Tag Archives: uk

FOOD is all around: last day (part 3 of 3)

Third and last day in London.

Too bad, I must confess that I was really enjoying it, and JD was a very special host. We got on really well and share the same “passion” for great foodservice.

I was really happy when JD asked me to act as a photographer (my other passion) during our first morning meeting: ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Harrods huge distribution center in Thatcham, which hosts a staff canteen, that according to the management, has to be improved. 

Food is all around: the need for a foodservice consultant is not limited only to the restaurant business, and this site was a great example.
Harrods staff canteen in Thatcham showed a very large seating area, while the area dedicated to the self-service counter, to the food, is pretty oppressive. I found the green hospital-style colored walls and other details not that appropriate for the case. While I was absorbed with my photography task, JD asked my advice about how to create a more welcoming and functional environment.  Based both on my first impression and on my experience, I immediately suggested three changes.

The first one: change the color of the walls! Color is very important, leads to a better experience, especially in an environment where you eat and you are supposed to spend relaxing time each day.

The second change: switch the location of the dirty trays trolley from the entrance of the food area to the vending machines area or to a more secluded area. It is not really nice to be welcomed by dirty trays in an area where you are going to eat food.

Third change: the creation of a dedicated area for those people who wanted to eat home-made food. I noticed that there were several people eating meals from Tupperware, stored in the refrigerator and then heated in microwave ovens. That was a great example of culture and freedom of choice, but I found more appropriate not to mix the two different kind of meal consumption – homemade and purchased at the canteen – therefore I recommended to create a separate area for the homemade meals consumption.

JD agreed, sharing my insights with the canteen’s manager. It was very rewarding to have given the opportunity to give my contribution.
This experience once again confirmed my opinion about the need to create better canteens in Italian companies too, where often pasta is offered too much and the interior design is not studied or considered at all. It looks like eating in an appropriate and comfortable environment is not that important to the employers as it is for the employees productivity.

After the meeting at Harrods, it was time to thank JD for his hospitality. I made the most of what I saw, now being able to offer to my clients around the world, new and exciting ideas. We both got a lot out of our “exchange”.

I spent the last hours of the day at Westfield London, a huge shopping center where I enjoyed acting as a mystery shopper, checking the organization, service, value, hygiene and courtesy of the shopping center various eateries. I must admit I found some very interesting concepts, as the following photos. 

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My London experience was positive: I learned a lot and this renewed my desire to bring back to Italy such professionalism and attention to details, skills that only an professional consultant has, moved our love for food, in all its forms and its implications.
Contrary to what you might think, Italy is a very difficult market, where professional foodservice consultants have to prove each and every day to entrepreneurs that there is a great difference between the service – and the consequence and outcome in terms of profit, provided by a professional and the service provided by an “extempore” professional. The two are very different.

I am really interested to know whether this kind of challenge does exist in other countries too, and how you deal with it as foodservice professional consultant. Please leave your comments. Thanks!

FOOD is all around – three days in London with Jonathan Doughty, Managing Director of Coverpoint Foodservice Consultants – (part 1 of 3)

Food and foodservice? A perfect relationship – a foodservice consultant must take into account many things. What customers eat, the correct support provided by the right chair, the colour and presentation of the food, how to be enhance and not alter the ambience and lighting and how to provide a pleasant and empathetic welcome from the staff. We also have to carefully design balanced spaces, use appropriate furnishing to create the perfect atmosphere, giving substance to the initial idea, or better, to the finished concept.
I have always wondered whether it is really possible to split the relationship between food and the tools used in its processing, its creation, its packaging, its availability and what gives it a meaning and a key to its interpretation.

I have been working in the design concept field since 1997, and to me the word “food” has a very extensive and multi-faceted meaning, touching the highest peaks of the “philosophy of life” and the “pleasure of taste and sharing” to be transferred in design and in projects and finally, in emotions. The challenge is to be able to mix the tools and know- how to improve the work of what I call the “food master” (bartender, chef, sommelier, consultant, etc.) thus amplifying the pleasure of the guest, the foodies.

This must be why I loved the three days I was invited to spend in London together with Jonathan Doughty, Coverpoint Managing Director and FCSI EAME President.
Coverpoint offers highly professional advice in the foodservice sector, supporting its customers with a wide range of services, from consumer behavior trend analysis to location services. Coverpoint services are complementary to what I am actually offering with my company DESITA.

