer, Caroline Cromar, said: “One of our priorities this year is to address all unnecessary single use plastic in our business. Our take-out packaging is just one prong of our plastic reduction efforts. This change is simple yet effective. It means 100% of all take-out packaging, if disposed correctly, will be recycled. In addition, we’ll be significantly reducing the amount of cardboard being used to indicate to guests the contents of our take-out bowls.”

Catering supplier launches Green Planet ONE of the country’s leading suppliers to the hospitality trade has responded to the industry’s desire to be more environmentally friendly by launching a new range.

North-East based Innerglass Ltd – part of the IG Group – provides catering disposables, glassware, crockery and thousands of other products to many of the UK’s biggest names in hospitality.

And now it has launched Green Planet, having sourced a range of mainly plant based alternatives to materials which are damaging to the environment.

Among the many products now on offer through Green Planet are straws made from plant-based PLA which are both 100 per cent compostable, biodegradable and recyclable.

The new company also offers a range of PLA glassware, including oxobio flexy glassware which will naturally decompose after exposure to air, warmth and light.

Cups for hot beverages are being offered which are made from sustainably sourced board, along with food cartons which are water based and compostable.

Green Planet has also managed to source microwave and dishwasher safe take away containers, which are made from recycled sugarcane rather than plastics.

A number of new tableware options are also proving extremely popular, including the Bagasse range, again

78 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

made from recycled sugarcane and a second range made from naturally fallen palm leaves.

Stephen Hoey, CEO of the familyowned business, said setting up Green Planet was an obvious response to the demands of the industry. “We have been aware for some time that clients want an alternative to plastics and there wasn’t one place where they could get everything to meet their needs,” he said.

“Through Green Planet they can now get environmentally-friendly versions of the products they use regularly, which will help them move away from plastics.

“We are constantly sourcing new products to enhance the range and we are also able to pass on to our clients up-to-date information and advice on how to be more environmentally conscious.”

Other products now being offers through Green Planet include bamboo picks and skewers from sustainable sources, wooden cutlery and biodegradable napkins.

The company also offers a range of cleaning materials many of which are made from recycled materials, such as green refuse sacks, flushable wipes and envirowipe cleaning clothes.

Based at the North West Industrial Estate at Peterlee, County Durham, the company provides glassware, crockery, bar and cocktail supplies from its 150,000 sq ft warehouses where it holds around 10,000 branded products.

NEW PRODUCTS

FRI-JADO PROVIDES FIVE YEAR WARRANTY ON MD HOT FOOD MERCHANDISERS FRI-JADO UK Limited, the Uxbridge-based foodservice and food retailing equipment provider, is now providing a five-year warranty on its range of MD (multi deck) hot food merchandisers. The company claims that it is the first and only manufacturer to offer such extended cover for this type of equipment.

The five-year warranty applies to Fri-Jado’s MD ‘Eyeline’ and MD Premium ranges, which include models with three, four or five display decks and cabinet widths of 600, 1000, or 1200 mm.

Fri-Jado UK’s Director of National Accounts, Gary Thacker, explained the company’s decision to offer the extended warranty: “Our MD hot food merchandisers are the result of over ten years of market research and product development. They incorporate state-of-the-art technology and have been engineered for reliability, operational efficiency and ease of use. As a result, a

negligible failure rate means that we have complete faith in offering a five-year warranty on this equipment.”

The MD merchandisers allow operators to tap into the lucrative food to go market, which is predicted to be worth £23.5 billion by 2022 (source IGD). The heated displays are also suitable for the rapidly expanding home delivery sector, where the volume of deliveries is estimated to be approaching a billion per year.

MD merchandisers are suitable for the display of a wide variety of hot, prepacked snacks and meal solutions, including whole chickens, chicken portions, panini, pies, sausage rolls, pasties, soup, hot rolls and wraps. The cabinets are offered with either an attractive curved profile and panoramic glazed end walls, or with square glass and square top for complementary suiting with refrigeration counters. The merchandisers are available

with a pass-through option, facilitating restocking from the service side.

The MD merchandisers incorporate Fri-Jado’s proven and patented Hot Blanket holding technology.

Hot air is blown from the front of each shelf and is circulated over the shelf surface, before being recycled into the unit.

Product is held within a blanket of hot air to deliver a consistent and food safe holding temperature of 65°C and above. The accurate and stable holding temperature maintains cooked food at perfect quality and appearance for at least four hours, reducing the amount of merchandise that may be price discounted or thrown away, due to product deterioration. The air curtain technology on the front of each shelf retains hot air within the unit, reducing cabinet air spillage, to create energy savings of some 20%.

Tel: +44 (0)1895 272227 Website: www.frijado.co.uk

HATS OFF TO HERALD HERALD is enjoying a surge in sales of its foodservice disposables with auxiliary items like the quality disposables manufacturer and supplier’s adjustable headwear range proving to be in high demand.

The classic paper chef hats, paper forage hats and non-woven skull caps can be found in Herald’s Chef Master line. The established sub-brand, introduced by Herald to provide chefs and caterers with options to enhance their food presentation, is renowned

for its premium kitchen products.

The product range initially consisted of doyleys and tray papers.

However, it has gradually expanded to include further items over the years, such as foil and microwave containers, wooden skewers, foil platters and bakery products.

As the Chef Master range has become more widely known as a cost-effective and consistent offering, interest in the products has grown. Managing director of Herald Yogesh

Patel comments: “Kitchen products are a large part of our core business and we supply a full range of items to the catering industry and its associated industries.

Our share of the market is growing thanks to our

name now being noted and recognised as a reliable supplier of quality practical goods and we’re very keen to build on this going forward.”

Tel: 0208 507 7900. www.heraldplastic.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 79

TECHNOLOGY

The changing face of food to go warehouse management technology Tech. is increasingly moving into the warehouse, where the UK’s biggest sandwich producers are already using warehouse management system (WMS) software to overhaul the way their logistics and distribution centres operate, and regional operators look likely to follow as pressure mounts from Brexit, plastic tax and labelling issues. Mark Wilkinson, Supply Chain Consultancy Manager at Indigo Software, explains ‘Food to go’ is booming as perhaps the most intensely active of all the UK’s food manufacturing sectors, with ultra-low margins and fierce competition for our taste buds across all segments. Valued at just over £21 billion in 2019, it’s also one of the fastest growing, thanks to ever increasing working time pressures and fast-moving lifestyle choices.

