A butcher has pipped a baker to the World Scotch Pie Championship post, as Murdoch Brothers Butchers was announced the winner of the 11th annual contest.

Highest-placed baker in the Scotch Pie category was Airdrie-based Bon Bon Cake Shop, which achieved Gold 2nd Runner-Up.

A butcher has pipped a baker to the World Scotch Pie Championship post, as Murdoch Brothers Butchers was announced the winner of the 11th annual contest.

Highest-placed baker in the Scotch Pie category was Airdrie-based Bon Bon Cake Shop, which achieved Gold 2nd Runner-Up.

A record entry of 85 butchers and bakers – 84 of them from Scotland – were represented in the secret judging, which was held at Carnegie College earlier this month. Alongside the Scotch Pie competition, there were seven other categories to enter.

The winning bakery businesses included Nicoll’s Rosebank Bakery in Dundee, which won the Diamond award in the Bridies category. Nevis Bakery in Corpach won the Savouries Vegetarian category for its vegetarian haggis, neeps (turnips) & tattie pie.

Kassy’s Kitchen in Cowdenbeath claimed the Diamond award for the Savouries Hot category with its roast lamb & mint sauce pie. The Diamond award for hand-held steak pies went to Stuarts of Buckhaven; and Charmers Bakery in Bucksburn won the Savouries Cold category with its black pudding & apple pie.

Winning butcheries were Fraserburgh-based Bruce of the Broch, which came top in the Savouries Fish category with its Smoked Haddock Pie; and T Johnston in Dunfermline took the title for the top Sausage Roll.

“The objective is to raise standards in the industry and we believe we have achieved that,” commented event organiser Alan Stuart of bakery and butchery business Stuarts of Buckhaven. “We are also encouraged to see a number of new entrants, 15 in total.”

Starbucks has announced plans to put its Seattle’s Best Coffee brand into more than 9,000 Subway stores in the US.

The freshly brewed coffee will be served in the sandwich chain’s outlets by the end of 2009, with Subway planning more store openings in 2010.

A deal has also been signed which will see the Seattle’s Best brand in 800 Canadian Subway outlets by the end of the year.

“Today, consumers are looking for and expect a high-quality premium coffee experience wherever they are,” commented Michelle Gass, president of Seattle’s Best Coffee.

Established in 1970, Seattle’s Best Coffee has more than 550 specialty coffee cafes, kiosks and other concepts in the US. It is also available nationwide in supermarkets and at more than 6,000 foodservice locations.

Finsbury Foods has announced that falling sales in its cake business have resulted in a 2% drop in revenue for the 17 weeks to the end of October.

The firm, which manufactures cake, bread and morning goods, revealed that group revenue was 2% less than the comparable period last year, and 4% behind on a like-for-like basis, excluding the recently acquired Goswell business.

Belgium-based pastry manufacturer Pidy has announced plans to increase its presence in the UK, with a particular focus on the bakery and café sectors.

Starbucks has announced plans to put its Seattle’s Best Coffee brand into more than 9,000 Subway stores in the US.

Pine nuts: These have had one of the worst seasons on record. The reduced Chinese crop, together with the failure of supplemental Russian and Siberian material to make it across the border into China, combined to create a massive shortage in a season that saw exponential growth in the development of pine nuts. China reports another poor crop, although the key to the total supply into 2010 remains on the additional supply from Russia predominantly, which will or won't make up another shortfall. Pakistani pine nuts have made a greater appearance over the past season and although they offer a price saving, it has been suggested that the quality, appearance and sizing are inferior to China.
Pumpkin seeds: After a dramatic season of under-supply and increased demand, China appears to be continuing its policy of further plantations of better-yielding oil seed crops, which, per acre, deliver a better return, albeit at lower pricing per kilo, than the excessively priced, but poor-yielding pumpkins. This has been further exacerbated by a poor crop reported this season in Austria. Prices look to be firm overall into 2010.
Sunflower seeds: Compared to pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds present a substantial cost saving. This will almost certainly stimulate greater demand for sunflower in its own right and as an ingredient in bakery, manufacturing and seed mixes alike.

The improved quality of UK harvested wheat and barley crops this year could have implications for UK supply and demand balance with potentially less availability for millers, according to the HGCA's latest cereals report. However, this compares to a poor season in 2008 and the results should also be placed in the context of large carry-over stocks of unclear quality, totalling around three million tonnes, it said.
Michael Archer, HGCA senior cereals and oilseeds analyst, explained: "Although quality has improved it must be remembered that this is in comparison to a very poor season in 2008." He told British Baker that the implications around supply and demand will mainly surround the availability of wheat and barley to millers, maltsters and exporters.
"We are potentially looking at a higher proportion of the crop meeting the quality requirements of millers," said Archer. "But even though it is a higher-quality crop, there is less of it."
The final results for wheat have shown a lower moisture content, higher Hagberg Falling Number, higher specific weight and higher protein compared to 2008. The barley results revealed a lower moisture content, higher nitrogen content and higher specific weight.
The survey was based on 61,000 samples of wheat and 30,000 samples of barley from laboratories around Britain.

lFats & Oils
With bakers under pressure to reduce sat fats and use sustainable oils, what are the options?
lFree-from
We look at why sales of gluten-free breadshave gone through the roof
lThe Big Interview
The resurgence of Hovis' market share has been the big story in wrapped bread. We ask brand boss Jon Goldstone how they did it

A baker who had a better idea of the value of empty flour sacks than he had of the ethics of stealing was sentenced to three months' imprisonment at Darlaston. He went to the bakehouse of a neighbour and wanted to buy 21 flour sacks, the value of which was seven shillings. The owner did not wish to sell them, and the prisoner went away, but afterwards, he was seen carrying the sacks from the premises. He was followed to a public house and, when charged with taking them, he expressed surprise that he should be charged with stealing, as the constable had recovered them. His plea, which did not obviate his imprisonment, was that he had been drinking and he did not know what he was doing.

The end of the world is nigh. Or at least it was until a chunk of baguette saved the day. Doom-mongers who fear the giant atom smasher in Switzerland the Large Hadron Collider will spark off a particle chain of events that will see the universe cave in on itself can breathe a sigh of relief. Well, for now at least.
Yes, work on the world's biggest particle accelerator, which is not yet operational, came to a shuddering halt when a bird dropped some bread on outdoor machinery, causing it to overheat. The golden question is, was this a carrier pigeon sent from the future to rescue the world with a baton? If so, it's reassuring to know that in a post-catastrophe future, there is still a market for French sticks.

Last year, in our tireless efforts to bring you news of toaster innovation, we reported on one concept 'see-through' toaster that was essentially two panes of heated glass. We scoffed then at the litany of design flaws, from the danger of burning your fingers to the impossibility of cleaning it.
More fool us, because Magimix is due to launch in January what it says is the first see-through toaster on the market. With two sheets of glass on either side to keep the outer wall cold, and windows that fold down so you can clean it, the toaster seems to tick all of the boxes. That is, if you're willing to put your tick next to the £160 price tag.

"It's a disgrace and a total farce. We can't stomach their cheap gimmicks. What good are cream cakes when we'll all be out on the street next year?"
A worker at the Johnnie Walker plant in Kilmarnock tells the Daily Record he is less than impressed by bosses allegedly "bribing" workers with cream cakes in a bid to get them to do overtime
"It is wrong to say that eating fibre is healthy when it exacerbates unpleasant symptoms for so many irritable bowel syndrome sufferers"
Professor Peter Whorwell from Wythenshaw Hospital in Manchester, quoted in The Daily Mail, which continues its crusade to find something wrong with absolutely every single thing we eat

Ok, we wouldn't advise going to the park to feed the ducks in these, but for any readers out there for whom baking and eating bread is not enough, there is now The Bread Shoe.
All for a bargain E70 (£62) and featuring the tagline "not wearable on feet...first in fashion...for interesting lifestyle...", the shoes were the brainchildren of twin Russian brothers and designers R&E Praspaliauskas. Or were they? The jury is out on the blogosphere over whether it is a hoax, a doubt further cultivated by a defunct 'BUY' button on the host website, even though three styles of bread shoes have supposedly 'sold out'. Plus, some people are crediting an obscure Norwegian comic or artist HR Giger with the bready breakthrough.
If any STW readers can come up with thigh-high women's bread boots, then we're sure that would be a first. Meanwhile, the shoe is sparking heated debates on design websites:
Teo: "This is just disgraceful. There are people starving, and we make shoes out of bread? This is even, if not worse, than starving a dog to death and calling it art. I usually don't get upset but this is wrong."
Signchic: "At last... something to go with my toe jam!"
Chuck Anziulewicz: "NO THANKS! I'm afraid I might get a yeast infection."
Jim: "I have tried this once, thinking that warm bread would be nice. The feeling was not unlike stepping in poo very unexpected. I guess it's better to wait until the bread goes stale."
www.dadadastudio.eu/shop/?c=5

Surely, 'always leave room for dessert' is one of life's truest lessons. It's certainly one that the pudding brands manufacturers will be hoping buyers keep front of mind as they sharpen their pencils, with an eye to revving up under-performing own-label puddings possibly at the expense of the brands.
"Certain supermarkets have been taking stock of their own category and organising themselves to potentially streamline next year; 2010 will be a lot tougher for brands like ours," says Roberta Herd, assistant brand manager at Farmhouse Fare, which supplies both branded and own-label pudding pro-ducts. "We're looking to retain our position as a quality brand, and also to look again at foodservice options."
The traditional pudding market in which it operates accounting for about a fifth of total chilled desserts sales has dipped in the last year, with promotions hitting value perception. "There has been a lot of work on deals, especially twin-packs, with a focus on promotion for the last year," she continues. "This is driving down price and expenditure. That's why traditional puddings are tracking slightly behind in value on last year. But Farmhouse Fare has seen really good growth about 56% in the last quarter (Nielsen, week ending 3 October 2009)." This is on the back of a new 10-strong range going into 52 more upmarket Tesco stores, as well as healthy promotional activity.
News of the renewed focus on own-label comes with the latest figures from TNS, showing retailer own-labels faring worse than the brands (see overleaf). But the biggest winner after a year in recession has been the frozen desserts category. Manufacturers supplying foodservice also report gains for frozen products, though this is offset by the struggling hotel and restaurant sector, with the latter seeing a 25% rise in insolvencies in the last nine months compared to last year (PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
"There is definitely a trend back to frozen due to reduced wastage," says Angus Allan, MD of Indulgence Patisserie, which supplies a number of chilled and frozen private-label products. "But if there is such a trend in foodservice (towards supplying frozen products), they are overwhelmed by the reduced number of people eating out. My gut feeling is this will last until after the election. Retail is very buoyant, foodservice is flat, but the coffee shop sector is doing fine."
Clean-label declaration continues to be a priority, which has benefited the frozen sector. "The retailers always go after the chilled, but immediately you have a life and a wastage problem," says Doug Chapman, MD of frozen supplier Speciality Desserts, which focuses on developing bespoke desserts to fit a brand concept in the hotel, pub and restaurant markets. "With frozen, you've got more flexibility. Certainly in our marketplace it's about zero wastage."

As phoenix from the flames stories go, a cupcake cases supplier being plucked out of administration and landing plonk in the middle of a boom in muffins and cupcakes is one of the more positive stories to come out of the recession-hit bakery sector.
A well-known name and a cupcake case supplier to craft bakers, coffee shops and supermarkets, Chevler Packaging filed for administration earlier this year, largely caused by an expensive final salary pension scheme that the business couldn't afford and a pressured market in carton packaging. With the recession in full flow, the bank got twitchy and pulled the plug on its investment, meaning uncertain times for the Hengoed-based business, which traded for two weeks in administration. Luckily, the management stepped up and bought out the profitable cupcake casing business from the family owners and left the plastics and carton side.
Following loan capital assistance from Finance Wales, an organisation set up by the Welsh Assembly Government to help businesses struggling to find credit, along with investment from the new owners, Chevler is back on an even keel. In fact, the outlook is so positive they've managed to create 12 new jobs without losing any.
Pretty good news, then, for nearly half the bakers in the UK that use Chevler cases, especially as it has only one rival supplier in the UK and another in Italy. "It wasn't in any way, shape or form a pre-pack buy-out. We were the first ones that [administrators] Deloitte made redundant," recalls MD Stuart Whelan. "There were competing bids. We put everything into our bid, we put our own money in and we got it. We were delighted. We knew we were getting a strong business that did not need any major surgery and customers saw very little disruption."
Sponsors of the inaugural National Cupcake Week in September this year, alongside ingredients supplier Puratos, Chevler has been busy fuelling the cupcake craze ever since. It has launched a range of coloured cases, available in small pack sizes for craft bakers; previously these were the reserve of the big guys, who bought up to 100,000 cases at a time. There are eight separate colours in the range of 51mm x 81mm cases, which are offered in cartons of just 360. The new colours join the Chevler range, which already includes gold and silver foil cases, known for their icing holding properties.
It's a simple idea, but one that can improve a coloured cupcake range display at a stroke. "Smaller bakers might only use 1,000 a year. So we listened to our customers, packaged them in small quantities and sell them through wholesalers," says Whelan. The last major breakthrough for Chevler was the tulip case, first developed for Costa Coffee, before it caught on throughout the industry.
It has also developed cases for all the main special occasions on the calendar, from Christmas to Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Halloween and birthdays. A forthcoming launch will be unbleached, grease-proof products, with a more rustic look, targeted at the artisan side of the industry.
"If anything, we've had too many good ideas and have had to hold ourselves back to get the business right," says Whelan. "We turn around a phenomenal amount of samples at great expense; we have all the equipment here on-site, which means we can set up print runs. That gives us flexibility and quick reaction times, and we don't have the burden of outside printing costs."
Now the business is in solid growth, Chevler can focus on innovative case ideas, says Whelan. "The business is in good shape," he says. "We have four owner managers, which is a good blend of experience. We'll be focusing on the business and customers will see more from us going forward."

