Tues 18th Nov, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London

HOPWELLS ACQUIRES WINDSOR FOODSERVICE IN AMBITIOUS GROWTH PLAN

Posted on by ahopwell@hopwells.com

Hopwells, one of the UK’s largest independent, family-owned frozen food wholesalers with six distribution centres across England, is excited to announce the acquisition of Windsor Foodservice.

The two companies, who have worked closely over many years, have finalised the deal as part of the Hopwells strategic plan to expand its service offering and geographical reach.

The acquisition by Hopwells adds an impressive pantry of ambient goods, including chilled products alongside premium, fresh meat & poultry. In addition, the merged company will now offer an expansion to its frozen collection. Windsor Foodservice has a well-established artisan patisserie offering exquisite desserts and cakes which is also part of the deal.

Tristan Hopwell, Managing Director said “Hopwells is an independent family business which prides itself on its traditional family values. Windsor is also a family business, and we both celebrate the successes our family ethos brings to our customers. Hopwells and Windsor Foodservice have both grown our businesses from the ground up, we’re both excited to bring together our joint experiences to form a leading position within wholesale.

The acquisition of Windsor Foodservice is a natural fit into our current business, giving us the ability to grow, by offering a broader range of products to the customers of both companies.

“We currently have no plans to change the branding of either business. Both companies are well respected in their markets and known for the quality of their service and loyal customer base. We believe that by developing best practice across the brands, we will strengthen the existing services and products we can offer to our developing customer portfolio.”

Pete Whitehead, current CEO of Windsor Foodservice, who will be retiring said:

“Our business is in great shape, and I am proud of the achievements made over the last 34 years. I started this business in my garage at home with just four chest freezers and have thoroughly enjoyed the journey, developing it into what we have now.

For me, it’s the people who make Windsor, my family and the staff who have worked alongside me, and I know that they are now in the safe and secure hands within the Hopwells family. In many ways, our two companies are remarkably similar and the success that both Hopwells and Windsor have enjoyed over the years, is testament that our customers appreciate a great personal service with products that they can rely upon.

Even though both Tristan and I have been competitors in business over the years, we are firm friends, and that’s why I know that my labour of love for Windsor will be honoured and nurtured into its next chapter.

I am positive that Tristan and all the team at Hopwells will continue to build on the success of the business.”

BIRDS EYE LAUNCHES NEW COMPETITION TO HELP CONVENIENCE RETAILERS UNLOCK FROZEN FOOD OPPORTUNITY

Posted on by Pete.Johnson@birdseye.co.uk

Birds Eye, the leading frozen food provider, has partnered with *shopt to give 10 independent stores the chance to win a variety of prizes that will help them maximise their frozen food offering and contribute towards rising energy bills. The first-prize winner is set to receive £3,000, including tailored category advice and a variety of Birds Eye, Aunt Bessies and Goodfella’s stock to help them continue maximising the frozen opportunity in their stores. There will also be nine additional cash prizes distributed to the runners up, ranging from £2,000 to £250. As well as nine additional prizes, retailers will receive a £3 reward for stocking Birds Eye products and for every qualifying entry received, Birds Eye will make a £5 donation to GroceryAid.

The competition comes after new research from Birds Eye revealed the significant benefits of the frozen food category for retailers over the past year. The research, conducted by KAM media, surveyed over 200 independent UK retailers and found that 62% of convenience retailers consider frozen food key to their sales mix. 43% of retailers have seen demand for frozen food increase, with more shoppers looking for frozen products as part of their weekly shop. Retailers also favour quality, with 67% stating the importance of stocking well-known quality frozen brands to tap into consumer demand. The research also doesn’t shy away from some of the challenges currently faced by independent retailers.  While the frozen aisle is key to satisfying consumer needs and driving retailer sales, due to increasing energy prices and the cost to keep freezers running, many retailers are finding it a difficult category to justify supporting. In fact, 45% of retailers cite energy bills to be the biggest barrier to success in the frozen category, with the rising cost of running stores impacting the channel.

Joss Bamber, Head of Convenience at Birds Eye, commented: “Frozen food continues to be an essential part of everyday life and demonstrates an opportunity for retailers as we know that historically the frozen food shopper puts more in their basket than the average convenience store shopper and spends more with that. However, we fully recognise that rising energy bills are having an impact on retailers and their ability to make the most of their sales. As leaders of the frozen food category, we’re here to support independent retailers with the right category advice and assistance so they can really reap the benefits of what frozen has to offer.  And with this competition, we hope to demonstrate the benefits of frozen food in this period of economic uncertainty while also reminding retailers of the additional help and support available to them. GroceryAid does an amazing job in providing welfare support to all areas, functions and roles within the grocery industry and we are proud to have the opportunity to promote the services they provide with this competition”.

