Food Business Start-up Boot Camp: London, 15-16 September 2012

Food business expert Monique Borst

A brand new workshop for people dreaming, or at the early stages, of running their own food business comes to London on September 15-16, 2012.

Led by food industry expert Monique Borst, the Food Business Start-up Boot Camp is touring the country this year and comes to Wallacespace Covent Garden at the end of September.

London is home to many innovative and entrepreneurial food businesses from individuals making cakes, pickles and jams to sell at farmers markets to success stories like Neal’s Yard Dairy and The Monmouth Coffee Company.

But starting a food business can be a daunting task ... you need to be aware of all the rules – environmental, health, licensing and insurance – competition is fierce and profit margins are small. You also need a marketing strategy to give your business the best chance of being seen and heard and a realistic business plan.

For anyone starting that journey, or people with a fledgling business who are wondering ‘where next’? this Food Business Start-up Boot Camp will be a practical, inspiring and fun weekend. A combination of talks, exercises and a glimpse behind-the-scenes of a local food producer and retailer.

Delegates will:
• Increase awareness of their own business environment, including generating a business idea, the best legal structure for your business and understanding what skills, knowledge and personal qualities you need.

• Find out how well they know their market. Learn that your customers really aren’t ‘everyone’.

• Look at costing and pricing their product or service. How do you work out how much to charge? Whether you are selling a product or providing a service this session helps you to decide on a clear structure for your pricing policy,

• Take the time to learn about ways of financing their business and work out when their business will break even? In this session you will complete a personal survival budget and test the financial viability of your business.

• Learn how to stay on the right side of the law: the minimum standards for premises, personal hygiene and food safety, licensing, insurance.

• Learn how to control your business: get a grip on the records you need to keep and how to manage overheads

Monique is a great facilitator: calm, funny & credible. I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited hugely from her "Food Business Start-up Boot Camp"!

Details
Food Business Start-up Boot Camp, 15-16 September 2012
£295 per person including all refreshments and a delicious local lunch
Venue: wallacespace, 2 Dryden Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9NA

About Monique Borst
Monique is passionate about good food, made and sold with integrity and imagination. She brings a practical, business focused perspective on the niche food sector and start-up knowledge. She has over 20 years experience in the food and retail sectors and worked with companies like Harrods, The John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose and clients including House of Fraser, Blenheim Palace and Knebworth House as well as a number of smaller, independent food retail and food service clients on food strategy, improving sales and profitability, developing products ranges and menus. Monique’s clients are very honest about the fact that the reason they chose to work with her is because they either simply don’t have the time, expertise or confidence as an owner to make the decisions to really drive their businesses forward on their own. Monique is an independently selected member of The Future 500, a network for rising stars across the UK.

Louis Tomlinson Birthday Cake for Eleanor

London cake makers The Cake Store got overloaded with Twitter followers after Louis Tomlinson, from One Direction, ordered a cake for his girlfriend Eleanor Calder, who was 20, yesterday.

He ordered it last week and they delivered it at 12 noon, yesterday, and the happy couple answered the door to their delivery driver.

The amazing Birthday cake was presented to Eleanor, who was reportedly overwhelmed.

Louis Tweeted a big thank you to The Cake Store who have since been inundated with interest.

Swap your burger for a bag of nuts and help save the planet!

The UK is being urged to go nuts for the environment by swapping burgers for bags of nuts on Monday October 22nd to celebrate National Nut Day.

National Nut Day in the UK is promoted by Liberation Foods CIC, the pioneering farmer-owned Fairtrade nut company. October 22nd is well-established as National Nut Day in the USA and the organisers want Britain to ‘go nuts’ in the same way!

This year’s focus is on switching to nuts to help the environment.  If we in the UK eat less meat and highly processed veggie foods – our planet will benefit.. This will keep a lid on greenhouse gasses and won’t use up our valuable land resources.

For people who already eat plenty of meat and dairy products such as most people in rich countries, nuts and ‘nutty’ legumes – like Brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts and walnuts - are a good nutritional alternative to meat says Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern, independent agri-environmental scientist and author of several studies on food system impacts. 

“One of the keys to sustaining our planet is for those of us in the richer half of the world to switch some meat consumption to relatively unprocessed plant-based products such as nuts,” says Dr Murphy-Bokern.

