Backing Britain

The 'Buy British' message will be in full flow during British Food Fortnight, which celebrates the abundance of home grown produce that can bring benefits to caterers who support it. Sheila Eggleston reports.

For the last nine years, two weeks in the autumn have been set aside for the industry to fly the flag for our home grown food.

Now supported up and down the country by a growing number of caterers, this year's British Food Fortnight (BFF), which runs from September 18 until October 3, will see activities taking place from food and drink festivals, promotions and demos, to special menus in cost sector restaurants.

The benefits of the fortnight promotion are two fold – increased interest in British food plus profit for the foodservice operator. Caterers such as Mike Duckett, who is catering services manager at The Royal Brompton Hospital, says its simple why the hospital supports BFF – "it increases the income in the staff restaurant by 12%".

Foodservice supporters include contract caterer Aramark, which is sponsoring the event for the fifth year. It says it's committed to continuing its sponsorship until at least 2012.

"Aramark is supporting at least 50 schools again this year, including many that are now long term partners in the British Food Fortnight programme," says CEO Andrew Main.

"Additionally this year, we are supporting seven Sure Start Centres in deprived areas across the UK.

"Our chefs are holding a series of cookery sessions with parents using the centres, leading up to a large family feast during the fortnight itself. The goal of the sessions is simply to teach parents how to cook, where to buy healthy British seasonal food and how to incorporate 5-a-day into their family meals.

"So far the uptake has been impressive. Courses have been over subscribed; for example the London sessions have had nearly three times as many applicants than was anticipated."

Aramark says the schools are all over the country, stretching from Portsmouth and Southampton to Aberdeen and beyond. The Sure Start centres are in: Manchester, London, Bristol, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Southampton.

"This year Aramark is inviting its customers to 'enjoy the great food of Britain'. During the fortnight our menus will feature even more great British dishes using seasonal produce and will include dishes that have been created by celebrity chefs," Main adds.

BFF organisers say there is a network of 9,000 cooks and chefs available to work with schools to educate children about British produce and how to cook it. This year for the first time events will also be organised in universities as BFF coincides with Freshers Week. Activities will focus on helping students to buy and cook British food on a student budget.

Brakes marketing director James Armitage says BFF offers cost sector caterers a great opportunity to freshen up their menus and create a sense of occasion at mealtimes.

"Putting good quality, seasonal produce and classic British dishes on the menu during the campaign fortnight always goes down well with customers, driving footfall and underlining your organisation's commitment to helping the environment by reducing food miles and supporting regional farmers.

"In 2009, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, youth hostels and military bases put on special menus during the fortnight,and we expect to see a wave of enthusiasm again this year.

"Brakes is working closely with the education sector during the campaign, by asking catering managers at further and higher education institutions to design the perfect British main course or dessert – with particular focus on healthy, low cost British ingredients.

"The winning menu will be offered to all TUCO (The University Caterers' Organisation) catering managers during British Food Fortnight, to be enjoyed by thousands of students around the country.

"The good news is that support doesn't have to break the budget. It's often about using ingredients and dishes that are already part of regular orders, but really concentrating the focus on these British staples during the campaign.

"There are also free promotional materials and tips available at www. lovebritishfood.co.uk which are great for raising awareness among customers."

Contract caterer Talkington Bates has promoted BFF for the last two years with resounding success, it says, offering customers British meals and produce such as Discovery apples, homemade scones and Eccles cakes, all highlighted with Union Jack stickers, and it plans to run promotions again across its 30 sites nationwide.

A loyalty scheme with the opportunity for diners to win themed prizes such as a year's worth of delivered organic British produce is also being offered to maximise awareness. It says the fortnight contributed to a sales increase of nearly 6% across its estate.

Suppliers too are capitalising on the opportunity that promoting home grown food offers.

For example crisp supplier Tyrrells has given the Best of British range it launched last September a makeover.

It has replaced Welsh rarebit, pork and apple, and beef Wellington with new flavours stilton and grape, and Saltmarsh lamb and mint, and these will available in 40g and 150g bags ready in time for BFF. Crown Foods says in the last year it has tripled the number of British products in its Simply range to accommodate the growing demand from the education sector. The range includes fully cooked, portion controlled and IQF diced and fillet chicken, pork slices and sausages, and beef mince options.

Managing director John Pickett says: "We are thrilled that over the past year or so, Britain's produce has developed to offer such first class food.

"We also offer Red Tractor certified products as we know traceability and monitored standards help to give our customers complete reassurance."

Both EBLEX and BPEX say that consumers love British classic dishes but the importance of quality and provenance has to be emphasised.

EBLEX foodservice project manager Hugh Judd says: "Sourcing beef and lamb from an assured supply chain means that restaurants are able to provide customers with the confidence they seek in relation to food safety, animal welfare and care for the environment – and that's something to be proud of."

This view is echoed by BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger. "Most customers love classic dishes and many contain pork and other pig meat as the main protein, ranging from home cooked regional ham with free range eggs and hand cut chunky chips to roast pork with crackling and apple sauce – all real value for money and high profit earning dishes.