Economic hardship is failing to quell packaging and labelling innovation, as bakeries, cafés and food-to-go retailers increa-singly seek differentiation in the great high street bun fight.
While times are tough across the retail sector, the recession has both boosted and hindered independent operators, with many consumers trading down from restaurants, but others swapping take-out breakfasts and lunches for home-prepared food.
For those enjoying a lift in trade from the restaurant exodus, branding has become all-important to compete in a saturated sector ranging from small over-the-counter bakeries to chains such as Starbucks.
Manufacturers of packaging and labelling solutions have responded with new ranges of bags, bowls, cups and containers in materials offering greater scope for on-pack marketing, and responding to increasing demand for an upmarket and environmentally aware image.
Opinion is mixed as to the impact of the economic downturn on customers' willingness to pay out the premium applying to 'eco' packaging, with one trade source claiming the environmentally friendly option can triple costs. However, according to Planglow, trade in environmentally friendly lines is booming. "Packaging sales have soared over the last year or so," says Planglow marketing manager Rachael Sawtell. "Most of our products are environmentally friendly and we do tend to have a lot of bakers as clients."
Greatest sales growth has come from sandwich and baguette packs, says Sawtell, which are cardboard-based with windows manufactured from plant-based materials such as corn. Most of Planglow's packaging, which also extends to wraps, salads and beverages, is from renewable resources and is 100% biodegradable or compostable.

Last week Starbucks unveiled its new-look store on Conduit Street in London. Well, a look that's not supposed to be a look. A look that reflects its newfound back-to-roots indie outlook. So how does it, erm, look?
In two words, 'sustainable' and 'local'. A facelift was long overdue. A recent review of coffee shops, published by The Local Data Company, said Starbucks was "entering a period of introspection" as it took stock of its strategy. "The uniform ambience doesn't seem so appealing these days and, now the bubble has been pricked, real questions are being asked about all premium coffee shops," it stated.
The chain has haemorrhaged stores, while rival Costa has continued its rapid growth. Now, Starbucks plans to open a number of stores next year, but the focus will be on refitting 100 outlets in 2010 at a cost of £25m, matching the 100 it refitted last year.
The aim is to reconnect the store to its heritage, with locally focused fittings and a less uniform approach. Tim Pfeiffer, senior vice-president, global design, flew into the UK last week to launch the plan, saying there are "several levels of environmental initiatives that we have pretty much embedded in the design going forwards".
"We wanted to embed the character of the neighourhood in this and really elevate the offering to the customer, with the overall vibe of the store, creating an environment that really is very much more bespoke and one-off. We wanted to elevate the overall value of what Starbucks represents," says Pfeiffer.

It may be the current tagline for a certain brand of crisps, but the words 'simple is better' could just as aptly be applied to Hobbs House Bakery's prize winning loaf at the Baking Industry Awards 2009. Established in 1920, family firm Hobbs House has long been in the business of making bread. And despite many of its current recipes having been in existence for 20 years or more, the bakery, based in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, has not been standing still when it comes to innovation.
Its Organic Wild White sourdough loaf shone through as winner of the Morrisons-sponsored Artisanal Bread Product of the Year a new category at the Awards this year. The loaf contains only organic flour from Shipton Mill in nearby Tetbury sea salt, water and a 45-year-old levain starter of rye flour and water. Sounds simple, but its production takes around three days, with the starter stored for two-and-a-half days before being added to make up the dough.
Hobbs House production director Sam Wells obtained the starter 15 years ago from a German baker, who had had it for around 30 years. "People think it's amazing that something's still going after all that time," says Wells.
The award category required entrants to submit three different products for initial judging. Alongside its Organic Wild White loaf, Hobbs House entered its Baguette Paysan and Organic Soda Seeds loaf, but the Wild White staked its place as the strongest contender, making it onto the shortlist. "It's the tasting that's the key," explains Wells, who recommended the judges warmed the bread before tasting for maximum effect. "Although it's an industry award, we obviously shout about it a lot to our customers," he explains. "We've made it our business to make sure we've had lots of press coverage, as well as marketing material in our shops, which we also sent to our wholesale customers. People like to be associated with winners."
Wells says he was prompted to enter, in part, due to the fact it was a category specific to artisan production. "It's a word we've been using quite a lot recently regarding our business. Artisanal products are exactly what we're about, so I thought, 'Maybe this us for us'."
When it was announced the firm had won, Wells says he was "absolutely speechless". "It was fantastic, a really good evening and Morrisons looked after us very well," he continues. "It was nice afterwards to be able to probe them (Morrisons' judges) on why they chose our loaf. They told us that all the judges had their own favourite second loaf, but, without fail, they had all picked the Wild White as their favourite, which was charming to hear and really encouraging. It's great to be able to bring that back to the bakers here, who make the loaf day-in, day-out, and to be able to give them that kind of feedback."
Wells sent a text announcing the win to his fellow directors and, when he got back to the bakery, he says: "People were really buzzing about it." One of the great things about this type of category, he explains, is that the award is attached to a product rather than a person, so it's one the whole business can share, as they've had a direct involvement with it. "To be attached to the whole thing has been very beneficial internally and externally. And since winning, we've sold a lot more of the loaves," says Wells. "Bryan Burger, head of bakery at Morrisons, said we should expect to see around an extra 10% return out of winning, which has been about right."

Stanley Cauvain, Linda Young
Woodhead Publishing, £135

Richard Hamilton of Agile Space elaborates on his step-by-step guide to revamping your shops
Is there a perfect store format or is flexibility the key to success? The initial format of a store is usually determined at the start-up of any business and is dictated in part by premises, along with product offer. However, evolution can take your brand to new customers if it evolves with flexibility in mind.
Take Pret A Manger, for example. This started out in Victoria, London in the late 1980s as a deli-led sandwich shop, offering a similar concept to the current Philpotts offer. The initial store and operation was designed with large chiller displays packed full of fresh produce, enabling customers to select their own filling and witness their sandwich being made fresh.
As Pret developed from one store, the two founders, Julian and Sinclair, began to realise what was working and that they had to strike a balance between losing the freshly made appeal versus valuable store space initially used for queuing. The sandwich prep moved to a back-of-house kitchen and the product range, although less tailored to individual customers, was now a core range, pre-packaged in display cabinets enabling a rapid transaction and increased turnover.
Take-away sales replaced the deli and the natural evolution was to stick in some stools. Eat-in could be defined as being less luxurious than a café, but for many this begins, without thought, as a row of stools against an eating bench in a window. Like many retailers, the stools were a great success for Pret, as customers could sit and enjoy their sandwich while being a living window display. However, as new competitors hit the high street, Pret recognised the need for good coffee and the value it could add if executed properly.
Once coffee was fully introduced, the first café format was launched in Putney in the early 2000s and sat alongside a full range of stores from take-away to eat-in and, eventually, a freestanding kiosk. Each format worked, each format sold a core range of products, had a kitchen, sold good coffee and, critically, held true to the initial ingredients that made that first store a great success.
l Next month: what a store should look like

These are interesting times for those involved in the baking industry today. British Baker is reporting on some challenging issues and is clearly working for a response from officials, which industry can work with.
There are many products using high quantities of fat. People should be encouraged to moderate consumption. Reducing fat levels/quality of fat is a wholly inadequate solution. These products are supposed to be a "treat" not just "ordinary".
Regarding salt: it is difficult for bakers to come to agreement on this issue. Ian Barrett's letter (BB, 23 October) makes some interesting points. However, his argument is fundamentally flawed. We are talking about salt levels in the finished product. Using Baker's Percentages, many a recipe is formulated using salt at 2% on flour. Personally, I have been adding salt at 1.8% for over 10 years. I am sympathetic to trying to get this down to 1.5%, but I believe in long fermentation; I like the toughening effect of the sodium ions on the gluten in the dough; it helps to achieve full hydration; control of fermentation is implicit; and finally, yes, flavour is better. But most bread of today needs high salt to overcome lack of flavour. If you consult the work of Professor Raymond Calvel, it is obvious that salt levels in bread dough have increased significantly since the emergence of "no-time" dough.
Salt levels and 'bad' fat are part of a big picture; so too are all the hidden substances that never get as far as the label. My challenge to industry is: declare these! If the Food Standards Agency starts to get tough on this as well, today's bread industry will really have to change.
Andy Smith, bakery lecturer, Newcastle College and bakery consultant

Aniseed grows in the Mediterranean in sheltered, sunny spots. The plant produces flowers similar to parsley. It bears a strong resemblance to dill, fennel, coriander, cumin and caraway, all of which have a slight liquorice flavour.
The seeds are oval, brown and ridged and are harvested from the plant in the autumn. They should not be confused with Chinese star anise which, although similar in taste and aroma, is not botanically related. Aniseed is available commercially, both as seeds, ground and also as oil. It is traditionally found in baked goods from around Europe.
At Christmas time in Germany, Springerle biscuits are made using flour, eggs, baking powder and icing sugar.
The ground aniseed is added either to the mixture or sprinkled on the baking tin. They have special rolling pins or moulds to press designs on the biscuits before they are baked. Aniseed can be added to breads, muffins, biscuits and tarts.

Tom Herbert is a fifth-generation baker and director of Hobbs House Bakery, a multi-award-winning craft bakery, based in Gloucestershire

German firm Anneliese was showcasing bakeware: tins lidded or unlidded. Made from aluminium steel or stainless steel, Anneliese offers optional anti-stick coatings.
All the tins are compatible with automated or robot stacking and there is a wide choice of frames, some of which double up as ergonomic handles.

Capway and Rademaker announced they had entered
into a preferred partnership deal at Iba.
Under the terms of the deal, Rademaker will provide front-end dough make-up equipment and Capway will supply provers, coolers, tin or tray handling systems and robotic storage, as well as loaders and unloaders.
Capway also launched a new microwave frequency oven for breads, rolls and pizzas. The company has been working for five years with the University of Utrecht on microwave frequency ovens, particularly suitable for crustless bread, which appeals to catering companies, sandwich makers, children and the elderly.
Also new is a camera diagnostic system used for par-baked bread, which is suited to highly automated bakeries. If there is a technical problem, Capway is able to see exactly where it is occurring.

Glamour and passion were two themes on the Unifine stand at Iba. The Decorgel range of gels and toppings provide a translucent sparkling covering to desserts while imaginative fond flavours were included in goods such as Ricotta and Orange and Honey flavour cookies. New premixes, fonds flavours and fillings all fed into a 'Passion for Pastry' theme. However, longer shelf-life and elimination of E numbers also played a part.
Unifine launched a new premix for a chocolate Swiss roll and a range of top-quality jams including damson, plum and apricot. These contain 70% fruit and are freeze-thaw stable.
Unifine also showed a stabilising system for whipping cream, which can go into mousses and icings, and there were several new lines based on a gold and silver theme, which are eye-catching for Christmas or birthdays. These included 2D sugar shapes.

Toolbox Bakery Solutions offers supply chain management specifically for bakeries.
Graham Jones (below) who represented the company at Iba said: "Our customers are bakers with 20 or more shops or big industrial bakers."
The full supply chain management involves raw material handling, production, stock, distribution and transport. Jones added: "We believe users can recover their investment in 18 months because we reduce labour time and costs and provide traceability, speed and controllability through despatch."

"Bakels Multiseed is now the biggest-selling product in four of our worldwide businesses," Paul Morrow, international managing director, told British Baker at the recent Iba exhibition in Düsseldorf. Two new products were demonstrated by Bakels at the show: Diamond Glaze Extra and Frutojam Gourmet. And the firm also displayed a new Blueberry Crumble mushroom-shaped muffin.
Diamond Glaze can be applied with a palette knife on the flat surface of mousse, cakes and desserts at both frozen and ambient temperatures. When heated up to 50C it is stable on mousse cakes and pastries of any shape. It is ready to use and freeze-thaw stable.
Frutojam Gourmet is a range of bakery jams containing 45% fruit while Bakbel Blueberry Fruit filling is made from Wild Canadian Blueberries.
Bakels group chairman Armin Ulrich said: "These are much more expensive than the farmed varieties but you can really taste the difference." The fruit fillings range, called Lafruta, typically contains 70% fruit.

Claire Brown, national sales manager, weCAN Solutions
So, you supply electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) systems into bakeries. Much interest?
A few years ago, I asked the financial director of a large bakery firm, "Do you have a keyboard I can borrow?" My question was met with a quizzical, then a glazed look. "We bake bread, we don't do IT," she said.