To be in with a chance of winning, retailers simply need to head to the *shopt app and redeem the Birds Eye competition reward. By uploading an image onto *shopt proving they have purchased one case of three out of five of Birds Eye promotional SKUs*, retailers will receive a £3 reward into their *shopt account and will be automatically entered into the prize draw. For every entry into the prize draw, Birds Eye will donate a further £5 to GroceryAid.

The competition will run from 18th April until 28th May and the selected retailers will be contacted and receive their prizes in June.

Retailers, and their staff, can access GroceryAid’s free and confidential emotional, practical and financial support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, by calling the FREE Helpline on 08088 021122. Calls are answered by a qualified counsellor who can provide immediate emotional support and guidance. Alternatively, they can visit www.groceryaid.org.uk/get-help to find out more.

FOOD & DRINK EXPO SHOWCASES OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OFFER

Posted on by hayley.smith@oakland-international.com

Birmingham’s Food & Drink Expo proved a solid platform for total supply chain solutions specialist Oakland International to showcase their extensive service offer and cement existing relationships and forge new associations.

Oakland International is one of the leading D2C/B2C/B2B specialists in contract packing, storage, picking, food distribution and brand development support covering ambient, chilled, and frozen food, and services retail, convenience, discount, wholesale and food service markets in the UK and Ireland. Their accredited distress load management (DLM) service helps save up to 85% of product from going to waste. A spoiled or distress load can be both food or non-food, and can be caused due to incorrect temperature, collapsed pallets, clandestine infiltration, theft, vermin, or other contamination, with distress loads costly and a frequent occurrence across all industries.

Oakland International Group Innovation Officer Lindsay Winser said: “The expo provided an excellent networking opportunity and proved helpful for strengthening existing relationships with both our customers and suppliers in addition to forging new associations and all in an environment of collaboration, support and mutual success and it was definitely the place to be to experience some fabulous artisan cheese, plant-based products, and some very tasty chicken!”

Oakland International Operations Manager Alex Cullen commented: “As a company we have so many amazing services to offer it was great to get feedback from people saying thanks for the work we’ve done with them, and for helping them when others couldn’t, and for producing solutions to solve their problems. Feedback like that is just great to hear!”

Oakland International’s evolving and diverse service range incorporates the recently launched OakRA (Oakland Returnable Asset), a thermal reusable, sustainable alternative packaging solution for the home and business direct delivery market and is designed to cater for all temperature bands, and EORI who are customs clearance specialists providing traders with 24hr end-to-end customs clearance solutions. The company is also experienced at supporting new businesses and startups through the many challenges faced to break into the foodservice, retail or direct to consumer markets and is BRCGS AA accredited and continues to invest in sustainable technologies, energy efficient solutions, is working towards becoming the first business within their sector to achieve net-zero and has taken the first step to becoming B Corp certified.

FSA UPDATE ON THE REUL BILL

Posted on by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

BFFF recently attended an FSA Food Industry Liaison Group meeting. Following discussions at the meeting, they have now provided the following update for members on the Retained EU Law Bill:

We have reviewed retained EU law within the FSA’s remit and have provided advice to Ministers, which is currently being considered and we are awaiting a ministerial decision. The FSA has published as part of our recent Board papers (December 2022 and March 2023) the guiding principles we have used to inform our advice. These guiding principles are:

  1. Protecting public health, food safety and standards: we should not make changes which reduce the safety or standards of food produced or eaten in the UK.
  2. Protecting consumer interests: we should not make changes which are detrimental to the wider consumer interest in relation to food (for example by making food harder to afford).
  3. Maintaining consumer and trading partner confidence: we should not make changes which are likely to reduce consumer or trading partner confidence in UK food, or which are inconsistent with our international trade agreements.
  4. Supporting innovation and growth: we should seek to make changes that support innovation, growth and the introduction of new technologies, (including innovation that could help to make food healthier or more sustainable) and remove unnecessary burdens on business.
  5. Managing divergence: we should, as far as possible, seek consistency of approach across GB, in line with common framework commitments. We will consider the impact of divergence on public health and safety and the wider impact for consumers or businesses of having differing rules across the UK.

We are planning to run a consultation on our approach later this year. We understand the industry needs certainty and we will share our plans as soon as we can.

