Page 422 — British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF)

THE FROZEN FOOD AWARDS AND ANNUAL LUNCHEON 2021

Posted on May 13, 2021January 9, 2026 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

This year will see us announce the winners of our 2021 Frozen Food Awards at the Annual Luncheon which will take place on Thursday 25^th November at the Park Lane Hilton, London.

The BFFF Frozen Food Awards are the biggest and best in the industry. Rewarding the best new products from across the sector, no other awards focus solely on frozen food. So if you launched new products during 2020 you can enter the awards. Winners receive gold, silver, bronze and highly commended awards in each category with over all Product of the Year and Innovation awards also presented in both Foodservice and Retail. Full details of categories and how to enter can be found here on our website. The deadline to submit entries is 30^th June 2021.

Time and time again members tell us that the Annual Luncheon offers an excellent opportunity to network with industry colleagues from across the frozen food industry and is a real highlight in the calendar. Our first live event following the pandemic, we are excited to meet with our members and their guests in person once again. We are delighted to have Vine Meats sponsoring the Annual Luncheon this year and would like to thank them for their support.

Annual Luncheon tickets are now available for BFFF full members and can be booked here.

Primary Authority Assured Guidance – Reviewed

Posted on May 13, 2021January 9, 2026 by Sarah Collison

Wakefield Council have recently reviewed and assured a number of Guidance documents for our members.

These are:

Work at Height Equipment for Cold Stores

Health Surveillance for Cold Store Workers

How to Assess Head Protection for Cold Store Workers

Guide to Raynaud’s Phenomenon

Working in a Cold Store Environment – Advice for Employees

Click here and refine the category to ‘Primary Authority Assured Advice’ to view the documents

REED BOARDALL COMPLETES WORK ON LARGEST AND MOST MODERN COLD STORE IN THE UK

Posted on May 13, 2021May 14, 2021 by jrae@reedboardall.com

Leading temperature controlled food storage and distribution businesses, Reed Boardall, has completed a 12 month multi-million pound project to further expand its dedicated, single site operation in North Yorkshire, once again making it the most extensive and modern cold storage facility in the country.

As volumes through the company’s cold store and transport operation have continued to increase in line with the growth of customers’ businesses, Reed Boardall had put plans in place to expand capacity to 168,000 pallets prior to the start of the pandemic last year.

With four state-of-the-art cold stores at the company’s 55 acre site in Boroughbridge, the 110,000sq ft extension to its newest cold store will give Reed Boardall capacity to handle its customers’ continued growth going forward and to seamlessly manage peaks in usage.

Led by Andrew Baldwin, managing director of Reed Boardall’s cold storage division, the project got underway in March 2020 with Leeds-based Marshall (Building Contractors) once again acting as primary contractor. Featuring the latest mobile racking system, the extended cold store follows the successful template already established at the Boroughbridge site.

Mr Baldwin explains: “ Our customers’ ongoing organic growth has resulted in increased storage and distribution needs and we are happy to invest in the infrastructure which will enable us to continue to look after their best interests and to grow alongside them. We have undertaken this project to align ourselves with our customers, and, as a business, it’s vital that we continue to move forward.”

Marcus Boardall, chief executive of Reed Boardall, adds: “Despite intense pressure on the supply chain in 2020, we were able to undertake and complete the extension project on schedule. From the turmoil of the pandemic to uncertainties around Brexit, we and our customers have faced some real challenges over the last year, and this latest investment makes us well-placed to continue to swiftly and efficiently respond to our customers’ changing logistics requirements.

“Having consistently served the UK food sector for over 25 years, our single site business model and ability to consolidate loads cost efficiently have proved well-suited to the needs food processors and retailers across the UK. The extension to Cold Store 4 marks another important milestone in the company’s development, once again demonstrating our ongoing commitment to working as a reliable and trusted partner to leading food suppliers nationwide.”

Reed Boardall is one of the largest temperature-controlled food distribution businesses in the UK, storing and delivering frozen food from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all the UK’s best-known supermarkets. With a fleet of 196 vehicles operating 24 hours a day, year round, it delivers 12,000 pallets of frozen food daily for its clients as well as providing a range of complementary services including ancillary blast freezing, picking and packing.

The company employs almost 800 staff at its single site in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire.