Tesco is to improve the security of goods in transit by introducing tamper-evident trailer seals by Secureseal. The supermarket will replace the electronic seals for all new-build trailers, as well as any existing faulty seals in order to increase the security across its 4,000-strong fleet.
Secureseal is a permanent reusable seal with a unique random security number generator that monitors unauthorised door openings. The devices, made with stainless steel, have a life-span typically exceeding eight years, said the firm. Tesco's fleet engineering manager Cliff Smith said: "Secureseal offers a more reliable, better-value and longer-term solution that will improve the security of goods in transit."

Coldpack has launched Airliner, an insulating film material that enables temperature-controlled transit packaging for food products.
The product comprises two layers of a special film, manufactured using DuPont Surlyn resin, which are separated by an aluminised honeycomb structure. When filled with air, the design of the packaging creates multiple compartments known as 'baffles'. The temperature is preserved inside the pack, so the inclusion of coolants such as gel packs and dry ice can be used to achieve the required temperature.
The Airliner maintains products in packs of up to 70 litres either at ambient temperatures, typical product temperatures (for example, from 0° to +4ºC for food products) or at -18ºC temperatures for frozen products.
The contents are protected depending on the thermal fluctuations anticipated during transit usually a 48-hour shipment but special extended cooling systems are also available to offer protection for up to 120 hours.

Spooner Industries has announced it is to extend its products and services for the UK baking industry.
The company, which specialises in forced convection technology, will now offer a range of air conditioning and ventilation systems to complement its existing work in the design and manufacture of ovens, provers and coolers.
Services specific to the industry, include: bread cooling plant, developed especially for optimum efficiency in controlling product cooling and weight loss; steam, gas or electric heated bread-proving equipment; and air blast systems, developed to control dough piece quality for use with either steam, gas or electric.
Spooner has also introduced a technical services division to offer full service and support for new and existing customers.

A new healthy snack food range, Gourmet Raw, has been launched this month. It comprises two varieties of Gourmet Raw Brownies Celestial Cacao and Cocobanana and three varieties of Flackers Salsa, Jive and Sunshine. Flackers are being marketed as an alternative to crackers for snacking or bread and could be served with dips, such as guacamole or salsa, or filled with houmous and salad as an alternative to a sandwich.
A range of three gluten-free snack bars are currently in production and will be launched soon. These include: Oracle (goji berries, hemp- and other seeds), Supadoopa Slice (nut-free and sweetened with lucuma), and Mutiny (coconut and chocolate).
To claim their raw status, none of the products are heated above 40.5°C. They are free from refined sugars, artificial colours, preservatives and flavours, and are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

By Max Jenvey of Oxxygen Marketing Partnership, a strategic management agency that focuses on business and brand development within the bakery, foodservice and convenience sectors.
Everyone seems in such a rush these days, but thankfully the majority of bakery customers still enjoy a well-earned rest and a sit-down with their favourite drink and snack.
Our colleagues at market researcher him! say the customers who like to eat-in form a very diverse group: the majority, 46%, are full-time workers, but there are also "at-home mums", students, singles and child-free couples visiting cafés and enjoying a breakfast, lunch or snack.
So how do we maximise sales opportunities within these groups? Simple: target full-time workers. him! tells us that only 10% of consumers actually prepare their lunch at home, so what are the other 90% looking for? Variety, quality and special offers and, if that's not enough, they also want the old favourites, too. So think about a daily special sandwich or pastry and link it to a meal deal to increase your average spend, which will also satisfy consumers' need for value. Speaking of value, ask your current suppliers for support with promotional material.
With over 25% fewer customers visiting food outlets than before the recession, customer loyalty is increasingly important. On average an eat-in customer keeps going to his/her favourite food outlet for almost three years, says him!
This said, there is every reason to enhance your customer's loyalty with a loyalty card or reward scheme. Research shows that the accumulator buy 10 drinks and get the 11th free is one of the most valued reward schemes for your customers and a cost-effective way for you to easily implement a reward system. All you need is cards with your brand no bigger than a business card and a small stamp behind the till.
You can easily link the accumulator system with your lunch or snack offer. him! tells us that almost 40% of customers visit a café or bakery for their lunch, so why not encourage that extra visit to your store by offering something on the third or fourth purchase?
Finally, ask your customers what they want, why they keep coming back to your store and how could you improve their experience? Knowing what your customers think will help you get it right for their next visit.

The Drury Tea & Coffee Company has launched a range of Christmas teas and infusions. The loose teas include Christmas Flavoured Black tea and Christmas Flavoured Green tea in 125g packs, as well as Christmas Rooibos Infusion and Christmas Cookie Infusion in 100g packs.
The black tea features apple, cinnamon; almonds, star anise and vanilla. The green tea features ice crystal sprinkles, pink peppercorns, chocolate chips and clove buds. Cinnamon, orange blossom, blackberry leaves, cardamom seeds, ginger clove buds and safflower are included in the Rooibos infusion, while the Cookie Infusion features apple pieces, hibiscus, rosehip, orange pieces, cinnamon and ginger and cloves.

While industrial processed fruit, such as strawberries, can be damaged by mechanical and thermal treatment, freezing or pasteurisation, with a negative effect on the fruit texture, S Black has introduced FirmFruit to combat this effect for manufacturers of sweet pies.
Patented by DSM Food Specialities to improve fruit firmness and give clearly defined fruit pieces or whole fruits, the effect is achieved with fruit pectin demethylation in the fruit and fungal pectin methylesterase (PME) enzyme and calcium. This overcomes the negative effects of treatment during processing. The process can be applied to fresh, frozen or thawed fruit pieces, slices or purée.

Organic pork pie producer Brockleby's has won a contract to supply its pies to supermarket chain Waitrose.
The company, from Asfordby Hill, near Melton Mowbray, will be putting its wares into a Waitrose store in Stamford early next year. Brockleby's hopes its pies will later go nationwide with the chain.
The contract was signed when the company was contacted by Waitrose after winning a taste competition in the retailer's Made in Britain Awards, organised in association with Country Living magazine. Ian Jalland of Brockleby's said: "Our pies are very popular, but they aren't widely available at the moment. I don't know what volumes are involved, but it will be a significant piece of business for us."
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: "We are working on the launch of the pies into the Stamford branch with a view to extending the product into more stores at some point in the future."
Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association chairman Matthew O'Callaghan said it was "extremely good news that the excellence of Melton Mowbray pies has been recognised by a major supermarket".

After supplying pies to Everton Football Club for several years, Clayton Park Bakery has cornered the football pie market in Merseyside, signing a contract to supply Liverpool Football Club.
The Lancashire-based firm will supply Anfield with a wide range of products for both hospitality and concourse catering. The concourse pie range includes potato and meat; steak; and 'scouse' pie, which is made with lamb, potato and vegetables. The hospitality range includes unusual options such as the breakfast pie, made with gammon, sausage and beans, and a potato, meat and mushy pea pie. The company is also working with Liverpool's head chef to develop mini pies and an exclusive Liverpool FC pie. 
"Football clubs account for around 15% of sales," said MD Barry Thomas. "It's a good market to be involved in because of the prestige and exposure for the company."
Clayton Park supplies pies to football clubs in all four English leagues in the north west, including Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Preston North End and Accring-ton Stanley. It also supplies Lancashire County Cricket Club, Spar and Booths supermarkets.

The European bakery market will continue to consolidate over the next five years in the wake of the recession, with frozen bakery companies leading the way in mergers and acquisitions, according to a new report.
The Rabobank report, The Bakery Sector Beyond the Down-turn, predicts that the bake-off market will go from strength to strength in coming years, as retai-lers look to offer 'freshly baked' products, while reducing wastage. Higher margins in frozen bakery mean firms in the sector are also well-placed to make acquisitions.
"Higher profitability can be attributed to the value-added nature of their products, which requires specialisation," said the report. "Bake-off products are prepared for use by bakers in batches, as required for sale, thus optimising stock and reducing wastage. They also attract a higher consumer price because of their 'freshness' in stores. Due to frozen bakery products' longer shelf-life and transportability, a business model can extend across a region, improving scaleability."
As consolidation continues and companies focus on their core business, controlling input costs will become more important, said the report. "Bakery players are expected to use hedging products or introduce joint buying arrangements with other players. They will also aim for back-to-back contracts with buyers and clients to minimise volatility," it said. Other factors shaping firms' resilience include controlling distribution costs and increasing exports.

Big supply deal
Distribution company JJ Food Service has struck a multi-million pound deal, which will see it supply ambient, chilled and frozen products to Cooks the Bakery stores across the UK. The open-ended contract, worth £4m per year, covers 72 Cooks stores, previously supplied by 3663.

Northern Foods is to plough £26.5m into its Fox's Biscuits brand, with new automated technology replacing hundreds of jobs. The firm plans to introduce automated equipment at its Batley, Kirkham and Uttoxeter sites, resulting in a reduction of approximately 220 employees "mainly through voluntary redundancy".
In its half-year results, the company said key investments over the next 18 months would include a new Creams line at Kirkham, new automation for its Melts line at Batley and a new wrapping system at Uttoxeter.
For the 26 weeks ended 26 September 2009, its bakery division revenue rose by 3.9%, with profits up 26.2% to £8.2m.
A £2m marketing drive for the Matthew Walker pudding brand will be launched ahead of the Christmas period.

The baking industry in the north west is set to benefit from over £1m of government investment, which will be used to develop new products and boost production.
The North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has awarded grants to Bells of Lazonby, Peter Hunt's and United Biscuits for a variety of projects in the region. Bolton-based Peter Hunt's has secured a £250,000 grant under the Grants for Business Investment (GBI) programme to invest in new equipment, enabling the savouries company to diversify into the £100m par-baked Continental pastries market. The company believes it could gain 5% of this market within three years.
David Wood, Peter Hunt's MD, said: "The UK imports large quantities of freshly-baked croissants and Danish pastries, available in supermarket in-store bakeries. With the help of this NWDA grant, we will soon be producing high-quality products for this growing UK market from a new production line in Kearsley."
Meanwhile, Cumbria-based Bells of Lazonby has secured a £480,000 grant from the NWDA under the Grants for Research and Development scheme. The money will be used to improve the nutritional value of 'free-from' products by cutting salt, fat and processed sugars and boosting fibre content over a three-year period. As part of the deal, Bells will also invest £1m-£1.5m.
Said Bells' MD Michael Bell: "This project will bring the principles of thoughtful nutrition to free-from baked goods."
United Biscuits has also benefited from a £425,000 GBI scheme investment at its Aintree factory, enabling the firm to increase the output of TUC crackers and to start manufacturing Jaffa Cake Bars.
The NWDA is funded by the government, via the Single Budget, and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund. Its budget for 2009/10 is £397m.

Gallani to leave BCCC
Barbara Gallani is to step down from her position as sector manager for the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Sector Group and take up a new role. From January 2010, she will be the new director of Food Safety and Science at the Food and Drink Federation.

Glasgow-based sandwich chain Henry Healy's five former shops are now up for sale after the business went into liquidationin October.
The chain, which has been trading since 1913, had suffered in the face of competition from national chains, coupled with the impact of the recession, said Scott McGregor, joint liquidator at business rescue and restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor. Its 27 staff were all made redundant.
Henry Healy's former shops are located on Hope Street, Queen Street, Mitchell Street, Howard Street and Stockwell Street and are still fully fitted with a good selection of catering equipment. Acting on behalf of the liquidators, business agent Christie & Co is inviting offers for the leasehold of the shops by 12pm on Friday 27 November.

Terence Conran's soon-to-be-rolled-out Albion café and bakery concept is part of an influential new breed of independent bakery shops that combine upmarket retail with casual dining.
That's the view of retail analyst Greg Hodge, from research company Planet Retail, who says that upmarket bakery shops and cafés, such as Gail's, Hummingbird, Konditor & Cook and Patisserie Valerie, are having a growing influence on larger chains. "These independent retailers are at the cutting edge and are starting to have an impact on the larger players," he said. "The deli-cum-café concept is all about fast-casual dining and you can see this trend developing with chains such as Carluccio's and Nando's, which combine elements of retail and foodservice in a relaxed setting."
The latest in this new generation of outlet is Shoreditch-based bakery and café Albion, due to be rolled out to three sites in London next year. Restaurateur Terence Conran has invested £10-£15m in the project, which will open new outlets in Covent Garden, Victoria and Regent's Park in the spring and summer. The chain could also be exten-ded nationally.
"Albion has been such a smash hit in Shoreditch we really feel it is something that could work throughout London and beyond," said Conran. "Albion is in many ways a British version of Carluccio's, with a small shop and a café. But it makes bread instead of pasta and has well-known British dishes on the menu."
Hodge added: "People like the quirkiness of independents and the fact they are not a chain."

Sodium reduction
Market research expert Mintel has revealed that sodium reduction features in its 2010 global Consumer Packaged Goods predictions as "the next major health movement". Mintel director of trends and innovation David Jago said the difference with sodium reduction was that it is being "pushed by food companies and health bodies, not by consumers".

