Takeaway company says it will invest £100m in north-east as it brings staff in-house
The takeaway company Just Eat is planning to open a customer service site in north-east England, which will employ 1,500 people as it brings jobs back from India and Bulgaria.
The business said that it would invest £100m in the region over the next five years, with staff working partly from home and partly from its new Sunderland-based office.
Continue reading...Michael Elégbèdé doesn’t just break from western ideas of fine dining, but aims to revive a deeper appreciation of Nigerian food among Nigerians, too
After wine and canapes on a patio overlooking high-rises and greenery in an affluent part of Lagos, 15 guests assemble inside. They sit facing one another across a long dining table, brightly lit by a steel row of low-hanging lights. Nigerian cultural masks and artworks adorn the walls of the restaurant, which evokes a Nigerian home.
The dishes emerge: traditional egusi soup, but with the efo (spinach) crisp amaranth leaves. Grains of gari, or cassava root, typically pounded to make a kind of dough called eba, is instead lightly dusted over it. Unusually, there are croutons. “An egusi crouton,” a guest nods approvingly.
Continue reading...They produce half the country’s sugar needs, but expect new trade deals to make their tough situation worse
In a field in Norfolk, the sight of lush green leaves sprouting from the soil are giving farmer Ed Lankfer cause for optimism. “I think this is one of the best crops we have ever grown,” he says, surveying one of his fields of sugar beet.
The signs are promising so far for this year’s harvest – known in the trade as a campaign – which takes place later than for other crops, during the autumn and winter. It would mark quite the turnaround from 2020’s terrible harvest, when bad weather and pests caused yields of the white sugar-yielding root to plummet by as much as 60%, leaving Lankfer with a £12,000 loss.
Continue reading...Licensing outdoor seats saved countless jobs but brings noise and antisocial behaviour
Continental Europe has come to the UK – at least when the sun shines. In towns and cities all over the country, alfresco dining has exploded, with thousands of extra outdoor seats being licensed.
Many in the hospitality industry say the move has saved their business from bankruptcy after catastrophic losses during the pandemic. Now, although Covid restrictions have been lifted, the government is considering making outdoor dining a permanent feature rather than a short-term response to a crisis.
Continue reading...About 1.35m Americans a year fall ill from the bacteria. Why are there still so many infections?
In my kitchen, I treat raw chicken as if it’s crawling with bacteria that could make me and my family sick. I use separate cutting boards for meats and produce; I wash my hands and disinfect everything that comes close to the bird, then cook it to 74C (165F). A little paranoid, but with good reason.
Chickens, turkeys and other fowl commonly harbour salmonella bacteria that are harmless to the birds but not to humans.
Continue reading...Vermont-based company says sales in the occupied lands were ‘inconsistent with our values’
Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream has announced that it will no longer sell its ice-cream in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying the sales are “inconsistent with our values.”
The announcement on Monday was one of the highest-profile rebukes by a well-known brand of Israel’s settlements which are regarded as illegal under international law.
Continue reading...The company’s wide portfolio has been perfectly suited to pandemic shopping. This week’s results will be strong again
A vast portfolio of food and household brands has allowed the consumer goods giant Unilever to navigate its way through the pandemic.
The maker of Domestos bleach, Dove soap and Cif cleaner benefited from a surge in demand for cleaning products in the initial stages of the health crisis. Its shares rose, and Unilever briefly became the most valuable company in the FTSE 100 index last year. And the company behind Marmite, Colman’s mustard and Magnum ice-cream benefited from the forced shift to eating out less and cooking at home, which some analysts think could be a long-term change.
Continue reading...Investigation shows scale of big food corporations’ market dominance and political power
Continue reading...Dearth of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and fruit pickers caused by Covid and Brexit are fuelling wage rises with 5% hike in prices forecast
Food prices could rise by about 5% by the autumn – and turkeys and pigs in blankets could be in short supply this Christmas – as shortages of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and other workers drive up pay and other costs.
Industry insiders say that pay for lorry drivers and other supply chain workers, including abbatoir workers, plus vegetable and fruit pickers and packers have all risen because of difficulties in finding sufficient staff.
Continue reading...Social distancing is feeding an appetite for a new generation of US-style drive-through restaurants
Drive-through restaurants used to be a US-inspired novelty but a big increase in custom during the pandemic means money is pouring into new UK sites, with even upmarket names looking to serve food through car windows for the first time.
New property research suggests that demand for drive-throughs has increased by 25% post-Covid with restaurant chains looking to open a total of 200 sites a year. The clamour comes as established names such as McDonald’s and Burger King face competition from North American brands such as Tim Hortons, famous for its coffee and doughnuts, and burger chain Wendy’s.
Continue reading...Non-Russian producers now required to mark their bottles as sparkling wine
If anything is guaranteed to get French wine producers in a fizz, it is the suggestion that champagne can be made anywhere outside the Champagne region in France.
