Food UK

Domino’s Pizza says Arrivederci, as it leaves Italy after failing to win over local customers

Domino’s Pizza officially closed its shops in Italy, after locals favoured their native restaurants over the American fast-food chain. The last 29 pizza shops just closed, nearly seven years after the company launched its first location in the country. Domino’s had initially planned to open up to 880 stores in Italy.

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The coolest thing in coffee?
Nescafé Gold ice cream breaks new ground

Nestlé is creating a buzz in the ice cream world with the first product launch featuring Nescafé, which breaks new ground by using real coffee in both the coating and the ice cream core, as opposed to coffee flavors.

The coating or 'ganache' that covers the Nescafé Gold Cappuccino Ice Cream is made using Nestlé's patented 'soft coating' technology. In contrast to the hard coatings used in typical chocolate-based stick ice creams, this soft ganache uses Nescafé Gold coffee, which also features in the ice cream core.

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☕

Nescafé

Marks and Spencer buys 'not just any transport company' it aquiries Gist

Marks and Spencer Group has acquired Gist, the principal contract logistics provider to M&S Food, for £230m and said the move will accelerate its plan to modernise the food supply chain network. The British retailer said it spied substantial opportunities to create a more efficient supply chain and could reduce costs, update legacy systems and improve automation. Gist has worked with M&S for decades, as well as providing logistics services for third parties and freight forwarding work for BOC.

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Ocado has revealed an interim loss before tax of -£211m, for the 26 weeks ending on 29 May, which it said “reflects increased depreciation and amortisation costs with the ongoing roll out of OSP, and reduced exceptional insurance income received in the period, compared with the prior year”.

Meanwhile group revenues fell 4% to £1.3bn, while retail revenues fell 8% to £1.1bn. The group said this offset was created by “strong growth in international solutions and UK solutions and logistics”.

International Solutions revenues more than doubled to £59m.

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Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Oxo cubes, increased sales more than expected in the past three months as households returned to home cooking in the face of a squeeze on the cost of living.

The London-listed foods group said sales of branded groceries such as Batchelors sauces and Nissin noodles were especially strong, helping to push up overall sales by 6 per cent from the previous year to £197mn in the three months to July 2.

Premier sells Nissin products in the UK on behalf of the Japanese company, which is also its largest shareholder.

The growth was driven by price rises as the company seeks to recoup cost inflation. Sales volumes were close to those recorded a year earlier, when strict Covid-19 restrictions elevated Premier’s sales by forcing households to spend long periods at home.

Premier said: “Good value meal solutions [are] proving increasingly popular as household budgets become ever stretched.”

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Waitrose announce their new partnership with Dobbies Garden Centres, the UK's leading garden centre retailer. This announcement comes as part of their continued plans to reach new customers by growing its convenience business. 🌻

These plans will eventually see a dedicated area offering 2,000 products in more than 50 of Dobbies’ foodhalls across the UK. The first launch will be at the Dobbies garden centre in Edinburgh by the end of July, followed by Atherstone in Warwickshire and Brighton in August.

More locations will be added later this year and throughout 2023. These include around 20 new towns and cities not currently served by a Waitrose & Partners shop.

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Apparently more than half of the UK's pubs and restaurants saw sales fall off by 45% last weekend as consumers deserted pubs and restaurants in the run up to Christmas this is an issue that's reverberating all the way back along the food supply chain.

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Rishi Sunak pledges additional £1bn in financial support for COVID-hit hospitality sector with £6k grants for businesses.

Rishi Sunak came under fire last week for failing to act swiftly to offer support to businesses hit hardest by this new COVID slowdown. Now at leat there is a package on the table. We are reading through the fine print. More later.

Leon Plans Expansion Programme with 50 New Restaurants in 2022

Glenn Edwards, managing director, Leon restaurants, said: “For the first time we will be taking Leon across the country, driving regional growth at speed. The new formats in this rollout will build on our traditional restaurants and form a base for further growth. Making Leon even more accessible is at the heart of this strategic expansion.”

JD Wetherspoon Promotes Pub Managers to its Board

Managed pub operator JD Wetherspoon has put its faith in its employees by recruiting four current pub managers to its board in an an attempt to boost its business by having additional ‘pub experience’ at board at a senior level.

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Rishi Sunak has been urged to "get on a plane" back to the UK from the US amid a growing clamour for support for businesses hit by warnings over Omicron.