But how I ended up in London? At the end of March 2012 I was visiting Hostech 2102 in Istanbul, representing Italy at the FCSI EAME booth. During that event, I had the chance to meet Jonathan Doughty again, and it reminded me of the idea I had during our previous meeting at the Gulfood Dubai expo, I asked him whether it was possible to organize a visit to his company’s headquarter to watch him and his team at work. To me it was like going back to school and act as an “intern”, but to Jonathan my request had an all together different meaning: “You’ll come to work”.
JD agreed and this made me wonder a lot about the differences between the Italian entrepreneurial approach, sometimes so self-flattering, and the one of other countries, very often less formal and more professional.

On Monday, May 21st I was at Heathrow, where James, one of JD’s consultants, was waiting for me to drive me to Coverpoint’s headquarter. I did not know what to expect, but I was sure I was going to spend three days at their office. (Office? Coverpoint’s heart beats in a charming renovated 200 years old barn in the middle of the country!

Once I arrived at the headquarters, I was warmly welcomed by the Coverpoint team. I immediately felt at home, settling into such a professional “vision” and environment. It was there that my learning process began: I was invited to study some of their more interesting projects. Data is of primary importance to Coverpoint’s work: data collection, analysis, interviews with customers, best practices implementation. I could not believe I was allowed to see all that information, and time passed very quickly.

Between a chat and a coffee, I was handed a four-page detailed visit schedule. I was speechless: I was invited to follow Jonathan during his meetings. I became very excited by reading the name of the clients I was suppose to meet: The British Library, Cabot Circus, Harrods to name a few.
At the end of that exciting day, I had a delicious dinner together with Adam and Ian, JDs Senior Consutlants at The Royal Oak, where I had the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the traditional British pub, which has a Michelin star!

When is a restaurant’s atmosphere good? It is when you do not feel out of place, when the environment seems familiar, but at the same time you are getting curious to discover each and every single location detail. You never get bored in a great restaurant.

At The Royal Oak we were immediately greeted by a beautiful girl in traditional uniform. We settled in the lounge for a cocktail – a beer of course, then went to have dinner in the main hall. The food was very good; Diver Caught Scottish Scallops with celeriac puree and Hazelnut Vinaigrette – 8oz Black Angus Sirloin Steak, “on the bone” Chips, Bone Marrow and Madeira Sauce and as a dessert Chocolate Fondant, Toffee Sauce, Almond Biscuit, Coffee Ice Cream. All beautifully prepared but in a relaxed and informal environment.

There was only one negative point for me. That was the cheese trolley behind us. Quite often, the air became unbreathable with the smell of cheese! I would highly recommend that the restaurant owners never leave cheese on a trolley for too long without some form of cover. It is not that beautiful to see and even less to feel and smell, but most of all it is not particularly hygienic. What would the HACCP manager say?

It was a very cheerful evening. And that was only my first day and the fun was yet to come … (to be continued)

Multichannel retail strategy survey: the high street is central

The stats come from Shoppercentric’s ‘Shopping in a Multichannel World’ survey, and the results show that customers are using a wide variety of channels.

Mary Portas may have managed to produce a retail review containing just three references to digital, but online and mobile is vital for the future of the high street.

Channels used by customers during the purchase process

As the stats show, shops feature strongly in the channels used by survey respondents, followed by laptop and PC:

Multichannel Strategy Survey

The high street store still remains the most used channel, though for younger age groups, laptops and netbooks come pretty close.

In general, younger shoppers are more likely to use smartphones (and, to a lesser extent, tablets) as part of the purchase process.

Penetration of new technologies

Smartphones have now reached 45% penetration, but for the under 34 age groups, this rises to 62%.

Penetration of new technologies

Use of tablets and smartphones

As we’ve covered before, iPads can deliver impressive conversion rates and average order values (AOVs) but they are used by just 7% of shoppers.

Use of Tablet and Smartphones

At the moment, since the relatively expensive iPad is the dominant tablet, it may be that the wealth of the average owner means higher spend. However, tablet use is set to grow, so retailers should look at adapting their websites and marketing for this device.

The importance of the high street

The high street will always have a place. In fact, 45% of shoppers said they will ‘always love going to the shops, no matter what new technologies are available’.

These, and other multichannel retail stats, show that customers are rapidly adopting new channels such as mobile, and also that they will choose the one that suits their needs most at the time.

Offline retailers that are able to adapt to customers’ use of multiple channels will be best placed to prosper. This means things like launching mobile optimised sites, putting wi-fi in stores (to allow customers to view reviews, compare prices etc), having easy reserve and collect services, and in-store kiosks.

