Leapfrog Public Relations Agency

Foodie News 2/12/11

Publish date 02/12/2011 Frog

It’s that time of the week again – take a look at our pick of this weeks foodie news.

Felicity: This week’s news that Starbucks (Dec 1) is planning to create 5,000 new jobs in the UK with the planned opening of 200 drive-thru units, comes on top of last week’s news that Nestle is creating 300 jobs through investment in its Derbyshire coffee plant.  Both of these indicate how well the UK coffee sector is holding up against the current tough economic climate.  If the sector is to continue this trend it will need to focus on continually re-inventing itself, as highlighted at last week’s European Coffee Summit held by Allegra Strategies in Berlin.  Those brands that embrace change and use every means at their disposal to entice customers in will continue to thrive.  Keeping the offering fresh and the menu interesting whatever the time of day and increasing relevance to the consumer will help keep growth ahead of the average.   Without a doubt, innovative use of social media will play a significant role in what that continued success looks like.

Angharad: Bad PR award for this week goes to Beachy Head Brewery in East Sussex which has decided to name its festive ale the Beachy Head Christmas Jumper. Unsurprisingly this has offended a number of families whose loved ones killed themselves by jumping off the notorious suicide spot and I’m left wondering if the ale is as tasteless as its name. The Brewery insists the name refers to a Christmas Jumper, like the one worn by Father Christmas, but it seems odd that no one at the company put two and two together as the name was being decided. Either way, the story has received coverage in the Daily Mail, Telegraph, BBC, Mirror, Sun and local Eastbourne press – whether it’s a case of no publicity is bad publicity or not time will tell but whatever the sales figures show after Christmas there’s no denying the company will have to work hard to build up its reputation again, particularly locally.

Lauren: This week Pride of Britain Executive Chef Peter Hancock ignited a debate in the hospitality industry by stating mobile phone use in restaurants is out of control. In an interesting piece in flagship industry title Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Peter went so far as to say that he would like to ban all use of mobile use and social media surfing in restaurants across Britain. I’m on the fence about this – whilst I was always taught it’s rude to use my phone at the table during family meals I love social media and can’t imagine not ‘checking in’ to my favourite restaurants or tweeting to tell everyone how good the food is. It might be an age thing, younger people like me are shown to be more adept at picking up social media and seeing the value in it, and by banning it I think some restaurants might be missing a trick. Instant reviews, photos of the food and a constant stream of check-ins can give a restaurant great buzz for very little effort and when handle correctly can increase business. Things like special offers and events are perfect for social media, even at short notice, so to discount it completely from restaurants would be silly. From the manners side of things though I can see the point he’s trying to make. You can read the full story here, let us know you thoughts either here or on Twitter: @leapfrogbuzz