A new qualification has been launched in Scotland, which aims to "open up new horizons" for employees in the food and drink industry.
The Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Food Science and Technology, which commenced at the end of October at Glasgow Metropolitan College, is a subsidised two-year day-release course that offers existing employees the chance to qualify as a food technologist in a bid to bridge the skills gap in this area.
The course does not have specific bakery units, but covers a lot of the general science behind baking including nutritional analysis and scientific process, said a spokesperson for food and drink sector skills council Improve. It costs £540 a year.

Starbucks has turned around its fortunes following a troubled patch, which saw it shed stores, as the UK's second-biggest coffee chain gears up to roll out its new "bespoke" outlets.
A spokesperson told British Baker: "We have more customers than ever before and our like-for-like store sales in the last three months have returned to growth.
"The last year has been challenging for us and for some of our customers, who have faced a real squeeze, but we've taken a number of steps to improve the value and experience we offer our customers and it's paying off," she added.
The firm will spend £25m over the next year refurbishing 100 stores as part of an exercise that "allows us to take a root-and-branch look at environmental performance", she said. Star-bucks designers will carry out all the designs on a store-by-store basis.
"The new approach means our designers will look at each UK store individually and ensure it reflects the environment and community in which it is placed," she said.
Among the changes will be a 20% cut in energy costs and around 10% in water use. The choice of food has been widened for breakfast, with crepes, fruit toast, porridge and whole fruit on the menu.
Starbucks' reward card scheme now offers free extras, such as a shot of Fairtade espresso, and free Wi-Fi will be available in-store.
l See Interior Motives, page 22

Hovis has not been over-promoting its product, insisted Hovis' marketing boss, as the brand closes in on rivals Warburtons.
Premier Foods' heavy price promotion of Hovis, alongside Allied Bakeries' Kingsmill, has seen the number two and three brands respectively steal a march on market leader Warburtons.
According to recent data (TNS 4 w/e 3 October), volumes of pre-packed bread were down by 2.5% in total, with Hovis bucking the trend, up 19.9%. Kingsmill rose 7.6%, while Warburtons fell by 7.9%. Own-label suffered a big drop, down 24%.
"I genuinely don't think we are over-promoting and by that I mean offering such value that it is somehow harming the brand," Hovis marketing director Jon Goldstone told British Baker. "We are offering good value to consumers in a way that is consistent with the overall brand values."
Hovis has now closed the gap on market share with Warburtons to 4.5%, having seen it grow to 10% a year ago. "We don't have any posters on the wall saying we want to overtake them," said Goldstone. "We want to grow steadily, responsibly and sustainably. We're close to being back to the high point of 2006, around the 28% [market share] mark, and that will be a huge achievement that we will celebrate and move on from."
As the economy recovers, Goldstone expects the level of promotions to recede. He said: "In the current economic environment, the value we're offering is appreciated. As we enter the next economic cycle there is an opportunity for the category as a whole to deal less."
He said the brand's success was down to "confidence in market-leading quality", a strong marketing drive on brand perception and developing more reasons to trial, such as the Wholemeal Challenge.
The next challenge, he said, would be to return the wrapped bread category to the volume growth it briefly enjoyed in 2008. "We want a healthy market with steady long-term growth," he said.
l See full interview in the next issue of British Baker

Warburtons revamp
Warburtons has been in talks with brand agencies ahead of an identity overhaul, according to marketingmagazine.co.uk. The brand is to refresh its identity and packaging, and will be the first major revamp in more than 10 years, it reported.

Students studying the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD) can now gain access to Ginsters' Callington Bakery without leaving their classroom, thanks to online video conferencing technology.
Using free Skype communication software, pupils are able to talk directly to staff at Ginsters and look around the bakery as part of course projects and assignments. The new Diploma in MPD targets students aged between 14 and 19 and mixes practical and theoretical work on food manufacturing and product development, including at least 10 days' work experience.
"At Ginsters, we have worked with schools and colleges in Plymouth and Cornwall for many years. But we noticed that visits were decreasing year-on-year. It seems that new challenges associated with taking a class of young people on a visit were responsible for this reduction. These included transport, health and safety, financial and time-tabling issues," said Chris Schaffer, bakery training and education co-ordinator at Ginsters. "We didn't want this to affect our ability to help schools, especially with the new work-relevant requirements of the Diploma in MPD, so we decided to use Skype. Now, thanks to this technology, we can give students access to our facilities and the expertise of our staff."
Schaffer, who has signed up to become an employer champion for the Diploma in MPD, has also developed an educational website to support Ginsters' activity.

There has been an "encouraging show of interest" in Ainsleys of Leeds, after the business was forced to call in the adminis-trators earlier this month, with Greggs and Cooplands (Doncaster) among the interested parties.
Joint administrator Joe McLean, a partner at Grant Thornton in Leeds, told British Baker the business was "running as normal". He said it had been an encouraging week, and that staff in Ainsleys' bakery and shops had taken the news with great resilience, despite hundreds of jobs being at risk. "We are in discussions with some parties... it's still early, but we are hopeful we might find a buyer."
Greggs said it would be "very interested" in looking at a number of Ainsleys shops. "We could offer a future to somewhere in the region of one in three Ainsleys shops, if the administrators would consider those coming over to Greggs," said chief executive Ken McMeikan. "Our sadness at the moment is to see other another baker in trouble. We want to see the bakery industry thriving."
Chris Peck, chairman of Cooplands, confirmed that the 75-strong bakery chain was also interested in Ainsleys, but said that it was "early days" in terms of a deal. "Ainsleys has a good name and, geographically, it is within our logistical capabilities, so it would be relatively painless to absorb the company."
The 29-shop firm went into administration on Friday 6 November, after earlier attempts to find a buyer failed. McLean said Ainsleys had been trading in difficult circumstances for some time, with declining retail sales and increased market competition.
Ainsleys employs 263 full- and part-time staff, and around 30 temporary workers, across its shops and bakery in Sheepscar, Leeds, and in its van sales operation. General manager James Ainsley said that, along with the Ainsley family and company directors, he wished to acknowledge the hard work and loyalty of the staff, "particularly through the recent challenging times".

Sainsbury's Halloween bakery products helped push sales in the division up 50% as the retailer announced increased sales for the 28 weeks to 3 October 2009.
"Bakery has had a fantastic start to the year and the new products we have launched in the Basics range, such as the muffins, have played a big part in this," commented Nick Townend, Sainsbury's category manager for bakery. "We also benefited from a great selection of products over the Halloween period, which led to a 50% growth in sales."
Townend said that bakery is a key area for Sainsbury's, which it is supporting through its bakery apprentice programme. "That is something which is delivering real results for our customers and colleagues alike."
The supermarket saw total sales rise by 3.7% to £11,158m. Sainsbury's Basics range features 650 products, including a variety of cakes, biscuits, mor-ning goods and bread.

A bakery in Felling, Gateshead has closed voluntarily following an outbreak of E.coli in the area.
Myers Bakery is currently being investigated as the possible source of the infection, which has so far been confirmed in nine adults, with six other possible cases in the Gateshead area, as British Baker went to press. All seven confirmed cases had purchased cooked meats or sandwiches from the shop before it closed on Wednesday 11 November.
Dr Kirsty Foster of the Health Protection Agency said: "Myers Bakery's owner is co-operating fully with the investigation and the shop remains closed while this continues."

Bakery manufacturer Evron Foods, which supplies Subway's breads, is to invest £400k in research and development, to include the investigation of a new sweet muffin-style range.
The investment has been supported by an offer of over £140,000 from Invest NI, with funding from the European Regional Development Programme.
The firm, which manufactures a range of chilled, frozen and ambient breads and pastries for the retail, foodservice, wholesale and food processing sectors, now hopes to increase its current turnover of approximately £20m by 50% within the next three years. It has also appointed a new commercial manager and key account manager as part of its plan to drive the busi-ness forward.
"With the support of Invest NI, we now hope to achieve additional efficiencies by further strengthening our management team, while increasing our foothold in the retail bakery market around the UK and Ireland with our new sweet muffin range," said Morris Evans, managing director, Evron Foods.
He said alongside the constant challenge of meeting and exceeding customer expectations, the firm has also faced increasing pressure on its overheads. "Flour, butter and electricity costs have all risen dramatically in recent times, but this further motivates us to be innovative in how we do things," he added.

Patrick McGuigan
Greggs has expressed interest in buying up to 120 First Quench off-licences from administrators, reflecting a wider strategy of cherry-picking sites from struggling retail chains in its bid to open over 600 new stores.
The retailer is running the rule over 10% of First Quench's 1,200 shops, which comprise Threshers and Wine Rack stores, after the chain went into administration last month. Greggs is also in negotiations to buy around 10 Ainsleys' shops from administrators (see pg 5).
"We're looking for more than 600 shops, so when companies go into administration, we are quick to make contact. We've looked at many companies and have put extra people into our property team to do this," Greggs' chief executive Ken McMeikan told British Baker. "When a chain like Threshers goes into administration there is often overlap with existing Greggs stores, but if there are parts of its portfolio that are a good fit, we'll be straight on the phone."
McMeikan emphasised the social benefits of such deals: "We can potentially offer employees from those companies in administration a secure future within Greggs, which is a financially strong and growing business."
Greggs plans to open 50-60 new stores next year and around 70 stores per year from 2011. Target regions include the south west, north west, north Wales and north-east Scotland. Indus-trial parks and sites at travel hubs, such as airports, are also a focus.
"I haven't ruled out acquisitions, if the right company came along," added McMeikan. "In terms of opening shops in the south west, we first need to open a new bakery in that region. If there were an existing business that could provide both shops and a bakery in the area, we'd certainly be very interested. It would mean we wouldn't have to build a brand new bakery."
According to Paul Moody, retail director at property consultancy Colliers CRE, Greggs will face tough competition for prime retail sites, despite the downturn.
"Greggs is a mature chain so it will have a refined and specific list of properties it is looking for," he said. "There is strong demand for good locations on the high street and sites at transport hubs from players such as Subway, EAT, and Pret, so Greggs won't find it easy."

Both Hovis and Warburtons have announced their intentions to use 100% British wheat in loaves from early 2010, with Hovis stealing a march on its rival by switching the entire range to UK-grown wheat.

While Warburtons said it would launch two “all-British loaves” from March 2010, made using wheat sourced from its network of 320 farmers across the UK, Hovis moved to use 100% British wheat across all its loaves, with the change expected in January.

Hovis has been working on its plan to use 100% British wheat for the past five years, in a multi-million pound investment to ensure that the British wheat used provides the same quality as imported wheat.

Although red wheat is known for its great bread baking quality, historically it has primarily been grown in Canada. However, there are now 600 British farmers growing red wheat for Hovis, commented the firm.

The all-British Hovis launch will be supported by a fully integrated above and below the line marketing campaign from January 2010.

“Hovis is the only major bread brand to be doing this across the range, making the brand thoroughly British,” said Hovis marketing director Jon Goldstone.

Meanwhile, Warburtons’ range will continue to be manufactured using a blend of British and Canadian wheat “as this guarantees the exacting quality and consistency standards Warburtons demands for its consumers,” commented chairman Jonathan Warburton.

The two new Warburtons loaves - a soft white and a soft brown - have been developed in conjunction with two of its British wheat suppliers Tom Tupper and Ian Waller, and are made using a blend of Hereward and Solstice wheat.

“We’ve wanted to bake a British loaf for a long time and by working closely with our farmers we have been able to achieve this and it’s a great opportunity to celebrate farming at its best,” said Warburton.

Both Hovis and Warburtons have announced their intentions to use 100% British wheat in loaves from early 2010, with Hovis stealing a march on its rival by switching the entire range to UK-grown wheat.

Bakery manufacturer Evron Foods, which supplies Subway’s breads, is to invest £400k in research and development, to include the investigation of a new sweet muffin-style range.

After supplying pies to Everton Football Club for several years, Clayton Park Bakery has cornered the football pie market in Merseyside, signing a contract to supply Liverpool Football Club.

The Lancashire-based firm will supply Anfield with a wide range of products for both hospitality and concourse catering. The concourse pie range includes potato and meat; steak; and ‘scouse’ pie, which is made with lamb, potato and vegetables.

The hospitality range includes unusual options such as the breakfast pie, made with gammon, sausage and beans, and a potato, meat and mushy pea pie. The company is also working with Liverpool’s head chef to develop mini pies and an exclusive Liverpool FC pie.

“Football clubs account for around 15% of sales,” said MD Barry Thomas. “It’s a good market to be involved in because of the prestige and exposure for the company.”

Clayton Park supplies pies to football clubs in all four English leagues in the north west, including Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Preston North End and Accring-ton Stanley. It also supplies Lancashire County Cricket Club, Spar and Booths supermarkets.

The baking industry in the north west is set to benefit from over £1m of government investment, which will be used to develop new products and boost production.

The North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has awarded grants to Bells of Lazonby, Peter Hunt’s and United Biscuits for a variety of projects in the region.

Bolton-based Peter Hunt’s has secured a £250,000 grant under the Grants for Business Investment (GBI) programme to invest in new equipment, enabling the savouries company to diversify into the £100m par-baked Continental pastries market.

