FoodChain Issue 100 April 2015

FoodChain Issue 100

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April 2015

The business of food and drink

A healthy revolution Leon Restaurants is committed to providing seasonal, naturally good fast food

Industry News l

The value of waste Industrial biotechnology can be applied to food waste to convert problem materials into something we need

FDF supports Defra’s new Food Stars Initiative

Sodexo Prestige contract extended at Aberdeen FC l Australian wine exports to China in recovery l

Avoid the grind

Accurate and timely information on product grade and quantity must be tracked throughout the coffee value chain

FoodChain issue 100 l april 2015

The business of food and drink

A healthy revolution Leon Restaurants is committed to providing seasonal, naturally good fast food

Editor’s Welcome

Industry News FDF supports Defra’s new Food Stars Initiative

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The value of waste Industrial biotechnology can be applied to food waste to convert problem materials into something we need

Sodexo Prestige contract extended at Aberdeen FC Australian wine exports to China in recovery

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Avoid the grind

Accurate and timely information on product grade and quantity must be tracked throughout the coffee value chain

Chairman Andrew Schofield Director Mike Tulloch Editor Libbie Hammond Art Editor Advertising Design Fleur Daniels Staff Writers Jo Cooper Andrew Dann Steve Nash Ben Clark Business Development Director David Garner Sales Manager Joe Woolsgrove Sales Rob Wagner Head of Research Philip Monument

Food heroes T

he term ‘food heroes’ has been bandied around for a while – did it begin with celebrity chefs championing local producers?

Wherever it was coined, there’s no doubt that the associations

around ‘food heroes’ - buying local, supporting ethical brands and Editorial Researchers David Brogan Yasmine Sadr Office Manager Advertising Administrator Tracy Chynoweth

prizing quality, for example, are areas that the trendy middle classes are embracing.

But is it possible for a large manufacturer or restaurant chain to also adopt similar philosophies? I think it is – and the Leon Restaurant, Bidvest 3663 and McDonald’s Austria profiles in this issue illustrate how they’re doing it.

Schofield Publishing Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1603 274130 Fax: +44 (0)1603 274131 www.foodchain-magazine.com www.schofieldmediagroup.com

libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

© 2015 Schofield Publishing Ltd

Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Contents 4

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14 Features Food Waste The value of waste

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While still somewhat regarded as simply trash, food waste can be seen as a valuable resource for the manufacture of fuels, chemicals and materials such as plastics

Food manufacturers have long understood the necessity of accurate planning and scheduling for successful food production

News

Packaging Challenge or opportunity?

7,12,13

Up-to-date products and announcements from the food and beverage sector

Skills & Training Year of change The fresh produce sector is facing a range of challenges in 2015, but recruitment has been flagged as a major issue

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IT Ready, steady, cook

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The issue of sustainability in packaging has been addressed through lighter weight, recyclable solutions, and renewable materials, but there is more to do

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Special Feature – Coffee Avoid the grind

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Coffee market participants need agricultural commodity trading software that also includes advanced analytics

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22 Profiles

Innovations & developments within some of the world’s finest companies

Leon Restaurants 18 A healthy revolution Leon Restaurant’s revolutionary approach to the fast food market should lead to expansion out of the UK and out across the globe

Bidvest 3663 22 Source to sauce Bidvest 3663 has a strong passion for great food and prides itself on offering customers choice

McDonald’s Austria 32 A tasty success McDonald’s Austria prides itself on continuous innovation and investment – recent launches include a new App, self service terminals and McDelivery scheme

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The value of waste Dan Noakes takes a look at creating the bio-economy with industrial biotechnology

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F

ood waste is applicable to everyone. We all create it and we all have a responsibility to reduce it. Roughly one third of global food production for human consumption is lost or wasted, amounting to 1.3 bn tonnes per year1.

Food waste can be harmful to the environment and human health. If allowed to breakdown in landfill, this can cause methane (a potent green house gas) to be released into the atmosphere. It can also form leachate, which can poison watercourses and drinking aquifers. Meat products also

Dan Noakes

pose a problem, specifically by breaking down into toxic compounds under their own biological activity.

There are many types of food waste, all comprising a variety of chemical compounds, some which can be easily extracted to create value and some which need converting to something else first. Kerbside food waste can comprise many food types. It may include putrescible wastes (tomatoes, meats etc) and also materials that are challenging to biologically breakdown (bananas skins etc.). Catering waste can include anything from plate

Food Waste

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Industrial biotechnology can be applied to food waste for the manufacture of valuable fuels, chemicals and materials such as plastics

scrapings to potato peelings and can be massively variable, however the UK is experiencing commercial success in the collection of used cooking oil from restaurants and its conversion into biodiesel for blending with diesel transport fuel.

Where large quantities of single food types are discarded, such as supermarket supply chains and commercial food manufacture, there is great opportunity for creating significant value through the application of Industrial Biotechnology; biological processes use to make a variety of products, which may directly replace or perform better than the products derived from fossil fuels consumed today.

The technology allows for valuable chemical compounds to be extracted efficiently from foodstuffs. For instance, sugars and acids can be extracted from fruit and vegetables, starch from pastry and valuable proteins can be recovered from meat products. The need to recycle non-renewable phosphorus is also a major concern for future food production.

Industrial biotechnology can be applied to food waste for the manufacture of valuable fuels, chemicals and materials such as plastics. Utilising science and engineering from the biological world to convert problem materials into something that people need, seen as an opportunity for the UK to generate wealth in an emerging sector called the bio-economy.

Currently food waste is either disposed of to landfill or converted to lower value products such as electricity, animal feed or recycled as fertiliser to grow more food. Anaerobic digestion is a rapidly growing market that uses biological processes to convert food waste into useful bio-based products, namely an energy rich methane gas.

Current practices however could be more efficient and a bigger economic win can be achieved. To do this, the best technology fit must come from analysis of the waste composition. A sensible product should be targeted to fit regulatory constraints of the waste feedstock and product market size

must correlate with total waste arisings.

Some wastes can be very mixed (or heterogeneous). In this instance, it may be viable to separate out each component, and a route to valorisation identified for each. If existing markets are to be accessed however, such as commodity chemicals or fuels, then it may be best to convert mixed materials into a single (homogenous) chemical intermediate that can ‘drop-in’ to existing supply chains. Sugar is a good example of this, methane gas is another. Once a waste is homogenous, application of a specific technology can create product functionality, and this will increase its selling price significantly. Contamination in waste however can be a barrier to this and smarter ways of pre-treating wastes are being developed in Industrial Biotechnology.

Characterisation of waste materials is key to applying the correct technology for product manufacture. Most food wastes contain water and this means drying may be necessary if thermal treatments such as incineration, gasification or pyrolysis are used.

However, this may prove to be energy inefficient and very costly so the application of wet processing technologies is often preferred.

Industrial Biotechnology fits into this category as its application can target specific compounds in the waste and either separate these or, convert to higher value products with increased functionality.

