Free-From Trend Offers Opportunities For Local Companies

Posted on

Recent market research figures from Kantar Worldpanel have indicated that the free- from category has become the fastest growing food category. And it’s a category in which many of our companies are achieving success. Many more will clearly have to review their ingredients in line with this important market trend.

Free-from foods has been boosted by 36 percent year on year and 54 percent of the UK population purchased a free-from product during the first quarter of 2017 – 3.3 million more people than last year

Many consumers put their interest in free from down to a variety of concerns including allergies, intolerances, health, animal welfare, environment and weight management. Many are switching to free from either permanently or as part of a pick and mix approach to suit their lifestyles.

Preventing even faster growth of the category is a perception among consumers that free-from foods are more expensive. This means that existing companies and others planning to enter the category need to look closely at their costs to be able to compete and generate a profit. 

A growing number of focused campaigns, including last week’s curious World Plant Milk Day, have led to consumers being better informed than ever before about the benefits of free-from products.

Free-from is manifestly not a fad. It’s not going to go away.  Most of our local supermarkets, delis and independent retailers now feature free from foods from a growing number of local products, many of which have won national awards for quality and taste, on their shelves and chill cabinets.

What the various focused campaigns are doing is to encourage more consumers to look more closely at their food and not just in terms of fat and sugar content but also in gluten, wheat, dairy and eggs.

While the quality, taste and provenance of locally produced food are now well recognised here, trends towards free-from products will impact their performance.

Our smaller companies clearly do need to keep abreast of the developing trend towards food and drink perceived as being healthier. Fortunately, there are bodies around, including the Food Innovation Centre at Loughry, Comber, Foodovation at the North West Regional Further Education College in Londonderry as well as Belfast Metropolitan Institute, to help them to either create new products or adapt existing ones.

These organisations can also help with the essential nutritional information on product labels. Invest NI, for instance, offers help in these areas through its Innovation Voucher programme, which provides funding for agreed projects that enable smaller firms to link up with universities or colleges.

Invest NI’s Business Information Centre in Belfast also holds substantial library documentary and online material on market trends worldwide.

Innova Market Insights, furthermore, identified ‘Plant Powered Growth’ as one of its top trends for this year, and the figures suggest this trend will continue to gather momentum.

Another developing trend here is the interest in wild herbs and plants among leading chefs, including Dani Barry at EIPIC, Belfast, Will Brown at the Old Schoolhouse, Comber and Paul Cunningham at Brunel’s in Newcastle, now increasingly looking for very different ingredients and turning to foraging for edible plants and flowers. I was privileged to spend some time with a group of local chefs who were very knowledgeable about edible wild plants, which was fascinating.

Consumer tastes are changing and new opportunities are emerging for producers with fingers on the pulse.

Chefs Help Raise The Profile Of Our Food

Posted on

It’s impossible to put a monetary value on endorsements by international publications of local restaurants to the hospitality industry here. But what is clear is that the sort of positive comments about our restaurants and food now appearing regularly in major magazines and newspapers exerts an important influence of people considering a trip to Northern Ireland.

Some 16 Northern Irish restaurants were listed among the best in Britain in the latest review of restaurants by the influential Good Food Guide from high-end retailer Waitrose.   Two, OX and EIPIC, both in Belfast were named among the top 50 in the UK. Quite an endorsement by the publication which celebrates quality eateries in local areas and showcases newcomers.

It was fantastic to see Bull and Ram in Ballynahinch included, a restaurant which is now moving to set up a new location in Belfast’s university area. Other publications have also recently lauded the food created at Saul McConnell’s first restaurant, Noble in Holywood…justifiably. And Ballyrobin House has also won praise from Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Food NI continues to invest time and staff resources on measures to raise Northern Ireland’s profile as a destination for great food in Britain and especially the Republic of Ireland. We continue to work with food writers, journalists and bloggers to achieve coverage for the hospitality industry here through introductions to local restaurants and their chefs.

In addition, we’ve also set up meetings with local producers, especially smaller businesses, to showcase the quality, provenance and outstanding taste of their products. It’s work which profiles the creative people behind our exceptional hospitality and food stories. Greater resources would enable us to do even more including following the contacts already made and expanding the base of influential people ready to help us promote Northern Ireland.