According to Danielle Pinnington, Managing Director at Shoppercentric: “Marketers should be excited about the prospect of being able to make an impact on the purchasing journey in many more ways than before. The opportunity to change shopper behaviour is better than it has ever been. The retailer or brand that is able to use all the channels at its disposal to meet shoppers’ needs is the business that will reap the rewards”

Retailers shouldn’t necessarily assign fixed roles for channels. Customers may well research online before heading to a store to make a purchase, but the reverse is equally likely.

The trick is to understand that customers will use channels for a variety of purposes, and to deliver a smooth and seamless experience whichever one the customer chooses.

via The high street is central to multichannel retail strategy: stats | Econsultancy.

Start Today: UK brands join forces supporting sustainability

At the beginning of November, each UK based brand participating to the Start Today sustainability initiative has begun rolling out marketing campaigns, carrying the Start Today branding, urging consumers to take ‘one simple step’ toward being more environmentally friendly.

Start Today, which was conceived by integrated agency Meteorite, is led by Start, an initiative to encourage sustainable living, overseen by HRH the Prince of Wales, Business in the Community and The Marketing Society.

Insurer More Th>n, which has signed up to the project, is running activity focusing on ‘greener gardening’.

Through a partnership with broadcaster Classic FM, it is using Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins in a direct, social-media and digital campaign based on offering consumers tips that can make gardening more sustainable.

‘We wanted to do something that was simple and tangible,’ said Pete Markey, chief marketing officer at RSA, which owns More Th>n. He insisted that there was a ‘clear relevance’ to the drive because the insurer has policies covering garden and house plants.

‘This is a real chance to make a statement about how progressive and forward-thinking we are,’ added Markey.

Meanwhile, DIY retailer B&Q is running an in-store and digital promotion aimed at encouraging consumers to switch off household electrical items, and to buy products that can help reduce utility use.

Ian Cheshire, chief executive of B&Q-owner Kingfisher, said: ‘The days of paying a massive premium for sustainability are probably gone. Consumers are interested in helping to save the planet but (want to) save money as well.’

When the plan for the day of action – originally dubbed One Day, 1/11/11 – was revealed earlier this year, the stated aim was for every piece of marketing communications running on 1 November in the UK to include a green message. However, just 10 companies signed up to the scheme.

Cheshire defended the take-up, stating: ‘It’s a great selection of brands. This is only year one; it came around a bit too quickly for many brands to build it into their marketing plans.’

START TODAY CAMPAIGN THEMES

via Major brands join forces in Start Today sustainability initiative – Brand Republic News.

Italian restaurant chain discounts pull in consumer spend

The How Britain Eats survey, by Allegra Strategies, revealed that eating habits have changed over the past year, and are influenced by the fortunes of high-street brands.One of the key findings was the resurgence of Italian food.

It was identified as the countrys favourite national cuisine to eat out of home this year, having been third in 2010. Traditional British food occupied the top spot last year, but has dropped to number two.The reason for the change, according to Allegra Strategies, is the increased number of Italian restaurant chains, such as Zizzi, PizzaExpress, Carluccios and Jamies Italian, on the UKs high streets.

The study claimed that pizza chains, in particular, are benefiting from strong promotional activity, which can result in eating out becoming cheaper than eating at home. Another major finding of the study was that Marks & Spencers Meal for two for £10 deal was more popular than Tescos Meal for Two for £9 and Asdas Indian Meal for £4. One of the reasons for the popularity of such purchases, according to the study, is that they are cheaper than eating out or take-away, and are helped by the bottle of wine often available as part of such deals.

The research placed Sainsburys 18% ahead of Asda 15% in terms of consumer visit share. Tesco was confirmed as the dominant supermarket, with 31% share.Convenience emerged as the major motivator when consumers select their main food-shopping destination, ahead of value for money and ease of car parking, the survey found.Other considerations included the lure of special offers and whether the supermarket is a pleasant place to shop.The study was based on a survey of 2000 UK consumers.

via Italian restaurant chain discounts pull in consumer spend – Marketing news – Marketing magazine.

Food displays in 800 co-op stores get Nualight LED lighting

A multi-million dollar deal has been recently signed between Co-op UK and Nualight,  a specialist in LED lighting for the food retail sector,  to install its LED lighting in freezers and ice-cream cabinets throughout 800 UK-based stores owned by the Co-operative Group.  LED lighting will be installed in the doors in low-temperature merchandising cabinets and in ice-cream display cabinets throughout the stores.

