lots of tasty blog posts
How to Create an Effective Marketing Planner
A marketing planner is a vital tool for your business as it provides an overview of how and when you plan to support your brand over the coming year. Retailers are always keen to understand how you plan to market your brand and producing a marketing planner is an excellent visual way of demonstrating your…
Exciting foodie events coming up!
There’s 2 great foodie events coming up that I wanted to share with you – one in the North and one in London. I am very excited to be involved with both of them. The first is The 2015 Food and Drink KickStarter event taking place in Preston on Monday 8th June. Whether you’re…
Videos – the future of content marketing
All businesses have important messages they want to convey to customers that will ultimately lead to more sales. Customers though are bombarded with different messages throughout the day from different brands, so how can you convey your messages in a useful and entertaining way? Online videos are becoming one of the key ways people gain…
Product Review: Mortimer’s Pure Chocolate Powders
Being an avid chocolate fan, it was with delight that I opened the samples I received from Mortimer Chocolate Company recently. They make a range of award-winning pure chocolate powders using the finest cocoas sourced from the best growing areas of the world. On the pack it says they are delicious as a hot…
What makes your product get noticed?
With many of you entering the Great Taste Awards round about now and with Ocado having just announced the launch of their search for this year’s next Top British Supplier, it started me thinking about what it is exactly that makes these winning products catch the judges eyes and receive the much coveted awards. And…
Make things happen!
I am sure, like many of you, January is a key time for you to look at new ways of growing your business and making plans for the year ahead. Perhaps you are looking at what food shows to attend, which retailers to target, putting together marketing plans? Whichever areas you are looking at and…
Did your Cafe cut the Mustard this Christmas?
The run up to Christmas is always a busy time for any farm shop, deli or café. Not only are customers looking to stock up on seasonal fare to serve to family and friends over the festive period, it’s also a time when many people take the opportunity to meet up and enjoy a meal…
Looking after your customers
In the excitement of setting sales strategies and targets and chasing after your ideal customers, it is often too easy to forget about your current customers and paying them the attention they deserve. You probably all know the old adage that it’s seven times more costly to acquire a new customer than maintain a…
Maximising the Benefits from Social Media
I enjoyed writing my piece for this month’s Deli Doctor column in Speciality Food Magazine. The theme was how delis and farmshops can make the most of social media to increase their sales. Having worked with several delis and farmshops on their social media campaigns recently, one thing that arises again and again is how…
Relish’s visit to Roots Farm Shop
We headed north last week to visit Roots farm shop and have a chat with owner Katherine Brown. What a lovely lady she is and what a fantastic array of goodies she sells in the shop! On entering the shop, we were hit by the fantastic Christmas display of decorations, sweet treats and gift ideas…
Striking the Right Balance with NPD
In this month’s edition of Fine Food Digest, I read an interesting article about the industry seeking better NPD. It was felt there was a “general lack of new product development with too many companies merely extending or repositioning existing lines”. The retailers view was that ‘Me-too versions didn’t drive real growth”. Yes being innovative…
NEW Deli Doctor in Speciality Food Magazine
Great news! I am the NEW Deli Doctor in Speciality Food Magazine. Each month, I have a regular column where I answer readers’ questions about the food industry. The question posed this month was ‘How can my farm shop become a focal point in the local community?’ This is what to look out for in the magazine. Let…
Getting Motivated After the Summer Break…
It can be tricky getting back into the swing of things after a long summer break. You may have been away or business may have quietened down a little as others have been on holiday. So some of those important business decisions/projects have been put on the back burner. Now is the time to get…
Food Labelling Course
New rules on food labelling are being brought in These include: mandatory nutrition labelling on pre-packaged food more country of origin labelling improved date marking (including date of first freezing) clarity and legibility of food information labelling of non-pre-packed foods allergen information, including on food sold loose and in restaurants, cafes etc The new rules…
Relish Product Review: Rio – A Taste of Brazil
With the focus (due to a certain sporting event) having been on Brazil for a while now – it was timely for me to sample the Brazilian Cooking Sauces from Rio. I have to confess to not having much knowledge of Brazilian Cuisine, so it was with interest and intrigue that I looked at the…