Kantar Research expects the sandwich industry alone to grow by a healthy £33m every year for the foreseeable future, not to mention the potential growth of other food to go options, with everything from sushi and wraps to protein snack pots on offer for people today.

Regardless of what’s on offer, common to all manufacturers is managing short product shelf life.

Consumers have lost their appetites for processed foods with longer shelf lives.

They want natural products; foods containing as few added ingredients as possible and home-made quality on the move. These demand trends make the issue of perishability and the need for ultra-efficient stock rotation more relevant than ever. But it can be highly resource intensive to achieve the high inventory control standards needed for this without the right technology in place.

Just as everywhere else in industry today, automation is making inroads here, as companies try to achieve these freshness goals and ‘do more with less’.

Already widespread on the shop floor, tech is increasingly moving into the warehouse, where some of the UK’s

biggest sandwich producers are using warehouse management system (WMS) software to overhaul the way their logistics and distribution centres operate.

Thanks to WMS technology, these larger manufacturers can simultaneously (and instantaneously) reduce their production to dispatch times, control wastage at all levels, improve quality control and traceability, comply with new labelling legislation, reduce overheads and introduce efficient Brexit contingency planning for those longer shelf life ingredients. In addition, automating their Quality Assurance (QA) / Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) data capture processes reduces the time taken to perform accurate, food safety audits from days to minutes.

What lessons can other ‘food to go’ manufacturers – the sushi and snack producers, smoothie manufacturers, vegetable and fruit salad processors and smaller-scale sandwich producers for instance - learn from their best practice?

How could implementing warehouse management software in particular, help to increase profit margins and improve all round product quality or compliance?

Here are five ways a WMS solution is already having a positive impact in sandwich manufacturer’s warehouses across the UK. FASTEST POSSIBLE TURNAROUND EFFICIENCY Being such a fast-moving business, there’s no room for delays to a schedule when it comes to producing sandwiches. The

80 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

ability to transact in real time, based on the knowledge that a manufacturer is touching 100% inventory accuracy, is absolutely essential. Any risks of inaccuracy, or delays as a result of not being able to locate stock, have an immediate impact on production and delivery schedules. Warehouse automation is central to achieving the tight turnarounds needed for fresh produce.

Using a WMS, raw material stocks are automatically rotated either according to first in first out principles or to maximise shelf life, so that when picking for a particular manufacturing cycle, the most suitable products are always used first. This may be for instance, because they are nearest their best before dates, or because they feature soon to be out of circulation packaging. In some circumstances, although their dates specify otherwise, other items might need to be used first instead, perhaps because

TECHNOLOGY their temperature upon arrival was higher than expected, but still within tolerance levels.

Being able to spot these opportunities and use these ingredients widely, without compromising manufacturing schedules or consumer safety are key to maximising margins. By controlling absolutely everything coming into or leaving the warehouse, a WMS will automatically prioritise the use of these ingredients, taking the potential for human error and stock mis-rotation out of the production process.

GET A HANDLE ON PLASTIC WASTE In the Budget 2018, the UK government announced its intention to introduce a new tax on plastic packaging. This tax will apply to businesses that produce or import plastic packaging which uses insufficient recycled content, taking effect from April 2022. Sandwich and ‘food to go’ manufacturers have long been heavy users of bonded materials, so this timeframe provides an opportunity to completely phase out less recyclable packaging over a long period. Indigo is currently actively working on projects like this with some of the UK’s largest sandwich producers, helping them to phase out the use of what will become non-compliant packaging well in advance of the deadline and avoid any material waste. For both ingredients and packaging items, avoiding mis-rotation of plastic packaging stock is a key objective for leading sandwich and food to go producers, both in terms of reducing costs and for environmental efficiency.

FASTER LABELLING COMPLIANCE Connected to the issue of minimising packaging waste is the question of labelling and the increased responsibility to more clearly label products containing allergens. Existing EU legislation calls for all foods to clearly display the presence of 14 common allergens for customer safety.

In May 2019, the Food Standards Agency started to urge for tougher legislation and much clearer labelling by all outlets selling food, following on from the Pret a Manger accident. Shelf labelling is of course important, but allergen safety really needs to begin in the warehouse, by firstly ensuring that all ingredients containing allergens are correctly stored and labelled. When present in finished products, all packaging needs to very clearly state the presence of any allergenic ingredients and a WMS can help to automate these processes too.

GREATER INVENTORY ACCURACY Normally, production schedules are controlled using a Bill of Materials listing the precise quantities of each ingredient needed for a set batch size.

The items are manufactured and then, based on a set volume, the required ingredients are estimated and ‘flushed’ out of the inventory – a process known as ‘backflushing’. When it comes to sandwiches, it’s much harder to automate because it’s very difficult to be that accurate. For instance, the weight of three tomato slices going into a BLT can vary a lot depending on the fruit sizes.

To achieve the right levels of precision, a WMS assists this process. By integrating weigh scales, manufacturers can calculate exactly how much product was used during manufacture and then subtract these used quantities from the inventory levels. This avoids having to manually go through works orders or conducting frequent stock room audits. It also means traceability is more reliable, because the system records exactly which items were used in a particular batch.

IMPROVED QUALITY ASSURANCE For sandwich manufacturers, the production process starts as soon as a sales order is received from a customer and the WMS system calculates exactly what resources and raw ingredients are needed to complete the order. Once the raw ingredients arrive at a facility, upon arrival, goods are receipted and quality checked, based on an agreed set of inspection conformance criteria – sell by date, country of origin, shipping temperature, authorised shipping documentation – and cannot be accepted as inventory without the relevant authorisations being completed.

Any processes managed using paper have the potential for human error, but once automated, the compliance risks are eliminated. It’s a big step towards watertight traceability and customer safety.

Importantly new conformance tests can also be added almost immediately.