We need to intensify this work to build on the achievements over the past few years especially the hugely successful Year of Food and Drink. We have to keep our foot on the pedal. Both hospitality and food have immense potential to contribute more to the growth of the Northern Ireland economy and the wellbeing of rural communities especially in business starts, employment and skills.

Food NI continues to support Hospitality Ulster and the airports in their efforts to persuade government that action in areas such as VAT and Airport Passenger Duty would help to accelerate the growth in hospitality in particular.

The latest tourism figures are certainly immensely encouraging.  There was a record one million overnight trips taken in Northern Ireland during January to March 2017, an increase of six percent. Visitors from out of state markets, especially Great Britain and the Republic, spent £117 million (+15%) and visitors from all markets combined, including Northern Ireland, spent a record £170 million, a seven per cent increase on the same period in 2016.

Aided by a favourable currency rate, visitors from the Republic increased by 36 per cent. Hotels delivered a record level performance during the first half of the year with almost one million hotel rooms sold and average room occupancy reaching 70 per cent.  Events such as the fantastic Women’s Rugby World Cup final stages at the Kingspan in Belfast led to ‘booked out’ signs on hotels in the Greater Belfast area. According to Tourism NI’s latest industry barometer, more than three-fifths of attractions have reported increases in visitor numbers compared with January to June 2016.

The signs are promising, especially since they are matched by an increase in visitors perceptions about our food and drink, and it’s important to acknowledge the role of everyone involved in food and drink that have worked so hard to raise our reputation in hospitality.

Innovative Food NI ‘stars’ at Irish Quality Food Awards

Posted on

More than a dozen innovative products from Northern Ireland companies were successful in the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards 2017. Six Food NI members were successful in the awards which influence major retailers across the island.

The prestigious awards, held in Dublin, recognised the quality and originality of Irish food and drink supplied, in particular, to retailers across the island.

Winners from Northern Ireland ranged from smaller artisan businesses such as Clandeboye Estate Yogurt for a product supplied to Aldi Ireland’s Select Range – Greek Style Yogurt with Mango and Lime – to major manufacturers such as Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s largest dairy company, for its Lidl Ireland Rathdarragh Extra Mature Cheddar in the cheese category. Both are active Food NI member companies

Other Food NI winners were:

Rich Sauces, Newtownards, county Down for its chipotle sauce in added ingredients for foodservice;

Golden Popcorn, Antrim for Sweet and Salty Duo Popcorn;

Deli Lites, Warrenpoint, county Down and Applegreen for Vitality Salad; and

White’s Speedicook Oats, Tandragee, county Armagh and Aldi Ireland for Organic Porridge;

Launched in 1979, the Quality Food Awards are the most prestigious awards for food and drink products on sale in UK grocery outlets, and this is due in large part to the transparency and robustness of the judging process.

Due to huge demand from the Irish market, the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards were launched in 2013 for the retail sector and the Irish Café Quality Food Awards launched in 2015 to recognise the foodservice sector. They were  rebranded in 2017 as the Irish Foodservice Quality Food Awards  to better represent the marketplace.

Expert judging panels are comprised of chefs, chef-lecturers, home economists, food writers, and consultants, restaurateurs, food technologists and representatives from regional food groups, all of whom bring their extensive knowledge to bear in the process.

The Irish Quality Food Awards are unique in that they reward great tasting products, with the finest of flavours, textures and aromas. They reward nutritious products, with the finest ingredients lists, while also recognising innovation, great packaging and presentation.

The awards not only reward achievements in new product development, but also point the way for future success through continual innovation and creativity. Each year the awards demonstrate the capacity of retailers and manufacturers to create marvellous new products.

Spooky Black Bread from the Krazibaker

Posted on

Food NI member Krazi Baker, an expert in traditional griddle baking techniques, has launched a new artisan Black Bread.

The handcrafted bread is based on a recipe Krazibaker, also known as Mark Douglas, developed for a banquet scene in the hugely popular Game of Thrones TV series. He’s now baking the new bread for retail sales across Northern Ireland.

Based at Dromore in county Down, Krazibaker has developed a successful portfolio on traditional Northern Irish breads, such as soda farls, potato cakes and potato apple, handmade products which have won UK Great Taste Awards. 

Referring to the new Black Bread, he says: “I was approached by the people at Castleward, a National Trust property on Strangford Lough, which is one of the locations in Northern Ireland for Game of Thrones, to come up with a totally different bread for one of the show’s banquet scenes, something dark and brooding in keeping with the show.