Liam Kelly, CEO of Nualight said, “Our lighting delivers significant energy savings of over 70% when compared with fluorescent technology and it is also maintenance-free. We’re delighted that our technology can play an important part in The Co-operative Group’s ambitious ethos of responsible retailing.”

“The motivation for introducing Nualight’s LED lighting solutions to our stores arose primarily from our unique commitment to sustainable retailing practices,” explained Alex Pitman, Energy and Carbon Manager at the Co-operative Group.

The Co-operative has over 3000 food stores and supermarkets around the UK. It focuses on quality with honest, ethically sourced products and has an ambitious Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. A survey in 2008 found The Co-operative to be Britain’s greenest supermarket. The company has the toughest carbon reduction targets of any major business in the UK. (Source: LEDsmagazine.com)

 

 

A comparative analysis about Multichannel Retail in US and UK

Last month Econsultancy surveyed 2,000 consumers in the UK and 2,000 consumers in the US, to unearth attitudes to multichannel shopping and service.

The majority of consumers would find it useful to have a choice of retail channels, and a significant 33.5% felt this was very important. The results were very similar for both US and UK respondents, so the charts show aggregated data.

How important is it to be able to purchase from a retailer using different channels?

Quite a difference between US and UK consumers, with the latter far more likely to reserve items for in-store collection. Many of the biggest multichannel retailers in the UK are offering this service, (Argos, John Lewis, Halfords etc) with some success. For example, Argos’ multichannel sales grew to £1.9bn in the year up to February 26 2011, representing almost half (46%) of its total sales. The reserve and collect iPhone app accounted for 1% of total sales.

Do you reserve products online before collecting them from an offline store?

The use of mobile when shopping offline represents a growing challenge for retailers, as these stats show.

Use of Mobile Websites

US consumers are slightly more likely to use barcode scanners and compare prices via mobile, but a significant minority of US and UK respondents are using mobile as an offline shopping aid. Multichannel returns The vast majority of both US and UK respondents expect to be able to return items bought online to a local store.

However, as Snow Valley’s recent Online Returns Report found, just half of the multichannel retailers studied allow customers to do this. 

If you buy something online, do you expect to be able to return it to a local store?

Use of catalogues Percentage of customers that have used catalogues at least once in the past year before buying online or in store – aggregated US and UK results. (Source: Econsultancy)

Social responsibility, food and Government: the responsibility deal

The responsibility deal signed by the UK governement, backed by 170 companies such as Tesco, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, Carlsberg and Mars and Diageo, is going to rise a lot of controversy for a long time.

A key pledge outlined in the deal is the development of a new sponsorship code on responsible drinking while McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC have agreed to place calories on their menus from September this year.

Other pledges include:
– Reducing salt in food so people eat 1g less per day by the end of 2012
– Removal of artificial trans-fats by the end of the year
– Rolling out Change4Life branding to 1,000 convenience stores

Achieving clear unit labelling on more than 80% of alcohol by 2013 is also pledged but this was a commitment made last year by drinks brands under work initiated by the last government.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘Public health is everyone’s responsibility and there is a role for all of us, working in partnership, to tackle these challenges.’ He claimed that regulation is ‘costly and is often only determined at an EU-wide level anyway’.

ISBA’s director of public affairs Ian Twinn also adds “It has also been inclusive – businesses have volunteered to reinforce public health through their product development and marketing and health pressure groups have pledged to contribute through their campaigning activities.

The responsibility deal seems a great step toward the introduction of a more socially responsible fast-food industry, but not all the companies do have the same advise. Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia and Strada are expected to follow Subway and PizzaExpress by not signing up to the government’s health initiative. Subway, which already provides calorie counts on in-store posters, said the scheme was unsuitable for its stores. It is conducting a trial intended to establish the most effective way of displaying the information.

Meanwhile, a PizzaExpress source argued that displaying calorie levels is not consumer-friendly and clutters its menus.

One factor that will no doubt deter businesses, particularly smaller inde-pendents, is the costs involved. London restaurant chain The Real Greek says that, on average, it costs about £100 to test and certify each dish.

Being one of the first to make a move has its risks, not least the fear of being criticized in the press for selling high-calorie-content food. On the other side, being part of a movement that gives consumers greater transparency can deliver positive press coverage.

Toby Southgate, managing director of branding agency The Brand Union, believes the risks are worth taking. ‘Those brands that adopt early could win out, provided they handle the move carefully,’ he says.