Supermarkets routinely request audit reports of shipments and by automating quality assurance and HACCP data capture, the large sandwich manufacturers have reduced the time they need to perform food safety audits for their customers from days to minutes.

WHAT’S THE FUTURE? The way forward for all manufacturers in the sandwich and ‘food to go’ sector is automation, but it comes in many shapes and sizes. A first step is to understand what best practice looks like and then to explore the answers to the following questions for your organisation.

What level of efficiency, accuracy and traceability do you need to achieve?

What’s the desired return on investment?

Wherever there is a manual process in the warehouse there is a risk and by mobilising simple transactions like goods receipting and issuance of production notes, automation with a WMS takes this away.

AUTHOR Mark Wilkinson is the Supply Chain Consultancy Manager at Indigo Software and an expert in helping food manufacturers, in particular those involved with the convenience foods industry, to benefit from warehouse automation. www.indigo.co.uk

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 81

BSA NEWS

Association Update From PR Manager Samantha Day May has been a very busy month for the British Sandwich & Food to Go Association.

THE SAMMIES AWARDS The Sammies Awards took place on 9th May at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel.

The evening saw the sandwich and food to go industry come together to celebrate the very best of our exciting industry. We were delighted to honour Greggs’ CEO Roger Whiteside OBE with the Industry Award recognising Roger’s contribution to the industry. Roger has had a fundamental influence on Greggs’ resurgence on the high street with consumers reappraising the brand based on new product launches and new stores opening. Greggs also had a very successful evening collecting another three awards for the chain itself, delivering promising messages about business on the high street. Other highlights from The Sammies included wins from M&S, Asda, Subway and Starbucks and Crussh collected the new sandwich award for our first-ever vegan sandwich in this category.

The Sammies clearly are indicative of the way the industry is responding to consumer demands.

BRITISH SANDWICH WEEK May also saw us celebrate British Sandwich Week, which continues to grow and gain a momentum of its own with celebrities, businesses and the media all joining in sharing their sandwich joys.

It was great to see this year’s Sandwich Designer Winners Adelie’s Sophie Whyman and Greencore’s Megan Fallows appear on The One Show making sandwiches to kick start the week.

ALLERGENS Following the recent decision by the Food Standards Agency Board to support full labelling of products that are prepacked for direct sale, Association Director Jim Winship wrote to all Board Members expressing serious concern about the food safety risks in doing this.

In his letter he urged the Board to reconsider their decision given the extremely high risk of cross contamination in foodservice environments. By labelling products with the specific allergens they contain, consumers could be given a false sense of security, he said.

Since the FSA Board meeting the Association has also met with officials from both the FSA and Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to stress the risks and to set out some of the costs involved for small businesses.

82 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Talk is that the Government will set out its strategy very soon, although this may be delayed by the current leadership elections, with Secondary Legislation towards the end of the summer and a transition period for businesses to comply of probably two years.

LISTERIA Following the tragic deaths of some patients from listeria, the Association is asking for a meeting with the Food Standards Agency, Public Health England and the NHS to discuss current guidance on the provision of suitable foods for patients with lowered immune systems. The Association’s current guidance states that clinicians should be consulted about the types of foods which should be given to patients at risk, particularly given the high temperatures in hospitals which can cause pathogen growth.

NEWS

Crussh to open its first healthcare site and first location outside London CRUSSH Fit Food & Juice Bars will open its first healthcare site, and first site outside London, in Birmingham Children’s Hospital, in summer 2019, in partnership with Sodexo, a leading global services company.

The announcement follows last year’s landmark franchise deal between the healthy food and juice chain and Sodexo which will see Crussh open outlets across all of the Sodexo business from workplace catering to universities, hospitals & government locations across the UK and Ireland.

The new café will stay true to the Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars classic menu, offering a large range of healthy food from breakfast pots & toasties to salads, wraps and healthy treats, alongside freshly pressed juices, smoothies and organic coffee.

Shane Kavanagh, CEO, said: “This

is a really significant opening for us, and provides an incredible opportunity to bring our brand of healthy food and juice to a new audience in locations where we think we can make a real difference. Healthcare is an area we’ve been passionate about for a long time, and we’re delighted to be opening in Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

Stuart Winters, CEO of Healthcare, Sodexo UK & Ireland, said: “Extending our 10-year partnership with Birmingham Children’s Hospital was a clear opportunity to review and overhaul patient dining and retail provision.

Bringing in brands such as Crussh will help us deliver our goal to ensure that we give the right nutrition to children and young people to help them heal and recover and play a part in the Children’s Hospital staff continuing to deliver the best possible care.”

Crussh continues to take a creative approach to the requirements of each location, covering traditional café formats, as well as larger scale sites, food trucks and pop-ups. The company opened its first site in partnership with Sodexo, at City, University of London, in March 2019.

Around Noon founder Sheila Chambers receives MBE SHE founded one of Newry’s leading businesses, creating much-needed employment and leading the way for other female entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland, and now Sheila Chambers has been recognised with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Awarded each year during the month of June as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday celebrations, the Birthday Honours recognise good works and outstanding contribution by citizens.

Sheila receives the honour for her contribution to the local economy, her role in generating vital employment, and for being a pioneer as one of Northern Ireland’s most notable female entrepreneurs.

She founded Around Noon in 1989 and was recognised for providing

much-needed part-time work for mothers seeking employment. Today she continues with the company as a non-executive board member.

Around Noon which is now owned and run

by Sheila’s son Gareth Chambers and Chairman Howard Farquhar, is one of Northern Ireland’s major business success stories of recent years. It now employs

330 people, operating sites in Newry and London, and servicing clients across the UK and Ireland.

Around Noon CEO Gareth Chambers officially congratulated Sheila Chambers MBE on behalf of the company and recognised her contribution not just to Around Noon but to NI Plc. He added: “We are absolutely delighted as it is such fitting recognition, and

everyone at Around Noon is extremely proud.”

Around Noon Chairman Howard Farquhar said: “Sheila is a true pioneer and entrepreneur, setting up a business at her kitchen table in 1980s Northern Ireland, which has grown into what Around Noon is today.

