Irish delegates to attend ABST event

Thirty delegates from the Republic of Ireland are to attend the Alliance for Bakery Students and Trainees conference, next week. There will be 15 trainees attending from the Limerick Youth Service a community-based initiative that offers youngsters the opportunity to learn baking skills and 15 students from the National Bakery School of Ireland (NBSI), the first time they have attended the event.

Obama creates a stir

Obama bread, a 600g high-fibre low-fat E2.99 loaf, launched for the recent brief visit of the US president to Ireland, has created big sales for Dublin’s Soul Bakery. "We’ve had to double our capacity this week", said Donal Coade, sales manager. It’s had fantastic free publicity, on radio and in newspapers in Ireland, even on NBC News in the US, he added.

Scottish accolades

Borders Biscuits and Macphie of Glenbervie were both honoured in the 2011 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, hosted last week. Borders Biscuits came top in the Bakery and Cereal category for its Gourmet Goodness range, launched in March this year. Macphie took home the Food Service accolade for its Red Velvet Cake Mix and Vanilla Rainbow Frosting.

Don’t miss tea time

Bill Gorman of The UK Tea Council told visitors to the Caffè Culture show last month, that if their tea offering didn’t match their speciality coffee offering, they were missing a trick when it came to boosting sales. He said 165 million cups of tea are drunk a day in the UK, compared to 70 million cups of coffee, and said if you provide a good tea offering you can charge up to £1.65 per cup.

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