“For every calorie consumed, the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of the meat and dairy component of our diets is nearly four times that of plant-based components. 

“Cattle and sheep release large quantities of methane gas as they digest their feed. And livestock generally require 4 – 8 kg plant protein in their feed for every kilogram of protein produced.  The overall result is that much more resources are used in meat-based diets, and very significant pollution problems are caused to our air and water by livestock farms.”

Dr Murphy-Bokern believes that when we reduce our meat consumption we often tend to replace some of it with other high protein foods such as nuts.

Both meat and nuts have the pleasant savoury taste described by the Japanese as umami – the fifth basic taste after sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

“Just as we seek some sweetness in diets, it is reasonable to speculate that people naturally migrate from one ‘umami’ taste to another, so when cutting down on meat they are likely to transfer to nuts or another umami food,” says Dr Murphy-Bokern. 

“Using plant-based ingredients high in umami is a feature of traditional cuisines which are low in meat.  Reducing meat consumption by half in the average ‘western’ diet is not difficult - and nuts are a high protein and environmentally friendly option.”

National Nut Day celebrates all that is great about eating nuts. As well as being a delicious snack and cooking ingredient, nuts are:

• Highly nutritious – a source of vital fatty acids, omega fats, protein and many vitamins and minerals.
• Good for the environment – switching our main source of protein from meat to nuts whenever we can helps to reduce carbon emissions. In addition the trade in Brazil nuts helps to preserve the Amazon rainforest.
• Good for the soil - legumes such as peanuts bring vital nitrogen to replenish  the soil as they grow.
• Good for our health – the UK Government’s Chief Medical Officer says 18,000 premature deaths from heart disease would be avoided every year if we cut our meat consumption by half. Nuts are a good value form of protein which can help us do this.
• –Available as Fairtrade! UK nut lovers can now buy Fairtrade Brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts, walnuts and almonds in many supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose plus other outlets.. This means the farmers and gatherers are protected by the guaranteed fair deal which comes with Fairtrade.

Visit the UK National Nut Day website for more information about our activities: www.nationalnutday.com.

National Nut Day is supported by The Vegetarian Society, The Vegan Society, Sustain – the alliance for better food and farming, the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and more.

Celebrity supporters include chef, broadcaster and food writer Allegra McEvedy, foodie and home expert Aggie MacKenzie and peanut devotee Harry Hill.

(EDITOR: That's Food and Drink would like to add a word of caution: If you have a medical condition (diabetic, an allergy condition, etc.) it is advisable to seek medical advice before commencing on any dietary change, no matter how well-meaning, as outlined in this article.)

Sainsbury's Increases Price Paid To Dairy Farmers

Sainsbury's is bucking the trend by increasing the price paid to British dairy farmers through the sustainable Cost of Production (COP) model. From 1st July, the standard litre price will rise to 30.56ppl.

Following a majority vote in April, the model is designed to reward Sainsbury's Dairy Development Group (SDDG) farmers for outstanding animal welfare and environmental standards. With the price currently sitting at 30.30ppl, one of the unique elements of the COP is the quarterly review of feed, fuel and fertiliser. This will ensure that the most volatile elements of costs will be reviewed every quarter and the COP milk price changes to reflect these varying costs, in turn ensuring a fair deal for the 324 farmers involved.

Alice Swift, Agriculture technologist at Sainsbury's said: "While input costs continue to be so volatile for farmers, we're pleased to show that the model is delivering a fair price for everyone whilst most importantly being sustainable for the whole supply chain.

The COP model was developed to be transparent and robust for our farmers however this is also good news for customers who want Sainsbury's to do the right thing on their behalf."

Mansel Raymond, NFU Dairy Board Chairman continues: "Farm gate costs of production are currently over 30ppl, and rising. With this in mind I'd like to congratulate Sainsbury's, whose cost of production model, which reflects feed, fuel and fertiliser inflation, will be awarding a price increase to farmers from 1st July.

"Dairy farmers need a sustainable future; further price cuts will jeopardise this and be met with real anger."

The first quarterly review uses data from Dairy Co Datum which will affect the Sainsbury's milk price from 1st July 2012. The model was developed with independent consultants to suit all Sainsbury's farm types and sizes and ensure their sustainability and profitability in the long term.