Industrial biotechnology may include (1) fermentation, this is the use of micro-organisms which metabolise the carbon in waste liquids and gases and will convert these to fuels, chemicals and materials such as plastics (2) bio-catalysis, this is the use of enzymes to convert starch and carbohydrates into intermediate chemicals such as sugar for use in fermentation or biotransformation, which modifies the chemical structure of one low value compound to form another of much higher value.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is developing capability in science and engineering to convert biogenic waste materials into added value

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Food Waste products. CPI is involved in a number of collaborative research and development projects focusing on areas ranging from; using bio-catalysis to convert waste from the fisheries industry into a protein rich nutrient feed that has potential for replacing expensive raw materials used in the pharmaceutical industry (Biomega), converting the cellulosic

components in municipal solid waste to added value chemicals (FP7 Waste2Go), manufacturing a valuable additive for use in paints by extracting nano cellulose in root vegetables (Cellucomp), to converting industrial waste glycerol from biodiesel manufacture into algae for the production of road transport fuel (FP7-Intersusal). D

Dan Noakes is a business manager for industrial biotechnology & biorefinery at CPI and is a chartered waste manager. CPI is a UK based Technology Innovation Centre and a founding member of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

CPI supports organisations in the development, scale up and de-risking of processes to fast-track commercial uptake of industrial biotechnology.

CPI provides open-access, scalable industrially representative process facilities from bench to demonstration scale with business development support.

www.uk-cpi.com 1: (Food and Agricultural Organisation of UN ‘Global Food Losses and Food Waste’)

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IndustryNews

Grease barrier

Diners deserve more authenticity A new report has indicated that ethnic cuisine restaurants are failing to provide Brits with authentic dishes and value for money when dining out. Off the back of the research, renowned Spanish Jamón & Tapas Bar Mas Q Menos has launched a new range of authentic, modestly priced, tapas dishes at its UK restaurants.

The report, which was prepared by market research firm Mintel, states that many of us still think of eating out as a treat and so look for real value for money from restaurants.

Mas Q Menos managing director, Crisol Cacheiro, agrees with the findings of the report and says that UK restaurants serving world cuisine need to be authentic if they are to stand out: “Eating out should be a real experience,” he says.

“Diners deserve to be served high quality, exciting dishes which are a genuine reflection of the food served in the native

country. We also believe that good food shouldn’t cost the earth and we’re passionate about encouraging more people to try native Spanish cuisine.”

“It’s actually quite difficult to find really good Tapas outside Spain,” says the restaurant’s executive chef, Albert Teres, who has prepared Spanish dishes in professional kitchens for over 20 years. “Tapas are a great way to sample new dishes and flavours relatively cheaply, so I have personally put together an exciting range from a number of regions across Spain.”

The Mas Q Menos authentic tapas selection features over a dozen dishes, priced from £4.50. In addition to the usual favourites such as Patatas Bravas, it includes less well-known but delicious offerings including Manchego Style Ratatouille with Egg, and Galician-Style Octopus. www.masqmenos.co.uk

Australian wine in recovery The U-Freight Group (UFL) has welcomed the news that Australian wine exports to China have almost recovered to levels recorded before Beijing’s austerity measures severely dented volumes, and believes it will be a major boost for the company’s specialist wine logistics services in the country.

Data released by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) indicates that total Australian

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals, has achieved FDA approval for the use of its new Cartaguard KST in the manufacture of paper and board for food packaging. The highly efficient and effective oil, grease and water resistance additive is also compliant with the recommendations of the German BfR XXXVI for use as a surface refining and coating agent in paper and board intended for food contact applications.

The newly launched Cartaguard KST liquid is based on a cationic C6 fluoropolymer which excels at providing a strong and long-lasting barrier to grease and water. Its performance properties and environmental profile make it particularly suitable for use in both size press and wet end applications to produce fast food boxes and wrappers, soup cube boxes, butter wrap and oil bottle labels. It is also suitable for use in production of molded pulp plates, cups etc. and in pet food packaging. www.archroma.com

wine exports in 2014 increased by eight per cent to 40 million litres, with bottled exports almost recovering to levels recorded before the full effects of the austerity measures took hold in 2012.

The booming trade is expected to grow even faster this year following November’s bilateral trade agreement between Australia and China.

Once fully implemented, the agreement will remove China import tariffs on a range of Australian agricultural products, including wine. www.ufreight.com

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Year of change 2015 is going to be tough for the fresh produce sector - with recruitment being one of the major issues it faces

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he next 12 months may be one of the most challenging years ever for the fresh produce industry according specialist recruitment consultancy MorePeople, which has just completed its first-ever ‘Best for Business Barometer’. This polls the opinion of a small number of people at the highest level in fresh produce every six months to determine the current state of the industry.

Key challenges identified include: • Changes to the structure of retailing, driven by changing consumer behaviour • A continuation of the fierce competition on the high street together with a lack of real growth in wages and sales volumes • Issues over recruitment at the senior level, and attracting interest from graduates

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• A resulting continuation of consolidation in the sector Guy Moreton, director and founder of MorePeople said: “What is striking is the degree of consistency from all our panel members, who are leading lights in fresh produce, manufacturing and retailing. They clearly recognise that this is a time of huge changes, both in retailing and across the supply chain. The industry desperately needs to attract and develop talent in senior management positions across commercial, sales and general management who can respond to this dynamic environment, as well as to attract young people in to this challenging and fast paced industry” The panel consisted of a small number of ‘movers and shakers’ in the industry including Frank Robinson, Produce World Group; Mark Newton, Freshtime; Susan Barratt, Nature’s Way;

Mike Attwood, Subway; and Mark Player of Total Produce.

They recognised that continued price deflation and declines in food consumption are creating pressures for retailers. While real wages are not rising, there is increased competition for the pound in the consumers’ pocket, and less of it is being spent on food.

For the retail sector itself the increased competition from the discounters is a well-documented phenomenon. At the same time consumer habits are changing with more people doing more, smaller shops, and this is one of the factors, which is leading to less waste. As a result there is a structural change away from what one respondent described as ‘big box’ stores towards smaller, convenience outlets, and this will drive costs higher for suppliers.

However, it was not all gloom and

Skills & Training

doom. Mark Newton of Freshtime expects to see more growth this year, while Mike Attwood’s main problems revolve around the rate of growth at Subway.

He says: “We expect to double in size over the next five to six years, so challenges are around ensuring we have the ability to produce product for a much bigger estate. Given this growth, I’m confident that suppliers will be keen to work with us.”

When it came to recruitment Mike was an exception to the rule, nearly all the participants said that recruiting the right people was an issue or a major issue for their businesses. Having a recognisable brand name on the high street was seen as a definite help for Subway.

A number identified the fact that the fresh produce industry has an image problem – either because it has a bad image or no image at all.

Frank Robinson of Produce World said: “The industry can be seen as uninteresting and dull, with many people being ambivalent about it. That’s because they don’t know what it has to offer, and, in fact, that it’s dynamic, exciting and fast paced. The supermarkets recognise the value of the category and the importance of having the right people to drive growth and change.”

Mark Newton of Freshtime agreed: “For us recruitment is an issue, but not a major one. Location can be a problem, but it just means we have to work a bit harder to sell ourselves. For the industry as a whole it is a concern.

