A Round Up of News in the World of Food and Drink

WAITROSE EXPANSION CONTINUES APACE
Waitrose opened its 300^th store this month. MD Mark Price declared his ambition to triple the group’s turnover in the next decade, with plans to open 20 stores each year.

WHILST ALDI’S MARKET SHARE JUST KEEPS GROWING
Aldi has grown its latest share of the UK grocery market to a new record high of 3.8%, compared to 3% this time year, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel.  Aldi’s year-on-year growth rate of 31.7% is the latest in an unbroken series of double-digit growth figures that date back to early 2011.

YET MORE DIY MEAL KITS
A number of companies have jumped on the trend for scratch and semi-scratch cooking with new DIY cooking kits. Scratch has launched a range of desserts targeting couples, which are rolling out in 160 Tesco stores. Desserts include Almond & Mascarpone Crumble and Passion Fruit Lemon Cheesecake. This move follows hot on the heels of a couple of other food kit ranges that have been launched recently…

...Farmison & Co has introduced meal kits that allow consumers to replicate recipes that they’ve seen on the Saturday Kitchen TV Show. The meal kit company has teamed up with the BBC to offer 2 Saturday Kitchen Recipe Boxes – one for two people and one for four people.

...Ocado has started stocking Gousto dinner kits that include all the raw ingredients and recipe cards for cooking meal from scratch. The kits include ready measured out ingredients to avoid waste and the recipes vary with the seasons.

GLUTEN FREE GIANT ENTERS UK
Boulder Brands has arrived in the UK with its gluten-free bread range Udi which is rolling out in 800 Tesco stores. The company plans to launch a further 50 new lines over the course of the coming year. This is just the latest development in this fast-growing sector which has seen numerous product launches in recent months.

CROWDFUNDING CONTINUES TO HELP UK FOOD BUSINESSES

Growing food and drink companies are increasingly turning to crowdfunding to provide an injection of capital for their business. US based company Kickstarter is one of a number of options available for a cash injection. Originally set up to provide funding for creative projects such as films and computer games, the company has funded over 50,000 projects globally,  and over 1765 of these have been for food and drink projects. Kickstarter has so far helped over 119 companies in the UK to the tune of over £500k. Investors back projects with no expectation of a conventional share in future projects – many are just promised delivery of the end product.

The largest UK-based platform is Funding Circle which has lent a total of £169 million since it launched in 2010. It operates on a strict lending basis, linking individual lenders with small companies.  Another option is Crowdcube, which offers a means of finding multiple backers to fund a project in exchange for a share of the business. It has successfully funded 20 UK food and drink businesses in the UK, raising a total of £4.5m.

COMING SOON – FRESH GROCERIES FROM AMAZON
Christopher North, Amazon's UK boss, has indicated a rumoured rollout of its grocery business in Britain would be "pretty quick" as the company seeks to double its UK work force in the next three years. North said the company was not ready to make an official announcement on plans for a UK rollout of its AmazonFresh grocery business, which has just been expanded from Seattle to Los Angeles. However, according to recent consumer research, nearly 40% of UK shoppers would not buy groceries from Amazon. So AmazonFresh may have its work cut out if it’s to succeed in the highly competitive UK grocery market.

We've Just Joined Foodies 100

New Grocery Product - Goat's Milk Ice Cream

Great news for those of you who are allergic to cow's milk but can tolerate goat's milk. Those lovely people at St Helen's Farm are launching a vanilla ice cream made from goat's milk and cream to add to their extensive range of products. And at £3.99 for a half litre, it's quite reasonably priced. 
So now you can treat yourself to ice cream without any guilt whatsoever. It uses only natural ingredients and is gluten and egg free and suitable for vegetarians .I haven't sampled it yet - let me know your thoughts. Apparently it's going to be available in selected Waitrose stores.
To find out more, visit the St Helen's Farm website http://www.sthelensfarm.co.uk

We want your reviews.
If you've come across any great tasting new products recently that you want to tell us about please let us know. And if you've been disappointed in anything you've tried recently, post your comments on the site and let other people know about your experience.


To see some of the projects I've worked on for as a marketing consultant for food and drinks companies, go to www.sa-marketing.com

Product Review - New Covent Garden Patatas Bravas Soup

I'm a real fan of tapas, and Patatas Bravas in particular. So when I came across a soup version in my local Waitrose, I couldn't resist. I've found the quality of New Covent Garden Soups quite patchy, but the lure of spicy potato and chorizo soup was enough to override my scepticism. Big Mistake.
What a disappointment! This was little more than mediochre tomato soup with a handful of diced potatoes and chorizo thrown in. Not spicy, and definitely nothing like the flavour that Patatas Bravas deliver. It was really, really dull.
New Covent Garden pioneered the chilled soup category, with really interesting recipes and big chunky soups. But there's now quite a bit of competition - own label and smaller brands such as Yorkshire Provender, and New Covent Garden certainly aren't doing themselves any favours with this product. At £2.20 for a pot, I certainly expected more than this.

We want your reviews.
If you've come across any great tasting new products recently that you want to tell us about please let us know. And if you've been disappointed in anything you've tried recently, post your comments on the site and let other people know about your experience.


To see some of the projects I've worked on for food and drinks companies, go to www.sa-marketing.com

What's This All About Then?

As a committed foodie and a marketing consultant specialising in food and drink products, I thought I'd set up this blog - to share interesting and original new products I've found, highlight issues facing the food industry and to discuss industry news and developments. I'm always on the lookout for new brands that could be interested in marketing assistance - it's always a challenge for smaller companies to get themselves noticed when they haven't got the big budgets of the multinationals.
It's a tough old time out there for food producers at the moment - costs of raw materials have soared, and they're talking about an extra 5p on a loaf of bread because of the poor wheat harvest. But I do believe that the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive in the food industry, and there are many small companies out there, coming up with delicious new products to tempt us.
The first new product I'd like to bring to your attention is On The Pulse. This is a great idea, baked beans in pouches, and in 3 different sauces that are bound to titillate the tastebuds - like the tomato and chilli version shown below. Sounds scrummy. Unfortunately I haven't been able to taste them as yet, so I can't vouch for their flavour. But I'm hoping to come across them some time soon!

The company hasn't been established very long and their website doesn't have any stockist details as yet. But if you're interested in learning more about them just click on this link.


Sue Aitken is a Marketing Consultant focusing on food and drink brands. She has worked with a number of companies on a range of marketing projects. To see examples of some of the work she's done, just visit www.sa-marketing.com