The Future's Bright for British farming
| Published: 18th September 2007 15:20 |
Despite the shadow cast by the re-emergence of Foot and Mouth disease there is good news for British farmers: more shops, pubs, restaurants and food service outlets than ever before are taking part in British Food Fortnight which takes place 22nd September to 7th October.
In the build-up to the event, 34,000 shops, pubs and restaurants have been sent information about sourcing food produced under British assurance schemes and carrying British quality marks; and 35,000 schools have been invited to teach pupils how to prepare simple meals using British produce and provided with a network of 9,000 chefs who are on-hand during the event to teach children about the delights of British food. As a result:
Attracted by the 34% sales increases that the event generates, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Somerfield are all expected to be running British promotions during the Fortnight.
A mass of British food promotions and in-store tastings are planned in Budgens, independents and even some petrol forecourt stores. And the public is being invited to ‘Taste British Gold' with free tastings of speciality foods in over 500 delicatessens.
Five of the largest food service organisations (ARAMARK, Compass Group, Sodexho, Brakes and 3663), four major pub groups (Mitchells & Butler, Punch Taverns, Enterprise Inns and Marston's Pub Company), three of the main tourism organisations (National Trust, Youth Hostel Association and VisitBritain) and the leading catering association (British Hospitality & Restaurant Association) are all taking part. Together they represent over 20,000 pubs and 42,000 restaurants so there will be an abundance of British food on menus during the Fortnight.
7,500 Compass food service units are being given a dedicated intranet site on why it is important to source British food and 1,000 of their largest units as well as their ‘Choice Sandwich' range will all feature classic British food during the event.
700 Sodexho restaurants are running special British menus with dishes such as Roast British Lamb, Braised British Beef and British Beef Hot Pot.
Brakes is introducing 12 new British products for the Fortnight including British Beef Mince, British Diced Beef & Kidney, Toad in the Hole, British Diced Braising Steak, British Autumnal Seasonal Roasting Vegetable Mix and Romney Marsh Peas; has launched a new ‘Best of British' website for its customers in time for the Fortnight; and is offering £50 of ingredients to chefs going into schools to teach children about British food.
Retailers and caterers are joining forces as part of the Fortnight's initiative to teach children about the delights of British food. 60 Budgens' stores are supplying their local schools with 100 aprons plus locally-sourced ingredients so that their pupils can take part in the national food celebrations; and 50 ARAMARK chefs will be giving cooking lessons in their local schools. Many will be involving their clients, who are some of the UK's biggest organisations, in the process: Nationwide, J P Morgan Chase, Dell, Boots, Barclays and Nissan are all taking part by offering the use of their catering facilities or even giving children the chance to produce food for the employees' menu!
Alexia Robinson, organiser of British Food Fortnight, says: "With so many retailers and caterers taking part, British Food Fortnight is creating a more robust market for British farm produce and is helping to make it viable for farmers to invest in their product because they can see sound business opportunities being established."
"It is particularly encouraging that the catering sector is taking part in such force. This sector is worth over £34 billion each year1 and the fact that it has woken up to the public's growing demand for quality British produce provides a huge market for British farmers."
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