PARAMOUNT’S MSC WHITEBAIT WINS FOODSERVICE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Paramount are delighted to announce their MSC H&G Coated Whitebait has been awarded Foodservice Product of the Year and Best New Fish Product at the British Frozen Food Federation Product Awards 2019.
Paramount have been a trusted supplier of Whitebait and Blanchbait to the UK foodservice market since they started trading over 30 years ago. But as a growing business, their focus is firmly on the future. MSC-certified Headed & Gutted Whitebait proved the perfect next step for the Devon-based independent family business.
Aligned with evolving consumer tastes, they are designed for consumers who prefer not to eat the whole fish. Delicious in a variety of on-trend and competitively priced dishes, from seafood wraps and burgers to a simple starter served with tartare sauce and a slice of lemon.
Equally important to the business, which holds sustainability at its heart, the Whitebait are MSC-certified, with full MSC Chain of Custody traceable from boat to plate. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Fish Guide rates Sprat from this fishery as a ‘Best Choice’, meaning the fishing stock is well managed and harvested with a low impact on other species and the environment.
To get your hands on this delicious and sustainable product of the year, as judged by the BFFF and Craft Guild of Chefs, contact:
For Wholesale, Debs Casey-Smith: debs@paramount21.co.uk / 07747 560 098
Brakes, the UK’s leading foodservice wholesaler, has been awarded the ISO50001 Energy Management Standard in recognition of its continuing commitment to reducing overall energy usage.
The award is made to companies who have not only achieved certain standards, but also are committed to continuing to review and reduce their impact on the environment.
Ian Hunt, Director of Engineering and Environment at Brakes, said: “In recent years, Brakes has tried to set a positive example for the foodservice industry with initiatives, such as our 2ZERO20 campaign to eliminate hard black plastics, as well as being the first foodservice wholesaler to sign up for WRAP’s UK Plastics Pact and joining the WRAP/IGD initiative to reduce waste across the industry.
“The award of ISO50001 follows a huge amount of work in understanding and eliminating unnecessary energy usage.”
Brakes has invested heavily in its transport infrastructure and more than half of its delivery vehicles now meet the latest EURO 6 standards for engine emissions. The newer vehicles also have better economy and this, coupled with the roll-out of new route-planning software to reduce mileage across Brakes’ business, has made a significant difference to the fuel required to run the network.
The company is also continuing to use GTL fuel, which has significantly lower (almost 50%) nitrous oxide emissions, for deliveries from its London depot in Park Royal.
To support the new standard, Brakes has rolled out training for all staff on how to reduce energy wastage.
Major infrastructure projects are also being planned, including using alternative energy at depots, as well as plans to upgrade facilities to create significant CO2 savings. These will build on incremental savings across the rest of the business, including reduction of gas and electricity usage by up to 2% and utilising more energy efficient methods, for example additional LED lighting across its estates.
Hunt added: “We’ve written the opening of our environmental story, with initiatives like 2ZERO20, zero waste to landfill since 2016 and industry-leading recycling rates of 81%, but we’re already busy working on the next chapters, which is what the continuous improvement under ISO50001 is all about.”
Business Community Lends its Support to Upcoming Charity Ball
A glittering Charity Ball in aide of the Oakland Foundation is taking place at the National Motorcycle Museum and Conference Centre, Birmingham on Friday 6th September 2019.
Headline sponsors lining up to support the event include SPAR UK, Calderhead Refrigerated Transport, Lorica Insurance Brokers, Perfect Personnel, Starkey Electrical, Supreme Systems and Oakland International.
Compere will be radio presenter Dan Kelly with entertainment provided by singer, dancer, actor, finalist on the X Factor, champion of the Champions Dancing On Ice 2014 and TV Hollyoaks regular Ray Quinn. Also joining the line-up will be tribute 80s cover band Retro Electro, magician Infiniti Magic and Ipsley RSA Academy’s school choir.
SPAR UK Supply Chain Controller Vinesh Patel, commented: “We’re delighted to be a sponsor and support such a fantastic charity as the Oakland Foundation. The work they undertake with organisations and groups who work with children and young people in the community is commendable.”
A black-tie event where all money raised from the Charity Ball will go towards the work of the Foundation with schools, community and youth organisations in and around Redditch and Bromsgrove.
Oakland Foundation Trustee, Luke Attwell, stated: “Our inaugural Charity Ball raised over £8,000 which helped to provide a range of funded initiatives and activities for children under 16 and their families through educational, sports and health and nutritional programmes. Going forward we hope to extend our links with more local schools and businesses, increase our match-funding partnerships and create new opportunities with the council and local community groups.”
Figures from End Child Poverty (January 2018) state that over 23.5% of children in Redditch and over 15.3% of children in Bromsgrove are currently living in poverty. Oakland International set up the Oakland Foundation six-years ago to try and address this. Today 30% of children living in the UK are living in poverty, or 9 children in a classroom of 30, even though 67% of children in poverty have at least one parent in work.
Projects which have received Oakland Foundation support include working with schools to fund educational enrichment activities, the Bonterre Project which offers children the chance to take part in a range of agricultural activities which builds self-confidence, motivation and personal resilience and Redditch Active Kitchen which provides youth activity programmes and food during school holidays.
For enquiries and to book please call: 07964 001705 or email: enquiries@oakland-foundation.com. Single tickets are £95 or £850 for a table of ten. All proceeds from the event will go directly to the Oakland Foundation charity.
Erudus goes forth to revolutionise food industry data with latest integration
Jon Shayler, chief operating officer at Erudus
Erudus is continuing to cement its position as the industry’s leading provider of food product data after announcing an integration partnership with Fourth.