As a protected appellation, the term is jealously guarded and legally defended. As the Champagne committee’s website clearly states: “Champagne only comes from Champagne.”
Continue reading...What should we be scoffing if we want to help fight the climate crisis from our kitchens? The question has never been more important or confusing – here is a guide to help you get started
Was ever a word so misused as “sustainable”? “Healthy” comes close, and indeed the two are often bandied around together, in trite “good for you, good for the planet” taglines that often appear on foods which are anything but. The question of what we should eat to help combat climate change and environmental degradation has never been more important – nor so confusing. In July, the government will publish its National Food Strategy, based on a year-long independent review, which should shed some light on the matter. In the meantime, there are some foods which, with caveats, you can scoff with a clear conscience.
“Good eating starts at home, and one of the most important things we can do for the future of the planet is to minimise food miles – so our staples should be foods that can grow perfectly well in this country,” advises Patrick Holden, chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust. Another basic principle is to do your best to understand the story behind what you’re eating – be it plant or animal: “If you know who produced your food, they are accountable to you, and more likely to care.”
Continue reading...Combine the pandemic with rising raw material costs, stir in a labour shortage, a twist of Brexit, add a pinch of poor weather and voila …
Tinned tomatoes are a taken-for-granted store cupboard staple, relied upon by Britons to whip up home cooked favourites such as spaghetti bolognese. But the price could soon make you take notice, amid warnings of higher shopping bills, set against a backdrop of soaring global food prices.
From the packaging to the transportation and the energy used in manufacturing, nearly all aspects of the production of this popular ingredient now cost more. The crushed tomatoes alone are 30% dearer than a year ago, at €0.48 per kilo. The same pressures are driving the prices of many foods higher, meaning Britons will probably face bigger bills for groceries or meals out this autumn.
Continue reading...Loss of 100,000 hauliers due to Covid and Brexit will cause food ‘rolling power cuts’, experts warn
The country is facing a summer of food shortages likened to a series of “rolling power cuts” because of a loss of 100,000 lorry drivers due to Covid and Brexit, industry chiefs have warned.
In a letter to Boris Johnson they have called for an urgent intervention to allow eastern European drivers back into the country on special visas, similar to those issued to farm pickers, warning that there is a “crisis” in the supply chain.
Continue reading...One firm’s attempt to regain control of illegal cultivation shows Wellington’s lack of leverage over its largest trade partner
It is the story of a global superpower, a smuggling operation, pestilence and a small hairy fruit.
Ubiquitous on supermarket shelves and in lunchboxes, the humble kiwi is New Zealand’s most valuable horticultural export. Recent battles for control of the fruit, however, have shone a light on tensions in New Zealand’s relationship with China.
Continue reading...Industry body says analysis of HMRC data shows structural rather than teething problems with Brexit
British food and drink exports to the EU fell by £2bn in the first three months of 2021, with sales of dairy products plummeting by 90%, according to an analysis of HMRC data.
Brexit checks, stockpiling and Covid have been blamed for much of the downturn, but the sector has said the figures show structural rather than teething problems with the UK’s departure from the EU.
Continue reading...Brazil-based giant paid ransom in bitcoin after ransomware attack shut down operations across world
JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has paid an $11m (£7.8m) ransom after a cyber attack shut down operations, including abattoirs in the US, Australia and Canada.
While most of its operations have been restored, the Brazilian-headquartered company said it hoped the payment would head off any further complications including data theft.
Continue reading...McDonald’s to promote vaccine information on coffee cups while Uber and Lyft to give free rides to vaccine sites
Incentivising the vaccine-hesitant in America has reached the fast food and ride-share industries.
Burger chain McDonald’s has announced it is partnering with the White House to promote vaccination information on its coffee cups.
Continue reading...Country Milk’s trade with the EU has nosedived with the dairy industry particularly badly affected by new customs rules
A small error in the paperwork – a box ticked by mistake – and the tanker of butter oil was held at French customs for five days, with veterinary authorities at the border threatening to destroy it. The debacle nearly cost the tanker’s exporter, dairy company County Milk, a six-figure sum. After fraught negotiations, the cargo was eventually repatriated.
“You don’t need too many of those to be destroyed and you are in dire straits,” says Phil Langslow, trading director at County Milk, the UK’s largest privately owned dairy ingredients business.
Continue reading...Breweries have been cheering as demand has gone through the roof, even before pubs can reopen their bars and snugs
Glasses were raised in pub gardens across the country on Saturday as revellers wrapped in thick jackets and jumpers made the most of the spring sunshine – and the beer.
Publicans and brewery owners are quietly worried about how to keep up with customers’ overwhelming thirst for beer, wine and spirits in the face of supply chain issues and staff recruitment problems.
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