Speciality Food Magazine May 2024

38 @specialityfood E vent season is in full swing in the food and drink industry, and the Speciality Food teamhas been keeping a close eye on all the exciting news and launches from the shows on our radars. The buzzing venues of food shows are brilliant places to uncover what’s all the rage in fine food and find out the inside scoop on new product developments and innovations. In this issue, we also wanted to bring that knowledge and insight straight into your shop through a special new section: Trendsetters 2024 . With so much noise around what are the biggest and best food and drink trends, we’ve combed through the expert views and analysis to bring you the products and categories that are actually worth the hype. As much as we love delving into food and drink trends, we’re also partial to the classics, and they will certainly be on show in the comingmonths as we gear up for the summer season. Customers will soon be making their way to your butchery counter with questions on creating the perfect barbecue and lining up for your knowledgeable insight on the best tasting seasonal cheeses. We’ve had a rainy start this year — though we hope the early Easter helped to boost your sales – but the spring sunshine is still bringing with it a sense of expectation for the warmer and brighter months to come. We’re looking forward to seeing your summer displays and the creative ways you sell products this season. With global conflicts continuing and British election updates unfolding, the news isn’t always an inspiring place for independent businesses. But in one piece of good news, this Marchmarked a whole year of falling food inflation. Cost pressures on households were, as of March, at their lowest level since September 2021. We know that the trading environment has been tough for indies during the past few years of Covid and the cost-of- living crisis, so we look forward to finding out what this news means on the ground – just in time for summer splurges. As we inch ever closer to the halfway point of 2024, we’re keen to hear from our readers about how their year is unfolding. What are your most surprising best-sellers? What questions are your customers asking? What are your biggest concerns as we head into the summer months? We love hearing fromour readers. Do you have a story to share or expertise to pass on? Please get in touch with courtney.goldsmith@artichokehq.com FINAL CALL specialityfoodmagazine linkedin.com/company/ speciality-food @SpecialityFood BE CONNECTED WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T IN THE DRINKS INDUSTRY? I think something creative for sure, I’m a big fan of skiing, the outdoors and like to practice yoga regularly so maybe some sort of hospitality business that involved these elements would be fun to do. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? I had a part time job as a silver service waitress in our local Italian restaurant when I was 16. I remember on one of my first shifts whilst trying to serve a regular customer some vegetables I dropped a carrot baton into his glass of wine. The chap simply smiled and thanked me for the goldfish. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? When I’m creating new products I take my inspiration from memories of places I have been to, the aromas, tastes, sounds. I like to also look at new trends in food and drinks in general to see if they will resonate into our industry. Keeping an open mind is what generally inspires me. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE JOB? That would have to be creating new products, seeing them being brought to life on the shelf and seeing others enjoying them, such as the premium gin brands I’ve created for Quintessential Brands - BLOOM Gin, Thomas Dakin Gin, Opihr Gin and Berkeley Square gin. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR LAST SUPPER? A nice piece of steak, a green salad, and a glass of red wine followed by cheese and biscuits and sticky toffee pudding. WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO? I have two currently that come to mind. First, if your dreams do not FOLLOW SPECIALITY FOOD ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO HEAR MORE FROM FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY VOICES CONTENT Editor (maternity cover) Charlotte Smith-Jarvis, 01206 505981 charlotte.smith-jarvis@artichokehq.com News & Digital Editor Courtney Goldsmith courtney.goldsmith@artichokehq.com Editor Holly Shackleton Art Director Lee Whiteford lee.whiteford@artichokehq.com Published by ArtichokeMedia Ltd Global House, Global Park, Moorside Colchester, Essex, CO1 2TJ Next issue available: June 2024 COMMERCIAL Advertising Manager Jessica Brett jessica.brett@artichokehq.com Deputy Advertising Manager Sammy Kirby Account Manager Louise Barnes 01206 508629 louise.barnes@artichokehq.com Accounts artichokemedialtd@integral2.com Publisher Sam Reubin 01206 505936 sam.reubin@artichokehq.com 5 MINUTES WITH JOANNEMOORE, GREENALL’S For more information contact: louise.barnes@artichokehq.com 01206 508629 International Cheese & Dairy Awards Preview Pasta, Rice & Cooking Sauces Labelling & Packaging Sweet & Savoury Biscuits Cakes & Puddings World Food Summer Cheese scare you, they are not big enough. And second, the devil is in the detail. WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU’VE EVER EATEN? Porridge for breakfast whilst on holiday with my husband in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. I thought I was getting porridge oats, but what I actually got was congee which is a traditional Chinese rice porridge. It takes a good while to prepare this dish which is just white rice, left to simmer over low heat, in plenty of broth seasoned with fish sauce. Not what I was expecting for breakfast, so I think it was more the shock to my tastebuds.