FFB around the world: work in October

New listings

• FFB the Netherlands has launched Northern Foods subsidiary Goodfella’s Solos in 60% of the Dutch retail market. The launch was accompanied by a national consumer campaign on television and outdoor billboards. See the Goodfella’s Solos case study for more information.
• Indulgence Patisserie’s range of premium desserts has been launched through a foodservice supplier in Denmark. The company’s products are also being presented to the foodservice channel in Sweden.
• Kettle Chips have secured national listings in Coop and Carrefour stores across Italy. Luxury hotels are also interested in buying Kettle Chips.
• Frederick’s Dairies’ range is being presented to Swedish retailers. There is a big appetite for ice cream in Sweden, one of the largest consumers of ice cream in the world, and Frederick’s Dairies products are an attractive proposition due to their innovation, high quality and low additives.
• Lizi’s Granola’s small granola bags have been listed in Whole Foods as an ‘in and out’ item which will sell in February to March 2008, following their presence at Summer Fancy Food 2007. If successful, it may be taken on as a permanent item.
• Farne Salmon has been launched as a private label product in the Christmas edition of eismann, the frozen food delivery catalogue, which is known nationwide and can provide a delivery to almost every household.
• Dormen Foods has developed its reputation in Germany, Switzerland and Austria to such an extent that buyers from hotels are approaching FFB Germany to request the products.
• A new concept, Quorn in sauce products (semi-finished ready meals), has been launched in Delhaize: Quorn Tikka, Quorn Vol-au-Vent and Quorn Chilli.
• The Big Prawn Company launched successfully in Delhaize at the start of October and are using FFB Belgium’s new Merchandising Service to ensure their product is consistently promoted in Delhaize stores.
• Six Wagamama products have been launched in Delhaize. The products are long-life dips and cooking sauces. Wagamama is not a well-known brand in Belgium, with only one restaurant in the country.
• A number of new products are being launched by the Single Malt Club in the run-up to Christmas.
• A number of new five-star luxury hotels in Italy, including the Four Seasons in Milan, are stocking Dormen Foods products.
• Delta, the leading Portuguese coffee company, will be distributing Kool Ice iced coffee flavouring through its bars, subject to a demonstration of its effectiveness and usability by Delta bar staff. This has been a long-running project involving product reformulation and efforts by FFB to help Delta understand the utility of the product.
• Seamark are improving their Portuguese supply logistics by creating a supply depot in Portugal which FFB Portugal will manage to ensure consistent supply.
• Symingtons, which currently supplies soups under Carrefour’s private label, is in the process of extending its Carrefour private label products into hot snacks. Eleven new products are currently before the tasting panel and will hopefully be launched in March, following packaging development. This will bring the number of Symingtons’ private label Carrefour products to 15.

Meeting the buyer

• FFB Nordic is presenting Premier products in Denmark, Sweden and Norway (although Norway’s high import taxes are an obstacle).
• Chicago Town Pizzas are being introduced to the category managers in Sweden and Denmark.
• FFB France are promoting Speyside Glenlivet to premium hotels as the only water to use with whiskey. The campaign has drawn on FFB France’s excellent hotel contacts developed through working with Dormen Foods. The campaign is also approaching Michelin-starred restaurants.
• Five Carrefour buyers visited three companies in the UK, accompanied by FFB Belgium.
• FFB Italy met the buyer from Metro to discuss Scotch Beef and Lamb. The buyer was also interested in British cheese.
• FFB Italy have been meeting foodservice buyers on behalf of Cott’s energy drink 24.
• Buyers from Delhaize visited two companies in the UK to see their vegetarian products.
• FFB Portugal is working with the MLC to promote Welsh and English lamb in the run-up to Christmas. Lamb is very popular at Christmas in Portugal. FFB Portugal arranged meetings between MLC and all the major buyers to ensure they knew the prices and quantities required. MLC are now seeking appropriate suppliers.
• FFB Spain is carrying out market research for Selwyns to identify opportunities in Spain for Laverbread, a Welsh seaweed product. Initial responses from chefs, buyers and consumers interviewed so far have been positive.

PR

• A massive buy one get one free promotion of Kettle Chips in 450 C1000 stores involved 58 trucks worth of Kettle Chips and a television commercial. Kettle Chips are popular with foodies in the Netherlands but are less widely known among Dutch consumers. See next month’s Bulletin for more information.
• Danish journalists were taken on a media trip to Bath to promote British cheese. The result was a ten-page article in a leading women’s magazine.
• FFB Germany is going to run promotions with Farne Salmon in Kauhof and Karstadt stores in December. The promotion includes recipe cards for consumers to give them ideas about what to do with the salmon.
• Voting has begun in Ambiance Magazine for the 2008 Belgian Lady Chef competition. The most important culinary journalists have also been invited to vote.
• FFB Italy are running a PR project for Duchy and Taylors over Christmas. The products will be co-marketed for a houseware company.
• FFB Italy is running a combined promotion with Whittards and McVities in 50 houseware shops over Christmas. The promotion will feature window displays and in-store tastings. The press launch for the promotion will take place in Milan on 15 November.
• 35 winners of a competition for Delhaize staff visited Scotland for 4 days. They visited a salmon farm, a distillery, a farm and learnt about – and sampled extensively - Scottish food and drink.
• Leading Italian retail trade publication Largo Consumo published a five-page article featuring an interview with Rita Piva on FFB activities and British food and drink in general.
• FFB Italy and UKTI will be organising a British presence at the high-profile Identità Golose conference for top class chefs. The conference will have a session dedicated to Great Britain featuring Heston Blumenthal as a key speaker.
• FFB Belgium’s new Merchandising Service, which operates using a ‘guerrilla team’ of sales staff who visit stores to monitor product placement and marketing. FFB Belgium can then use their reports to work with retailers to ensure better, more consistent presentation of products in stores.
• The planned Welsh Lamb promotion in Delhaize, which was postponed by the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak, has begun and will promote two of the three planned breeds: Mountain and Glamorgan Lamb. The information on Salt Marsh Lamb will hopefully be used in follow-up promotions.
• A promotion of Westaways sausages began in Portugal in October.
• The British food promotion in Dia stores in Spain generated €20,000 sales for the 25 SKUs featured.
• Mas y Mas, the Alicante retailer with 50-60 stores, is currently running a British promotion.
• Tastings of Shere Khan products are currently being carried out in El Corte Ingles in Madrid. This promotion has a beneficial effect on Spanish awareness of ethnic food in general, as well as promoting the brand itself.
• A promotional event for the Single Malt Club event on 25 October was tremendously successful. Over 300 people attended, including SMC members, whiskey sommeliers and press. All the non-members who attended signed up to become members. The event also saw the launch of the SMC newsletter.
• Linwoods, which produces flax seed and goji berry products, will be exhibiting at the Spanish Biocultura health food show on 22-25 November.
• The Host hospitality show took place on Milan on 19-23 October. A number of British companies and organisations exhibited, including Farne Salmon, McVities and Quality Meat Scotland, with excellent results.

Trends

• Organic products with no additives or colourings are very in demand in Sweden. Swedish consumers are well-informed about the effects of additives on health. There is currently a lot of media coverage on the possible carcinogenic effects of additive E211.
• There is a growing interest in health and wellbeing in Germany. FFB Germany is pushing this forward by running a readers’ trip to the UK focusing on wellness, functional foods and free-from ranges, in February.
• Proposals to develop a consistent food labeling system in Germany continue, after a number of versions have been challenged by industry organizations.
  

05 November 2007