It’s not the sexiest of the industries and good agronomists, in particular, are in short supply.

However, it was in the area of commercial and sales staff, and senior management that most admitted there was a very real problem.

Popular solutions for solving these problems adopted by the different companies represented included graduate recruitment, and training and developing junior staff to fill senior roles. Also two of the companies have started, or were considering starting, apprenticeship schemes.

While there was no clear trend in terms of the way that their businesses had performed over the past 12 months, most were optimistic about next year including, surprisingly, the one retailer interviewed.

Respondents were also asked about their ‘wish list’ for 2015 and this yielded some surprisingly diverse answers including: • An upturn in the market • Good graduates who have a desire and enthusiasm to work in the industry • Consolidation of the grower base • A robust and restructured Tesco • Changes around pricing to ensure that costs such as utilities and minimum wages costs can be passed on • A new government investment that is willing to invest in food security • A joined-up approach between retailers and their suppliers with long-term (five to ten year) commitment Guy added: “I’m sure all of us would like to see these changes come about in 2015.

As a company we have been working with a number of universities, schools and industry organisations to promote the industry, to raise awareness of the great opportunities it offers and to encourage more graduates to come into fresh produce and food manufacturing - so we are doing our best to make sure that at least one of those wishes comes true!” D MorePeople is the leading recruitment and training agency in the ‘fresh’ sector, providing services that cover fresh food, fresh produce, horticulture, and agriculture as well as the garden and leisure industries.

No other agency can equal its breadth of commercial experience across all these sectors.

www.morepeople.co.uk

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Ready,

steady,

Time: the key ingredient in the recipe for successful food manufacturing.

By Jonathan Orme

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s shows like ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ and more recently, ‘The Great British Bake Off’ remind us, when it comes to food, timing is everything. And what’s true for your kitchen is even more so for the food manufacturing industry, where managing multiple ingredients, complex processes, and often a diverse range of products for an increasingly demanding customer base is a daily challenge. Central to it all is the need to ensure that the right quantity of the right materials/ingredients are at the right place to undergo the right processes at the right time. Unlike your kitchen where a mistake might at worst ruin a meal, a mistake for a food manufacturer might not just ruin an entire batch of thousands of products, it might jeopardise a vital business relationship with a customer or supplier.

Food manufacturers have therefore long understood the necessity of accurate planning and scheduling for successful food production and have typically relied on specialist IT solutions to provide assistance in this area.

However, the process of actual food production exists in the context of, and

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Jonathan Orme

cook

relies on, all the other interconnected business processes that sit either side of it. For example, sales orders need to connect fully to purchase orders, demand forecasts, stock control, production planning, warehouse, and delivery. Often the common thread running through all these connections, and the wider link of the supply chain, is the need for complete trust that every process involved is handled in a timely, accurate, and completely transparent way. As competitive pressures increase, the criticality of timeliness becomes even more acute across the entire business.

This is why leading food manufacturers are turning away from loosely connected disparate systems and increasingly putting their trust in fully integrated, state-of-the-art, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. A leading example of this comes from UK author, Exel Computer Systems plc, which this year celebrates 30 years’ of delivering manufacturing IT solutions to manufacturers across all sectors, including food, with customers making products as diverse as cakes, confectionery, cheese, and pickles.

With its origins in the time critical world of planning and scheduling, Exel arguably understands, more than most, the critical time requirements of food manufacturers throughout their entire business, and its EFACS E/8 ERP solution reflects this.

Take Bennett Opie for example. One of the oldest private family owned food companies in the country, Opies has grown from humble origins in 1880 to become the leading manufacturer of quality pickles and preserves enjoyed by families in the UK and across the world.

As such, the £24m turnover company has built an enviable reputation spanning over a century, whilst having to adapt to huge changes in manufacturing and production processes, as well as technology. When the time came to replace its fragmented IT and paperbased systems, it was essential for Opies to invest in an ERP solution that would best meet its current and future business needs while protecting its all important reputation for quality and service.

Paul Fox joined Opies in 1999 and is commercial director. He outlines the main challenges facing Opies and many other food companies. “A food company

IT

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like ours has three main considerations: forecast accuracy, stock control, and production. If the forecast is wrong, you either end up making too little or too much product – in other words, the wrong amount of the wrong product at the wrong time. If your stock control is poor, which in our case is complicated by sourcing products from all over the world, many of which have very narrow windows of availability and which are highly susceptible to disruption, you either end up with surplus stock which is waste, or a shortfall. In the case of the latter, this puts acute time pressure on the manufacturing and production side of the business because failure to get each batch right first time can make the vital difference between meeting customers demand or not. In terms of production as a whole, you need to maximise the efficiency of your product lines to avoid costly downtime due to poor planning, especially where lengthy changeover times are involved.”

Opies recognised that making the best ERP investment involved much more than simply selecting the right system, it would involve building a relationship with a vendor that would

stand the test of time. “We had no interest in sales pitches – we just wanted a company to demonstrate how its solution could help our specific requirements. We knew we would need to develop a long term partnership with a supplier that would help show us the possibilities a modern, integrated ERP system could offer, and how to make best use of these.”

Given Exel’s experience it is no surprise that EFACS was chosen and has been more than able to help Opies overcome these challenges. At the heart of this are the considerable timesavings, which have subsequently been re-invested in business process improvement in every area of the company. Exel’s deep industry knowledge directly contributed to this also, as Fox explains. “We knew we were doing things in various ways that weren’t working properly. Many times our Exel consultant would make suggestions about doing things differently that had a real impact on our overall business approach. This was exactly what we needed and as a result, we ended up with a business in much better shape than when we began, and much better than we expected.” He continues: “We now had complete and utter confidence in our ability to make the

right decision on what to make, and when, for our entire product range for our full 12 month forecast.”

When it comes to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), timeliness once again features in a prominent way with Fox beginning by citing an increase in ‘right first time’, followed by a decrease in inventory; an increase in customer service, and a traceability system that allows a forward and backwards trace to be completed in minutes. His conclusion is one that every food manufacturer would readily understand and aspire to.

“Our stock levels are always right, our production and work flow is always right.

Our system just gets it right, every time – what more do you need?” D Jonathan Orme is sales operations & marketing manager for Exel Computer Systems, a leading UK software author.

The company celebrates 30 years of developing, implementing and supporting business software solutions in 2015, and with hundreds of successful implementations and thousands of users around the world, Exel has a proven track record of working with some of the world’s most well-known organisations.

www.exel.co.uk

This is why leading food manufacturers are turning away from loosely connected disparate systems and increasingly putting their trust in fully integrated, state-of-theart, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems

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IndustryNews

Safeguard the food chain

Food stars

Six new meat mixture reference materials have been developed by LGC scientists to help protect consumers from food fraud. The meat mixtures will enable food testing laboratories to assess the quality of their measurements and ensure they are able to detect substitutions in meat products at specified low levels.

The materials were analysed using three different approaches – DNA sequencing, a PCR based method and an immunoassay method – to confirm the expected meat species in the samples and the absence of possible species cross-contamination. The limit of detection is below one per cent of one meat species in the presence of another.

