Category Archives: Food & drink industry

Jamie and Jools Oliver pay themselves almost £7m in dividends

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Payout for 2022 up from £5.6m a year before, as income bounces back after collapse of UK restaurant empire

Jamie Oliver and his wife, Jools, have paid themselves £6.8m in dividends, up from £5.6m a year before, after a bounceback in television and restaurant income.

The celebrity chef, whose UK restaurant empire collapsed in 2019 with the loss of 1,000 jobs, has 70 restaurants around the world run by franchise partners and has sold 2m books spun out from last year’s TV series Jamie’s One-Pan Wonders.

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UK retailers forced to slash prices after July washout and interest rate rise

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British Retail Consortium and KPMG report shows steep annual drop in volume of sales and a rise in promotional offers

Britain’s hard-pressed retailers are being forced to slash their prices to drum up business after dismal summer weather and ever-higher interest rates combined to depress consumer spending in July.

The monthly health check of high street and online spending patterns from the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG reported a steep annual drop in the volume of sales and an increasing number of retailers offering promotional offers to woo consumers reluctant to part with their cash.

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Fears of food inflation rise as UK harvests hit by cool, wet summer

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Farmers warn wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes and other crops have been affected after wettest July on record

UK farmers have warned that harvests of wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes and other crops have been hit by the cool, wet summer, raising fears of further food price inflation.

The wettest July on record for parts of the UK risks colliding with rising prices of essential ingredients on global markets due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and unpredictable weather affecting harvests from southern Europe to China.

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UK Brexit checks on fresh food from EU delayed for fifth time, reports say

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Government source reportedly says there are concerns extra red tape could fuel further inflation

Brexit checks on fresh farm produce coming to the UK from the EU have been delayed for the fifth time, according to reports.

The decision to suspend plans to enforce the controls, which have been applied in the other direction to British exports to the EU since January 2021, is due to be announced imminently, according to the Financial Times.

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UK shop prices in first monthly fall for two years amid big discounts

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Clothing and footwear among items reduced most in July as retailers try to counter bad weather

The UK’s biggest retailers have reported the first monthly fall in shop prices for two years, as stores tried to tempt in customers with big discounts during July’s unseasonably wet weather.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its annual shop price inflation rate, compiled with the help of NielsenIQ, had declined to its lowest level of the year, sliding to 7.6% last month from 8.4% in June.

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Final straw? Choc-mint drink becomes symbol of political betrayal in Thailand

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Cafes refuse to sell Pheu Thai party candidate’s favourite beverage amid fears of plot to ice-out coalition partners

For some in Thailand, the thought of a chocolate-mint ice drink suddenly leaves a bad taste.

Several cafes have suspended their sales. One shop described it as a “betray-your-friend” drink in a graphic posted on their Facebook page. Another said it was a drink to “kick your friend into the boat”, a phrase that means to push a friend away.

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Lechyd Da! Welsh whisky to gain UK’s special protected origin label

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Coles, Da Mhile, In the Welsh Wind and Penderyn distilleries awarded label in scheme brought in to replace EU version

Welsh whisky is to join its Scottish and Irish counterparts in being officially awarded protected origin status under the UK’s post-Brexit regime.

Single malt from four distilleries in south and west Wales – Coles, Da Mhile, In the Welsh Wind and Penderyn – has been awarded protected geographical indication (UK GI) status, the scheme brought in to replace the EU’s protected designation of origin label.

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India’s ban on rice exports raises fear of global food price rises

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Attempt to curb domestic inflation behind country’s decision on non-basmati white rice

India has banned non-basmati white rice exports to curb domestic inflation, raising fears of further increases in global food prices just days after wheat and corn prices were sent climbing by Russia’s termination of a key grain deal.

The immediate ban, introduced after heavy rains hit domestic crops, follows the failure of a 20% duty on international exports introduced in September to curb foreign demand, which has soared after extreme climate conditions hit production in countries.

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Olive oil industry in crisis as Europe’s heatwave threatens another harvest

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World’s biggest olive producer, Spain, on course for second bad harvest in a row, raising fears of gaps on shelves and even higher prices

The olive oil industry is “in crisis”, with the heatwave in southern Europe threatening to inflict the second bad harvest in a row and gaps on shelves this autumn.

After a spring heatwave affected flowering in Spain, which produces about half the global olive crop, the harvest was forecast to be only 28% up on last year, which was the worst in almost a decade.