MARSHALL FLEET SOLUTIONS INVESTS IN FURTHER TAIL LIFT EXPERTISE

Posted on May 13, 2021 by

As part of the company’s planned expansion of its growing tail lift division, Marshall Fleet Solutions has, with immediate effect, appointed industry stalwart Andrew Kitchen as Head of Tail Lift Operations.

Reporting directly to MFS Tail Lift Director Sarah-Jane Whitmore, Andrew will be responsible for all the day-to-day operations within the Tail Lift Division at Marshall Fleet Solutions.

Announcing details of Andrew’s appointment, MFS’s Sarah-Jane Whitmore said, “As another key addition to the growing MFS tail lift business, Andrew joins MFS as we continue with our programme to invest in, and develop, the division moving forward. MFS now has a really impressive nationwide tail lift infrastructure in place and Andrew’s undoubted expertise, drive and determination will help push the overall MFS tail lift operation to new levels in 2021 and beyond.”

Having had a long-established career within the transport industry, Andrew Kitchen brings a wealth of relevant specialist industry expertise to Marshall Fleet Solutions, following 27 years working for Stone Hardy, where having worked his way through their business he rose to his most recent position of Operations Director, before joining MFS this month.

“Andrew’s arrival here at MFS is one of several recent new senior management appointments as MFS continues with its ongoing business development programme by investing in new people, new expertise and new facilities throughout the business,“ adds Sarah-Jane Whitmore.

MFS’s Tail Lift Division operates on a UK-wide basis through five regional depots, supported by a nationwide team of mobile service engineers, providing a full range of breakdown, repair and maintenance services including statutory thorough examinations as per LOLER, weight testing and diagnostics for tail lift, lifting deck and shutter doors.

BIRDS EYE BUILDS ON CHICKEN-FREE SUCCESS WITH GREEN CUISINE NPD

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Pete.Johnson@birdseye.co.uk

Birds Eye is adding to its plant-powered Green Cuisine range, with the launch of three more Chicken-Free options. The new Chicken-Free products will see Crispy Grills, Southern Fried Grills, and Burgers hit shelves from mid-May, helping to bring a wider choice of meat-free alternatives to shoppers in the frozen aisle. Taking inspiration from the brand’s much-loved chicken portfolio, Birds Eye has seen over 31% of total Green Cuisine sales come from the three Chicken-Free SKUs launched in 2020 (meat-free Dippers, Nuggets and Strips)[2].

Bird Eye’s foray into Chicken-Free has helped bring new shoppers into the category, with penetration of the Green Cuisine range now up to +8.7%[1]. With shoppers, now more than ever, looking to the freezer for extra meal-time inspiration, the new launches will emulate the most popular products in the Birds Eye chicken portfolio, making meat-free eating easy and appealing to those shoppers who also want to reduce their meat intake.

Jess Ali, Marketing Manager at Birds Eye, said: “Our Green Cuisine Chicken-Free products have gone from strength to strength since our first launches in 2020. Shoppers love both our great tasting chicken products and our Green Cuisine alternatives, which makes us proud to be able to cater for all family members. This extension of the Green Cuisine chicken-free range will continue to play off recognisable formats that shoppers already enjoy, but that are powered by plant protein.

“The combination of our heritage in frozen food and our reputation for producing family mealtime favourites such as Chicken Grills and Chicken Dippers has helped to make these products so successful and popular. By recreating mealtime classics using plant power, these new additions to our Green Cuisine range will continue to help shoppers to add meat substitutes to their plates, showing them that plant-based meals can be just as tasty and convenient.”

Birds Eye’s 2020 launch into meat-free chicken alternatives, with plant-based strips, dippers and nuggets, was very popular amongst shoppers – with the dippers winning Product of the Year 2021[4]. With 46% of Green Cuisine sales coming through NPD^[5], the range’s success has also seen the brand expand into frozen bakery products including meat-free sausage rolls and vegan pies. To further the brand’s efforts to make eating meat-free more mainstream and promoting the power of plants, Birds Eye’s Green Cuisine brand has become the official plant-based supporter of Team GB ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The Birds Eye Green Cuisine Chicken-Free Southern Fried Grill is already available in Tesco, while the

Chicken-Free Crispy Grill and the Chicken-Free burger will launch from mid-May in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