FACTFILE:

Sainsbury's 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan

• By 2020, Sainsbury's will source all key raw materials and commodities sustainably to an independent standard. The plan also includes doubling our British sales, being number 1 for animal welfare and putting all waste to positive use.
• Sainsbury's has supported British farming for 140 years and we continue to work collaboratively for the best solutions on price, animal welfare and carbon efficiencies. This year marks the 5th anniversary of Sainsbury's Dairy Development Group. Sainsbury's now also has farmer Development Groups across Pork, Beef, Lamb, Cheese and Wheat
• The model is implemented across farmers of Wales, England, Scotland.

Learn about a career in chocolate

If you love the idea of a career in chocolate, two new courses from chocolate events company Chocolate Delight could be the golden ticket to a dream job.

Fundamentals of Chocolate is a two day course perfect for anyone considering a career as a chocolatier. It’s ideal too for chocolate lovers who want to turn their hobby into a business.

For those keen to take their chocolate making skills to the next level, the one day Advanced Chocolate course covers speciality moulding as well as the legal aspects of making and selling chocolate.

Both courses can be adapted for people who are lactose intolerant.

“The aim of the fundamentals course is to give delegates a thorough understanding of basic chocolate making skills," says chocolatier Gerry Wilton of Chocolate Delight.

“The advanced session then builds on those skills. Both are hands-on as well as informative and entertaining.”

Fundamentals of Chocolate covers:

• The history of chocolate and the production process from bean to bar
• Health benefits of chocolate
• Different types of ganache
• The theory and science of tempering
• Making and coating truffles
• Flavouring chocolate
• Moulding chocolate
• Chocolate tasting, featuring some of the world’s best chocolate
• Packaging chocolates professionally

As well as speciality moulding and the legal aspects of making and selling chocolate, the advanced course also covers decorating chocolates and different types of filling.

Both courses take place at the relaxed and friendly family-owned Chocolate Boutique Hotel in Bournemouth on dates midweek till April 2013. Complimentary refreshments and lunch are provided. Specially discounted room rates at the hotel are available too for those who wish to stay overnight.

Chocolate Delight also holds chocolate truffle making workshops nationwide as well as arranging chocolate themed corporate team building events.

To find out more, visit
www.chocolatedelight.co.uk/fundamentals-of-chocolate.html
www.chocolatedelight.co.uk/advanced-chocolate.html

Play the Very Lazy Footie Feast Challenge during Euro 2012!

New online game for super fast footie food!

Forget junk food and pizzas for half time. With a new online game from cooking ingredient specialist Very Lazy, you can now whip up a quick and tasty half time treat for you and your mates and be back in front of the TV for the second half. Easy Peasy.

The challenge is simple. All you need is a few key ingredients, a pan or wok and the Very Lazy Footie Feast Challenge online game! Here’s how it works:
• Start off with a base of noodles during the first half of the game
• Every time you spot one of the listed events, click the circle on the pitch [right] to add an ingredient to your dish
• Get in the kitchen at half time and cook your dish in 10 minutes
• Relax and watch the second half of the game with your Very Lazy dish
When a red card is produced the game won’t be the only thing hotting up as you add some Very Lazy red chillies to the mix! The Footie Feast Challenge is more fun and a lot healthier and quicker than ordering a takeaway. Footie fans have an easy recipe for half time and begrudging viewers will have a fun game to pass the time while the match is on!

The ingredients needed to play the full game are: Very Lazy red chillies, Very Lazy ginger, Very Lazy garlic, cooked chicken, prawns, mushrooms, spring onions, soy sauce, cashew nuts, red pepper, sesame oil, bean sprouts, honey, greens and nutmeg. But don’t worry if you are missing some of the ingredients - feel free to swap them for one of your family favourites.

Very Lazy may not be able to give England an advantage on the pitch, but its range of top notch essential cooking ingredients does give you an unfair advantage in the kitchen, allowing you to whip up a footie feast in just ten minutes.

Have some Very Lazy fun as Poland take on Greece in the opening match of the tournament at 5pm on Friday 8th June by visiting www.facebook.com/VeryLazyFood and clicking on the Footie Challenge icon. But don’t worry if you miss the first match, here’s a list of some other key fixtures:

• France V England: Mon 11 June, 17:00
• Sweden V England: Fri 15 June, 19:45
• England V Ukraine: Tues 19 June, 19:45
• Quarter finals: Thurs 21 June – Sun 25 June
• Semi finals: Weds 17 June – Thurs 18 June
• The final: Sun 1 July, 19:45

Popper’s Little Treat for Popa!