Southgate cites McDonald’s, which has made efforts to ‘re-educate’ its con-sumers about healthier eating, arguing that disclosing calories on its menu board could provide incentive to consumption. (Source: BrandRepublic)

Mark’s and Spencer opens greenest store ever

On March 1st, 2010 Marks & Spencer announced a programme to be the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015 launching 80 major new commitments under M&S’ eco and ethical plan, Plan A.

Plan A, started on 2007, had already proven its efficacy achieving these great results in 2009/2010:
• Cost savings of around £50m for M&S;
• New products and services, including 250,000 customers from M&S Energy;
• Cut CO2 emissions by 40,000t;
• Recycled 2 million used garments via Oxfam;
• Reduced 10,000 tonnes of packaging;
• Diverted 20,000 tonnes of waste from landfill;
• Saved 387 million food carrier bags;
• Used 1,500 tonnes of recycled polyester (equivalent to 37 million bottles);
• Saved 100 million litres of water;
• Recycled or re-used over 130 million clothing hangers;
• £15m for charities.

Yesterday, April 18th 2011, Marks & Spencer achieved a new great result opening the retailer’s “greenest-ever” store at Ecclesall Road in Sheffield.

The store is the first of a number of new ‘Sustainable Learning’ stores, that are part of M&S’ drive to become the world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015.

The new 12,400 sq ft Simply Food store, built from scratch on a former brownfield site, incorporates a host of sustainable design and construction features, including an LED screen giving real-time public transport information, electric car charging points and a green living wall to attract wildlife.

All the bricks used in the build have also been reclaimed from a local mill.

Marc Bolland said:

“We’re delighted to be opening M&S’ greenest-ever store, providing customers with top quality M&S food and drink products in such a convenient location.”

The store is “firmly on course” to achieve a BREEAM rating of Excellent, making it one of the most sustainable retail outlets in the UK.

Its carbon emissions will be 23% lower and energy usage 30% lower than a traditional similarly sized store.

Innovative features include:

  • LED lighting, which is 25% more efficient than standard lighting, is used throughout the store, a first in the UK.
  • Sun pipes bring natural lighting onto the shop floor;
  • 100% of the timber used is FSC certified, a UK first;
  • All the bricks have been reclaimed from an old local mill;
  • Water costs will be reduced by up to 40%, compared with a traditional similarly sized store, by using harvested rainwater;
  • Capturing heat expelled from the store’s refrigeration units to help heat the store;
  • A living green roof of sedum plants and green living wall have created wildlife habitats, as well as insulating the store;
  • Bird boxes have been placed around the perimeter wall of the site;
  • In total, 62 different species of plants have been planted on or around the store;
  • Polished concrete floors have removed the need for floor covering;
  • 100% of the construction waste has been recycled.

All employees at the store have also been fully trained to understand its environmental features and will be encouraged to share this information with customers. (Source: The Food and Drink innovation Network)

Preparing for the consumer economy of 2020

In a recent super session at Retail’s BIG Show, Ira Kalish, Director of Global Economics for Deloitte Research, gave an all-encompassing overview on the state of the global retail industry ten years from now, as well as his take on what the consumer of the future will look like.
Kalish kicked off with a run through of recent developments in global retailing, noting that it’s always useful to think about the future by reviewing the past.
In particular, Kalish highlighted some of the paths that lead towards the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009 and the lessons that were learned from that crisis: massive consumer leveraging in the U.S., U.K. and Spain; the collapse of the asset price bubble; emerging currencies rising; U.S. consumers paying down debts and saving more; housing no longer being seen as a source of economic growth; China’s move towards consumerism and consumer spending rising as a source of GDP; and the challenges faced in Europe due to imbalances between countries like Germany and Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

As for what retailers can expect in the consumer economy of 2020, Kalish pointed to a number of challenges and opportunities retailers should certainly have on their long term radar, such as the massive increase in emerging middle classes and the disproportionate share of growth in emerging areas of the world like Indonesia, Colombia and Africa.

The effects of an aging population in an increasingly affluent world will also be a key consideration for retailers of all shapes and sizes, while hot markets with younger demographics (India, Middle East and Africa) will also keep global retailers on their toes.

Kalish also noted, the impact of obesity, changing global food market dynamics, an ever-increasing focus on sustainability and the possibility of a social media revolution could play a heavy role within the consumer economy of 2020.

So what can retailers do to prepare for this new consumer outlook? Kalish believes that aligning company values with those of consumers will be critically important, as will leading and listening to customers. Taking care of your brands, your people and your investments will also pay dividends when it comes to engaging with consumers, something that will be fundamental for 2020’s consumer – and not a bad idea for 2011. (Source: NRF)