[2] Nielsen MAT TY 27.03.21

[1] Kantar MAT 52 Weeks 18.04.21

[4] Nielsen MAT TY 26.12.2020

[5] Nielsen Scantrack data Latest 4 weeks value sales to 28.11.2020

SafetyCulture: Health and Safety: Technology to help tackle the new normal

Posted on May 12, 2021January 9, 2026 by

The past year brought challenges and changes to the working environment on a scale we’ve
never seen before. As we prepare to bring all employees back into work, health and safety must
be top priority. BFFF partner, SafetyCulture, sets out some of the biggest trends and challenges
across health and safety today:

A dispersed workforce

A return to the workplace is imminent for many businesses, but having your complete workforce
back to the office or on-site full-time seems less likely. Remote and hybrid working
arrangements are here to stay, but with this comes distance. We must embrace these new
models and accommodate accordingly, embedding new approaches such as virtual learning and
training. We must make a conscious effort to stay in touch with our dispersed workforces.

Embracing technology

The best way to ensure communication and processes are upheld is through the use of
technology in health and safety. While technology will inevitably produce new ways of working, it
can help control risk and spearhead accountability.
The uncertainty produced by the pandemic has transformed many businesses and forced new
ways of working upon us. Technology is clearly the solution to help us answer this change
effectively among the new normal: whether that’s for communication, completing checks, raising
issues or assigning actions, or continuous development.

Frontline empowerment

Our frontline employees make up over 80% of the global workforce: we need to ensure
technology works for them. When it comes to COVID-19 processes, employees are also more
than likely the ones charged with ensuring we’re compliant. This means that ever-changing
guidance needs to be accessible and easy to implement for them, rather than being perceived
as an additional burden on already-stretched time and resources. Digitised checklists can
combat process fatigue and drive frontline empowerment: helping our teams rise to the
challenge.

Cultural shift

It’s time to move beyond seeing health and safety as purely compliance: we need to build
cultures centred around empathy and empowering our teams.
However, a dispersed workforce complicates our ability to create a culture change. Accessible
technology can help bridge this by empowering our teams and removing communication
barriers.

Our teams can create real-time visibility through digital inspections, photos, messaging, and
more. The essential feedback loops this creates help build strong cultures where employees are
able to speak up and take action. Not only does this reduce risks and improve your processes, it
drives accountability. When our teams can take ownership for their workplaces and
management can see what’s really happening on the ground, we can drive real, meaningful
change. That’s what our ‘new normal’ demands.

Get Ready…

Get ready for your workforces return by visiting BFFF’s dedicated dedicated partnership page
and get started for free. You can also discover more about ‘How to build strong EHS Cultures
in 2021’ in SafetyCulture’s free eBook.

About Safety Culture

SafetyCulture is the operational heartbeat of working teams around the world. Its
mobile-first operations platform leverages the power of human observation to identify
issues and opportunities for businesses to improve everyday. More than 28,000
organisations use its flagship products, iAuditor and EdApp, to perform checks, train
staff, report issues, automate tasks and communicate fluidly.

SafetyCulture powers over 600 million checks per year, approximately 50,000 lessons
per day and millions of corrective actions, giving leaders visibility and workers a voice, in
driving safety, quality and efficiency improvements.

A few reasons to become a member of BFFF

To find out more about becoming a member call 01400 283 095 or email the team

Join BFFF

Member profile on BFFF website

Free BFFF Member List

Free listing in the annual Member Directory

Access to latest industry news and information

Weekly newsletter, press and media opportunities

Press and media opportunities

Marketing, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities

Networking via opportunities at BFFF events

Free market data provided by Circana and World Panel

Access to industry specialists

Expert guidance from Technical and Health & Safety teams

Access to Primary Authority schemes and assured advice

H&S Audit Service/Advice

Free access to HR and legal guidance and advice line

Training and Education

Member Benefits

Exclusive Partnership deals on key products and services:

BFFF energy deals and rates
Vypr member deals and introduction
Defib Plus deals
Company Shop – membership
Mentor – MHE training health check

Exclusive access to networking opportunities and events:

Meet the Buyer events (retail & foodservice)
Annual Business Conference with networking dinner
Specialist H&S and Technical Conferences
Special interest groups (packaging, frozen food temperatures)
Annual Lunch
Awards Night

Become a member

Sponsorship Packages

We offer a range of sponsorship opportunities to BFFF members across our events throughout the year, with flexible packages that can be tailored to suit your business objectives.

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