Making a splash

Dairy products are among the necessities of life but the market is divided into endless segments each presenting caterers and their customers with choices. David Hurst reports

Dairy trends within foodservice tend to mirror those in the retail sector, according to Dairy Crest, where sales of milk have remained flat year on year. However a move towards health has driven strong growth in fresh skimmed milk.

Michelle Murphy, marketing controller of Dairy Crest Foodservice, which currently supplies around 10% of all the milk used in the UK foodservice market, explains: "The real news is around health, freshness and quality, as we see customers buying more frequently and keeping to lower fat options. This is a trend we expect to continue particularly within the catering sector as more outlets move towards publishing nutritional contents."

Health is an area Pritchitts also sees growing. Head of marketing Simon Muschamp comments: "The profit sector is at best static at the moment but we are seeing volume increases in the education and healthcare sectors, which is no surprise; many of our products are tailored for these markets, providing caterers with a wide range of high quality, naturally healthy products, which offer great value for money."

Much of the growth in the yogurt sector is being driven by healthy eating trends, high levels of marketing investment by manufacturers and also through an increase in usage occasions, says Chris McDonough, marketing and R&D director of Müller UK, which accounts for more than a third of all yogurt sold in Britain.

"Yogurt consumption in the UK is continuing to increase, both in terms of the number of people now eating yogurt and the amount they now consume," he says.

"As well as bringing in new lines exclusively for the foodservice sector, such as the Thick & Creamy range introduced in the spring, we're also helping foodservice operators develop usage occasions through initiatives such as the relaunch of Healthy Balance Corner, which is being backed by a marketing campaign aimed at increasing yogurt consumption at breakfast. The initial response from foodservice operators has been very positive, with particularly high uptake coming from care homes and hospitals."

The concept was initially developed to produce a yogurt aimed at patient feeding in hospitals, he explains. "As the project progressed it became apparent that the product offered a lot of potential within the wider foodservice sector, particularly for operators such as in flight caterers who require smaller portion sizes, and for those in the cost sector area where pricing tends to be especially keen."

In September, Milk Link, a farmer owned co-operative with brands such as Bladen, Taw Valley, Tickler, Cadog and Lockerbie in its portfolio, officially opened its innovation centre located at its Taw Valley Creamery in Devon and its new foodservice operation became fully operational.

In preparation for the launch, the company commissioned independent research into the usage of cheese by caterers in schools, pubs and QSRs.

Findings included the discovery that cheddar in pubs is the second most common ingredient on menus, while in QSRs a cheddar's provenance in the menu descriptor can instantly increase the perceived value of a sandwich and justify a price increase.

In schools, cheese featured in up to 80% of all menu dishes, says the company, "yet inconsistent portioning of cheese is causing wastage, costing caterers money and affecting the menu's nutritional content".

New products it unveiled at the opening included 'Tickler…Cheddar That Spreads', an extension of Tickler extra mature cheddar, and to meet the demand for lighter products it introduced its newly developed cheese that has 30% less fat than standard cheddar but all of the taste. The medium strength product will be launched nationally in November 2009, followed by the mature variety in February 2010.

Channel marketing manager Kate Prentice says: "Even though the economic climate is uppermost in consumers' minds, health is still high on their list of concerns. In this respect, we are working hard to ensure we can support caterers by creating products and recipes that will reduce saturated fat and salt levels on their menus."

Milk Link Foodservice will soon have a website for customers and plans to create balanced recipes with its products showing the five key nutrient values for each dish. The presentation of the nutrient values will be similar to the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) traffic light labelling scheme.

It has also been creating recipes that meet the FSA salt level guidelines with most of the portfolio already fully meeting requirements.

Research from Pilgrims Choice, makers of one of the UK's leading cheddar brands, has revealed that sandwiches and salads are the top two lunch choices for British workers with a 65% and 18% market share respectively, while cheddar is one of the most popular sandwich fillings, bought by 95% of UK households.

Marketing manager Hannah Fordred says: "Year on year sales show an increase of 31% for sliced cheddar while for grated this amounts to a 38% rise in sales. Sales of our mini portions have grown by almost 11% in value year on year."

Dairy Crest is responding to demands for British products by introducing Country Life branded cream. Murphy says: "Research shows that customers are looking to offer products with strong heritage and provenance and Country Life fits that bill."

Meanwhile Kerrygold is focusing on its Irish sweet cream butter portions that come in attractive shapes and different flavours that work well at conferences and formal dining events to garnish meat and vegetables.

Frozen portions are available in 10g and 15g sizes while chilled comes in 7g and 10g foil portions, and flavours include salted, unsalted and a garlic and herb variety, which the company says is especially useful for adding extra flavour to dishes.

Business development manager Dean Andrews says: "Our frozen portions offer benefits to busy chefs. By being able to use the right amount every time, you can offer portion and calorie control, and manage waste."

Pritchitts has just developed Creative Base, a product that combines cream with gelatine, making the perfect setting base for recipes. The stable cream can be used across sweet and savoury applications and promises to deliver consistent results and convenience for chefs.

Following extensive research in the UK and internationally, Pritchitts discovered a number of chefs finding traditional ingredients used for setting restrictive and difficult to work with, often leading to inconsistent results.

Muschamp explains: "Even the most skilled chefs have told us that creating stable dishes like terrines and mousses can be challenging. Creative Base eliminates any variables and can be blended with other ingredients to deliver fantastic results."

Kraft Foods is currently putting a lot of heavyweight support behind its Philadephia brand to encourage chefs to be creative with it. The Philadelphia team, with the help of consultant chef Sophie Wright, has developed a range of recipe ideas to inspire chefs to use the premium soft cheese in new ways.

At this year's Restaurant Show, for example, there will be leaflets containing recipe suggestions such as coriander and chilli crab cakes, champagne and elderflower cheesecake, and ham hock, pea and mint pappardelle.

Wright will also be demonstrating how to combine the soft cheese with some of the best seasonal produce and other ingredients.

Squeezy tubes are an effortless way of piping products on to dishes and Kavli's new Primula Deli soft cheese in tubes has a flip top lid and decorative star shaped nozzle for easy piping. These come in soft cheese, soft cheese with cracked black pepper, and soft cheese with smoked salmon flavours.

The versatility of cheese as an ingredient is underscored by Bel Foodservice marketing director UK, Ian Greengrass, who says it can add body to sauces, flavour to toppings and texture to salads. "To give caterers practical ideas on how cheese can be incorporated into menus we have filled our website with recipes and inspiration, as well as having a dedicated section for cost sector caterers.

"The low and reduced fat recipes are likely to be of particular interest to these caterers who are constantly being challenged to meet ever changing government nutritional guidelines."

Words by David Hurst

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