These reference materials were produced in direct response to the horsemeat incident and subsequent reports of substitutions of cheaper meat in the food chain.

Gill Holcombe, head of reference material production, said: “The FSA report and the ‘Elliott Review into the integrity and assurance of food supply networks’ has revealed the extent of food fraud. It has highlighted the need for reference materials to help laboratories identify species present in meat samples and to ensure that consumers are not duped or cheated.

We produced reference materials for identifying and quantifying horse meat in beef and pork in beef in March 2013, and we have now added sheep meat and additional mixtures to our catalogue of reference materials.” www.lgcgroup.com

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has signalled its strong support of Defra’s new Food Stars initiative, which highlights some of the outstanding and innovative work that is happening in the sector. Food Stars are 50 of the UK’s most promising food and drink entrepreneurs, recognised for their contribution to the UK’s economy and selected from hundreds of award-winning businesses.

FDF has been working with Defra on the scheme and has committed to provide a free information service and advice to all the food and soft drinks manufacturers.

Launched by leading figures in food and drink including FDF president and CEO and chairman of Nestlé UK and Ireland, Dame Fiona Kendrick and FDF interim director general, Jim Moseley, the initiative aims to help the winners grow their businesses and sell more of their products in the UK and across the world.

Jim Moseley, interim director general at the Food and Drink Federation, said: “Food and drink manufacturing is a great British success story and we’re delighted to support Defra’s Food Stars initiative which recognises the important contribution businesses in our industry make to the UK economy.

“Small enterprises are driving growth and innovation but can lack the resources to keep up to speed with industry developments or the technical or regulatory resources required to ensure a level playing field. We hope that our continued support of free access to our tailored information service and advice will help these outstanding food and drink businesses boost growth even further.” www.fdf.org.uk

Growing green The Produce World Group has welcomed the Soil Association’s 2015 Organic Report, which outlines the continuous growth of organic products in the UK. Andrew Burgess, director of agriculture of the Produce World Group, said: “The continuous growth of organic products, despite numerous challenges in the retail environment, highlights the strength of the organic sector in providing new innovative

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products to new customers. We know from our own figures that more people are buying organic, with taste and quality being big reasons behind this consumer trend. We want to continue playing a part in the growth of organic products by showing that top quality, great tasting and good looking organic vegetables are available all year round for any occasion.” www.produce world.co.uk

IndustryNews The food security challenge At the recent Economist ‘Feeding the World Summit’ in Amsterdam, Nick von Westenholz, CEO of the Crop Protection Association called for Europe to embrace the solutions that technology and innovation can provide in response to the global food security challenge.

The event examined whether technological developments in agriculture are likely to enable us to feed nine billion people and Mr von Westenholz expressed his serious concerns at Europe’s approach to productive agriculture during a panel debate discussing the risks and rewards of technology. Speaking after the session, Mr von Westenholz commented: “There is no doubt we have the technological potential to feed a planet of nine billion by the end of the century. However, the real question is whether we have the right regulatory framework in place to put this technology to work and encourage innovation.

Unfortunately, this is something that we are sorely missing in Europe, where we seem preoccupied with risk avoidance rather than risk management, stifling innovation in the process. The evidence shows, for instance, investment in crop protection R&D dwindling in Europe, leaving our agricultural sector unable to fully participate in a global economy.

“We are rightly concerned about how developing countries will feed themselves as the century progresses, faced with ballooning populations and changes in climate that will make agricultural production even more challenging. So it is shocking that Europe, despite having one of the most benign climates and geographies for agriculture in the world, appears to believe those developing nations should expend their resources on feeding not only their own people, but Europeans too. But this is exactly the implication of current policies that deter innovation and lead to lower levels of agricultural productivity in Europe.

“We need to take a close look at modern society’s attitude to precaution and risk. There appears to be an aversion amongst the European public towards the role of technology and innovation in food production. The debate around the use of crop protection products by farmers is a good example, as despite an extremely rigorous regulatory system, underpinned by strong scientific data, there is still a poor level of understanding amongst the public about the safety of these products and how they are used.

While it is a complex and sometimes technical subject, much of the public debate around the use of pesticides

is conducted in misleadingly simple terms, and rarely with reference to their usefulness to farmers and food production.”

Von Westenholz continued: “This perception of technology and innovation in food production has left us with a policy and regulatory environment that prevents proper assessment and uptake of those technologies, ultimately deterring investments in R&D in Europe and putting both domestic and global food security at risk.

“It’s time our policy-makers recognised the challenge and rose to it. All of us - industry, the public and policy makers - need to embrace the solutions technology and innovation can provide in response to the food security challenge.” www.cropprotection.org.uk

Contract extension scored Sodexo Prestige, catering and hospitality partner to Aberdeen Football Club, also known as Pittodrie stadium, has secured the contract extension after an incredibly successful 18 years catering for the club.

With a solid relationship with the club already in place, Sodexo Prestige plans to enhance its’ product packages for match day hospitality and retail while continuing to develop the packages available for conferences and events.

David Trotter, catering services director at Sodexo Prestige, said: “We’re delighted to have secured another three years with this fantastic venue.

“Having worked with Aberdeen Football Club for quite some time, we have built a solid relationship with the team there and are very much looking forward to building on that relationship so that we can continually evolve and improve the services we offer to customers at Pittodrie.

“We are keen to develop the hospitality offered at the venue on both match days and non match days and we particularly hope that we can encourage more people to recognise the venue as a great place to host a conference or event.”

Aberdeen Football Club will be joining Sodexo Prestige in its support of this year’s ‘Year of Food and Drink’.

The stadium plans to host several events which have a strong food and drink focus, as well as tailor their menus according to each month’s food related theme, to show their support for local Scottish produce and suppliers. www.sodexoprestige.co.uk

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Challenge or

opportunity?

Phil Davidson takes a look at the issue of sustainability in packaging

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O

ne of the most pressing issues facing society today, sustainability is a matter, which has implications for almost every industry. The packaging industry is no exception to this. A recent survey by HAVI Global Solutions revealed that sustainability is considered one of the greatest challenges to companies within the industry. Interestingly, it is also considered to be the greatest area for opportunity. Significant progress has undoubtedly been made in recent years with regard to sustainability.

Lighter weight packaging, recyclable and renewable materials as well as increased consumer awareness have all played a role in reducing waste levels. However, the fact that this issue remains one of the greatest challenges to companies

Phil Davidson

demonstrates the amount of work that is yet to be done. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of this topic area, it is important to assess the developments, which have already been made, in addition to the areas for growth and expansion.

One of the most effective preliminary steps to take in reducing waste levels is to start at the very beginning. In essence, this involves examining what components make up a product. Many of today’s consumer products have been manufactured from recycled products.

A key example of this is aluminium, which is reused to make a wide range of products, from airplane parts to building facades to beverage cans. While it may seem obvious, maximising the use of recyclable components and minimising

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the creation of non-renewable materials is the most effective ways to have immediate impact on the waste stream.