“I created a unique Black Bread from three types of flour – white, rye and wholemeal and added honey, Guinness with butter, eggs and yeast. It has a very earthy but moist taste and is particularly well-suited as an accompaniment for stews, soups or with a casserole. Halloween, of course, is an ideal time to introduce a spooky Black Bread! Bread lovers can now experience the new loaf for themselves,” he adds.

Krazibaker has been leading a campaign in Northern Ireland to revive interest in traditional griddle breads including treacle farls and soda breads with ingredients such as chorizo, guanciale, bacon and cheese. He’s also won awards for his traditional Northern Irish shortbread.

As well as traditional griddle breads, he’s also developed sourdough loaves in line with market demand. “There is a growing awareness of the benefits of sourdough in Northern Ireland, Britain and the Republic of Ireland,” he says.

He also runs Northern Ireland’s only bakery school specialising in traditional Irish breads and in sourdough production.

He’s already selling the sourdough loaves at food festivals and farmers’ markets across Northern Ireland.

Fish City Wins UK Top Three Good Catch – Sustainable Award

Posted on

Award winning Fish City goes forward to represent Northern Ireland as they are presented with the UK’s Top 3 GOOD CATCH Sustainable Award, organised by Seafish.

The award ceremony will be held in London during January 2018, and both John and Grainne Lavery of Fish City are delighted that the business has received this incredible recognition.

“Sustainability is central to our Policy on protecting the environment at Fish City”, says Grainne of the ground-breaking fish and chip restaurant & takeaway. “We have worked hard to ensure our customers and partners are fully informed, as we promote sustainability, ethically sourced seafood and of course health and wellbeing.

“We designed a Fish City ‘Kids Club’ partnering with local schools. We educate the children on these issues while encouraging them to try the different kinds of sustainable seafood, and of course have some fun!”

Fish City has already achieved several awards this year, among which are Seafood Restaurant of the year and runner up on the Sustainable Tourism Award. Just last week it was announced they also won Top 3 UK Healthy Eating award.

“When we change our menu, we take great care and attention to ensure the seafood we chose in our dishes are MSC certified and MCS ethically sourced”, says John. He continued, “We need to have an absolute guarantee that stock from any designated area is sustainable before we decide to use it.

“We can source details including where it was caught right down to what ship it came in on! It is all about full traceability and provenance. We also research on the MSC Good Fish Guide to confirm if there have been any changes to the recommendations and ratings of the seafood we use.

“We strongly believe it is important to ensure that oceans and fish stocks are secure for future generations.  Supporting sustainability and looking after the environment is ultimately good for everyone, including our customers.”

The National Fish & Chip Awards’ 30th anniversary ceremony will be held in London on 25 January 2018. For further information on Fish City Belfast go to www.fish-city.com or follow on @fishcitybelfast or #fishcitybelfast,  http://www.fishandchipawards.com/news .

End

Millbrook Lodge Chef Wins UK Heat Of World Pesto Championships

Posted on

Gerard Sands, Head Chef from the Millbrook Lodge Hotel in Ballynahinch has won the UK Heat of the World Pesto Championships. Ten people competed for the prize at the Titanic Hotel in Belfast. They included chefs, food producers, home cooks and catering students.

They had to use pestles and mortars to make the traditional Italian sauce which contains olive oil, garlic, basil, pine nuts and seasoning.  Participants had 30 minutes to make their pesto.

The heat took place at the recently opened Titanic hotel’s restaurant and adjoining cocktail bar. The winner will go to Genoa in Italy to take part in the finals of the Seventh World Pesto Championships.

Reacting to his win, Gerard Sands said

“It was great to be asked by Food NI to participate in this international competition. It is fantastic to compete beside such esteemed chefs and amazing food producers and it is so good that the event was hosted in this spectacular venue, Titanic Hotel.

“I am delighted to represent our chefs in the final and I want to thank Food NI for bring these illustrious events to Northern Ireland, raising the profile of Northern Irish food.’

Michael McGarrity (home cook) came second. Andy Provan, Head Chef at Deane’s Meatlocker came third.

The event was brought to Belfast by the Associazione Culturale Dei Palatifini from Italy in conjunction with Food NI. Italian judge Roberto Panizza was in Belfast to decide on the winner.

Local drinks producers Hercules Brewing, JawBox Gin, Ruby Blue and Farmaggedon Brewery gave out samples to visitors and spectators.