The company believes it could gain 5% of this market within three years. David Wood, Peter Hunt’s MD, said: “The UK imports large quantities of freshly-baked croissants and Danish pastries, available in supermarket in-store bakeries. With the help of this NWDA grant, we will soon be producing high-quality products for this growing UK market from a new production line in Kearsley.”

Meanwhile, Cumbria-based Bells of Lazonby has secured a £480,000 grant from the NWDA under the Grants for Research and Development scheme. The money will be used to improve the nutritional value of ‘free-from’ products by cutting salt, fat and processed sugars and boosting fibre content over a three-year period. As part of the deal, Bells will also invest £1m-£1.5m.

Said Bells’ MD Michael Bell: “This project will bring the principles of thoughtful nutrition to free-from baked goods.”

United Biscuits has also benefited from a £425,000 GBI scheme investment at its Aintree factory, enabling the firm to increase the output of TUC crackers and to start manufacturing Jaffa Cake Bars.

The NWDA is funded by the government, via the Single Budget, and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund. Its budget for 2009/10 is £397m.

Bakery manufacturer Evron Foods, which supplies Subway’s breads, is to invest £400k in research and development, to include the investigation of a new sweet muffin-style range.

The investment has been supported by an offer of over £140,000 from Invest NI, with funding from the European Regional Development Programme.

The firm, which manufactures a range of chilled, frozen and ambient breads and pastries for the retail, foodservice, wholesale and food processing sectors, now hopes to increase its current turnover of approximately £20m by 50% within the next three years.

It has also appointed a new commercial manager and key account manager as part of its plan to drive the business forward.

“With the support of Invest NI, we now hope to achieve additional efficiencies by further strengthening our management team, while increasing our foothold in the retail bakery market around the UK and Ireland with our new sweet muffin range,” said Morris Evans, managing director, Evron Foods.

He said alongside the constant challenge of meeting and exceeding customer expectations, the firm has also faced increasing pressure on its overheads. “Flour, butter and electricity costs have all risen dramatically in recent times, but this further motivates us to be innovative in how we do things,” he added.

Students studying the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD) can now gain access to Ginsters’ Callington Bakery without leaving their classroom, thanks to online video conferencing technology.

Using free Skype communication software, pupils are able to talk directly to staff at Ginsters and look around the bakery as part of course projects and assignments.

The new Diploma in MPD targets students aged between 14 and 19 and mixes practical and theoretical work on food manufacturing and product development, including at least 10 days’ work experience.

“At Ginsters, we have worked with schools and colleges in Plymouth and Cornwall for many years. But we noticed that visits were decreasing year-on-year.

It seems that new challenges associated with taking a class of young people on a visit were responsible for this reduction. These included transport, health and safety, financial and time-tabling issues,” said Chris Schaffer, bakery training and education co-ordinator at Ginsters.

“We didn’t want this to affect our ability to help schools, especially with the new work-relevant requirements of the Diploma in MPD, so we decided to use Skype. Now, thanks to this technology, we can give students access to our facilities and the expertise of our staff.”

Schaffer, who has signed up to become an employer champion for the Diploma in MPD, has also developed an educational website to support Ginsters’ activity.

Students studying the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD) can now gain access to Ginsters’ Callington Bakery without leaving their classroom, thanks to online video conferencing technology.

Glasgow-based sandwich chain Henry Healy’s five former shops are now up for sale after the business went into liquidation in October.

Starbucks has opened its first “bespoke” store in Conduit Street, London, as part of a strategy to roll out locally-inspired coffee shops across the UK.

The Big Bakery Debate has now taken place and the consultation document, which has been sent to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), is now available to download as a free white paper on the bakeryinfo.co.uk.

Northern Foods has announced it is to plough £26.5m into its Fox’s Biscuits brand in an investment that could see new automated technology replace hundreds of jobs.

Northern Foods has announced it is to plough £26.5 million into its Fox’s Biscuits brand in an investment that could see new automated technology replace hundreds of jobs.

In order to “ensure it has the most appropriate biscuit facilities to remain competitive”, Northern Foods will introduce automated technology at its Batley, Kirkam and Uttoexter sites, resulting in a reduction of approximately 220 employees. According to the firm these will be “mainly through voluntary redundancy”.

In a statement of its half year results, it said key investments over the next 18 months would include a new Creams line at Kirkham, new automation for its Melts line at Batley and a new wrapping system at Uttoxeter. However, it said its overall objective was to “transition” from three sites to two.

“Once this current investment is completed in the first quarter of our 2011/12 financial year, further phases of investment will be benchmarked against those investment opportunities available to Northern Foods at the time,” read the statement.

Like-for-like sales for the 26 weeks ended 26 September 2009 grew 2.9%, with strong growth in its Chilled and Bakery divisions. Total sales hit £466.9m (H1 2008/09: £468.6m).

Within Chilled, its sandwich sales were driven by the early summer weather, its new discount range for Tesco, and other customers plus additional sandwich volumes supplied into Marks & Spencer.

Divisional revenue within Bakery rose 3.9% with profits up 26.2% to £8.2m (H1 2008/09: £6.5m). A planned £2m spend on a marketing campaign for its Matthew Walker pudding brand will be launched ahead of the Christmas period.

A high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet could improve your psychological state, according to research recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal. The study also revealed no difference in weight loss when compared with a high fat, low carb diet, similar to the Atkins diet.

The study was carried out on 106 overweight and obese participants with the aim of investigating the long-term effect on psychological function of very low-carb diets, often used to promote weight loss.

The participant group had a mean age of 50 years old, and a mean body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by height in metres, squared) of 33.7.

They were randomly assigned to either an energy restricted (approximately 1,433-1,672 calorie), planned isocaloric, very low-carbohydrate, high fat diet (LC), or alternatively to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet (LF), for one year. Changes in body weight, psychological mood and well-being and cognitive functioning were then analysed.

The results showed the overall mean weight loss was 13.7kg, with no significant difference apparent between the two groups. It also revealed that there were greater improvements in psychological mood states for people on the LF diet, compared to the LC diet. Working memory improved although speed of processing remained unchanged.

The study found that there were rapid improvements after both energy-restricted LC and LF diets in the first eight weeks of the year, with those on the LF diet achieving a better outcome overall.

However, the study concluded that: “there was no evidence that the dietary macronutrient composition of LC and LF diets affected cognitive functioning over the long term”.

To see the study click here.

Craft bakery chain Ainsleys of Leeds has been forced to call in administrators after attempts to find a buyer for the struggling business failed.

The 29-shop family bakery firm employs 263 full and part-time staff, and approximately 30 temporary agency workers across its shops, the bakery in Sheepscar, Leeds and its van sales operation.

Joint administrator Joe McLean, a partner at Grant Thornton in Leeds, told British Baker that the business had been trading in difficult circumstances for some time with declining retail sales and increased competition in the marketplace.

He said that despite the efforts of the directors to change its offering and restructure to adapt to changing market conditions the company found itself unable to continue.

“It had been looking for interested parties over the last months to try and find a buyer,” said MacLean. “Ultimately the prospective purchasers who they were engaged with weren’t able to proceed, so they were left with no option but to call in the administrators (on Friday 6 November).”

In a statement released by Grant Thornton, McLean added: “The administrators intend to continue trading the business and will be making contact with those same parties and others in an effort to find a purchaser for all or part of the operation.”

General manager James Ainsley said that, along with the Ainsley family and company directors, he wished to acknowledge the support, hard work and loyalty of the staff over the years, “particularly through the recent challenging times”.

Established in 1938, Ainsleys produces a range of breads, cakes, sandwiches and savouries.

The improved quality of harvested wheat crops this year could have implications for UK supply and demand balance with potentially less availability for millers, according to the HGCA’s latest cereals report.

In the final Cereal Quality Survey of 2009, the HGCA revealed that British wheat and barley crops have been better quality this year. However, this compares to a poor season in 2008. The results should also be placed in the context of large carryover stocks, of unclear quality, totalling around three million tonnes, according to the HGCA.

Michael Archer, HGCA senior cereals and oilseeds analyst explained: “Although quality has improved it must be remembered this is in comparison to a very poor season in 2008. Longer term averages suggest 2009 quality is only a little above normal.”

He told British Baker that the implications around supply and demand will mainly surround the availability of wheat and barley to millers, maltsters and exporters.

“There are a lot of questions on exactly what the impact will be, however we are potentially looking at a higher proportion of the crop meeting the quality requirements of millers, for example,” said Archer.

“However even though it is a higher quality crop, there is also less of it. How much millers will use will depend on how much of the new crop they can get their hands on, how much they stored from last year and also how much they import.”

The final results for wheat have shown a lower moisture content, higher Hagberg Falling Number, higher specific weight and higher protein compared to 2008. The barley results revealed a lower moisture content, higher nitrogen content and higher specific weight.

The survey was based on 61,000 samples of wheat and 30,000 samples of barley collected from laboratories around Great Britain.

The improved quality of harvested wheat crops this year could have implications for UK supply and demand balance, with potentially less availability for millers, according to the HGCA’s latest cereals report.

Ainsleys of Leeds has been forced to call in the administrators after attempts to find a buyer for the struggling business failed.

The 29-shop family bakery firm employs 263 full and part-time staff, and approximately 30 temporary agency workers, across its shops, the bakery in Sheepscar, Leeds, and its van sales operation.

A Welsh correspondent has sent us a menu in which the dishes are described in Welsh. We have many good friends in the Principality, but they have to condescend to write in English when they communicate with us. Passing the City Temple the other day, we observed an announcement in strange characters, but fortunately, the purposes of the meeting to which it referred was distinct enough to convey that it was a gathering of Welshmen in London. An announcement in a language of which one does not know a single word is like being before a locked door, to which one does not and never can possess a key. Even in the ordinary affairs of life, as represented by a dinner menu, our ignorance is appalling. Just fancy if any hospitable Welshman offered you a little Aderyn Dof Hynod a Mangig Manochyn, you would not know whether to use a spoon or fork.

"We didn't have any privileges. I remember living on baked beans, eggs and bread if it wasn't out of date"
Food waste shocker! Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole on growing up, but betraying a slavish adherence to use-by dates
"A complaint has been made to the police and we will be taking a look at CCTV footage of the incident before we can comment further"
Who ate all the pies? The football fans who broke into the catering booth and cleared the shelves at Burnley FC during last week's fixture with Manchester United. A police spokesman said an investigation was under way, but without apportioning blame, we thought Man U fans only ate prawn sandwiches...?
"Just Made (never from a factory). A fresh Pret sandwich doesn't need a 'use by' date. We make our food in every Pret kitchen using amazing ingredients. The best, natural stuff you'd want to use at home"
Pret A Manger's on-pack claim for its chicken sandwiches is hauled up by The Daily Mail for using frozen chicken imported 6,000 miles from Brazil and then processed
"The chocolate HobNob and custard cream of late night telly"
More controversial biscuit-related copy, as late-night political TV presenter Andrew Neil introduces co-hosts Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo with this ill-advised epithet
"We gained healthy eating status in 2006 and, as such, we ask you NOT to send in sweets or cakes to celebrate your child's birthday with their class. This will ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils"
Diane John, headteacher of Wood End Primary School in Harpenden, Herts, in a PC letter to parents

Not content with throwing televisions out of the window, rock stars are turning their destructive tendencies to bread, it would seem.
Speaking on last Thursday's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, musician and record producer-of-the-moment Calvin Harris described how, when working in a bakery when he was younger, he and colleagues used to hollow out loaves of bread at the end of the day and put them on their arms, legs and feet and wander about in something akin to a suit of bread body armour. Well, that's one way of ticking the 'health and safety' box.

What is it with the glut of cakey world record attempts right now? Is it some kind of ironic comment on the Western obesity epidemic, or a reaction to greater government interference in the sweet treats we eat? The latest giant pudding, a Tiramisu, has officially been given the 'world's biggest' mantle by Guinness World Records (or so the BBC claims it wasn't on the Guinness website). The dessert, made at a food fair in Lyon, weighed 1,076kg, used 4,000 eggs, 300kg of mascarpone, 180kg of biscuits blah blah blah. Whatever happened to the phrase, less is more?

We were just thinking, 'the world of toaster innovation has gone a bit quiet of late', and then three major domestic bread-heating advances drop on our desks.
First up is the 'bacon butty toaster'. Following last year's Toast N Egg a toaster with an egg fryer unceremoniously bolted onto the side the boffins at Tefal have put their scientific learning to best use by devising the Toast N Grill. This is an all-in-one toaster and grill, filling the gap in the market for those people who are unable to face the arduous task of operating a grill and a toaster at the same time.
Next is the 'slotless toaster', which, for a mere $90 in the US, allows you to toast without having to lift your bread out of a slot. It features a 10.25 x 7-inch heated surface the obvious failing being that you have to turn your toast over to brown both sides. One gadget website aptly described it as "much like your existing toaster, only less useful".
Last but not least literally the 'Wallace & Gromit' of the toaster world. Devised by former art student Yuri Suzuki, this all-in-one breakfast device, which cost £900 to assemble, can spread butter and jam onto toast, fry omelettes, freshly-squeeze orange juice and even freshly grind coffee beans. Surely the last word in toasting? Tefal, take note.