Similarly, lighter weight packaging is a trend, which has taken off in recent years and has the potential to play a vital role in reducing levels of waste within the packaging industry. One of the key drivers for this has been a series of directives from the European Union, ensuring that all member states are committed to minimising the use of packaging in their products. Alongside this, we have seen an increased awareness among consumers of the environmental impact of the goods they purchase. Customers are increasingly likely to opt for goods, which are packaged in a minimalist, environmentally friendly way as they feel this corresponds best with their ethical values.

However, it is important to remember the purpose of the packaging itself.

If goods are packaged incorrectly or spoilt during transit, the waste caused by damaged products can be a larger contributor to the waste stream than the packaging itself. For example, it is estimated that 30 per cent of the world’s food is wasted due to spoilage.

Lighter weight packaging is a further key component of the holistic approach that is required to achieve higher levels of sustainability.

Moreover, intelligent packaging is an area, which has grown significantly in recent years and has been shown to help contribute to lower levels of waste in packaging. A key aspect of this is Time­Temperature Indicators (TTIs), which allow for both manufacturers and consumers to know if a product has been temperature abused. TTIs can be placed within shipping containers or directly onto the products in the form a small self-adhesive label. If the goods experience abusive conditions, the indicator will change colour, highlighting that goods have been spoilt. By offering such speed, precision and clarity, this form of intelligent packaging helps to ensure that fewer products are damaged during transit, consequently reducing levels of waste.

As with any large-scale issue, it is vital to bear in mind the importance of education. There have already been

Most importantly, companies must assess their waste streams at every level, from the selection of raw materials, to the end of life of a product

Packaging significant breakthroughs in this domain. Thanks to local and national government campaigns, consumers are more aware than ever of their carbon footprint and the ways in which they can reduce this. However, many remain unaware of the specific recyclability of product packaging. An innovative way to counter this is through the use of logos, informing the consumer of the precise recycling requirements of a particular product. The logos have been proven not only to inform the customer, but also promote a perception of ‘greenness’ about the brand.

There is no denying that companies have come a long way in recent decades when it comes to managing waste and promoting sustainability.

Dedicated waste bins, EU legislation, and intelligent packaging are just a few examples of the progress that has been made. Most importantly, companies must assess their waste streams at

every level, from the selection of raw materials, to the end of life of a product.

Ultimately, companies must adopt a truly holistic approach to the issue of sustainability if they are to excel in this domain and seize the area of opportunity it presents. D Phil Davidson is European sustainability manager at HAVI Global Solutions, a professional services company dedicated to helping customers grow smarter by delivering strategic and operational competitive advantage from idea to end-of-life. HAVI helps customers better manage risk, achieve operational excellence and realise their growth strategies while addressing the most demanding, complex challenges across their business value chain.

www.havigs.com

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Avoid the

grind

Managing coffee price differentials.

By Michael Schwartz

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C

offee is one of the most highly traded commodities, second only to oil. It’s a highly volatile commodity and prices are on the up. While the majority of global stock markets have been out of form recently as investors fret over the state of Europe’s fragile economies, coffee has bucked the trend. In October it reached a two-year high, with the price of $2.21 a pound. A year ago, the beans were trading just above $1 a pound.

Part of the reason for this is that in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer, a severe drought has threatened next year’s crop. Prices have been driven higher in the expectation of a shortage.

Blenders have always worked hard to maintain prices and need to keep a careful watch on the origination markets to assess trends that could cause price movements. With increasing volatility, this is becoming harder to do without the right tools in place to support origination and prevent errors.

Michael Schwartz

For compliance and quality reasons, lot identity must also be tracked when coffee is bought, stored, and sold. Coffee companies require traceability from the point of origin to the point of final delivery.

Throughout the coffee value chain, accurate and timely information must be tracked on product grade and quantity as the raw materials are procured, processed, packed, transported, and exported. Coffee companies have complex supply chain requirements for traceability as well as measuring and accounting for grade variances for moisture, screen size, and foreign material. Because of the global nature of the supply chain, these companies must accurately track and optimise complex itineraries. Multiple origins, points of pickup from each origin, modes of transportation, and destinations must be tracked. All while tracking the traceability from as far down the supply chain as is possible across hundreds of unique grades.

Special Feature - Coffee

‘

Coffee companies now require detailed inventory information including quality, cupping results, storage location, certification details, bag size, and crop year alongside claim settlement functionality based on weight, quality, and supplier

The price a coffee producer can get is dependent upon the product’s unique characteristics in the way of flavour and quality. However, coffee is frequently treated as a homogeneous product, where its price is set based on its futures contract.

The difference in price between the value coffee trades for on the exchange and the price that coffee is locally available – the price differential – is impacted by the origin as well as the global demand and supply levels for the particular coffee. For coffee traders, this presents a significant challenge: they need to know the average differentials at which they have bought and sold their product so they can make fast trading decisions. To accomplish this, they require real-time information on their positions and average price differentials.

Protecting their margins is of utmost importance for traders, and particularly for coffee traders, where margins are razor thin. Even with the most effective

hedging strategies, the business can lose money if coffee traders do not closely monitor the weights and quality of their traded product.

When moving coffee, weight losses can occur both naturally and deliberately by the shipper and these shipments need to be tracked accurately to ensure the product stays within contract tolerance. It is typical for more than half of coffee shipments to end up in weight claim settlements.

Likewise, the quality or grade of the product must also be effectively tracked to prevent losses to the business when the shipped quality of the sample does not meet the contracted quality.

Accurate data is key.

To maximise profits, traders need to track inventory cycle days as they want to minimise the amount of time coffee stays in inventory — each additional inventory day adds additional storage costs. They need to focus particularly on inventories that are stuck for the longest period of time so that they can make decisions that will move these along faster.

Managing price volatility To manage commodity risk and support business decision-making, too many commodity companies are using older technology, even spreadsheets, and out-dated, incomplete data. Coffee companies need the right tools to effectively manage the following business challenges: price volatility, continually changing positions and price exposures, and a lack of real-time information in their origin to destination supply chains.

Today’s coffee markets are tougher than they have ever been. Prices across commodities continue to be extremely volatile. As prices change, coffee companies need to see exactly how this affects their operating margins so they can take appropriate actions.

Smell the coffee It is no longer sufficient for coffee companies to rely on first-generation commodity management software that provides only monitoring and reporting of historical data: coffee market participants need agricultural commodity trading software that also includes advanced analytics and realtime decision support tools to track positions and price differentials.

Transparency across the supply chain is key so that instead of vital information being squirreled away in individual spreadsheets or siloed systems, it is brought together in a single, central system to enhance decision-making.

With the latest end-to-end systems in place, companies can ensure visibility from farm to cup.

Coffee companies now require detailed inventory information including quality, cupping results, storage location, certification details, bag size, and crop year alongside claim settlement functionality based on weight, quality, and supplier. As freight is one of the largest contributors to costs, insights to help companies make the most profitable shipping decisions (FOB, CIF, CNF) are also a necessity.