Fourth is the UK’s leading hospitality platform.
The partnership means customers of Fourth’s recipe and menu engineering software can benefit from up-to-date product information sourced directly from the Erudus data pool.
It also increases efficiency and provides a smoother process for building and amending meals and menus.
And SA Brains, Wales’ biggest brewer and hospitality company, and its wholesaler Castell Howell, have already noticed the benefits of the integration.
Alan Todd, head of food and pub partnerships at Brains, said “We now have a completely transparent link direct from the manufacturer of our ingredients right through to our all-important customers.
“The integration of Erudus into our recipe building platform from Fourth has coincided with our link to providing better allergen information through Tenkites. By integrating this into the websites of our food led managed sites we can ensure complete allergen visibility for our customers when making menu choices.
“Our industry leading approach shows our business’ true commitment to customer service and food safety.”
Martyn Simpson, new product administrator at Castell Howell, said: “It is great that SA Brains customers can now benefit from the information provided by Erudus.
“With allergy care and dietary requirement more important in the food industry than they have ever been before, it gives peace of mind to customer and caterer alike that the information provided is up to date and accurate.”
Jon Shayler, chief operating officer at Erudus, believes his company partnering with foodservice tech companies is hugely beneficial to all manufacturers, wholesalers and caterers.
He said: “Fourth is well-respected in foodservice and we’re thrilled its customers now have the chance to overcome a significant hurdle in dealing with the challenges presented in food specifications.
“The ability to instantly view and communicate nutritional and allergen information is growing in importance each day.
“Those with access to Erudus’ data pool, either directly or via a third-party app such as Fourth, benefit by being safe in the knowledge that the specifications they are reviewing have been inputted by the manufacturer directly.
“Integration partnerships such as this allow for data to be pushed further, which means manufacturers enter their information once and it’s then pulled into additional software used by the industry.
“The amount of time saved by everyone in the supply chain from repeated uploads is huge.
“This is the latest integration partnership for Erudus and we have plans for more in the coming weeks and months.”
Adrian Chalmers, director of data and technical consulting at Fourth, added: “Gaining up-to-date and accurate nutritional and allergen data has been a real challenge for our customers over many years, resulting in nervousness around making data public. This partnership eliminates manual checking and input of information for our joint customers, leading to confidence in the data being shared as well as saving time and energy for the operational teams in managing that data.
“We look forward to sharing this new approach with many more of our customers and to making their lives simpler and releasing them to focus more time on their own customer activities.”
Kara announces partnership with CoppaFeel! as part of relaunch of floured baps range
Kara, the foodservice specialists of the Finsbury Food Group, has announced its partnership with breast cancer charity, CoppaFeel! to celebrate the launch of its new floured baps collection. The new range will be available from 1st June 2019, with a contribution from every case sold going towards the UK charity.
With summer just around the corner, Kara’s new and improved floured baps collection, now including a premium sliced sourdough option, will be the perfect accompaniment for both operators and restaurateurs who are looking to complete their BBQ offerings this summer.
In addition to the new sourdough roll, the existing range of floured baps have all been upgraded with an improved recipe that equips the products with a longer shelf life and allows each bap to maintain its high quality texture and softness. The entire range is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans, meaning that Kara’s floured baps can be enjoyed by all.
Founded in 2009, CoppaFeel! is a national charity which aims to create awareness about the importance of self checking. Encouraging young people to check their breasts and pecs to get to know their normal and promote the early detection of breast cancer. The charity discusses a serious topic with a light-hearted approach and was thrilled to be supported with a range of floured baps.
Jane Olney, Commercial Director at Kara, commented: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have partnered with CoppaFeel! on this range and to play our part in the fantastic work that the charity does to educate and empower young people to be able to spot the early signs of breast cancer. We hope that operators really get behind this campaign and help support the charity. Kara also has a number of internal initiatives planned to further support the charity such as bake sales.”
Ellie Baldwin, Corporate and Community Fundraising Executive at CoppaFeel!, commented: “We really couldn’t do our important work without the generosity and support of both individuals and companies, such as Kara, who believe in our mission as much as we do. We’d like to thank Kara for their support.”
The entire Kara range of floured baps are supplied frozen and can be served in two different ways; either defrosted, for a soft eat or baked from frozen, for a crusty finish.
Family seafood firm, JCS Fish, has unveiled a fresh new design for its BigFish Traditionally Smoked products. The distinctive new packs for BigFish Oak Smoked Salmon and BigFish Oak Smoked Sea Trout will bring added seafood appeal to either the chilled or frozen aisle of any discerning retailer.
Commercial manager of JCS Fish, Jack Coulbeck, said: “The redesign of our core smoked range marks the first step in our project to improve packaging across the BigFish range. As well as updating visual appeal, we are planning new formats which will improve the environmental friendliness of our packaging, with less waste and increased recyclability. In this case, we have reduced the pack dimensions by about 10% to cut the use of plastic film.”
Despite the smaller format, pack weights for both BigFish Traditional Smoked Salmon and Traditional Smoked Sea Trout remain the same. Products are available in either 100g or 200g, in both chilled and frozen formats. All are traditionally cured and D-sliced for convenience and easy serving.
BigFish Oak Smoked Sea Trout is using a strain of rainbow trout that is slow grown at sea. It is an increasingly popular alternative to Salmon and from the same family, but with a uniquely delicious, slightly sweeter flavour and a character all its own.
Also in this range is a new BigFish Whole Smoked Salmon Side, also pre-sliced and with a minimum weight of 900g, which makes it perfect for seasonal entertaining.
BigFish Traditional Smoked Salmon was the winner of a Great Taste Award in 2018.
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