All Latest News articles – Page 623

  • News

    International activity

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    A new report advises food and drink companies to target the significant number of British expatriates and tourists.The largest numbers of expatriates live in Spain and France, with around 800,000 living in Spain and up to 1 million in France, according to market development consultancy Food from Britain (FFB).Outside of ...

  • News

    Reporting in Keith Ball, head of processor technical services, the Soil Association

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    We certify around 80% of the organic food on sale in the UK - from small bakeries making organic flapjacks, for instance, to multinational manufacturers supplying organic bread to supermarkets. Every stage of the bakery process, from the growing of the wheat to the release agents used, must comply with ...

  • News

    Firkin battles back with store revamp

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Troubled Birmingham bakery chain Firkin is getting a new lease of life after facing collapse earlier this year.One of its 53 shops - in Corporation Street - has had a £50,000 revamp, while the rest of the portfolio will get the bright new look as part of owner Ian Bolderston’s ...

  • News

    Cereform feels benefit of high visitor numbers at IBA

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    This year’s IBA baking show pulled in more visitors than ever before, with numbers up 6% on the 2003 show in Düsseldorf.According to German trade fair industry association, AUMA, 965 exhibitors made the trip from 48 countries, while 76,199 visitors from 127 countries attended the Munich show.The most popular sections ...

  • News

    Match funding boost for NPD

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Innovative food and drink companies in the West Midlands are to get a helping hand developing their ideas.Funding from the West Mid-lands Food Partnership will help small and medium-sized food companies team up with research and development institutions to come up with new products.Approved applications will be eligible for 50% ...

  • News

    Briefs

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    n The Costa Coffee chain has doubled its target of having 1,000 stores worldwide by 2010 to 2,000, quadrupling its present count. Costa plans to open 200 stores in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria within three years. Its estate already includes 157 outlets in 13 countries overseas.n International food exhibition Sial ...

  • News

    M&S trials Kitchen dining experience

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Marks and Spencer is to trial an M&S Kitchen branded outlet later this month - a cross between its Café Revive format and a table service restaurant.The M&S Kitchen will be a standalone unit next to its store in Canterbury, Kent, with 60 seats indoors and 20 outdoors.It will open ...

  • News

    Distribution watch

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Jiffy Trucks provide a large range of hot and cold snack delivery vehicles. Our customer base contains a selection of local bakery groups situated all across the country.The principle behind the vans is for bakers to sell their produce directly to customers at the work place - low rise office ...

  • News

    US distributor targets Mexico

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    The ambitious US distribution company Nascent Wine has bought a Mexican distributor of bakery supplies as part of a plan to become the largest food distributor by scooping up many of the country’s 25,000 small distributors.Nascent paid MEX$290,000 (£14,000) for JM Distribucion, which supplies bakers in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada ...

  • News

    Dried fruit takeover

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Dried fruit manufacturer Whitworths has been sold in a deal worth £86m.Private equity firm European Capital appointed Will Carter as the company’s new boss after it bought Whitworths from another private equity firm, Gresham. Carter was previously MD of the merged KP and McVitie’s businesses in the UK."Whitworths is playing ...

  • News

    Machinery sale funds NPD

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Healthy snack bar manufacturer Wholebake has taken the unusual step of selling off some of its manufacturing equipment to raise funds for new product development.Wholebake, which is based in Corwen, North Wales, made £50,000 in a sale and leaseback deal with asset finance lender Davenham, which meant it could develop ...

  • News

    Vision looks North

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Supplier Northern Foods has agreed a £160 million sale of its speciality bread, chilled pastry, cakes and flour milling businesses to private equity firm Vision Capital.The deal includes Fletchers Bakeries (with its La Baguette Doree business), Smiths Flour Mills, Park Cake Bakeries, and chilled pastry businesses including the Pork Farms ...

  • News

    viewpoint

    2006-11-24T00:00:00Z

    If I had to sum up Justin King’s main attribute it would be ’enthusiasm’. I much enjoyed interviewing him for this week’s feature, and of course he has many other talents, but enthusiasm is a very infectious quality. And if you all share a leader’s vision you pick up on ...

  • News

    FooGo moves into retail with plans for 40 sandwich bars

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Sandwich supplier FooGo has revealed plans for a chain of 40 eat-in sandwich bars.The first of the sandwich and café bars was opened in Lincoln in October. The company will target other historic cathedral and market towns as the roll-out gets under way, it said.The new eat-in or takeaway bars ...

  • News

    Need some sound career advice? Just ask Dunkan

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Dunkan the gingerbread man has been launched to help people looking for careers in food and drink manufacturing get information on jobs and training.The animated character appears on the website of the food and drink sector skills council Improve - [http://www.improveltd.co.uk] - and will answer questions about job opportunities and ...

  • News

    Amano café chain to expand with a focus on bakery

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    The theatre of baking is at the heart of the Amano café concept, which is to be rolled out across London and ultimately nationwide.Amano already has two outlets in London and has £2m of funding to launch a further four cafés in the capital in the next year.Operations director Ed ...

  • News

    Reporting in Kirk Hunter, chief executive, Scottish Association of Master Bakers

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    I feel less than sunny at the news of the launch this week in Scotland of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) ’scores on the doors’ pilots.The FSA’s plan is to give consumers information at the point of purchase about shops’ hygiene standards, based on their last food inspection report. This ...

  • News

    Bakers should buy, not rent

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Small businesses should ditch the landlord and buy their freehold if they want to save money, according to property website [http://www.publicangel.com].It said that many companies could boost their long-term profitability by buying their commercial property instead of renting it.Recent changes in the commercial mortgage market mean many businesses that currently ...

  • News

    Europe’s organic bread basket?

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    A forum to be held in Warsaw next week will highlight Poland’s potential to be a manufacturing base for UK food firms.The British-Polish Agrifoods Forum will comprise a series of seminars for UK and Polish food producers, processors and marketers on Thursday 23 November.Issues to be discussed include food processing, ...

  • News

    Subway to spruce up bread offering

    2006-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Sandwich chain Subway is planning to add new shapes and styles to its bread range "bringing some innovation to the customer".The chain, which now has 780 outlets in the UK, has a team of people working on its bread strategy, said Bryan Griffiths, MD of the European Independent Purchasing Company ...