How did you get into baking?
My twin brother started a catering course, so I decided to do something different and chose a full-time two-year bakery course at Tameside College in the mid-1970s before going to Hollings College, where I did a technician certificate in bread and confectionery, and then finally a bakery national diploma.

The in-store bakeries (ISB) seem to have Viennoiserie and Danish wrapped up this year.
The Danish pastry category is worth £45m and is growing by 10.4% (IRI 52 w/e 5 September 2009), year-on-year, making it the second fastest-growing sweet bakery sector in ISB behind a resurgent muffins category, and outstripping croissant sales. In contrast, Warburtons' recent Bakery Review pointed to a 20% drop in wrapped Danish pastries value.
Andy Clegg, head of bakery at Morrisons, says there has been no great push on promotions, but sales are soaring nonetheless. "We're seeing a small growth in packaged croissants," he says. "But ISB Viennoiserie has seen a market growth of 6% and we've got a growth of 38.9% (Nielsen, 12 weeks to 10 October), mainly driven by ISB croissants. Both the Bakery and Cake shop at Morrisons are performing beyond expectations this year."
So why is Danish, in particular, performing so well? "There is more promotional activity in Danish than croissants, but it also comes back to affordable treats, which people want at the moment and which is really helping ISB in general," says supplier Bakehouse's brand manager Claire Warren. "NPD has been a little more cautious, but people still want to see new things out there and it's really important to deliver that to help grow the category.
"We're seeing more NPD being generated than in other categories, such as Danish crowns with seasonal flavoured fillings, which helps maintain interest in the category. Traditionally, Danish pastries are popular with men and older consumers but lighter flavoured variants, such as lemon Danish, which is new to the category, are being aimed at younger consumers."

Anyone who uses the roads during normal daylight hours knows only too well the delays and frustrations caused by the overload of traffic in many areas. While a missed appointment can be re-scheduled, a missed delivery costs serious money for all involved with that particular load retailer, supplier and logistics firm alike.
In 2005, The Freight Transport Association and the Rail Freight Consortium raised with government the problems associated with the general ban on deliveries taking place between 11pm and 7am. This long-standing local authority guideline was designed to reduce noise levels for nearby residents. However, the movement of some retailing to out-of-town shopping centres and the growing road congestion during the day have led people to question this.
Recent evidence has emerged to show that blanket curfews are increasingly inappropriate. A survey of members of the British Retail Consortium, who run more than 7,000 outlets, identified for the first time the true cost of delivery restrictions. About 60% of the outlets are subject to a ban on delivering at specific times, with high street stores relying on kerbside deliveries the hardest-hit. A simple relaxation of one to two hours would save them some £30m a year.

Imagine the scene: a model with mid-length hair appears on TV before Christmas. With a swish of her hair, she announces that she has discovered the latest appliance that will "Curl & More".
The catch is: it's not available at Boots or any other leading high street chemist for that matter because Curl & More is aimed at bakers, specifically those who want to curl pastries and bread doughs. And our fantasy model might like to know that all those not-so-filled croissants she had for breakfast can now contain more jam or cheese than ever before, as the new Curl & More allows a ratio of filling right up to 1:1.
Manufacturer Rondo's general manager Richard Tearle is delighted at its success: "We sold a machine on the stand on the first day," he tells British Baker at Iba. "We also won two new equipment innovation awards at the show." (See British Baker, October 23.) And we have patented the design, which actually allows more filling than dough if required.
He explains that Curl & More closes the gap between the familiar artisanal Croissomats and the powerful Tornado and Spira industrial croissant machines. It means Rondo now meets requirements for operations of all sizes, from very small through to industrial firms.
The machine is flexible and can be used for automatic production of curled pastries, ranging from croissants to pretzels. And, depending on the pastry size, it produces filled or unfilled curled pastries in two to six rows, achieving a capacity of 4,000 to 12,000 units per hour.
Centrepiece of the innovation is the curling process, which involves low curling speed and clearly separated process steps. These, says Tearle, "result in a consistently high-quality production process". He adds: "The design enables the application of large filling quantities. Until now, the industry believed a ratio of dough to filling of this magnitude could not be achieved, but Rondo has achieved it."
The company also unveiled a new industrial pastry line in washed-down design. 'Wash-down' is a method of cleaning and disinfecting lines that is increasingly becoming a requirement. On the wash-down design, the line is hosed down with a hot jet of water and then disinfected with cleaning foam. It is particularly important for products filled with meat or similar and is increasingly used for sweet pastry.
Rondo's wash-down line is made of stainless steel and features solutions designed to simplify the cleaning process, according to Tearle. For example, the line has smooth and slanted surfaces that enable water to run off easily. They also prevent water or particles from collecting in corners and tight sections. The belts have sealed edges and can be released quickly and easily to allow access for cleaning the underside and the table-top.
New accessories from the firm, also on display, included a fat pump and updated automation and enhancement of its various bread and pastry dough processing lines.
Rondo recently rebranded its image, merging the names Rondo and Doge, so what has the effect been? Tearle says: "The new branding has brought the whole company together with a focused approach." Not so far from Rondo's European headquarters lies Venice, which also relinquished its Doge, but held on to its famous designs and traditions while modernising its trade, transport, and machinery. There's a parallel in there somewhere.

When running a mountain lodge in his native Sweden around a decade ago, Peter Ljungquist came to the conclusion that he would like to make the best jam, chocolate and ice cream in the whole country. And since he had "always been passionate about bread" too, a bespoke brick oven was installed in the traditional farmhouse in southern Sweden, which became his production hub.
When visiting Edinburgh several years later, he immediately liked the place and decided to see whether the concept, tested on a largely rural customer base in Sweden, would translate to an urban environment in a different country. The central Quartermile district was chosen, because Ljungquist regarded the mix of heritage and striking new business and residential structures as "an interesting idea".
Launched in 2007, the Peter's Yard coffee shop and bakery has become renowned for its high-quality, handmade artisan crispbreads made to an authentic Swedish recipe, using all-natural ingredients, including sourdough, fresh milk, rye flour, whole wheat flour and honey. Its product range also extends to traditional Swedish cakes/pastries and cardamom buns, which Ljungquist describes as "probably the most common bun in Sweden and now our most popular line". This Christmas, Ljungquist intends producing two Swedish festive favourites namely saffron bread and pepparkakor (a ginger biscuit).
In terms of quality, there is far more to Peter's Yard than the products it sells. The 10 members of staff have received training from one of Sweden's premier chefs, while the high-spec décor has been chosen to create a welcoming atmosphere "where people want to relax and meet friends" over a bite to eat and a cup of coffee a concept known in Sweden as fika. Pointing to the light, airy design and to the lack of a partition between the 600sq ft bakery area and the 50-cover, 1,200sq ft customer area, Ljungquist elaborates: "We didn't want to hide anything. We wanted people to see what we were baking and to see us making the sandwiches."
The outlet in Edinburgh, which also sells assortment packs of company products, is on course to beat its budget by 30% this year and record a turnover of £700,000. And although launched only this summer, Ljungquist is confident that the wholesale arm, run by Wendy Wilson Bett and Ian Tencor, will add significantly to this success by supplying crispbreads to high-quality food halls, delis and farm shops, as well as into the foodservice sector. He notes: "Our customers already include food halls at Fortnum & Mason, Harrods and Fenwicks; cheese shops like La Fromagerie; farm shops such as Secretts and Cheshire Smokehouse; and major retail outlets, such as Lewis and Coopers. We also supply Martin Wishart's Michelin-starred restaurants in Scotland."
The wholesale arm's best-seller is the 200g crispbread pack, which retails for £3.50. At the coffee shop, meanwhile, hot drinks, cakes, sandwiches and soup are good earners but not the selection of breads. Ljungquist observes: "We make 100 loaves of bread by hand each day, on which we make no profit, because price expectations in the UK are still so low even when it's 'real' bread. But we believe a bakery has to have bread for sale, so we continue to make it to help build our positioning and reputation."
Although a man of seemingly the calmest of personas, he admits to one slight irritation: being described in magazine and newspaper articles as "a Swedish businessman". He explains: "I am Swedish, that's true. But you couldn't find anyone further from being a businessman."
Clearly, success for Ljungquist is derived from feeding his own soul, as well as the Edinburgh public. Despite offers to extend the Peter's Yard concept to other cities in the UK, he is not leaping at the opportunity. He says: "I ask myself 'How will it benefit my life?' I'm perfectly alright where I am."

Some of the best-known bakery businesses in the UK have started, and continued, as a family business. Bakery retailer Greggs began life as a family venture, and Warburtons is still one. So what makes family-owned firms so special?
A new study into the UK business sector, carried out by Warwick Business School, reveals that small family-owned firms are regarded as more employee-friendly, motivational, passionate and creative than non-family private enterprises. Commissioned by insurer More th>n Business, it also reveals that family firms are perceived as offering better welfare conditions and more flexible hours, unity, purpose, trust, and less stress. Head of More th>n Business Mike Bowman says these perceptions could spur a surge in interest from job-seekers, who have suffered at the hands of the recession. With unemployment levels at their highest, rising to 7.9% in September that's 2.47 million people out of work and with the 16-24-year-old age category hit the hardest, could this be an opportunity for bakers looking to recruit?

Brands are sensitive, delicate things even the most robust ones. Treat them inappropriately and without the care they need, and they'll suffer. Remember Mr Kipling, when the packaging forgot about the brand? Remember Tropicana in the US recently, when a design disaster caused sales to plummet? Some memories might stretch back to when Babycham killed 'Bambi' and repackaged it in a trendy blue bottle. And who cannot remember the Coke Classic debacle or the awful squeezy Heinz Ketchup bottle, which collapses in use, leaving at least a quarter of the product inaccessible? How that got to market is a total mystery! I can just picture the meeting that sold that design to the client! It's easy to excite with 'innovation'.
There are countless examples of brands suffering at the hands of change, whetherit be design, advertising or product formulation. Some of these wounds are self-inflicted, but some can be the result of nanny government interference in product functionality. Part of a food brand's equity is its taste, smell and texture.
So when the government tells manufacturers to remove fat, remove sugar or, for example, the recent FSA demand to cut salt in bread give them half a chance and they'll remove everything but water, because, let's face it, everything is bad for us and will kill us in the end it inevitably has a knock-on effect on the consumer's experience of the brand. Brands with signature tastes rely on consistency of delivery.
What amazes me is this constant haranguing of the food market when there are products out there that everyone, especially government, knows are seriously and undeniably dangerous, wreck lives and actually kill thousands of people every year. We all know what they are! Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely not calling for them to be banned because I firmly believe that people should be educated about potential risks though it's almost impossible to find anything that isn't a potential risk but be permitted to actually make their ownlife decisions.
Surely choice must be left to individuals not some bureaucratic, holier-than-thou quango, made up of people who seem to inhabit a different universe to mine. But instead of tackling the really serious problems presumably because of the revenue they generate they seem to tick their little boxes by finding easy targets because they are easy and, in that way, they can be seen to be doing something anything.
The thing that terrifies me is that we all just roll over every time we're instructed by our (in)glorious leaders. Isn't it time manufacturers took a real stand against bullying and strike a blow for freedom of choice and real-world common sense?

Peppercorns are the fruit of a flowering vine grown in South India. The peppercorns are harvested and dried before use. Different varieties available are green peppercorns, which are the immature fruits, white peppercorns, which are the centre of the peppercorn with the black husk removed and black peppercorns, which are the whole dried fruit and, as such, the type with the most kick. Many savoury recipes the world over contain salt and pepper, but in some recipes it is pepper that has a starring role. You would expect to find pepper in savoury baked recipes, for example foccacia with cracked black pepper and rosemary, black pepper and cheese scones and black pepper and parmesan biscotti, but it can also be included in sweet baked recipes, particularly when combined with other spices. The Scottish Hogmanay favourite, Black Bun, is a pastry case packed with dried fruit and flavoured with spices, including a half teaspoon of black pepper. Black pepper also mixes well with cinnamon and cloves in Spice Cake.

