Aryzta bakery falters

Aryzta has seen a negative performance in bakery for the six months ended 31 January 2010, with its UK and Irish markets recording the highest revenue decline. Its food business, primarily focused on speciality bakery, saw revenue down 7.7% to E533.6m (£481.4m) in its European arm. Operating profit for Food Europe stood at E60.7m (£54.8m), down 5.1%. But some growth came from new customers in Continental Europe, noted the firm.

Flat white growth

Coffee Republic has become the latest major coffee chain to add the flat white to its hot drinks menu, following recent launches in both Starbucks and Costa Coffee. The UK coffee chain has also secured an exclusive deal with Vouchercloud, a new mobile application that allows users to get discount vouchers straight to their mobile. For example, during March customers purchasing a flat white were offered a free muffin, cake or pastry, when they redeemed the voucher.

Pitta takes over

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has swapped pitta bread for garlic bread in its recently published Consumer Prices Index and Retail Prices Index: The 2010 Basket of Goods and Services. The change has been made to reflect the relative spending on the two types of speciality bread, according to ONS. It also added cereal bars as a new item to the basket.

Macadamia support

The Southern African Macadamia Grower’s Association has recruited the services of Compass UK’s executive chef Nick Vadis, to help drive continued growth of macadamia usage in bakery, food manufacturing and foodservice sectors.

Topics