It’s time to ditch the old-fashioned methods and join the modern era. Smart commodity management solutions have developed to meet the needs of today’s commodity companies for advanced analytics and decision support. D Michael Schwartz is marketing director at Eka. Eka is the global leader in providing smart commodity management software solutions.

Eka’s analytics-driven, end-to-end commodity management platform enables companies to efficiently and profitably meet the challenges of complex and volatile markets.

For further information visit: www.ekaplus.com

www.foodchain-magazine.com 17

A healthy

revolution Leon Restaurants looks set to revolutionise the fast food industry with the simple aim to provide ‘good food that does good’ with an intelligent naturally fast growth strategy

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I

n 2004 Allegra McEvedy, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent opened their first Leon restaurant on Carnaby Street in London specialising in seasonal, naturally good fast food. Over the last 11 years the company has grown to 21 sites with a focus on high profile locations and plans to open a further 12 in the next year. The vision for the business came to John and Henry when they were working as business consultants and were becoming increasingly fed up with the cold sandwiches and greasy, sugary motorway fast food. “It occurred to us that there is nothing in the word ‘fast’ nor in the word ‘food’ that meant that fast food had to be bad food,” John Vincent, co-founder and CEO, explains, “so we set about to rescue and re-invent fast food.”

Its values are simple: to make it easy for people to get food which not only tastes good but does good, not just for the consumer but throughout the complete supply chain.

The restaurant operates seasonally with four different menus throughout the year, plus a core

Leon Restaurants menu of fast food classics such as its Fish Finger Wrap, Original Superfood Salad and Chargrilled Chicken Burger.

On a daily level the company offers breakfast, all day, snack and children’s menus offering healthier alternatives to the fast food usual of burgers and breakfast muffins as well as range of original recipes from salads and rice boxes to breakfast egg pots and wraps.

Where possible the menu also includes a variety of allergen free, vegetarian and vegan options. Sites in Bankside, Ludgate and Spitalfields also offer a sit down, table served dinner menu. Much of the food is inspired by the founders’ Mediterranean roots where the food is naturally flavoursome and healthy, but the company is also keen to draw on classic British favourites to offer a diverse range of healthy food. This year’s spring menu, which launched on 16th March, includes lamb and rhubarb

Koresh and a lamb kofte kebab. To prove that this type of food can be delivered on a fast food platform, the restaurants remain true to the traditional fast food set up. John explains: “The restaurants use the traditional fast food model, of flying down a chute on the passé. It’s fast and it’s convenient, and it’s served to you in a sunny environment by fun, positive people.”

Intelligent growth So far this model has proven successful.

In 2005 with its first restaurant a year old, Leon was awarded the ‘Best New Restaurant in the UK’ by Observer Food Monthly, and the company won a ‘Good Egg’ award in 2008. However, perhaps one of the company’s greatest achievements to date was winning the flagship site at Heathrow Terminal Two in 2014 after competing against 40 other operators for the location. Leon is the only fast food brand available at the site. “To get a site that ten

years ago would have been occupied by a traditional fast food player like McDonald’s or Burger King was a really big step,” John expresses. “When we launched Leon, we wanted to challenge the fast food industry. It feels like people are ready for the challenge now.”

Response to the restaurants is positive, the company regularly receives requests to open up in other major UK cities but it approaches growth intelligently: “We want to grow fast, but safely. Naturally fast growth.” In the next year it plans to open up a further 12 restaurants with its 22nd site opening on the 22nd March on Kingsway, in Holborn.

Leon Restaurant’s commitment to doing good is not limited to how healthy its food is; it also focuses heavily on being a socially responsible and sustainable company. The company works very closely with its suppliers and where possible will use locally sourced ingredients and has been recognised by the RSPCA for the care it takes in sourcing. It was a founding member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association

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Leon Restaurants

set up in 2010, which commits to helping restaurants become sustainable when sourcing ingredients, engaging with communities and managing impact on the environment. A full breakdown of the company’s sustainable activities can be found on its website, and includes managing the whole food chain wherever possible down to how supplies are delivered to the sites and how fresh

left overs can be used to charitable cause.

2012 saw the company set up the Leon Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation aimed at making it easier for everyone to eat good food through a number of initiatives with communities, including schools and hospitals.

Leon Restaurants is a passionate and motivated organisation, focused on good food and promoting positive wellbeing.

As a company it has high aspirations to be in every major city in the world but its approach allows its growth to happen safely and naturally. John sees the company as the future of fast food and plans to have restaurants opened across the country in five years time; he also hopes to have expanded outside of the UK to America. It is a fast growing company with big hopes, but its revolutionary approach to the fast food market makes these hopes seem realistic and the future for Leon restaurants looks positive. D

www.leonrestaurants.co.uk

Puro Coffee Puro coffee was served on the first day of Leon when Carnaby Street opened. Since then over 12,100 acres of rainforest have been saved with the contribution of coffee sold in Leon stores. A great coffee needs a great machine, technicians on hand seven days a week to ensure it operates to an optimum level and highly trained baristas. Puro continues to provide all this to Leon and their super motivated and talented team does the rest.

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Source to sauce Bidvest 3663 is one of the UK’s leading foodservice providers, supplying to chefs and caterers throughout the foodservice industry

O

perating from four support centres and 21 depots Bidvest 3663 employs staff throughout the UK. “Within our business we have a strong passion for great food and pride ourselves on offering customers choice,” says Andy Kemp, group sales director.

That level of choice consists of both an award winning own brand range of 850 products, as well as over 12,000 products from the best foodservice brands. “Our ‘best of both’ approach is about offering customers a choice

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of excellent own brand and recognised branded products to suit their individual needs.

“By working with high quality suppliers, we can offer customers consistent quality products, which meet our strict QA and CSR policies and products that consumers are guaranteed to recognise and trust.

As a business, we have championed brands as long as we have existed, and the depth, breadth and strength of our relationships with branded suppliers, large and small, means that we have a fantastic resource of innovation, creativity and expertise to draw from,” he continues. A great value is placed on making customers’ lives easier, and through acquisitions and forming partnerships over the years, the business has created a specialist drinks division, as well as a catering equipment specialism. From disposables and packaging, cleaning, housekeeping and kitchen essentials, to tableware, beers, wine and spirits, customers benefit from a full scope of services.

Bidvest 3663 often launches innovative ideas to meet consumer demand in the industry, for example,

Bidvest 3663

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*AC Nielsen MAT 03.01.15 **AC Nielsen Total Impulse 52 wks to 29.03.14 †600 nat rep sample, adult snackers Dec 14 TNS

PERFECT PUB

KP Snacks - No.1 Snack Partner Trade partners of 3663 for ridged crisps, premium crisps and nuts McCoy’s - The UK’s No.1 ridge crisps* KP Nuts - The UK’s No.1 nuts brand** Hula Hoops - The UK’s No.1 fun snack brand† O’Donnells - Gluten free premium crisps Pom-bear - Great taste and gluten free

Grow your snack sales with...