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Food inflation starting to fall, says Sainsbury’s as sales rise

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Like-for-like sales up 9.8% in quarter and supermarket says it has put more than £60m into cutting prices of basics

Food inflation is starting to fall, according to the boss of Sainsbury’s, who said shoppers were putting more items in their baskets as it began to cut prices on some basics.

Simon Roberts, the chief executive, said the supermarket was “putting all our energy and focus into battling inflation” as household budgets were “under more pressure than ever”.

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Many high-street frappés contain more sugar than a Mars bar

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Which? finds some Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Caffè Nero coffees contain more sugar than recommended daily allowance

An iced coffee is a cool pick-me-up on a hot day, but it might not be the caffeine boosting your mood as many of the blends sold by well-known high street coffee chains contain more sugar than a Mars bar or can of Coke.

The consumer group Which? looked at the sugar load in frappés and Frappuccinos being served up this summer by three of the biggest coffee chains, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Caffè Nero, and found many “regular” size drinks contained more than an adult’s recommended daily allowance.

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Primark owner upgrades profit outlook as inflation fuels jump in sales revenue

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Associated British Foods says group sales rose by 16% with Primark saying rises supported by steeper prices

The owner of Primark and food brands including Twinings has upgraded its profit forecast for this year as sales revenue jumped thanks to inflation-fuelled price increases and as shoppers bought summer clothes.

Associated British Foods, which also owns brands including Ovaltine as well as a sugar business, said that group sales rose by 16% to £4.7bn in the three months to 27 May. Sales at Primark were up by 13% to nearly £2bn.

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From Brexit to Beyoncé: why UK inflation is still so painfully high

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The cost of living is falling in Europe and the US but is still rising in Britain. We look at the major culprits

The Bank of England has struggled to understand why inflation remains high in the UK. It has fallen in France, Germany, the US and especially Spain, where inflation dropped to 2.9% in May compared with the UK figure of 8.7%. Here we look at the many reasons for the current crisis.

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Golden nuggets: KFC price hikes in Australia outpace McDonald’s with some products up to 25% dearer than a year ago

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Higher-than-inflation rises add to pressure on consumers facing steep price increases for food

KFC is pushing up prices at its Australian stores at a faster pace than its rival McDonald’s, with consumers paying up to 25% more for some of the fast food chain’s most popular items, new analysis shows.

The higher-than-inflation hikes add to the mounting pressure on consumers facing steep price rises for food, irrespective of whether it is sold through a drive-through window or supermarket checkout.

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Grocery inflation in Great Britain eases to 16.5% but remains high

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Supermarket inflation slows to lowest rate this year, although households still under pressure

Supermarket inflation in Great Britain has eased to its lowest level this year but remains high, forcing people to change how they eat and cook as household budgets are strained, according to the data firm Kantar.

Grocery inflation declined to 16.5% in the four weeks to 11 June, down from 17.2% last month and a record 17.5% in March. It remains at its sixth-highest level since the financial crisis in 2008, Kantar said.

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Campaigners win right to challenge England’s food strategy over climate crisis

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Feedback argues ministers’ failure to include measures to reduce production of meat and dairy products was unlawful

Ministers broke the law by failing to make plans to cut consumption of meat and dairy in England, activists will argue in a legal challenge after they were granted permission for a full judicial review of the government’s food strategy.

Overturning two previous decisions, the court of appeal on Friday ruled that the food systems campaigners Feedback could challenge the national food strategy on the basis that it failed to take into account ministers’ duties to cut carbon emissions.

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Rise in UK breweries going bust amid thirst for cheaper craft beers

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45 breweries, mostly smaller makers, enter insolvency in last 12 months, up from 15 the previous year

The number of UK breweries going out of business has tripled in the past year, with smaller craft beer manufacturers most at risk as consumers opt for cheaper options during the cost of living crisis, according to research.

In total, 45 breweries entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March, compared with 15 in the previous year, according to the most recent official Insolvency Service statistics analysed by Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

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No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

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Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

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Brown, grimy… and historic: the battle to save Amsterdam’s old bars

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Classic, smoke-stained Dutch drinking spots should be given protected status, say campaigners

On the bar is a dispenser for Dutch jenever – the liquor that inspired British gin – silver taps of lager and 10 hard-boiled eggs at €1 a pop.

Café de Druif is one of Amsterdam’s oldest “brown bars”, or bruine kroegen, and part of a movement to preserve these cosy drinking rooms.

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Why it’s not quite back to the 70s with talk of food price controls

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Statutory caps were brought in under Heath, now the government wants a voluntary store scheme to meet Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation

A cost-of-living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.

Let’s be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

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