All British Baker articles in August 2007
View all stories from this issue.
-
News
viewpoint
August is traditionally a quiet month - not so in the baking industry! Instead we see the price of wheat hit an all-time world high and another possible big closure at Premier Foods-owned British Bakeries.The news about the highest-ever world wheat prices made all the business pages of the daily ...
-
News
People
Gail LindsayRich ProductsPremium frozen and ambient bakery products supplier Rich Products has appointed Gail Lindsay to the role of UK marketing manager. Lindsay, who previously worked as consumer and business to business marketing manager for Ordnance Survey, will be based at the company’s headquarters in Fareham. She will drive the ...
-
News
Further flour price increases predicted as costs rocket
Millers and bakers are going through "hair tearing" times as wheat and commodity prices soar, says the National Association of British and Irish Millers (Nabim).Now millers are warning that further flour price increases may be required, despite a rise this month. Breadmaking wheat prices are at record levels, doubling over ...
-
News
Costa sales up driven by new store openings
Whitbread said its Costa business saw substantial sales increase driven by new store openings and a strong like-for-like performance, in a trading update this week.The company, which also owns the budget Premier Inn hotel chain, said it had opened 76 UK Costa stores (or a net of 63 if ...
-
News
Consumer view
I think that bread is under-sold. In a restaurant, for example, it is often used as a distraction before the starter or main course.My wife and I go to a lovely fish restaurant in Ockley, Surrey, called Bryce’s. The bread there is something else. I always try to catch the ...
-
News
Commodities tracker
Some prices in the dairy industry have effectively doubled since Jan/Feb 2007. As the bakery sector approaches its busiest time of year, dairy supplies have become even more scarce, exacerbated by the seasonal decrease in milk supply.Butter from Eastern Europe, New Zealand, Australia and even the US has been imported ...
-
News
Briefs
Inspection and certification provider SAI Global/EFSIS is now able to carry out assessments against the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard. The standard looks at every aspect of how a company’s operations affect the environment, from waste management to its carbon footprint. Inspections can be carried out in conjunction with recognised ...
-
News
Mutually beneficial
The success of Britain’s bakery sector is built around a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the major supermarkets.Last week, on these pages, it was reported that a recent survey of UK food suppliers had revealed that 83% of company directors expected to see more firms within their sector go ...
-
News
Harvest festival to raise funds for BBS
The Worshipful Company of Bakers is to host a harvest festival service in aid of the Bakers’ Benevolent Society (BBS) on 7 October.The service, which will feature bellringers and a full choir, will take place at St John the Baptist church on Epping High Street.It will start at 5pm, followed ...
-
News
Gordon Polson, director, Federation of Bakers
For many years, plant bakers have undertaken a process of salt reduction. We have long recognised the importance of responding to consumer needs.While the media are keen to portray the food industry as villains, risking the nation’s health by filling their products with salt, the plant baking sector is a ...
-
News
British Bakeries in consultation over site closures
British Bakeries said last week it was consulting on closing its Bradford bakery and scaling down activities at its Telford depot. It also refused to rule out possible future closures at other sites.British Bakeries, owned by Premier Foods, said increased self-sufficiency of operations in the south of England was a ...
-
News
Independent bakeries perform
Privately owned bakeries are increasing in value faster than their corporate competitors, making them potential takeover targets.This is the finding of a new report, Portfolio Analysis of the Bakery Industry, from Plimsoll Publishing, that highlights exclusivity, niche products and unique services as other potentially attractive features of independent bakeries.Another more ...
-
News
Founder of Pat The Baker dies
Pat Higgins, founder and owner of Pat the Baker in Ireland, has died aged 84. He and his wife Rita, who died in 1991, set up the bakery in Granard, Co Longford, her home town, in 1953.Pat was from Kilkelly, Co Mayo. He used his local nickname of Pat the ...
-
News
Sainsbury’s signs up Battle Bake House
A family-owned bakery in East Sussex has won a contract with Sainsbury’s as part of the retailer’s Supply Something New initiative.Battle Bake House in Bexhill won a listing to supply three of its own-brand cakes to 60 Sainsbury’s stores in the south east under the scheme, launched last year, which ...
-
News
Baguette Viennoise
This dough is an alternative to brioche - although not as rich - and much quicker to make.Offer it to your customers as an alternative to English tea breads. It’s a recipe I teach regularly in my bread classes, and everyone finds it very simple to make. As kids, we ...
-
News
Aulds enters a new era
Operating from three different factories on the same site in the space of less than two years is not an exercise Aulds managing director Alan Marr would like to repeat. But he recognises the experience has enabled his company to hone the design of its latest £7m production base to ...
-
News
The bonus scheme bogus On what basis do you establish a bonus scheme, asks Tony Phillips, who argues that such incentives are not necessarily the best method of rewarding hard work
Never have I been able to understand or formulate a good bonus scheme.The more I have looked at the problem, the more convinced I become that they are simply not an efficient means of rewarding an employee or encouraging them to greater effort.supporting a hypothesisWhenever I talk to ...
-
News
Salt levels in bread vary across country
Results from an interim report into salt levels in foods suggests there may be wide regional variations in salt levels in breads.The report from local government body Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) suggests breads and rolls from a specific region of the UK are exceptionally high in salt.LACORS ...
-
News
Vandemoortele acquires Polish frozen bread firm
Belgian food group Vandemoortele has strengthened its presence in central Europe with the takeover of the Polish frozen bakery firm Gourmand Poland, part of Group Dossche, for an undisclosed sum.Gourmand Poland’s most important product is frozen bread, but it also produces frozen puff pastries, Viennese pastries and snacks. It has ...
-
News
Polish Bakery gains acclaim
The bakery market in Poland is the yin to the UK’s yang. Dominated as it is by the craft sector, with nearly nine in 10 loaves sold unpackaged and produced ’artisanally’, it holds up a mirror to the UK, where four in five loaves are plant-baked. But craft baking in ...