Irish welcome pies

Pieminister, the Bristol-based pie-maker, said it has had a "really positive" response to the limited product range it has just launched in Ireland. Its first Irish festival was Electric Picnic, where it quickly sold out. Selling through weekly markets and selected food halls and delis, all in the Dublin area, it plans further Irish retail expansion.

New line for Butt

Nottingham bread manufacturer Butt Foods has launched a new product range after receiving £3,800 from the iNet funded by the East Midlands Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund. It developed five flavours in its new Big Softy sub roll range and also came up with interactive marketing materials to support the sale of the Big Softy sub rolls into the foodservice, sandwich supplier and retail markets.

Fraud alert

Bakers are being caught out by a fraud that sees them pay for advertising in a non-existent ’Police Crime Prevention Year Book’, according to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. It said bakers, along with other trades, had paid between £90 and £350 for adverts they hadn’t taken out targeted by fraudsters thought to be based in the Manchester area.

Organic not sought

Only 9% of consumers actively seek out organic product claims, with organic being ranked 27th of 34 commonly ’looked-for’ product claims by UK shoppers, according to a survey by MMR Research Worldwide. It found that claims such as ’healthy’, ’natural’ and ’free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives’ were up to five times as appealing, and said organic food brands needed to introduce more of the benefits of organic into their message.

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