Sheila led the way for other female entrepreneurs and was a forerunner when it came to innovative working practices like flexible working, homeworking and work life balance for employees. Sheila is totally deserving of the honour and the board and team at Around Noon offer her their wholehearted congratulations and gratitude.”

Around Noon is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK and has featured in the Sunday Times Virgin Fasttrack 100 for the past two years.

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 83

BSA Product Index ADVISORY & CONSULTANCY SERVICES Bespoke Software Datatherapy Ltd. Business Systems Datatherapy Ltd. Consultancy Bain & Company Inc. E Commerce Datatherapy Ltd. Factory Grote Company Food Attraction Ltd. FSC Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Zafron Foods Ltd. Food Safety ALS Food & Pharmaceutical Food Industry Green Gourmet Retail Food Attraction Ltd. FSC Vestey Foods UK

Sour Cream Freshfayre CHUTNEYS & RELISHES Chutneys Beacon Foods Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd. The Ingredients Factory Zafron Foods Ltd. Relishes Beacon Foods Blenders Freshfayre Harvey & Brockless Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd The Ingredients Factory Zafron Foods Ltd. Pickles Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd The Ingredients Factory

Doughnuts Moy Park Ltd.

Salsa Beacon Foods Blenders Freshfayre Zafron Foods Ltd.

Morning Goods New York Bakery

DRESSINGS, SAUCES AND MAYONNAISE

Tortilla & Wraps Food Attraction Ltd. Freshfayre Mission Foods

Dips Beacon Foods Blenders Freshfayre Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Pauwels UK The Ingredients Factory Zafron Foods Ltd.

BAKERY PRODUCTS

BREAD & ROLLS Fresh Jacksons Bakery Speciality Food Attraction Ltd. New York Bakery Jacksons Bakery Mission Foods Bread Making Ingredients Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Ltd. Harvey & Brockless BUTTER & SPREADS Butter Freshfayre Southover Food Company Ltd. Spreads Freshfayre Fromageries Bel Harvey & Brockless Spreads (olive) Freshfayre Leathams CHEESE & DAIRY PRODUCTS Cheese Extons Foods FJ Need (Foods) Ltd. Freshfayre Futura Foods UK Ltd. Harvey & Brockless Leathams Norseland Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd. The FoodFellas Yoghurt FJ Need (Foods) Ltd. Freshfayre Futura Foods UK Ltd.

Dressings Blenders Pauwels UK Spreads Blenders Pauwels UK Mayonnaise Blenders Caterers Choice Freshfayre Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Harvey & Brockless Pauwels UK Piquant Zafron Foods Ltd. Mustards Blenders Pauwels UK Southover Food Company Ltd. Zafron Foods Ltd. Sauces & Ketchups Beacon Foods Blenders Caterers Choice Freshfayre Pauwels UK Piquant Southover Food Company Ltd. The Ingredients Factory Zafron Foods Ltd. DRINKS Juices Caterers Choice Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd.

84 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

EGGS & EGG PRODUCTS Eggs (hard boiled) Freshfayre Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Fridays Southover Food Company Ltd. Egg Products Freshfayre Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Fridays Futura Foods UK Ltd. Glendale Foods Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd. Zafron Foods Ltd. EQUIPMENT & VEHICLES Buttering Machinery Deighton Manufacturing Grote Company Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Conveyors Deighton Manufacturing Grote Company Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Cutting & Slicing Equipment Grote Company Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Depositing Machinery Grote Company Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Labelling Systems & Barcoding Planglow Ltd. Mobile Catering Vehicles Jiffy Trucks Ltd. Sandwich Making Machinery Deighton Manufacturing Grote Company Millitec Food Systems Ltd. Shop Fittings Eden a trading division of The Marmon Group Ltd. FISH PRODUCTS Crayfish Freshfayre Royal Greenland Ltd. Prawns Freshfayre H Smith Food Group plc Royal Greenland Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Zafron Foods Ltd. Salmon Caterers Choice Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Seafood/Shellfish Products H Smith Food Group plc Royal Greenland Ltd. Tuna Caterers Choice Freshfayre H Smith Food Group plc Moy Park Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Zafron Foods Ltd. FOOD WHOLESALERS Country Choice Foods FRUIT Canned Fruit Caterers Choice Ltd.

General Beacon Foods The Ingredients Factory Guacamole Leathams Pineapple Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Freshcut Foods Ltd INSURANCE Insurance Protector Group LABELS Bunzl Catering Supplies Planglow Ltd. Tri-Star Packaging Supplies Ltd. MEAT PRODUCTS Bacon Dawn Farms UK Dew Valley Foods Freshfayre Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Smithfield Foods Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Beef Freshfayre Glendale Foods H Smith Food Group plc Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Sam Browne Foods Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Zwanenberg Food UK Ltd Canned Meat Freshfayre Moy Park Ltd. Smithfield Foods Ltd. Chicken 2 Sisters Food Group Cargill Protein Europe Dawn Farms UK Freshfayre Galliance UK Ltd. Glendale Foods H Smith Food Group plc Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Sam Browne Foods Seara Meats BV Smithfield Foods Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Zwanenberg Food UK Ltd Continental Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd. Duck 2 Sisters Food Group Freshfayre Galliance UK Ltd. H Smith Food Group plc Sam Browne Foods Vestey Foods UK Ham Freshfayre Leathams Smithfield Foods Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd. Vestey Foods UK Lamb Freshfayre Glendale Foods H Smith Food Group plc Sam Browne Foods Vestey Foods UK

