Waving the flag

Local and regional food comes to the fore during British Food Fortnight enabling canny caterers to reap the benefits in their restaurants across the UK. Sheila Eggleston reports.

The 'Buy and Serve British' message will be in full flow during British Food Fortnight (BFF), which runs from September 18 until October 3.

BFF organisers say thousands of activities will take place across the country during this period ranging from food and drink festivals, promotions and tastings to special menus in pubs and restaurants.

Their advice for the latter is to use the fortnight to focus on chefs' specials that highlight local produce, such as a steak and ale of the day pie to draw attention to the beer they serve or a dish using a local cheese to tempt people to the cheese board offer.

Several pub groups have pledged their support to BFF including Enterprise Inns, Everards, Geronimos, Marston's Pub Company, Orchid, Punch Taverns, Scottish & Newcastle and Young's.

The 122 Young's managed pubs in and around London plan to run special menus and promote the event to more than 200,000 customers through special e-marketing in the build up to the national food promotion. Young's says that BFF has been "a great experience for its business". Director of food development Tara Buffini says customers were very interested and impressed that it was promoting British food. "Such was the response that the British Food Fortnight menu is staying on as an option for all pubs to use as specials, a request that came directly from the pub managers."

This year Geronimo Inns is offering a selection of regional specialities during the fortnight. This includes Lancashire hotpot or Cromer crab in each of its 28 pubs. It will also be concentrating on the harvest festival theme with locally sourced products such as bread, vegetables and drinks like rye and wheat beers, plus regional, local and specialist cheese. Bread for example is sourced from Brown Sugar, a bakery that buys all its flour from three farms in Oxfordshire.

Many restaurants however are already using the extensive larder on their doorsteps that doesn't cost a penny. Stephanie Moon, consultant chef at Rudding Park in Yorkshire, became the region's 2010 Deliciously Yorkshire champion for her support of all things local, and one of her passions is foraging food from around the countryside. Once found, it's combined with other locally sourced food and transformed into recipes for the restaurant. It's a trend that's growing massively, she says.

Suppliers are also capitalising on the opportunity that promoting home grown food offers. Crisp supplier Tyrrells has given the Best of British range it launched last September a makeover. It has replaced Welsh rarebit, pork and apple, and beef Wellington with new flavours stilton and grape, and Saltmarsh lamb and mint, and these will be available in 40g and 150g bags in time for BFF.

Crown Foods says in the last year alone it has expanded its Simply range to include more than 10 new meat and poultry options that are certified prime British. Marketing Manager Trisha Rasor says: "We are thrilled to include BPEX award winning pork sausages and Red Tractor certified chicken breast products in this category. Having accreditations such as Red Tractor means our customers get the assurance of origin and traceability and the guarantee that our options are British born, British bred, British made and British fed."

Duncan Marsh, general manager for turkey supplier Bernard Matthews Foodservice, says the year-on-year success of the BFF demonstrates how important British food is to consumers, and is having a direct impact on caterers as they attempt to appeal to those eating out. "BFF organisers are even compelling consumers to ask caterers if they will consider serving distinctly British produce, perhaps in the form of a special seasonal section on the menu," he says. "They even go as far as saying don't take no for an answer.

"Market research completes the picture, with a recent survey on key food drivers for the pub trade revealing that consumers want to know what they are eating, while Mintel shows that animal welfare has become the most widely shared concern in terms of provenance, with British and local origin of food ranking close behind.

"Provenance and traceability is key to us and caterers can rest assured all our branded products are made from 100% British turkey. We will be championing it during the fortnight and beyond as a high protein meat which offers natural appeal and huge margin opportunities all year round."

The company says the main challenge now for chefs interested in serving turkey is establishing how to make the most of this "majestic bird", so described by the company's new chef ambassador Marco Pierre White.

"They might not have clear recipe associations and experience with turkey, perhaps not knowing how to optimise its flavour and texture in preparation," explains Marsh. "We need to change the perception of how this healthier versatile meat can be used."

Another add on are the margin opportunities, he says, with British turkey cheaper to buy than other proteins, while being sold at the same price.

DBC Foodservice says it believes people are paying more attention to food and want to buy local produce. Ian Phillips, category manager for meat, says: "We are witnessing a shift in consumer awareness; there is a market swing demanding greater levels of information about rearing and provenance and a willingness to pay that little bit extra for sustainable, traceable quality products.

"With schemes such as EBLEX, Farm Assurance, Red Tractor and Freedom Foods, it is clear the consumer is driving the proliferation of information. They are becoming more aware of these assurance systems and paying more interest in the product they are purchasing and its provenance all the way from field to fork.

"Introducing local food into a restaurant is only half the story – restaurants need to inform the consumer with clear signposting in menus, brochures and on websites.

"With rising food bills, consumers will look to save money wherever possible. However, even in the light of the recession, our experience suggests they will be willing to pay a premium for locally sourced products."

Both EBLEX and BPEX agree that consumers love classic British dishes but the importance of quality and provenance has to be emphasised.

EBLEX foodservice project manager Hugh Judd says: "Sourcing beef and lamb from an assured supply chain means restaurants are able to provide customers with the confidence they seek in relation to food safety, animal welfare and care for the environment – and that's something to be proud of."

This view is echoed by BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger. He says many of these classic dishes contain pork and other pig meat as the main protein including home cooked regional hams with free range eggs and hand cut chunky chips, and roast pork with crackling and apple sauce – 'all real value for money and high profit earning dishes'. "The quality of the meat used in such dishes will have a real impact on sales.

"Assured pork is increasingly carrying the Red Tractor logo – an easily recognisable badge of quality and country of origin and provides a guarantee that the product it adorns is fully assured and traceable."

John McKears, foodservice sales manager at Jus-Rol Professional, says classic dishes like pies are repeatedly proving best sellers in pubs across sweet and savoury menus.

"For any chef, the popularity and simplicity of British cuisine makes it the perfect addition to menus, with the focus shifting to the quality of the dish rather than its complexity," he says.

During the fortnight and throughout the winter the company will be helping pub chefs to showcase their homemade pies.

For chefs looking for new recipe ideas, its dedicated website offers a raft of recipes, including one for this year's best homemade pub pie – the Wye Valley pie.

Brakes marketing director James Armitage says putting high quality, seasonal and regional produce on the menu is a sure way of meeting soaring demand for British ingredients from well informed consumers, who are more interested in what they are being offered than they were a few years ago.

"The eat out sector has become far more accustomed to celebrating home grown produce and classic British dishes – and not before time.

"Celebrity chefs and the media have been banging the drum for British produce for years, and it seems the rest of the catering industry has finally overcome its coyness too."

The company says it plans to conduct research into the many variations of what people eat in different parts of the UK – from the most popular regional dishes and cuisine styles to even common dialect words to describe the food.

It is hoping the study will offer a revealing picture of diners' relationship with British food, says Armitage.

"Of course, the celebration of British food won't end on October 3. Over the next couple of years, we are going to see an increasing focus on our food as we count down to the Olympics. National fervour is sure to be running high, and a huge influx of visitors will want to sample the best of our national cuisine. There's never been a better time to be flying the flag and putting classic British dishes back on the menu."

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