June 2009 Archives

With Father's Day not long passed, Product Junkie was most disturbed to discover that Homer Simpson and Tony Soprano are two of the top three fictional characters most UK adults would like to have as their dad. Surely there are better role models on our screens?

In a poll by Daddies Sauce from Heinz, Springfield's most famous resident finished second with 19% of the vote, while the mobster filled the third spot. However neither could compete with the runaway winner, intrepid adventurer Indiana Jones who topped the list with a massive 42% of the vote.

Back in the real world England Captain and father of three-year-old twins, John Terry has carried off the 2009 Daddies Sauces Dad of the Year award beating last year's winner Peter Andre into second place. 

The London Bar Show, Bar09, returned for its 10th year at Earl's Court on Tuesday 23rd-24th June so Product Junkie popped along, camera in tow to check it out.

Along with a range of big and small-name drinks, equipment and design stands, the show offered a selection of educational seminars, demonstration bars and talent competitions.

Demo Bar offered a line up of international bar stars from Japan, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, the US and London, while a Tequila Embassy served up classes, tastings and seminars.

Business Bar included talks on a new training initiative called Barcode; how to find and fund new venues; how to increase footfall in bars plus operational advice for bars of all sizes.

At the Drink Factory, bar gurus Audrey Saunders and Harold McGee compared science and bartending techniques while David Wondrich discussed the evolution of popular taste in mixed drinks in America and the UK.

Meanwhile, Theme and Inspirit Brands sought out top UK bartending talent in the Best Bartender competition and the Flair Convention pitted teams against each other from all over Europe in the School vs School competition.

Thirsty work.

Heinz foodservice is launching a £2m UK campaign including TV adverts without a single shot of its famous sauce.

Viewers will see different people from different generations patting, squeezing and scraping an invisible sauce from an invisible bottle and only at the end will they see the strap line: "It has to be Heinz".

As part of the campaign, caterers have the chance to win up to £10,000 cash, if they receive one of the 3,500 342 glass bottles with a gold label on the back. There are 10 lots of £10,000 prizes plus smaller cash prizes to give away and Merlin Entertainment annual passes and Lotto tickets.

Brand manager for Heinz Foodservice, Jennifer Harker, said "What we've discovered is that while credit crunch Britons are willing to switch their supermarket, they are not prepared to stop buying their favourite Tomato Ketchup, and, because of the strength of the brand, this has a direct impact on foodservice.

"Heinz Tomato Ketchup has been part of many consumers' lives everyday since childhood, and is a brand we know and trust, whether at home, at a restaurant or in the pub."

Product Junkie also happened upon this clip for a German Heinz advert - enjoy!

Pieminister is rolling out three new pie flavours for hungry festival-goers to munch on the go, kicking off with Glastonbury this week.

The Henny Penny Pie is described as a superior version of the good old chicken 'n mushroom (British free range chicken with mushrooms, white wine, cream and herbs) while the beefy Shamrock pie models itself on the traditional steak and Guinness variety.

For a richer taste, the pie company is offering the Moo & blue pie (British beef steak, red wine gravy and aged Stilton). 

Back by popular demand will be the Pieminister Mothership -  any pie from the range with a portion of mash, piled high with cheddar cheese and crunchy onions and the Tower of power (two pies on top of a pile of buttery mash).

All pies are made with free-range meat and where possible all ingredients are sourced locally. Pies that do well at the festivals will be added to the company's portfolio for caterers to buy. 

Thankfully Mayor of London Boris Johnson managed not to make a turkey of himself when invited to join in Colin Capon's cooking demonstration on the British Turkey stand at the Taste of London festival which he opened in Regent's Park yesterday.

The show runs until Sunday and visitors can sample the cooking from more than 40 London restaurants which have stands there alongside about 200 food and drink suppliers including Tilda and Almondy.

When given the option of complaining about an unpleasant odour in a hotel, guest house or B&B, or simply never returning, 70% of consumers would complain but 30% would say nothing and never return.

This is one of the key results of an independent survey carried out on behalf of P&G Professional by www.OnePoll.com amongst 5,980 consumers, June 2009.

Some 95% of consumers would question the overall cleanliness and hygiene of a pub, restaurant, hotel or B&B if it had an unpleasant odour and the same percentage said they would relay the unpleasant smell when telling friends and family about their experience.

The findings of the study coincide with P&G Professional's launch of Febreze Professional spray, which wraps itself around molecules to neutralise a malodour and eliminate bad smells rather than just masking them.

                                                                    Everyone knows children love to collect things, which is why Brakes has come up with a range of novelty ice cream characters for caterers to offer their younger customers.