BFFF MEET WITH DEFRA TEAM TO DISCUSS CONCERNS ON WINDSOR FRAMEWORK REQUIREMENTS

Posted on by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Members will recall in last week’s newsletter that we asked for your input into a meeting with Defra’s Design & Delivery team to assist with work relating to the application of the labelling requirements as set out in the Windsor Framework.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to send us your thoughts. The information you provided allowed for a very constructive discussion and ensured that your voices were heard.

During the meeting we managed to table many of the key areas of concern for members including:

  • The lack of clarity still needed – for example exactly which goods need to be labelled and when.
  • The cost impact involved with shelf, box, or product labelling.
  • The feasibility and practicalities of stickering or printing additional information onto frozen goods.
  • The time taken to sign off and get new artwork printed.
  • The lack of availability at design houses and printers
  • How much frozen stock is typically held by manufacturers and retailers.
  • The short 1-month grace period before which goods must be compliantly labelled.

Defra was most appreciative of the information provided and our engagement with the team will continue, but for now the information will be taken away for further consideration and used to assist them in producing industry guidance.

In the meantime, they have posed a question back to members:

What are the biggest things government can do to help? – they are keen to explore what financial support they may provide, if it would help.

If any members would be willing to be put in touch with them, to discuss and provide supportive data (they are particularly keen to learn more about packaging costs), then please let deniserion@bfff.co.uk know.

Should anyone want further information on the areas discussed at this meeting then please do not hesitate to contact us.

SOMETHING SWEET FOR EVERY MOMENT!

Posted on by Ash Hirani

Turn any event or season into something fun by offering Europastry its In&Out PopDots. PopDots entirely dedicated to a specific moment.

Capitalise on events and seasons with your products and be ahead of your consumers. Europastry introduces the so-called In&Out PopDots.  Products that are perfectly suited for a certain moment, event or season and respond to the moment with matching flavours, colours and toppings.

Europastry has thought of a matching PopDot for every moment. PopDots are made of Dots dough, with special coatings, original toppings and the best quality filling.

Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, summer, the World Cup, you name the events and Europastry and its creative and innovative team will take up the challenge to create a delicious PopDot that is 100% popular with consumers. The company plays with different toppings, coatings and fillings to achieve the best result and combination.

PopDots is a new product that capitalises on the one-bite size trend and makes a perfect grab-and-go. Besides, it is super practical, you just need to defrost them and they are ready to consume.

Be innovative with the new PopDots by adding them to your assortment.

In addition to the PopDots, Europastry offers matching packaging options that are entirely dedicated to the moment and/or event. The packaging is based on a content of 5 PopDots per pack.

If you are interested, please contact Europastry via the website: https://europastry.com/global/en/.

 

BRAKES ANNOUNCES SIX MONTH PRICE HOLDS ON 1,850 OWN BRAND PRODUCTS

Posted on by clare.twiss@brake.co.uk

Brakes, the UK’s leading foodservice wholesaler, has announced it is holding prices on 1,850 own brand frozen and ambient products until October 2023.

With food inflation running at record highs through 2022 and into 2023 impacting food business across the sector, the price holds will provide food businesses with some certainty in the coming months.

The announcement is the latest in a series of initiatives that Brakes has launched to try to support customers through the current cost of living crisis. Previously, the business re-introduced its Help for Hospitality initiative over the summer 2022, followed by 10% cashback in the run-up to Christmas, before launching its new personalised rewards programme in January 2023.

Paul Nieduszynski, Chief Commercial Officer for Sysco in GB, said: “From tuna to tinned tomatoes and cookies to chips, we’re holding 1,850 prices across popular Brakes frozen and ambient products. It’s been difficult for operators to plan with inflation and input costs reaching record highs over the past year, so we’ve taken the decision to hold prices and provide some certainty and peace of mind over the coming months.”

DEFRA MEETING RE. LABELLING REQUIREMENTS FOR NI-GB – HAVE YOUR SAY BY MONDAY 24TH APRIL !

Posted on by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Whilst we appreciate this is extremely short notice, we are pleased to confirm we are meeting with the Defra Design & Delivery team on Monday 24th April to assist with work relating to the application of the labelling requirements as set out in the Windsor Framework

They are particularly keen to talk about the volumes and cost impact involved with shelf, box, or product labelling, along with other areas on packaging e.g., stickering.

To  ensure we represent the membership effectively, we would encourage you to send any thoughts/concerns/intel you may have on this specific aspect to deniserion@bfff.co.uk before 10am Monday 24th April and we will do our best to ensure they are included in the discussions.

All information you provide will of course be anonymised, and any commercially sensitive information will be handled in the strictest of confidence.

Should you not be able to feedback before the 24th then please do still send information to Denise for follow up after the session.