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5561 3663 Perfect Pub A4 ad.indd 1

24/03/2015 09:27

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Bidvest 3663

Employing a food development team, consisting of time served industry chefs, the business works closely with its own suppliers sharing industry knowledge and insight, to ensure the products offered are relevant

the new ‘gluten-free made simple guide’, which will help customers tap into the £100m worth of ‘free-from’ business every year. “Additionally to this, the Beans & Steam coffee concept that we exclusively offer will help customers really drive their coffee offering, a market expected to grow to £16.5bn turnover by 2019.

We have also increased our ranges of other sustainable and ethical products such as Red Tractor, Fairtrade, MSC accredited and British,” Andy points out. “We have a real passion for food that is further evident through our own brand ethos, quality standards and processes. Ten per cent of our own brand range is endorsed by Craft Guild of Chefs, and products are benchmarked against products in the market to ensure it is of the highest quality. Unless products are of an

Gluten free pulled beef from the new ‘Gluten free made simple’ guide

equal or better quality than competitors’ match, they don’t get into our range,” he adds.

Food development Bidvest 3663 maintains very strict product and supplier assessment processes with a focus on quality.

Highlighting that stringent regime, Andy details the process for two of its unassuming, basic products: “Our own brand baked beans are sourced from haricot beans, carefully selected in the US, tripled graded before shipping, transported sustainably, exactly filling 20 foot containers. At the factory they are checked again and graded specifically to meet our recipe, and checked again post-blanching before they are added to a sauce content of 53 per cent.

Delivered to customers in large 3.12kg cans ensures value and sustainability for

Food champions

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09:27

foodservice caterers. Secondly, our 3663 own brand Red Tractor Cheddar cheese is made from milk sourced from family run rural farms in Northern Ireland. We use only milk from Red Tractor herds, which ensures there is a premium paid to farmers. Once the milk goes into maturation stores, it is then graded according to our specifications from six weeks on, and for taste and flavour profile, with the maturation process going to 24 months and beyond.”

Employing a food development team, consisting of time served industry chefs, the business works closely with its own suppliers sharing industry knowledge and insight, to ensure the products offered are relevant. The recent launch of a new initiative called ‘New4You’, promotes four new products each month, which the business believes are the best new products for customers to try. Furthermore, it has in place dedicated teams able to offer

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3663 own brand white cheddar cheese

Heinz Foodservice Helping 3663 customers to make the experience.

Creating fantastic summer eating experiences for guests is all about serving really memorable dishes. That’s why this summer Heinz Foodservice is helping 3663 customers create delicious summer dishes that are perfect for all casual dining menus, BBQs and outdoor eating occasions. What’s more, it can present menu classics like Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Mayonnaise in quality branded caddies, ideal for passing everyone’s favourite sauces from table to table.

Bidvest 3663 advice and support on key industry issues, such as the Food Information Regulations, The School Food Plan, Sustainability and Health and Wellness.

Through its Advice Centre, Bidvest 3663 provides support to customers through detailed knowledge of speciality products, cooking instructions and as well as nutritional information, which is specific to their businesses.

YAZOO YAZOO is the leading flavoured milk brand in the UK and is delighted to work with 3663, supplying educational, leisure and catering operations around the country. YAZOO is available in a range of pack sizes, the 475ml perfect for on the go and 200ml ideal for lunchboxes. The recipe is school approved and the new 300ml bottles meet new government regulations. The new YAZOO Yogurt Smoothies are 100 per cent free from artificial flavours, colours and sweeteners.

Understanding emerging trends on the high street ensures that it remains at the cutting edge of food industry developments. Commenting, Andy says: “Our insights team works with various leading research consultancies to gather industry insight and trends, which we then interpret to make relevant for, and to inspire our various customers. We also carry out our own research with customers to understand their own needs, what’s important to them when they buy, and what service excellence means to them. It is so important that customers can rely on their foodservice provider to keep on top of customer insight.”

Efficient service In March 2014 the company opened a 91,000-sqft depot in Bicester, for the purpose of providing a more efficient service for customers. The majority of products can be stocked directly

A food development chef developing fish recipes

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on-site, giving local customers access to a wide range of supplies, coupled with a voice-picking system that will improve accuracy of deliveries. “It will also reduce carbon emissions from the site with motion-sensor lighting, vehicle telematics and increased capacity vehicles. In November, we also opened a new site in Chepstow and moved our Swansea depot to a newly refurbished site nearby, to meet the increased demand across Wales and the South West. This is our first site to have solar panels on the roof, which deliver electricity to the depot and fast close warehouse doors to maintain temperature control. This is balanced across their overall infrastructure network which is both national and local, ensuring both the capacity to support customer growth, and also enough depots to offer a service that is local to customers giving them the best service levels and flexibility, whilst

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reducing the roadmiles needed to deliver food to customers.

“Providing a sustainable service and making it easier for our customers to be more environmentally friendly is important to us. Our award winning bio-diesel scheme has been running for over seven years and has generated carbon savings in excess of 30,000 tonnes,” points out Andy. Such success has been down to a collaborative approach with customers and specialist fuel producers, allowing the business to collect waste cooking oil from customers and convert it into bio-diesel for use in its delivery fleet, as he announces: “We’ve also invested in a new Fleet of Euro6 engines that come with some great advances in technology, which cut fuel emissions to record lows.”

Supplier support As its clients are faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of

The 3663 black forest brownie cheesecake which shows innovation by mixing two different types of dessert

Bidvest 3663 A Trio Berry Amore gluten free dessert

Red Bull Red Bull continues to drive strong growth year on year giving wiiings to 3663 and the Energy Drinks category.

3663 has a clear vision on how to grow the business and deliver results driving profit and incremental soft drinks volume. Red Bull continues to be a market leader, giving its consumers wiiings and revitalising body and mind.

the changing market, support from suppliers is essential as is innovation and inspiration to differentiate their offers. “As well as developing their menus, we recommend that foodservice outlets should invest in their digital marketing and technology, as well as their physical environment. For us it is about providing a choice of products which meet customers’ individual needs, providing flexible ordering, recipe ideas and inspirationonline or over the phone or value added services including insights, recipe ideas and benefits through the Safari loyalty scheme, all in addition to competitive pricing and monthly promotions,� says Andy.

The out of home food market is expected to continue to grow in value in 2015, following good growth in 2014, largely attributed to increased spending confidence among consumers, rising employment and increased disposable

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Bidvest 3663

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income in households. However, as the industry grows, challenges are raised, including meeting far reaching changes in legislation, which has impacted caterers. Bidvest 3663 works across the foodservice industry, supplying various businesses from small independents to national accounts, including five star hotels, restaurants, contract caterers and pubs right through to schools, care homes, hospitals, universities and even the Ministry of Justice. “Competition is a key challenge in foodservice and the ‘new’ post-recession consumer is often discount driven, therefore it is far tougher for establishments to differentiate themselves on factors other than price and to encourage customer loyalty,” explains Andy.