Marinated Meats Food Network Meatballs Glendale Foods Snowbird foods Zwanenberg Food UK Ltd. Pork Dawn Farms UK Freshfayre Glendale Foods H Smith Food Group plc Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Sam Browne Foods Smithfield Foods Ltd. Southover Food Company Vestey Foods UK Zwanenberg Food UK Ltd Sausages Freshfayre Glendale Foods Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Snowbird foods Smithfield Foods Ltd. Southover Food Company Stephen’s Fresh Foods Ltd. Zwanenberg Food UK Ltd Turkey 2 Sisters Food Group Freshfayre H Smith Food Group plc Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Sam Browne Foods Smithfield Foods Ltd. Southover Food Company Vestey Foods UK OILS Freshfayre ORGANIC PRODUCTS Beacon Foods Fridays Galliance UK Ltd. Leathams Pauwels UK Southover Food Company Ltd. PACKAGING Cardboard Colpac Ltd. Coveris Flexibles (St Neots) UK Ltd. RAP Ltd. Disposable Bunzl Catering Supplies Colpac Ltd. Coveris Flexibles (St Neots) UK Ltd. RAP Ltd. Tri-Star Packaging Supplies Ltd. Food wraps RAP Ltd. Tri-Star Packaging Supplies Ltd. Plastic Tri-Star Packaging Supplies Ltd. Sandwich Packs Colpac Ltd. Coveris Flexibles (St Neots) UK Ltd. RAP Ltd. Tri-Star Packaging Supplies Ltd. PASTA Caterers Choice Ltd. Freshfayre Leathams Pasta Foods Southover Food Company Ltd

BSA Manufacturers & Distributors SANDWICH FILLINGS (READY PREPARED) Fresh Fillings 2 Sisters Food Group Beacon Foods Freshfayre Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Fridays Harvey & Brockless Southover Food Company Ltd. Zafron Foods Ltd. Frozen Fillings 2 Sisters Food Group Beacon Foods Glendale Foods SOUPS Freshfayre Leathams Southover Food Company Ltd VEGETABLES & HERBS Canned Vegetables Caterers Choice Ltd. Freshfayre Princes Foods Ltd. Chargrilled Vegetables Beacon Foods Leathams Moy Park Ltd. Herbs & Spices Beacon Foods Jalapenos Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Ltd. Freshfayre SALAD Fresh Agrial Fresh Produce Ltd. Freshfayre

2 SISTERS FOOD GROUP Manton Wood, Enterprise Park, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 2RS Contact: Renee Skukowski Tel: 01909 511800 renee.skukowski@2sfg.com www.2sistersfoodgroup.com ANCHOR CATERING LIMITED Kent Office: Units 2, 21 & 22, Wotton Trading Estate Wotton Road Ashford, TN23 6LL Contact: Stephen Percival Tel: 01233 665533 spercival@anchorcatering.co.uk www.anchorcatering.co.uk

AROUND NOON LTD. Unit 24A Rampart Road, Greenbank Industrial Estate, Newry, County Down BT34 2QU Tel: 0283 0262333 info@aroundnoon.com www.aroundnoon.com

Salad (prepared) Agrial Fresh Produce Ltd. Southover Food Company Ltd Sundried Tomatoes Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Ltd. Freshfayre Leathams Plc Martin Matthew & Co Ltd. Sweetcorn Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Freshfayre Tomatoes Beacon Foods Caterers Choice Freshfayre

AROUND NOON (LONDON) LTD. 762A/763A Henley Road, Slough SL1 4JW Tel: 01753 523 636 Fax: 01753 573 125 infoANL@aroundnoon.com www.aroundnoon.com BRADGATE BAKERY Beaumont Leys, Leicester, LE4 1WX Contact: Mark Harman Tel: 0116 2361100 Fax: 0116 2361101 clare.keers@bradgate-bakery.co.uk

DELI-LITES IRELAND LTD. Unit 1 Milltown Industrial Estate, Warrenpoint, County Down BT34 3FN Contact: Ronan Gourley Tel: 028 417 54807 ronan.gourley@delilites.com www.delilites.com GREENCORE FOOD TO GO LTD PARK ROYAL Willen Field Rd, Park Royal, London NW10 7AQ Contact: Clare Rees Tel: 0208 956 6000 Fax: 0208 956 6060 clare.rees@greencore.com www.greencore.com GREENCORE FOOD TO GO LTD – MANTON WOOD Manton Wood, Enterprise Zone, Retford Road, Manton, Worksop, Notts, S80 2RS Contact: Sales Tel: 01909 512600 Fax: 01909 512708 www.greencore.com GREENCORE FOOD TO GO LTD – BROMLEY BY BOW Prologis Park, Twelvetrees Crescent, London E3 3JG Tel: 0207 536 8000 Fax: 0207 536 0790 Contact: Sales sales@greencore.com www.greencore.com GREENCORE FOOD TO GO LTD. – ATHERSTONE Unit 7, Carlyon Road Industrial Estate, Atherstone Warwickshire CV9 1LQ Contact: Alex McLaren Tel: 01827 719 100 Fax: 01827 719 101 alex.mclaren@greencore.com www.greencore.com

GREENCORE FOOD TO GO LTD. – HEATHROW Unit 366 Stockley Close, West Drayton, London UB7 9BL Contact: Alex McLaren Ray-Odekeye Tel: 01244 533888 alex.mclaren@greencore.com www.greencore.com

IMPRESS SANDWICHES Units 6-7 Orbital Industrial Estate, Horton Road, West Drayton Middlesex, UB7 8JL Tel: 01895 440123 Fax: 01895 441123

REAL WRAP COMPANY LTD. Unit Haslemere Industrial Estate,Avonmouth, Bristol BS11 9TP Contact: Jason Howell Tel: 0117 3295020 jason@realwrap.co.uk www.realwrap.co.uk STREET EATS FOOD LTD. Prince William Avenue, Sandycroft, Deeside, CH5 2QZ Tel: 01244 533888 Option 1 orders@streeteatsfood.co.uk enquiries@streeteatsfood.co.uk www.streeteatsfood.co.uk

info@impress-sandwiches.com

www.impress-sandwiches.com MELTON FOODS 3 Samworth Way, Leicester Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 1GA Contact: Anthony Minto Tel: 01664 484400 Fax: 01664 484401 anthony.minto@meltonfoods.co.uk

ON A ROLL SANDWICH COMPANY The Pantry, Barton Road, Middlesbrough TS2 1RY Contact: James Stoddart Tel: 01642 707090 Fax: 01642 243858 jstoddart@onarollsandwich.co.uk www.onarollsandwich.co.uk

THE SOHO SANDWICH COMPANY Unit 7 Advent Business Park, Advent Way, London N18 3AL Contact: Daniel Silverston Tel: 0203 058 1245 Fax: 0207 739 1166 dan@sohosandwich.co.uk www.sohosandwich.co.uk