Product Junkie loves the five funky characters which include Punky (vanilla), Vacky (vanilla), Kuaky (chocolate), Marty (chocolate) and Friky (strawberry).

The ice creams are packed within the plastic character's bodies.

Supplied in packs of 12, the ice creams can be added to dessert menus or served as tasty treats throughout the day.

S Pellegrino is celebrating its 110th anniversary by launching a special edition bottle design for its sparkling natural mineral water during June and July (pictured left).

The silver-detailed label, which features a limited anniversary edition badge, will replace the usual 75cl bottle design.

Rebecca White, head of marketing at Nestlé Waters UK, said:  "The label may be different but S.Pellegrino's beautifully light, crisp taste and superior quality will remain".

Bottled since 1899 in the Italian pre-Alps, today more than 650million bottles of S Pellegrino are sold in 120 countries.

Forget the Oscars and the Baftas, there's a new red carpet event in town and this summer the London and Hollywood glitterati will be hoping to carry off a Golden Hoop Film Award.

The Golden Hoop Film Awards are the latest campaign from United Biscuits for its Hula Hoops brand and the stars, besides the Hula Hoops themselves of course, will be the Great British public.

The challenge is for consumers to produce a creative short film using only their fingers and Hula Hoops. The films can be up to two minutes long and should be uploaded onto the dedicated Hula Hoops website where members of the public will vote for their favourite films.

Times might be tough but here's what not to serve your customers.

Embedded into the base of this Hyndman's maltloaf is a lifeless mouse, purchased by one very shocked man from a supermarket in the Ballymoney area before Christmas 2007.

The judge fined the company, D Hyndman and Son Ltd, Maghera, £1,000 plus costs for placing unsafe food on the market, reported the BBC.

A defence lawyer told the court that the presence of the mouse was a shock to the company and suggested it might have been put in the tin to sabotage the baker who has been in business for 60 years with no complaints.

The defence lawyer said an "onerous inspection" is held at the bakery every six weeks and that two field biologists attend each year. There are 131 bait stations in the premises; staff members carry out daily inspections and two full-time cleaners are employed at the bakery who both work eight hours per day.

Yorkie is no longer just a chunky chocolate bar for men, it's now flexing its muscles as the sturdy new sponsor of Thorpe Park's super scary ride Stealth.

Nestlé Professional has joined forces with Merlin Entertainments Group to further strengthen its presence in the leisure sector by aligning its "men only" chocolate bar with the ride.

(Having said that, it was the female members of Caterer who were brave enough to try out the new Thorpe Park ride Saw a couple of months ago! See Product Junkie posting Croc workwear shoes, March 23)

Commenting on the sponsorship, David Field, managing director of Nestlé Professional, said: "This is a great example of working together to create shared value. As a business we have unique insights and experience across the leisure industry, and the relationship we now enjoy with Merlin Entertainments Group further supports our successful partnerships with Wembley and the O2 Arena."

Stealth propels visitors from 0-80mph in under two seconds to a height of 205ft - begging the question - are you man enough?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the millions of games consoles cast aside when their owners upgrade their hardware to the latest type of breakthrough technology?

Well you might just be sitting on them, that is, if you happen to be seated on the new Eco chair from contract furniture company Inside Out.

The curvy black plastic seat and back are made from 100% recycled computer games consoles with each chair constructed using recycled plastic equivalent to nine games consoles, saving 2.4 kg of plastic from going to landfill. The chair itself is 100% recyclable and requires a very low energy input in reprocessing.

So its eco-friendly credentials appear to be impeccable and the makers insist that it's also very comfortable to sit on.

Product Junkie is glad all those aliens and monsters didn't die in vain.

Are you one of the increasing numbers of workers munching lunch at your desk instead of taking a midday break?

It's a fact of modern life that the hour-long lunch break away from the workplace is rapidly disappearing as the pressure to work longer hours increases.

But fear not. GlaxoSmithKline, maker of Ribena, has come up with a solution that allows you to slip out of the office for a well-earned break without your colleagues even realising you've gone.

Let me introduce Lunchtime Assistants Arthur and Martha. These inflatable assistants will sit at your desk providing vital cover while you're out enjoying the sunshine this summer.

The company is giving away one million Lunchtime Assistants in its Out for Lunch on-pack promotion. For a chance to win one of the inflatables consumers need to purchase a 500ml bottle or 288ml carton of Ribena and text in an on-pack code.

Caterers wishing to stock Ribena should call GlaxoSmithKline on 08702 415132.