The Chancellor is under pressure to respond because, though hospitality firms and shops remain open, they face a slump in trade thanks to Plan B work from home guidance and advice from health officials that people should limit their social interactions. Business groups have demanded to know what steps Mr Sunak will take with the UK Food Council saying they have not heard from the Chancellor since the latest round of interventions - designed to tackle the spread of Omicron - began last week.

Morrisons have opened fourteen Market Kitchens in the U.K. with more in the pipeline for 2022. This fresh food, Chef led, food makers concept is well thought through. Morrisons is now looking at launching a smaller store format featuring its Market Kitchen takeaway concept offering pizza by the metre, fried chicken, Lancashire hotpots, freshly made pasta, risottos, paellas and curries.

Coffee prices are at 10-year highs, and analysts say they have much further to go

Alongside bad weather, global supply constraints have had a substantial impact on the coffee market. Uncertainty is also stemming from exporting countries such as Ethiopia, which is on the brink of a civil war, and shortage in supply chain as traders contend with shipping bottlenecks and a late-year rise in demand.

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The number of people dining out across the UK has fallen to the lowest level since the reopening of indoor hospitality, according to restaurant industry figures covering the first few days since news broke about the Omicron corona virus variant.

The seven-day average estimate for UK seated diners fell six percentage points in the week to 29 November, reaching the lowest point since 17 May when indoor dining reopened in England, Scotland and Wales.
It comes as hospitality bosses report a wave of cancellations of bookings for Christmas parties and events following the emerging news, late last week, of the Omicron variant just as pub, restaurant and hotel operators were hoping to welcome many customers during the crucial festive season.

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Stats from Open Table
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Farmers in England to be paid for looking after soil health from next year. Environmental groups say scheme falls far short of farming reforms promised after Brexit. Farmers will be paid for looking after England’s soils for the first time from next year, when the first stage of the government’s new support payments begins.

Full story: https://foodcouncil.uk/quest/editorial

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Your bill sir, £673m for festive sandwiches

We will consume 201 million festive sandwiches this year, spending £673m in the process, according to research commissioned by American Express.

British consumers are set to polish off an average of six festive sandwiches each this year, and more than half (51%) of respondents to the study said they want to eat them all year round.

Almost half (48%) of those polled said they’d eat a festive sandwich for breakfast while a third (33%) said they’d be tempted to choose one over a traditional Christmas dinner.

The study showed turkey to be the most popular festive sandwich ingredient, with 65% of respondents favouring the traditional Christmas staple. The same percentage said they liked trying new ingredients, with crisps (29%) the most popular choice in the list of more niche fillings also including onion bhajis (15%), mince pies (12%) and leftover Christmas pudding (10%).

Of the collective £673m to be spent on festive sandwiches this year, almost a third (31%) will be going to small, independent businesses, the survey found.

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Morrisons will introduce insect 'mini farms' on ten of its free range egg farms as part of an effort to reduce its use of soya feed. Hens will be fed insects as well as a supplementary diet of beans, peas and sunflower seeds.

https://foodcouncil.uk/quest/editorial

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Where's Fred's
The City - 7 Frederick’s Place, London EC2R 8AE

District cafés have proven popular in Parsons Green, Mayfair and Nine Elms - and now the people behind them are branching out with Where's Fred's. A cafe by day, wine bar by night (adding dishes like Oysters Kilpatrick) it'll showcase a European, low-intervention list selected by The Pem's GM Emma Underwood.
Opening December 2021

Corbin and King's about to open a huge seafood restaurant in Soho - Manzi's

Paying homage to the legendary Manzi's fish restaurant

Eight years after opening their massive Brasserie Zedel, restaurateurs Corbin & King are launching another affordable restaurant. Manzi's in Soho will be a homage to the much-loved Manzi's fish restaurant and will be a seafood restaurant that's both fun and affordable.

Opening: Early 2022 at 1 Bateman's Buildings, Soho, London W1D 3EN

Domino's appoints permanent finance chief as boardroom shake-up goes on

Neil Smith becomes finance chief of takeaway chain Domino’s as the pizza house bolstered its board with a number of new appointments. Prior to joining the company, he was finance chief at pub operator Ei Group until its takeover by Stonegate. Neil will join the Domino’s board from 16 September

Natalia Barsegiyan, a former finance chief of Mexico chain Taco Bell, and Lynn Fordham, managing partner of private equity firm Larchpoint Capital will join Neil.

They will join the board and also become members of the nomination, remuneration and audit committees.

Domino’s has been one of the rare success stories of the last six months, with takeaways spiking in popularity for housebound Brits during the coronavirus lockdown.

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