RAYNOR FOODS Farrow Road, Widford Industrial Estate, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 3TH Contact: Heather Raynor Tel: 01245 353249 Fax: 01245 347889 sales@sandwiches.uk.net www.sandwiches.uk.net

The British Sandwich Quality Promise The sandwich manufacturers and distributors listed above support The British Sandwich Association Code of Practice as The Minimum Standard for Sandwich Making and are subject to regular independent audits. Copies of BSA Audits are available, on request,to buyers (subject to agreement of manufacturers) by calling us on 01291 636338

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 85

BSA Suppliers Index 2 SISTERS FOOD GROUP Leechmere Industrial Estate, Toll Bar Road, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear SR2 9TE Contact: Bill Anderson Tel: 0191 521 3323 Fax: 0191 521 0652 bill.anderson@2sfg.com www.2sistersfoodgroup.com

CATERERS CHOICE LTD

DAWN FARMS UK

Lodge Way, Lodge Farm Ind.

Parkdale House,

Est, Northampton NN5 7US

1 Longbow Close,

Contact: Julie Sloan

Pennine Business Park

Tel: 01604 583421

Bradley, Huddersfield

Fax: 01604 587392

HD2 1GQ

info@tmifoods.co.uk

Contact: Sarah Booth

www.tmifoods.co.uk

Tel 01484 532666

Accreditation body: BSA

FJ NEED (FOODS) LTD. Spinneyfields Farm,

Worleston, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 6DN Contact: Paul Need Tel: 01270 611112 Fax: 01270 611113 pneed@needfoods.co.uk www.needfoods.co.uk

sarah@catererschoice.co.uk www.catererschoice.co.uk

Bradford, West Yorkshire BD3 9TR Contact: Andy Hamilton Tel: 01274 668771 COLPAC LTD

Fax: 01274 665214

Enterprise Way,

sales@deightonmanufacturing.co.uk

Maulden Road,

www.deightonmanufacturing.co.uk

Industrial Estate, Hunslet, Leeds LS10 1BY Contact: Caroline Bartrop Tel: 0113 277 3001 sales@freshfayre.co.uk www.freshfayre.co.uk

Holycross Road, Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland

Fax: 00353 504 23405 cmurphy@dewvalley.com www.dewvalley.com

Swan House, New Mill Road, C 0% M 60% Y 65% K 0% WEB #FF854F

C 0% M 0% Y 0% K 85% WEB #4B4846

BLENDERS Newmarket, Dublin 8, Ireland Contact: Julie Delany Tel: 00 353 14536960 Fax: 00 353 14537607 jdelany@blenders.ie www.blenders.ie CARGILL PROTEIN EUROPE Clerkenleap Barn, Bath Road, Broomhall, Worcester WR5 3HR Contact: Bradley James Tel: 07880 096132 bradley_james @cargill.com www.cargill.co.uk

www.countrychoice.co.uk

Way, Wombwell, Barnsley S73 0BB Contact: Mike Roberts Tel: 01226 344850 Fax: 01226 344880

Contact: Russ Skinner Tel: 01933 401555 russ.skinner@eden-uk.com

Socon, St Neots,

Hilliard House, Lester Way, Wallingford OX10 9TA Contact: Simon Walker Tel: 01491 833010 sales@galliance.co.uk www.terrena.fr/en/

GLENDALE FOODS FRIDAYS

Cobdon Street, Pendleton,

Benenden Rd, Cranbrook,

Contact: Chris Bates

Chequer Tree Farm, Kent TN17 3PN Contact: Bridget Friday Tel: 01580 710250

Cambridgeshire PE19 8ET

Fax: 01580 713512

Contact: Sales Department

Salford M6 6WF Tel: 0161 743 4114 Fax: 0161 743 4112 chris.bates@glendalefoods.com www.glendalefoods.com

bf@fridays.co.uk

Tel: 01480 476161

www.fridays.co.uk

Fax: 01480 471989 www.coveris.com

GALLIANCE UK LTD.

MARMON GROUP LTD.

Northamptonshire NN8 6GR

stneots.sales@coveris.com

Tel: 01666 890500

DIVISION OF THE

Estate, Wellingborough,

7 Howard Road, Eaton

Contact: Jo Carter

EDEN A TRADING

2-20 Booth Drive, Park Farm

COVERIS FLEXIBLES UK LTD.

GL11 4HR

1 Waterside Park, Valley

Contact: Neil Lindsell neil.lindsell@brake.co.uk

Dursley, Gloucestershire

FOODS

www.fresh-pak.co.uk

Kent BR5 3QD Tel: 01689 301203

The Priory, Long Street,

FRESH-PAK CHILLED

mike.roberts@fresh-pak.co.uk

St Paul’s Cray, Orpington,

BEACON FOODS Unit 3-4, Beacon Enterprise Park, Warren Road, Brecon LD3 8BT Contact: Lynne Skyrme Tel: 01874 622577 Fax: 01874 622123 lynne@beaconfoods.co.uk www.beaconfoods.co.uk

FUTURA FOODS UK LTD.

www.futura-foods.com DEW VALLEY FOODS

Tel: 00353 504 46110

PANTONE NEUTRAL BLACK U

james@thefscgroup.com

jo@futura-foods.com

Contact: Christina Murphy

PANTONE 1585 U

Fax: 01934 745631

Fax: 01666 890522

Tel: +44 (0) 1525 712261

COUNTRY CHOICE FOODS

Tel: 01934 745600

Unit 10, Severn Way, Hunslet

Contact: Sales Department

www.colpacpackaging.com

Contact: James Simpson

FRESHFAYRE

MK45 5BW

info@colpac.co.uk

Somerset BS27 3EB

MANUFACTURING (UK) LTD Gibson Street, Leeds Road,

Fax: +44 (0) 1525 718205

Wedmore Road, Cheddar,

DEIGHTON

Flitwick, Bedfordshire ALS FOOD & PHARMACEUTICAL Sands Mill, Huddersfield Road Mirfield, West Yorkshire WF14 9DQ Contact: Nigel Richards Tel: 01354 697028 Fax: 01924 499731 sales.uk@alsglobal.com www.als-testing.co.uk

Cheddar Business Park,

www.thefscgroup.com

Fax 01484 532700 AGRIAL FRESH PRODUCE LTD. Unit 5 Walthew House Lane, Martland Park Industrial Estate, Wigan WN5 0LB Contact: Emma Hesketh Tel: 01942 219942 emhesketh@afproduce.co.uk www.agrialfreshproduce.co.uk

FSC

EXTONS FOODS

Accreditation body: BSA

Roundthorne Industrial

FOOD ATTRACTION LTD.