Reading all the latest articles about salt in bread was purely academic to me until two friends came to stay. They asked us not to put any salt in our cooking as they both had high blood pressure.
I thought that there were just three main reasons to use salt in bread: flavour, control of fermentation and getting the dough through the plant.
As regards flavour, the FSA's demand for a maximum amount of 1g per 100g of bread seems perfectly reasonable. If one thinks carefully about it, most bread is eaten in conjunction with a filling, so the predominant taste is that of the other food.
In any case, these excess amounts of salt did not start until the 1950s. A hundred years ago, the most common amount of salt used was 3.5lb to 3.75lb per sack of flour. This is at, or below, 1g per 100g of bread.
The point being missed is that some bread is so overdeveloped that some describe it as "cotton wool bread", while other bread breaks up nicely when it is consumed.
Turning to the other issues, control of fermentation was a factor in the days when we made doughs that lay in the trough from two to 10 hours, according to need. But with today's no-time processes, it is irrelevant.
Lastly, great play is being made of the difficulty of getting dough through the plant with salt at this level. This is absolute rubbish, as there is already plant bread with salt at this level on the supermarket shelves.
Ian Barrett
Berkhamsted, Herts

Fond as I am of jaunty ribbon, there's only one kind I want to see in my business the blue stuff, prettily embossed with our Judges Bakery logo, rather than the giant rolls of red tape, which everyone from the local council to Brussels via the Food Standards Agency (FSA) wants to macramé around us, making trading ever more challenging.
Because now, we're told, the 'food police' aka the FSA want to limit the amount of salt and saturated fat in foods (including bread): yet more ways to make it harder for us to do what we do, in an already challenging trading climate. I don't know if you've tried salt-free bread lately, but on the incredibly rare occasion our bakers have accidentally produced a batch without this vital ingredient, a) it doesn't rise properly and b) you wouldn't want to eat it anyway, because it's basically tasteless. In addition, except in the case of some people with high blood pressure, there's no evidence that salt is harmful; indeed, sodium allows the body to take in fresh fluids, eliminate fluid waste and stay in balance, maintaining blood pressure, avoiding dehydration and keeping the kidneys healthy.
When it comes to fat, I have more mixed feelings being against the use of hydrogenated fats (which contain trans-fats, with their negative implications for health) and worried about the environmental impact of trade in palm oil, which is the practical alternative ingredient. We get around this at Judges by using a small amount of organic palm fat, which must to comply with organic regulation come from sustainable plantations, rather than rainforest areas that have been destroyed in favour of a palm monoculture. But at the end of the day, I'm against a 'nanny state' that imposes yet more rules on the people. My own theory is that it's all a clever distraction from the disastrous way the government handles the big stuff such as the economy and wars, or the spread of MRSA in hospitals, which kills more people than a little extra salt or even hydrogenated fat ever will.
It's unlikely that the FSA guidelines will become mandatory. But if they do, we'll all have to reformulate our recipes, to comply with all of the extra man hours and expense that entails. Just as we're all forced to splash out on 'Spills' signs and don't-trip-over-the-step yellow-and-black tape and super-sensitive thermometers to take the temperature of our chiller cabinets in order to tick an EHO box three times a day. There surely cannot be an employer in the UK who hasn't sworn at the layer upon layer of red tape we already have to comply with, muttering under their breath while perusing a 600-page Seton Health & Safety catalogue of equipment full of ludicrously expensive 'Danger' placards, stickers, protective clothing and illuminated signs.
So, am I the only one who sees red about all the extra tape that we're faced with, when all we want to do is bake good bread just like bakers have been doing for millennia long before anyone had invented the word bureaucracy?

Pulp Fruits has launched a new fruity snack for the food-to-go market. Pulp is exactly what it says on the pouch: blended fruit. It isn't diluted with juice or water and contains no added sugar.
Pulp pouches are available in three varieties: banana, mango and passion fruit; banana, strawberry and raspberry; and apple, strawberry and blueberry. The 'pulp' has been gently pasteurised, so they can be stored for a few months before use. They don't require refrigeration, but can be sold chilled, and contain one of the recommended five a day.

Biscut brand Fox's has said it will add value to the seasonal biscuit category with the launch of two Christmas selection boxes Fox's Wonders and Fox's Fabulously Special.
Rachel Moffatt, Fox's brand sector director, said: "Fox's is the number one seasonal biscuit manufacturer in the UK, with a 32% market share. We play a key role in the category, proven by last year's Christmas performance, when we drove 22% growth in value in a flat market." All figures are from AC Nielsen.
Fox's Wonders is being supported by a six-figure PR campaign, including a series of Christmas radio promotions on commercial stations, while a consumer campaign aims to raise awareness of both products through lifestyle publications.

L'Aquila, an importer and distributor of Mediterranean vegetable ingredients, has launched a new range designed to fill or top lunchtime bakery snacks, including pizza, focaccia and sandwiches.
These include: borlotti baked beans in a rich Italian-style tomato sauce; semi-dried spinach; chargrilled Italian aubergines and courgettes; Sicilian caponata; and Sicilian cherry tomato and green olive tapenade.
Other products on offer from L'Aquila include dried and frozen wild and exotic cultivated mushrooms, truffles, chargrilled, marinated Mediterranean vegetables, sun-dried and semi-dried tomatoes, pestos, pastes, saffron and paprika.
The company supplies independent retailers, multiples, department stores, catering wholesalers and food manufacturers.

Country Range Group has added a number of new products to its own-brand portfolio of frozen foods. Following an increase in the sale of frozen products across the group, Country Range has introduced four-inch sausage rolls, a steak and kidney pie, a cheese and onion pasty, cheese and onion lattice fingers, quiche lorraine, cheese and onion quiches and a tomato and basil quiche to its range.
Managing director Colin Birchall said: "Research shows the misconception that frozen isn't as good a quality or as healthy is dying fast, and it's now widely recognised that it actually locks in nutrients and vitamins, with the added benefits of convenience, choice and availability."

Holland's Pies has launched a 'Best Ever Authentic Recipe' pies and puddings range, which is now available to retailers throughout the region. The range includes meat pies, potato and meat pies and steak & kidney pudding. The 'Best Ever' range of frozen products now has deeper fillings and more chunks of meat. It was developed with the help of Holland's 'pie panel' of tasters.
"Our aim is to attract sales from an even wider consumer base without losing those loyal to the current product. That has meant taking a step 'back to the future' by revisiting our original 158-year-old recipes, to create a new 'Best Ever Authentic Recipe' range which can be eaten and enjoyed by all," commented Neil Court Johnston, managing director of Holland's.
The launch is being supported by a marketing and communications campaign which includes outdoor posters, radio and advertising and an online presence.

We all talk about meal occasions, dashboard dining and grazing, but there is a huge opportunity to increase our daily sales by a third. Did you know that 30% of our customers visiting cafés, bakeries or convenience stores are looking to enjoy a snack in between meals? Our colleagues at market research firm him! also tell us that breakfast makes up 9% of bakery sales between 6am and 10am. The majority of customers still want and need to take a break from their busy routines.
But how do you capitalise on that? According to him!, bakery customers spend up to £5.26 in one visit, which can relate to three items. Knowing this, all you need to do is make it easy for your customers to link the products together. Ensure your displays are full and fresh for your busiest parts of the day. Introduce parasite units baskets or containers that fit on to front of counters, displays and shelving to merchandise savoury or healthy snacks, multigrain bars, energy drinks, fruit, nuts and impulse indulgent cakes to tempt customers and increase that average spend. It's so easy for the customer to say "Yes", when the goods are right in front of them.
So what does the perfect snack offer look like? According to him!'s Coffee Shop Report '09, 54% of the bakery consumers are health-conscious, 31% would like information about calorific and fat content, with a further 23% interested in nutritional information.
"But what about bakery?" we hear you cry. Well, those products can be healthy too. For instance, why not introduce a freshly baked cereal bar with a smoothie in a meal deal combination. Moreover, 34% of the bakery customers would consider buying a hot soup, which is a perfect snack to offer with rich seeded breads during the cold winter months ahead.
Take a healthier look at your offer and consider how to introduce snack deals, porridge, soups and seeded breads, freshly baked cereal bars, fruit & nuts the list is endless,
Finally, to encourage even more customers in, you may want to consider a small but perfectly formed chill-out area and overwhelm your guests with best-in-class customer service, so that, when that snack attack strikes, they'll take a break with you!

York-based RedBlack Software has developed a new version of its Cybake bakery management software.
New functions of Cybake v3 include specifications management, allergen tracking, advanced invoice management, invoice matching, ad hoc sales queries, credit control, supplier relationship management and celebration cakes management.
The software also features a revamped Microsoft SQL Server/.NET architecture for increased scaleability and improved business intelligence capabilities.
The business has also launched a new ordering system, which interfaces with EPOS systems to let head office collect sales data directly from its bakery shops' tills. Order-takers can now analyse shops' orders as they come in, make recommendations and adjustments with their shop managers and tighten up on the ordering process.

Peter's Food is targeting a younger market with a new line of slices. These will form part of Peter's Premier Range, which includes pies, pasties and sausage rolls. The slices come in eight different varieties: Spicy Chicken Fajita using Discovery seasoning, Ham and Pilgrim's Choice Cheese, Chicken and Mushroom, Chicken Tikka, Chilli Beef, Cheesy Bean and Sausage, Steak and Peppered Steak.
The range was launched in Tesco stores across Wales, as well as several convenience stores and independent retailers across England and Wales last month.

Baker Perkins has developed a new control system for its Tweedy mixing systems renamed Tweedy2. It has been designed so that plant bakers using the system for the Chorleywood Bread Process will benefit from improved consistency and quality, as well as enhanced efficiency and ease of use.
The new controls cover: ingredients handling and weighing, mixing and tub hoist, and can be retrofitted to existing Tweedy installations. The company says that operationally, one of the major gains is more immediate updating of all recipe and process settings. Changes can be made up to the moment mixing starts, whereas conventionally, there may be up to a two-mix delay while settings are amended.
Fault-finding has been enhanced by the filtering of alarms to display the primary cause of a stoppage, but not the consequential alarms. This significantly reduces the time needed for operators to identify and rectify a problem. Process alarms have also been added to alert operators to potential variations that can affect the dough and enables them to prevent stoppages downstream.

Paul Wilkinson: Are we able to meet the target of the 10% saturates reduction in cakes, biscuits and pastries without significantly compromising on the taste of the product? What do you not the businesses you work for think? Show of hands, how many people think this will be a very difficult thing to do by 2012? [Nine show hands]. How many think it's a pretty normal challenge at the end of the day? [Five show hands]. I just wanted to get some sort of idea. So is the industry geared up to do this?
Matt Verney: I think it will be difficult to reduce it without affecting product quality, because we do a range of buttered croissants, Danish pastries and Viennoiserie. A lot of research has been put in place beforehand to find the right level [of fat], and if we are going to have to reduce it by 10%, this is going to affect quality, taste, flavour and texture. So we have huge concerns about reducing the fat content.
Ivor McKane: I see saturated fats and calories as being two separate topics and I think there is a danger if we fail to separate saturates and calorie reductions as being two different streams.
Peter Quinn: It's difficult and it's going to be product-specific. There will be products that are easier and products that will be extremely difficult to do.
Having already been through a fat reduction exercise with the Melton Mowbray Pork Pies Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, we've learned a lot and also understand the consumers' prospective. They are very sensitive to that, so this process could have a negative effect on the bottom line. Technically, yes it's possible, but if the consumer doesn't like it, it's wrong.
Stan Cauvain: I don't think we should underestimate the scale of the technical challenges, especially when delivering what are accepted sensory characteristics. Consumers have a perception of how things should taste. While, technically, we may reduce levels of saturated fats, if that doesn't deliver those accepted characteristics, consumers will walk away.
Biscuit products will probably give you the most immediate opportunities for fat reduction where the functionality of fat, in terms of developing the structure, is less than it is in, say, a laminated product. [It will be easier] in those products where structural functionality does not come primarily from fats.
Steve Knapton: Compared to some competitors, businesses that have already lowered fats can be a victim of their own success, because they've already achieved that.
Chris Beresford: My biggest worry is that once it is reduced, the FSA may come back and ask for another 10%.

Consumers continue to see health and wellness as an important issue, according to new research by Tate & Lyle. The findings also revealed that consumers will pay more for foods that display health benefits on their labels.
The research, conducted in July this year, forms part of Tate & Lyle's ongoing research into European consumers' attitudes towards labelling, ingredients and shopping habits.
A total of 1,565 consumers were surveyed across five countries: Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy. An increasing awareness of and sophistication in attitudes to diet and perceptions of food labelling were evident from the research. Fifty-three per cent of consumers often check nutritional information on-pack and 57% check the ingredients list.
Looking at what's important to consumers at least half of the respondents see less fat and sugar as important issues. Interestingly, around 80% said they would be prepared to pay more for products that boasted specific claims such as 'improving cardiovascular health' and 'helps to control cholesterol'. A fifth of the people asked also said they would be prepared to compromise on taste if the product was healthy.
In addition, the survey found that consumers specifically young people feel their diet is lacking in fibre.

Savouries manufacturers, take note: The Times devoted its front page on October 27 to a story headlined 'Give up meat to save the planet', based on an interview with influential climate change expert Lord Stern. Stern predicted that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases. "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better," he said.
Meanwhile The Daily Express reported that a diet of so called 'junk food', such as doughnuts and cakes, is "almost as addictive as heroin". The story was based on research from neuro-scientist Paul Kenny, which found that foods high in fat and sugar are addictive.
In other news, The Daily Mail reported that eating high-fat foods causes significant short-term problems, reducing physical endurance and your ability to think clearly in just a few days. Research from Oxford University found that rats fed a high-fat diet showed signs of cognitive impairment in a matter of days.
Finally, The Independent reported on new research linking high fructose corn syrup to high blood pressure.