Highlighting the opportunity for

increasingly dynamic foodservice market, as Andy explains: “We aim to get closer to our customers, ultimately helping them to grow. We are focused on delivering service excellence, great food and added value, as well as delivering great value for customers in the form of competitive prices and promotions.” With the aim to demonstrate its passion for food to customers; the business has trained 18 members of the sales team to be ‘food champions’ on top of their sales responsibilities. Concluding, Andy adds: “Each food champion has a background in the food industry, trained in key insights, trends and new products, which they then showcase with their local teams so that they, in turn, can inspire their customers with

outlets to provide innovation and creativity on their menus provides significant opportunity for the business and its customers to excel within an

new ideas, recipes and innovation that can help them differentiate and refresh their menus.” D

www.3663.co.uk

products

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A tasty success McDonald’s Austria continues to prove that regular innovation and an understanding of its customers can go a long way towards the development and success of its brand

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B

eing one of the most recognisable brands in the world, McDonald’s is a familiar sight in over 100 countries, and that is no less true in Austria where the company has opened 194 branches since its first restaurant was opened on Vienna’s Schwarzenbergplatz in 1977. Last year, these restaurants made 562 million euros in sales to 158 million customers, provided work for 9500 employees, including 100 newly created jobs, and invested 150 million euros into continued development for the company in Austria. McDonald’s Austria’s main innovative focus has been about the customer experience by remodelling the stores for a simpler and more efficient service, and introducing a new ordering app and setting up a new delivery

service around Vienna. As well as this it continues to develop its menu and remains committed to its corporate social responsibility.

The remodelling of all restaurants across Austria has been underway for the last six years and has been run alongside the opening of new stores.

Since Food Chain last featured the company three years ago, it has opened a further 15 branches and plans to open a further three by the end of this year, the first of which will be in the town of Traun in Upper Austria. The remodelling itself consists of a new kitchen and service concept where the customer can order and pay via the QuickMac app, self order terminal or cashier desk and then collect their order at a separate counter. A further development, one that the company is keen to promote,

McDonald’s Austria

Self order terminal

is that “every burger is made ‘fresh for you’ on demand”, according to Andreas Schmidlechner, MD of McDonald’s Austria.

The App, QuickMac, is a significant aspect of McDonald’s current development plan. As customers are becoming increasingly connected through their smartphones, it is an important step to integrate this into the service offered in-store at restaurants.

McDonald’s Austria is one of the first countries in the world to develop and launch this service to its customers.

It allows the customer to order and pay via their phone to be collected at either McDrive or in-store thus reducing waiting times and offering a better customer experience. This app as been in place for over a year and has proven to be very successful. For those

customers without the app they still have the choice once in store to order via a self-service terminal, or with a cashier, with the goal to providing a more efficient service.

Another area where McDonald’s Austria is using technology to enhance the customer experience is through its online McDelivery scheme that launched in summer 2014 across 23 stores in Vienna. Despite the service still being in its youth, Andreas emphasises that “feedback is very positive as people appreciate our fast service and the quality of our products” and went on to explain that the company is currently considering offering the service in other urban areas throughout Austria.

What is clear is that McDonald’s Austria is using its knowledge and experience of the Austrian market to

deliver a continually developing and adaptive service to its customers.

Part of the McDonald’s Corporation’s strategy is to deliver locally-relevant restaurant experiences to customers and be an integral part of the communities it serves and this is evident in McDonald’s Austria’s operations. A big part of this is the way the company is developing its menu to engage in its social responsibility strategy within Austria. All food development for McDonald’s Austria is subject to market research and tasting, and is carried out in-house to ensure new items are developed in line with its own standards. New to the menu is the Grand Royal burger, described by Andreas as: “A next-level burger with top, high quality ingredients which will be on the menu all year round alongside one or two changing variations.” What is

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McDonald’s Austria OSI Food Solutions Austria GmbH & Co KG OSI Food Solutions Austria GmbH & Co KG is offering a broad product range consisting of meat products for McDonald’s Austria as well as for other divisions of the McDonald’s Group in Europe. The production and distribution programme includes the product groups ‘Beef’ (e.g., Hamburger and Hamburger Royal) and ‘Chicken’ (e.g., Chicken Patty Value and Chicken Patty Premiere). In 2014, OSI Food Solutions Austria GmbH & Co KG delivered approximately 21,000 tons to McDonald’s, thereof 8300 tons to the Austrian market. The first production of hamburger started in 1977 in Linz, and the location in Enns was established in 1990.

OSI Food Solutions Austria GmbH & Co KG is focusing on the production of high quality and innovative products and is supporting constant new product development – for example, the new Grand Royal Burger with 100 per cent meat from the Austrian Alpenregion.

significant about the burger is that it only uses 100 percent Austrian beef. Andreas explains that the company makes “regional commitment for the Grand Royal and use ‘Alpenrind’”. Alpenrind is a type of beef that can only come from three agricultural regions in Austria, therefore customers can be assured that they are eating locally sourced meat and McDonald’s Austria can make a significant economic contribution to the local farmers.

Local sourcing

The Kogler family from Upper Austria, one of McDonald’s Austria’s M-Cattle farmers

bösch bösch air-conditioning equipment offers cost-effective operation. When designing a unit bösch doesn‘t just look at the capital investment costs. This is because the operating costs exceed the pure cost of purchase within just a few years. Designing an appropriate solution for the McDonald’s Restaurants in Austria the bösch integrated air-conditioning units were born. bösch integrated air-conditioning units are supplied fully wired and operational, with heating, cooling and I&C technology. Even when the solutions are virtually the same, we are capable of accommodating even the slightest modifications. This is your guarantee for low operation costs and a perfect and healthy airquality for your customers and employees.

Working with Austrian farmers is something the company is especially proud of, currently working with 40,000 of the 200,000 farmers in the country. It buys most of its ingredients from these farmers including beef, potatoes, eggs, milk, flour and salad, and it ensures that most of these products are decorated with the AMA quality seal. Ten years ago the company set up a special quality assurance programme for all beef farmers; called M-Cattle the programme currently has 11,000 farmers signed up and serves to indicate McDonald’s commitment to responsibility. In a society where customers are becoming increasingly aware of business’ role in society it is crucial that McDonald’s can engage responsibly. Not only is it providing quality, safe produce to its customers but is operating within the national interest to use locally sourced ingredients.

McDonald’s Austria as a company represents the values of the McDonald’s corporation. The strategy to cater to the needs of the local customer base is critical for a global brand to survive

in over 100 countries and McDonald’s Austria is proving that this understanding of its customers is key to continual growth.

It isn’t just a steady commitment to opening new stores around the country that has provided the company with its success but its commitment to providing a quality customer experience, keeping up-to-date with technological trends and maintaining its social responsibility. As a brand the success and world leading position of McDonald’s is irrefutable, but the company in Austria remains aware that this position is only maintainable through continued investment and innovation. When asked about where he saw the company in five years time, Andreas answered, “still being the number one burger in town”, and as long as the company maintains its current performance it looks set to achieve this. D

www.mcdonalds.at

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FoodChain The business of food and drink

Schofield Publishing Ltd

10 Cringleford Business Centre Intwood Road l Cringleford l Norwich l NR4 6AU T: +44 (0)1603 274130 F: +44 (0)1603 274131 Editor Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Manager Joe Woolsgrove jwoolsgrove@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Rob Wagner rwagner@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

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