GROTE COMPANY

5/6 Caldey Road,

Langham Court, 21

Wrexham Technology Park,

DATATHERAPY LTD.

Estate, Manchester

One Pancras Square,

M23 9GE

Langham Road, Leicester

Wrexham LL13 7YP

London N1C 4AG

Contact: Rachael Exton

LE4 9WF

Contact: Paul Jones

Contact: Yousaf Shah

Tel: 0161 998 5734

Contact: Jake Karia

Tel: 01978 362243

Tel: 0207 7000044

Fax: 0161 902 9238

Tel: 0116 2744066

Fax: 01978 362255

yousafshah@datatherapy.com

rexton@extonsfoods.com\

jake@foodattraction.com

sales@grotecompany.com

www.datatherapy.com

www.extonsfoods.com

www.jakeandnayns.com

www.grotecompany.com

86 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

BSA Suppliers Index HARVEY & BROCKLESS 44-54 Stewarts Road London SW8 4DF Contact: Tina Alemao Tel: 0207 8196045 Fax: 0207 8196027 tina.alemao@ harveyandbrockless.co.uk www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk Accreditation body: BSA

H SMITH FOOD GROUP PLC 24 Easter Industrial Park, Ferry Lane South, Rainham, Essex RM13 9BP Contact: Chris Smith Tel: 01708 878888 chris@hsmithplc.com www.hsmithplc.com INSURANCE PROTECTOR GROUP B1 Custom House, The Waterfront, Level Street, Brierley Hill DY5 1XH Tel: 0800 488 0013 business@ipgdirect.co.uk www.insuranceprotector.co.uk

MILLITEC FOOD SYSTEMS LTD. Woodhill Industrial Park, Nottingham Lane, Old Dalby, Leicester LE14 3LX Contact: Richard Ledger Tel: 01664 820032 sales@millitec.com www.millitec.com

MISSION FOODS EUROPE LTD Renown Avenue, Coventry Business Park, Coventry CV5 6UJ Contact: Karina Sprigg Tel: 01527 894256 Fax: 02476 676660 karina_sprigg@missionfoods.com www.missionfoodservice.co.uk MOY PARK LTD. 39 Seagoe Industrial Estate, Craigavon, County Armagh BT63 5QE Contact: Emma Hallam Tel: +44 (0) 28 3835 2233 Emma.Hallam@moypark.com www.moypark.com

PAUWELS UK 1st Floor, Axiom House, High Street, Feltham, Middlesex TW13 4AU Contact: Andrew Breeze Tel: 0208 818 7617 Fax: 0203 187 0071 andrew.breeze@pauwels-sauces.com www.pauwel-sauces.com PIQUANT LTD

Willenhall Lane, Bloxwich, Walsall, W.Midlands WS3 2XN Contact: Julie Smith Tel: 01922 711116 salesinfo@piquant.co.uk www.piquant.co.uk Accreditation body: BSA

PLANGLOW LTD

The Quorum, Bond Street, Bristol BS1 3AE Contact: Rachael Sawtell Tel: 0117 317 8600 info@planglow.com

JIFFY TRUCKS LTD 26 Jubilee Way, Shipley West Yorkshire BD18 1QG Tel: 01274 596000 Contact: John Briggs john@jiffytrucks.co.uk www.jiffytrucks.co.uk

LEATHAMS LTD 227-255 Ilderton Road, London, SE15 1NS Contact: Des Hillier Tel: 0207 635 4000 Fax: 0207 635 4017 des.hillier@leathams.co.uk www.leathams.co.uk

SUPPLIERS

NEW YORK BAKERY CO. 4 Heathrow Boulevard, Bath Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 0DQ Contact: Angela Young Tel: 0208 283 0500 angela.young@grupobimbo.com www.newyorkbakery.co.uk NORSELAND LTD. Somerton Road, Ilchester, Somerset BA22 8JL Contact: Millie Deane Tel: 01935 842800 Fax: 01935 842801 cdeane@norseland.co.uk www.norseland.co.uk

PASTA FOODS Forest Way, Norwich NR5 0JH Contact: Stuart Mills Tel: 01493 416200 stuart.mills@pastafoods.com www.pastafoods.com

SEARA MEATS BV 2nd Floor, Building 1, Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood WD6 1JN Contact: Valeri Zhekov Tel: 0044 2035358857 valeri.zhekov@seara.com.br www.seara.com.br

Fax: 01922 473240

Fax: 0117 317 8639

JACKSONS BAKERY 40 Derringham Street, Kingston upon Hull HU3 1EW Contact: Commercial Team Phone: 01482 301146 hello@jacksonsbread.co.uk www.jacksonsbread.co.uk

SAM BROWNE FOODS Kelleythorpe, Ind.Estate, Driffield, East Yorkshire, YO25 9DJ. Contact: Joanna Frost Tel: 01377 249000 Fax: 01377 241271 joannafrost@sambrownefoods.co.uk www.sambrownefoods.co.uk

www.planglow.com

RAP LTD.