Since the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) salt reduction campaign began in 2004, the Federation of Bakers (FoB) has worked closely with the FSA to ensure all of its targets have been met across all bread. Since then, salt in bread has been reduced by more than 30%, with 180 tonnes removed in branded bread alone, ensuring the industry is on track to achieve the 2010 targets. The FoB's members are pleased to help consumers make healthier choices, while ensuring they continue to produce products of the highest quality.
Against this positive background, the FSA launched its latest high-profile advertising campaign on salt reduction, which clearly establishes bread as a villain that consumers should be wary of. As such, the FoB believed it necessary to withdraw support from the FSA salt campaign as we felt the sensationalist advertising was unfair and unhelpful. Placing a disproportionate amount of blame on very few food products does not help consumers make an informed choice and does not recognise the efforts made by the bread industry towards reducing salt.
Bread will always be a main contributor of salt to the diet, purely because it is a daily staple. That does not mean bread is the food with the highest salt content and consumers must not be left with the over-simplified impression that it's an unhealthy food and best avoided.
We firmly oppose the current consumer awareness campaign. The FSA must work collaboratively with the industry and we need to work out how we can do this so both parties are happy. The end result must be a product that consumers will enjoy and repeatedly buy, which is also as low in salt as it can possibly be a fine balancing act but one which we feel is not impossible to achieve.

Northern Irish bakery Irwin's has added £1m to its turnover in the past year, after launching smaller loaf sizes of its key brands.
The company launched 400g and 600g versions of its Nutty Krust brand for the first time last year, followed by 400g Sandwich and Hi-Fibre loaves in April a move that has led to the production of 1.5 million more loaves and £1m of new revenue on the company's balance sheet in the past 12 months. Previously, the bakery's bread was only available in 800g loaves.
Irwin's said that the introduction of the 400g Sandwich and Hi-Fibre loaves, along with soft pan Irwin's Softee, had also boosted overall pan sales by 26% in the past six months.
"More choice, shrinking household sizes, greater concern about food wastage and the recession itself are changing how we eat," said Michael Murphy, Irwin's commercial controller. "Our half-sized everyday loaves provide householders with more choice and control over how they purchase and use breads. It's also a product innovation that is bringing smaller households back to bread and providing an effective 'trial size' for completely new customers locally and in our target GB and ROI export markets."

Doolittles, the third largest pre-packed sandwich company in Ireland, has gone into liquidation, blaming excessive costs and unsustainable pressure on margins from imported sandwiches.
The Donegal-based company, set up in 2001, grew to supply over 200 outlets including Aldi, petrol forecourts and universities. It closed down last month with the loss of 34 jobs.
Founder and chief executive director Jenni Timony said: "While some success has been achieved in building the brand and generating new business, the high cost of doing business combined with the downward pressure on selling prices has resulted in an unsustainable tightening of margins. Every effort will be made to minimise the impact on employees, suppliers and customers."
According to documents filed at Companies Office, Doolittles owed creditors e586,000 (£527,882). Its profit and loss account showed a loss of e383,000 (£345,015) in 2008 more than double the losses it was running a year earlier. The failure of the company came despite signing a deal in September 2008 worth £300,000 to supply sandwiches for over 600 Aer Arann flights a week. This was predicted to boost turnover to e2.5-e3m (£2.25-£2.7m).
Doolittles supplied 30 different kinds of sandwich, including low fat and low GI products, as well as filled rolls and salads. Fillings were made in-house, with Gallagher's bakery in Ardara supplying bread and O'Donnell's bakery in Ballyshannon, supplying rolls and baps. Neither was available for comment.

Middlesbrough-based Riverside Bakery has gone into administration, with 35 jobs in the balance.
National accountant Baker Tilly has been appointed administrator and hopes to sell the business as a going concern. The firm has traded as a wholesale baker of bread buns for 25 years, supplying schools, colleges, sandwich shops and other food retailers.
Joint administrator Mark Ran-son said the bakery had found the current economic conditions very difficult. "However, we are optimistic about selling the business as a going concern and safeguarding jobs. The bakery has a strong reputation across the north east and has invested in modern production facilities."

Rowe's success
Rowe's branded savoury bakery concession, introduced in July at Asda, St Austell (Cornwall), has beaten pre-opening sales estimates, with weekly figures up to 40% higher than predicted.

The UK's love affair with coffee shops shows no sign of abating with the number of stores in the UK up 7% in 2009 more than double the rate of increase compared to last year.
According to the Local Data Company, the number of coffee shops in the UK increased by 3% in 2008 and 7% in 2009. The total number of independent coffee shops stands at 9,441 in the 705 researched town centres, compared to just over 2,000 chain outlets. The top six coffee shop chains, including Costa Coffee and Starbucks, saw their combined retail estate increase by 47% this year, while independents also saw store numbers rise by 12.5% in the top 10 cities to 2,486, and their market share up 1% to 70%.
Costa is the largest player with around 950 outlets, while Star-bucks was in second place with just under 719 outlets, according to British Baker's Top 50 table.

Supermarket in-store bakeries have bucked the recession with sales up by nearly 5% in the past year, as shoppers search out fresh affordable products.
According to IRI research, commissioned by Bakehouse, sales of core ISB categories grew by 4.8% in the 52 weeks ending 5 September, compared to the previous year, to reach £1bn.
Star performers in the sector included: rolls, with sales growth of 9% to reach £239m; muffins, up 21% to over £52.5m; and Danish pastries, up 10% to £45m.
The only categories in the sector that didn't see an increase in sales were: bagels (-8%); cookies (-3%); and traybakes (-6%).
"People still want to treat themselves during the tough economic times and the in-store bakery is a nice way of doing that," said Bakehouse brand manager Claire Warren.
"You get that sweet shop experience with loose products and the aroma of baking bread. Shoppers are looking for fresh, affordable, handmade products and ISBs tick all these boxes."

Calorie counter
Data from the New York health department the first US city to require calorie information to be placed visibly next to prices in restaurant chains has found that the number of calories ordered in coffee shops has fallen by 10%, but little change was noted in most chain restaurants, with only 15% saying it affected purchase decisions, reported the New York Times. A similar voluntary scheme is being monitored by the FSA in the UK.

Organic pasty and pie specialist Jones Organic has announced plans to expand its production facilities, adding a new site to cope with increased demand from specialist retailers in London and south-east England.
The firm, based in Bridgend, began distributing its pies through Stratford Fine Foods in September, and now has orders coming in from London-based speciality retailers, including Planet Organic and As Nature Intended.
It signed the lease for a neighbouring 750sq ft factory unit in October. "We've been really tight for space in the bakery to meet orders recently," explained founder and MD Mike Sweetman. "Both our organic bake-off range and our baked chilled range are selling very well we've had no choice but to extend our bakery to cope."

The Irish arm of the sandwich chain O'Briens has been bought out of liquidation by Impless, a newly formed subsidiary of Irish fast food group Abrakebabra Investments (AIL).
The chain, which was put into examinership the equivalent to administration in the UK in July this year, was put into liquidation in early October, after attempts to sell the business failed. Paul McCann of Grant Thornton, the official liquidator, confirmed the trade and assets, including the brand of O'Brien's Irish Sandwich Bars, had now been sold to Impless.
The AIL Restaurant Group is owned in partnership by entrepreneur Graeme Beere and promoter Denis Desmond. In a statement, the pair said they had always respected O'Briens as a brand and were "delighted to put this well-known Irish brand back on a solid financial footing".
O'Briens comprised 85 franchised outlets in Ireland, but AIL would not confirm whether any stores had been closed.
Commenting on the deal, Don Cahalane and Collette Moyles, franchisees from Cork, said: "We have invested heavily in the O'Briens brand and are delighted that this deal has gone through."
However, according to the Irish Times, it is believed that a number of franchisees are opposed to the arrangement and are considering legal action in an attempt to block it.
The UK arm of the business, comprising 109 franchised outlets, was put into administration in August this year but its position is not affected by the deal in Ireland. A spokesperson for the firm confirmed that the business is still in adminis-tration, though "it is business as usual".

Palmers' pie party
Palmers Bakery in Haughley is to celebrate its 140th birthday on 4 December by giving away free mince pies with each purchase. The Bakehouse, established around 1752, was taken over by William James Palmer as a bakehouse, pastry cook, booksellers and newsagents in 1869. The business, which produces fresh breads and confectionery, is now run by father-and-son team Kenneth and Kieron Palmer.

Italy's biggest bakery exhibition, SIAB, is to launch a new Breads of the World competition, which will see nine international teams going head to head.
Held at the Verona show, from 22-26 May 2010, the new contest will see bakers from around the world test their bread-making skills against each other, with one section dedicated to creating products of excellence, using "poor" ingredients that breadmakers from disadvantaged countries might use.
As well as new equipment and products, the exhibition will host demonstrations from Italy's own top breadmakers and confectioners. Meanwhile, Richemont Club Italia members will provide their own demonstrations and tastings, giving visitors to the chance to enjoy techniques and knowledge shown by members of the prestigious international school.
Conferences at the show will be co-ordinated by Inap, which is the National Institute of Bread Tasters.

Cooplands (Doncaster) is aiming to double in size over the next five years under new chairman Chris Peck.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will launch a second wave of saturated fat posters early in 2010, as part of a renewed campaign to reduce saturated fat intake, following a drive to target pastry earlier this summer.
"We intend to come back to saturated fat as a campaign probably in January, with poster advertising," Stephen Airey of the FSA told The Big Bakery Debate on Sat Fats and Calories.
He told delegates at the Landmark Hotel in London that the strategy of the agency was to "set a direction of travel for the industry as a whole and to recognise that it's in the hands of industry to deliver this advance in public health".
The FSA is currently consulting on a 10% reduction in sat fats in baked products. FSA head of nutrition Rosemary Hignett said the agency was working to influence European law to allow bakers to make a 10% reduction claim on-pack; the law currently requires a 30% reduction in fat to make a claim.
"We agree with you that it would be helpful to make a 10% claim and are making that case to the European Commission at the moment," she told delegates. "Signs are that they are very open to the argument that the 10% reduction claim will actually help reformulation, so please don't take the fact that the law at the moment is how it will always be."
l See pgs 14-17 for more details on the Big Bakery Debate

The number of BB's Coffee & Muffins stores in the UK is expected to nearly halve after going into administration last month, prompted by two years of trading losses.

Sandwich chain EAT is the latest firm to roll out contactless payment across its stores. Following a successful trial in 24 London based stores over the past 18 months, EAT will roll it out across its entire network of 100 stores from mid-November.
The system allows customers to pay for items totalling £10 or less, by touching their credit card against a sensor. Rene Batsford, head of IT at EAT, said that the success and feedback from customers during the scheme's trial period meant the decision to roll it out across the entire network was an easy one to make.
More than 9,000 outlets in the UK, including branches of Subway, Pret a Manger, Coffee Republic and Krispy Kreme, now accept contactless pay-ments with Barclaycard's OnePulse system.

Rise for Allied
A strong performance by Allied Bakeries in the year to 12 September 2009, helped increase sales at Associated British Foods' grocery division by 13% to £3,188m. Profit declined by 2% to £191m, mainly due to first-half problems with its ACH subsidiary in the US and a highly competitive UK retail sugar market for Silver Spoon, said the company.

A food and drink innovation centre has launched in London, with bakers high up on the priority list for business support.
The Park Royal Food Inno-vation Centre, at Dephna House in north-west London, offers free technical, business and marketing support to food and drink production SMEs in London. However, places are limited, so companies are being urged to apply now. To qualify, businesses need to be London-based, have 250 or fewer employees, have been trading for more than a year, and have revenues no greater than e50m (£44.7m).
Prior to the opening, a study mapped the types of food and drink businesses based in Park Royal and surrounding areas. It found that, of the 870 businesses in the area, bakery was the largest single-category food product.

The World Scotch Pie Cham-pionships have been revamped and several new categories added, in an effort to give bakers and butchers wider exposure.
The 2010 awards, to be announced later this month, will see the reintroduction of the Sausage Roll Category, as well as the addition of five new Speciality Savoury Categories: Hot Savoury; Cold Savoury; Fish; Vegetarian Savoury; and Individual Steak Pie. These will run alongside competitions to find the best Scotch pies and bridies.
"We felt it important to include sausage rolls again, as they are one of the most popular products in the savouries sector. There is so much innovation in speciality savouries, it was only right to split them up," said organiser Alan Stuart, MD of Stuart's of Buck-haven. "The awards raise public awareness of bakers and but-chers and boost sales and more categories will help do this."
Other changes include a new website www.the-pie-club.co.uk and, for the first time, the entries will be judged when both hot and cold. The 11th annual event will be held at Carnegie College, Dunfermline, Scotland, on Tues-day, 10 November.

Pressure is mounting on bakery companies to switch to sustainable palm oil, although it is unclear who is expected to pay for the changes.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) last month published a league table, rating food companies and retailers on their record of buying sustainable palm oil, with firms such as Warburtons, Northern Foods and Allied owner ABF relatively low down the list.

A food and drink innovation centre has launched in London, with bakers high up on the priority list for business support.

The Irish arm of the sandwich chain O’Briens has been bought out of liquidation by Impless, a newly formed subsidiary of Irish fast food group Abrakebabra Investments (AIL).

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will launch a second wave of saturated fat posters early in 2010, as part of a renewed campaign to reduce saturated fat intake, following a drive to target pastry earlier this summer.

Bakery students at Barking College have played a starring role in an educational video commissioned by Morrisons.