All News articles – Page 791
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News
Bringing in the grain
With the organic vs local vs Fairtrade debate resembling some kind of ethical ’papers, scissors, stone’, organic has been somewhat usurped in the green stakes of late. The limelight has been cast instead on local sourcing. This presents a problem to organic bread bakers: the bullk of the UK’s organic ...
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Julian Hunt, communications director, Food and Drink Federation (FDF)
And lo, from the land of the batty folk came a new report calling for a fat tax on food products. Even though the report was riddled with inconsistencies, the boffins who authored this nonsense still managed to claim that as many as 3,000 lives would be saved by a ...
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Plaxtol takes top LASER day prize
The seventh LASER Golf Day took place on 10 July at Surrey National Golf Club, Caterham. Sixty gol-fers from all sectors of the baking industry took part.The winning team, with 118 points, was Plaxtol Bakery of Tonbridge, Kent (pictured) receiving the Team Prize from LASER president Anthony Kindred. Prizes were ...
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Meetings leave doubt over Inter Link’s debts
There was mounting concern this week among the creditors of the now-defunct Inter Link Foods as it emerged that they might not have their debts met in full by new owner McCambridge Food Group.The Irish baker, which bought Inter Link moments after it went into administration on Friday, held a ...
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Millers welcome decision to suspend set-aside rules
News that 3.8 million hectares of EU farmland will be allowed back into arable production next year has been given a cautious welcome by grain traders and millers.The decision to suspend the set-aside rules that helped reduce Europe’s grain mountain to 2.5 million tonnes this year came as prices ...
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Don’t skimp on ingredients
I have always maintained that it is a false economy to cut corners when purchasing ingredients. And if I were to pass on any words of wisdom from my 24 years in the food trade, this would be one of my top three pointers for running a successful business."That’s ...
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An eye to the future
I decided to go into baking after I finished school, rather than go on to study A-Levels. The reason I did this was because my mum had always baked at home and I really enjoyed helping her. So I enrolled just two days before the NVQ bakery course was about ...
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PE firms stalk Pret A Manger as flotation takes shape
Sandwich chain Pret A Manger has confirmed it is being courted by a number of private equity firms since revealing plans to float the company to fuel expansion in the USA.Simon Hargraves, commercial director, said: "The shareholders have not ruled anything out at the moment. People are putting other deals ...
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Ghoulishly good
After three months of making dainty, white, floral cakes during the peak wedding season, cake bakers must look forward to releasing their demons in August - a time when they can vent spleen via some ghoulish and gory cake creations.Halloween is moving up the league table as a seasonal earner ...
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Personal touch
When Newcastle-based finance director Richard Linfoot, 42, was made redundant from his accountancy job, he thought long and hard about what he would do next.Swapping his briefcase for a baker’s apron, he and wife Jane worked out a business plan, got their kitchen inspected and licensed by the local council ...
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Problem solved
New employer’s packQ. Having been a single-handed sole trader for a number of years, I feel I know the trade well enough now to expand and take on staff. My initial forays into the world of PAYE, NICs, working families’ tax credits and the like have left me wondering whether ...
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1908 Superior Fruit Loaf
This excellent recipe comes from The Modern Baker, Confectioner and Caterer, edited by John Kirkland and printed in 1908.The book was aimed at the baking trade and gave the following advice: "It is often useful to make a speciality of a fruit loaf and this should be done by ...
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Stay one step ahead in NPD
More than any other cate-gory within food manufacturing markets, bakery has experienced a high level of new product development (NPD) over the past two years. This has largely been influenced by the healthy eating agenda, which has driven the demand for a range of low-fat, gluten-free or low-carb options.However, the ...
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Richemont Club joins Bakers’ Fair
Bakers’ Fair North West will be held in association with the Richemont Club on 14 October. The exhibition’s fourth annual competition will also be judged live at the show.Richemont Club members, which include top craft bakers and confectioners from all over the UK, will run a live demonstration during ...
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Gordon Polson, director, Federation of Bakers
The price of bread is a topic that’s been hitting the news headlines for some time now and it’s a subject that is likely to continue to gain column inches.Wheat is the main issue, with low stocks and weather problems leading to rising prices which are impacting bakers. Rising energy ...
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Other supermarkets trial Tesco’s Omega baskets
Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have both started small-scale trials of Omega bread baskets, as the Tesco scheme gathers momentum.Morrisons is trialling the baskets at one store and Sainsbury’s at a couple of outlets, working with a number of bakery suppliers.A total of some 1.4 million one-size-fits-all Omega 10-loaf bread baskets are ...
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Respect heritage of brands, says report
Companies should be wary of alienating loyal customers by tampering with tried-and-trusted brands, says a report from market research company Datamonitor.The report warns manufacturers of long-established products that ’brand loyalty’ may be more important than attracting new consumers."It costs nine times more to attract a new consumer than retain an ...
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UK bread price in ranking rise
The UK may still be one of the cheapest countries in the world for bread. But the average price of a loaf in Britain isn’t quite the bargain it was six months earlier, according to the latest figures from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) supplied exclusively to British Baker.Prices in ...
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Briefs
=n Brace’s Bakery is marking its 105th birthday this year by donating a selection of new books to Bearnes Primary School, Newton Abbot. The company’s head of communications Michelle Hughes said it believed books were key to a child’s development but too many children from low-income families could not afford ...