SMITHFIELD FOODS LTD. Norfolk Tower, 48-52 Surrey Street, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 3PA Contact: Gary McFarlane Tel: 01603 252437 Fax: 01603 252401 garymcfarlane@ smithfieldfoods.co.uk www.smithfieldfoods.co.uk SNOWBIRD FOODS Wharf Road, Ponders End, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 4TD Contact: Helen Swan Tel: 0208 805 9222 Fax: 0208 804 9303 helen.swan@ snowbirdfoods.co.uk www.snowbirdfoods.co.uk

Mansel Court, 2A Mansel Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4AA Contact: Martin Beaver Tel: 0208 069 0700 catherne.young@rapuk.com www.rapuk.com

ROYAL GREENLAND LTD. Gateway House, Styal Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5WY Contact: Solenne Labarere Tel: 0161 4904246 sola@royalgreenland.com www.royalgreenland.com

SOUTHOVER FOOD COMPANY LIMITED Unit 4, Grange Industrial Estate, Albion Street, Southwick,Brighton BN42 4EN Contact: Robert Partridge Tel: 01273 596830 Fax: 01273 596 839 robert@southoverfoods.com www.southoverfoods.com THE INGREDIENTS FACTORY Unit 2-3 Hamilton Road Ind Estate, 160 Hamilton Road, London SE27 9SF Tel: 0208 670 6701 Fax: 0208 670 9676 Contact: Tim Marcuson tim@theingredientsfactory.com www.theingredientsfactory.com

These suppliers are members of The British Sandwich Association and subject to its rules, codes of conduct and accreditation. While the Association cannot guarantee the products supplied by those listed, it does make every effort to ensure that the companies are reputable and offer quality products and services.

TRI-STAR PACKAGING SUPPLIES LTD Tri-Star House, Unit 4, The Arena,, Mollison Avenue, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 7NL Contact: Kevin Curran Tel: 0208 4439100 Fax: 0208 4439101 info@tri-star.co.uk www.tri-star.co.uk VESTEY FOODS UK 29 Ullswater Crescent, Coulson, Surrey CR5 2HR Contact: Leon Neill Tel: 0208 668 9344 Fax: 0208 660 4640 L.Neill@vestey.com www.vesteyfoods.com ZAFRON FOODS LTD. Unit B-G Eagle Trading Estate, Willow Lane, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 4UY Contact: Jack Kenny Tel: 0844 847 5116 Fax: 0844 847 5117 jack@zafronfoods.co.uk www.zafronfoods.co.uk

ZWANENBERG FOOD UK LTD (Puredrive Fine Foods/ Taste Original) 36A Causeway Road, Earlstrees Industrial Estate, Corby, Northamptonshire NN17 4DU Contact: Richard Walker Tel: 01536 463000 Fax: 01536 463085 richard.walker@tasteotriginal.com

LINKED ASSOCIATION LOCAL AUTHORITY CATERING ASSOCIATIONS LACA Administration Bourne House, Horsell Park,Woking, Surrey GU21 4LY Tel: 01483766777 Fax: 01483751991 admin@laca.co.uk

CONSULTANT INTERNATIONAL MASTER CHEF & AUTHOR Tom Bridge 21 Blackhorse Avenue, Blackrod Village, Bolton BL6 5HE Tel: 01204 695450 or 07889 111256 www.cookerydetective.com www.piesocietybook.co.uk

Classifieds International TAMARIND FOODS SPRL Brixtonlaan 2c, Zaventem, Brussels 1930, Belgium Tel: +32 2 731 6977 Fax: +32 2 731 6978 fteichmann@tamarindfoods.be Contact: Frederic Teichmann

Sandwich Manufacturers SIGMA BAKERIES PO Box 56567, 3308 Limassol, Cyprus Contact: Georgios Georgiou Tel: +357 25 878678 Fax: +357 25 346131 info@sigmabakeries.com www.sigmabakeries.com

ORGANIC PRODUCTS Sigma Bakeries Ltd SANDWICHES Tamarind Foods SANDWICH FILLINGS (prepared) Sigma Bakeries Ltd SPECIALITY BREADS Sigma Bakeries Ltd

Product Listing BAKERY INSERTS Sigma Bakeries Ltd BREAD Sigma Bakeries Ltd FRANCHISING Subway

SUBWAY Chaston House, Mill Court,Hinton Way, Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire CB22 5LD Contact: Georg Buhrkohl Tel: 01223 550820 www.subway.co.uk

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INTERBAKE LTD.

UNIT 2, BRIDGE MILLS, ROCHDALE ROAD, EDENFIELD, RAMSBOTTOM, BURY BL0 0RE Tel: 01706 82 5596 / 07710 723901

88 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

Email: triple.d@zen.co.uk

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UNIT 2, BRIDGE MILLS, ROCHDALE ROAD, EDENFIELD, RAMSBOTTOM, BURY, LANCS BL0 0RE

The next edition of Sandwich & Food To Go News is also the Lunch Show edition.

We will be providing an in-depth preview to the show and distributing extra magazines at the event.

Don’t miss out on being seen in this major edition! The booking deadline to advertise is 30th August.

For further information please call Paul Steer on 01291 636342 or email paul@jandmgroup.co.uk

www.sandwich.org.uk July 2019 89

BSA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 2019 The following are elected members of the Management Committee of the British Sandwich Association:

PICTURE COURTESY OF FRIDAYS

BSA Committee

CHAIRMAN Camilla Deane (Norseland) – Supplier VICE - CHAIRMAN TBA THE COMMITTEE Andrew Hesketh (Greggs) – Retail Baker Georg Buhrkohl/Mike Attwood (Subway) – Sandwich Bar Chain Peter Mayley (La Baguetterie) – Independent Sandwich Bar Neil Wood (Woods) – Foodservice Operator Anthony Minto (Ginsters) – Van Sales Victoria Green (Waitrose) – Multiple Retailer Mark Arnold (Street Eats) – Producer Robert Dansey (Compass) – Catering

Upholding quality standards in sandwich making and retailing Our aims As the voice of the British Sandwich industry, the primary aims of the British Sandwich Association are:

Robert Potts (Greencore) - Producer

▲ To safeguard the integrity of the sandwich industry by setting

Frank Boltman (Trade) – Independent Sandwich Bar

▲ To encourage excellence and innovation in sandwich making.

Dan Silverston (The Soho Sandwich Company) – Sandwich Bar Chain SECRETARIAT Jim Winship – Director Sam Day – PR Manager

minimum standards for sandwich making. ▲ To provide a source of information for the industry. ▲ To promote the consumption of sandwiches. ▲ To provide a collective voice for all those involved in the making, distribution and retailing of sandwiches and to represent the views of the industry.

www.sandwich.org.uk 90 July 2019 SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO NEWS

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