With Father’s Day just around the corner, treat deserving Dads to these tasty Jalapeño Poppers. This fiery recipe combines juicy Jalapeños and mature Cheddar and is perfect as a snack or starter.

The recipe is taken from Dan May’s fantastic Red Hot Chilli Cookbook, out now.

Jalapeño Poppers 20 Jalapeño chillies 140 g grated mature cheddar 50 g plain flour 1 egg, beaten sunflower oil, for deep frying cooking thermometer (optional) Makes 20 Slit the Jalapeños along one side and carefully remove the seeds.

Stuff them generously with the grated cheddar. Put the flour in one shallow bowl and the beaten egg in another. Roll the Jalapeños in the flour, dip in the egg and then coat once more with flour, ensuring that they are completely covered.

Half-fill a large saucepan with oil. Heat until the oil reaches 190˚C (375˚F) on a cooking thermometer. If you don’t have a cooking thermometer, the oil is ready when a 2.5-cm cube of white bread dropped into it browns in less than 60 seconds.

Fry the Jalapeños in small batches for 6–7 minutes until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

ZEO: NEW Non-Alcoholic Adult Drink with Sensorial Effects has launched

ZEO celebrated its launch at London's County Hall 30th May 2012 with the one and only Jonny Woo - for a wonderfully unusual evening of exquisite mixology, perfect food and acts to match. A host of unique acts danced, sang, stripped and entertained their way through the evening including Bruce Airhead (the metamorphosis of a man and a six-foot balloon) and Count Fettucini as well as Le Gateau Chocolat, and the celebrated Ursula Martinez!

The taste?
ZEO is lightly carbonated with a distinctive, unique taste sensation that tantalises the taste buds, ZEO is new, original and like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. In addition to its intriguing blend of natural extracts and essences, ZEO delivers a range of sensorial effects (such as chilling, warming and tingling). Taken from the flora of all continents, these extracts include trees, virgin flowers, wild berries, fresh green herbs, grains and exotic spices. ZEO hits the senses with tingly, fizzy sensorial effects and spicy, peppery, exotic flavours followed by a refreshing, clean aftertaste but watch this space... Each time you indulge in ZEO – whether on its own or in a cocktail - you’ll be surprised by different sensations.

FACTFILE:
ZEO goes beyond the conventional idea that drinks must be alcoholic to be interesting. Intrigued? This summer, bar-goers have a new reason to head to the bars with the launch of ZEO, a drink that has been specifically created for adults and which will be available in select premium bars across the UK.

ZEO Served?
- The ZEO Twizt, the brand’s perfect serve. ZEO’s flavours are simply showcased with ice and a citrus twist of your choice. Refreshing, zingy flavours make this the perfect choice during the day or while out on the town;
- The G and Z, THE English summer classic reinvented which brings out ZEO’s peppery notes;
- The Swiss ZEO, an absinth-based sharing punch which will set the mood for friend gatherings;
- The Dirty ZEO, the brand’s take on the Dirty Martini. Sexy and sophisticated even without the alcohol;
- The Big Z, the new fruit cup! Lightly alcoholic, fruity and refreshing, it’s the perfect drink for a long summer evening.

ZEO will be available in leading bars across the UK as well as online www.seekzeo.com from this summer from £5.00.

Use your loaf to celebrate in style!

Research by the Flour Advisory Bureau (FAB) reveals one in six Brits are planning to organise, or help to organise, at least one more party than usual this summer. The Love Your Loaf research also revealed that more than half of Brits prefer to do a buffet than a sit down meal when celebrating.

Planning for the perfect buffet has now been made simple thanks to the free-to-download Love Your Loaf party planning toolkit launched on www.fabflour.co.uk today

Toolkit author Catherine Borowski of top London event company Produce says, “The FAB research shows that the top three worries for Brits planning a party this year are the weather, the cost of hosting a party and how much preparation is involved. While we can’t do much about the weather, my FAB Love Your Loaf party planning toolkit will help make the preparation easier.

