"Does Your Product Fit The Market"

 

 

 

Click onto the logo to view the powerpoint presentations

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ERfi and Tastes of Anglia hosted a highly successful SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) seminar on Wednesday 18th July at Newmarket. Key speakers included Budgen's Jonathon Bayne who spoke of the supermarket's very positive experiences with working with local suppliers and the real impact they have made in helping to grow Budgens's "local profile". Next up was Chris Grimes, Operations Manager of the SALSA programme who shared an invaluabale in sight into the programme, how it works and the benefits to both suppliers and retailers alike. The SALSA scheme is endorsed by DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency and is widely supported by many of the UK’s leading food buyers from the retail and foodservice sectors.

Click here for the presentation by Jonathan Bayne

Click here for the presentation by Chris Grimes

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Labelling: an effective marketing too?

ERfi joined forces with a Radio 4 presenter and a former cast member from the TV show HI-DI-HI to create a podcast of a conference held at the Trinity Rooms in Ipswich.

Judy Randon invited Ivan Howlett (Radio 4) and David Webb (one of the stars from Hi-DI-HI) to the food-labelling event. (Howlett and Webb currently run a professional podcast business called AuViPod).

The initiative is the first time that ERfi has embraced podcasting within conferencing and if it is a success, it will not be the last.

This particular seminar covered the latest in packaging, labelling, marketing, and risk management, with John Hammond from industry leading Research Association Campden & Chorleywood covering the latest EU legislation on nutrition & health claims. Excerpts and interviews from the seminar can be downloaded.

Judy Randon, said, “It is important that as a business you embrace new technologies therefore it made sense to us to incorporate podcasting into conferencing. It allows those people who couldn’t come along to this conference to download the podcast for free and use the information from the event to benefit their business.”

Jonathan Whitbread who delivered the talk covering food allergy and risk management in the manufacturing environment said, ”The day was very interesting and gave businesses the opportunity of discovering the importance of labelling their products to address legislation and also to gain that all important marketing edge. Labelling is one part of the food development process and as an organisation, we can access the expertise to help develop a concept right through to the shop shelf. This event helped demonstrate this principle.”

To download excerpts and interviews click the links.

Standing Room Only Left at Successful High Impact Seminar

High Impact Seminar Promotes Local Food & Drink

Momentum from local food producers seemed virtually unstoppable after the “Product to Market” seminar this week. Great local food, enjoy something different and stand out from the crowd were definite themes at the joint programme delivered by the Eastern Region Food Initiative (ERfi) and Tastes of Anglia.

The region’s food producers came together to hear success stories from local from businesses across the region and gather tips and skills to push their products to even higher levels.

Many delegates had no choice but to stand. This over-subscribed event offered small and medium sized food & drink producers in the region an in-sight on how, to tackle the vital areas of marketing, branding, getting their product noticed and how to gain these skills in-house to make that crucial difference.

The region is rich in excellent local producers offering a wealth of stunning foods & drinks. The opportunity to hear from those who have walked the walk and not just talk the talk was a successful theme. Jimmy Butler of Blythburgh Free Range Pork, MC of the event, spoke of his experience and passion in developing his successful brand. Julie West of Tastes of Anglia offered guidance on opportunities and potential of the market. This was invaluable information gathered from expertise gained at the region’s food group – Tastes of Anglia - which is dedicated to supporting and promoting local food. Highlights included Eddie Stableford of Bryt Ltd who shared his expertise from the world of branding, Gerrie Hawes of Fresh Daisy Organic who has successfully developed her own organic food brand and Lawrence Mallinson of James White Drinks Ltd who brought many smiles to the proceedings when he shared his anecdotes from the years of developing his range.

Trading Director of Roys of Wroxham, Bill Warnes, drew on his many years of experience in the food and drink sector, offering guidance on how to tackle the buyer. It soon became apparent that this is not as daunting as many may have thought. Bill gave welcome reassurance that the buyer wants to hear about new and innovative products and Roys in particular is interested in stocking good local products. Bill has instigated a policy of sourcing local food and drink and is passionate about making it work for both the region’s businesses and for Roys. Bill posed the question “Why should the customer buy the hum-drum when the region produces such a diverse range of excellent food and drink?

Hard-hitting facts, figures and solid guidance were delivered in the form of buyer statistics and profiles by Paul Mayfield of the Food Chain Centre. Paul offered the delegates the opportunity to run a business concept or plan through the computer model which is been built on many years of customer purchasing data. Through this model businesses can assess the potential in the market of a product they are thinking of making before they incur the costs of production, promotion and distribution. Currently this help is free!

The seminar was wrapped up by Judy Randon and Jonathan Whitbread of ERfi when they offered delegates the chance to have training delivered to them apply to possible funding streams. ERfi has been established to support the region’s food and drink businesses, significantly in the area of training and skills. ERfi is able to help identify your business’s training needs and signpost you to any funding available.

For further details about the seminar or help available to food & drink businesses visit www.erfi.co.uk or www.tastesofanglia.com

Presentations

Taste of Anglia - Julie West
Bryt Ltd - Eddie Stableford
Fresh Daisy Organic - Gerrie Hawes
International Food Link - Ray Horton
James White Drinks Ltd - Lawrence Mallinson
Food Chain Centre - Paul Mayfield
ERfi - Judy Randon & Jonathan Whitbread

 

Regional Companies Hungry for Solutions to
Challenges Facing Food and Drink Industry

Representatives from the region’s food and drink companies were given a taste of the resources on offer to help handle some of the employment and training challenges facing their industry, at a packed session held yesterday (March 2nd) at Norwich City Football Club in Carrow Road.

Presentations - Please click on the logo to view the presentations

The event, entitled ‘Better Skills, Better Business’, which was organised as a joint initiative between East of England International (EEI) and ERFI (Eastern Region Food Initiative) featured a programme of speakers involved in the sector, with direct experience of employing an international workforce. These included Judy Randon from Otley College and Jonathan Whitbread from Poultec Training, both regional Centres of Vocational Excellence and members of ERFI, Guy Bailey, Manufacturing Manager at Unilever Bestfoods UK Ltd in Norwich and David Tournay of the Food & Drink Sector Skills Council ‘Improve’.

Ann Wardle, from EEI, said: “We are delighted that this seminar has attracted so much interest from the region’s food and drink companies. The topics on the agenda are clearly relevant and timely and we hope those attending will go away with fresh ideas on ways to meet the challenges they face.”

Neale McArdle Training Director of Poultec added: “Staff development is fundamental to the future success of the food and drink industry. Interestingly one speaker quoted research showing that for every £1 invested in training, companies can expect a return of between £3 and £6 and this reflects the importance of events like this.”

Speakers at the event, left to right: Jonathan Whitbread, Judy Randon, David Tournay, David Owen, Stephen Cook, Guy Bailey, Ann Wardle, Tonia Sutton and Linda Carver.

3 March 2006