The Love Your Loaf research reveals that the nation’s top three menu choices for party buffets are sandwiches (68%), sausage rolls and cocktail sausages. Whilst 15% of people will be having a traditional British party buffet menu at their party, 1 in 10 will be experimenting with new sandwich fillings. Egg and cress sandwiches will be taking centre stage to help us toast 60 years of the Queen, the traditional tea party stalwart, the cucumber sandwich, has been voted our least favourite sandwich filling.

Master baker and Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood is heading up the Love Your Loaf campaign and he says, “My favourite sandwich is made from sliced white bread with crispy unsmoked back bacon and butter and for a buffet, I always head for the egg and cress sandwiches first so I’m delighted that the nation agrees with me!”

Catherine continues, “As an events and party planner, I’m a huge fan of the classic party buffet which is a great way to keep costs down too. Sandwiches remain a stalwart of the Great British party buffet 250 years after being ‘invented’! Check out my delicious sandwich ideas and cake recipes brought up to date for the 21st century to help you celebrate in style.”

The status of the trusty white slice at party buffets across the country was also delved into by the FAB Love Your Loaf research. Around a third of Brits voted for this family staple as the best bread for party buffet sandwiches. Wholemeal and seeded bread came second and third respectively with more exotic varieties trailing a long way behind. Why not celebrate with sliced bread this summer? Whether you’re planning a Jubilee party or creating a healthy snack, the versatility of a loaf of bread can help you celebrate every day.

Nutritionist Fiona Hunter says, “Many people don’t realise that white sliced bread is fortified with vitamins and minerals to give your family great taste and a healthy choice: four slices of white bread provide a quarter of the recommended daily calcium intake for adults. And as bread is naturally low in sugar and lower in salt as well as being enriched with calcium, it is a good source of protein and fibre. For those of us constantly worrying about our weight, bread is a low fat food containing between 1.6 – 2.5% fat, if you’re watching your figure, remember to pick a healthy sandwich filling to keep on track.”

A fifth of people worry about under catering whilst 16% of people worry about being able to cater for everyone attending their parties. The Love Your Loaf toolkit has got this covered with guides on how many sandwiches, cakes and drinks you’ll need to rustle up however big a crowd you’re feeding. With more men than women hosting four more parties than usual, these guidelines are bound to come in useful: it looks like this summer of celebration has stirred up a patriotic party gene in the nation’s men!

Catherine concludes, “Whatever the occasion, be it for the Queen’s Jubilee, the London 2012 games or a family birthday, chances are there’ll be friends and family itching for an invite. So, prepare to step forward, don your pinny and throw your own British party buffet and Love Your Loaf!”

Award winning caterers choose Heterarchy to design their first Restaurant

Five Rivers Catering Group, the award winning event caterers in Punjabi cuisine, launched their first restaurant in Walsall which offers both dining and banqueting within its purpose built home. 

For this exciting new venture they chose Heterarchy to design of their dining area and bar as the company able to deliver on their mission statement with the interiors:
"Compromise nothing; deliver everything"

And Heterarchy have certainly delivered. Within the exposed brick shell of the building, which is in itself characterful, materials have been carefully chosen to create a sense of luxury whilst providing an intimate feel within what is quite a large space.

As you enter the building, into a small lounge area, upholstered wall panels with bronze finish framing act as a backdrop for the free-standing curved bench seats, creating the look of fixed seating but with added flexibility. Attention to detail is everywhere, from the delicate crackled paint finish to the carefully balanced tones of bronze in both upholstery and laminates. This curved bank of seating flows seamlessly into the main bar structure, again with bronze finish framing around buttoned and upholstered panels. A bar counter of solid black quartz, with a deliberately thin edge profile, is as crisp as it is luxurious.

In the bar area the contrasting steel and hardwood rolling ladder against the double height, wood shelving make for a striking focal point . Six columns of silvered antique oak provide support for both the ladders and the glass shelves. Bronze antique mirrors to the rear of the glass shelves are edge lit using linear LEDs. The overall effect is a carefully balanced mix of industrial and luxurious, bringing together the characterful brick walls with the more opulent setting of the main dining space.

Almost fully booked since it opened the striking décor has helped it stand out from its competitors marry perfectly with the quality of the food to create a unique and luxurious dining experience.

Tony Matters, Creative Director of Heterarchy, says: "This was an exciting project to be involved in, particularly working with the dynamic and highly motivated team at Five Rivers. We enjoyed a close working relationship with the client team and I hope we produced an interior that is a true reflection of their brand and entrepreneurial spirit."