News and Trends

Source: Mademoiselle Desserts Just before Christmas my bakery wingwoman Sophie and I bravely ventured on a London bakery tour with the team at Mademoiselle Desserts. Starting in Hammersmith and meandering our way through central London, we visited around a dozen bakeries including Arôme, Buns from Home, Chestnut Bakery, Crème,  Cutter & Squidge , Fortitude, and Outsider Tart to spot trends and sample the delights that were on offer. It was one of those ‘this can’t be a real job’ kind of days that, combined with the Christmas decorations and a heady sugar rush, was truly delightful. It was also filled with learning and inspiration, which I wanted to share: Source: Mademoiselle Desserts Cereal milk might just be my new favourite flavour My two favourite food categories are bakery and cereal, so combining the two in one delicious dish is my idea of heaven. The dish in question is the iconic Crushed Milk Chocolate Cookies & Frosties Soft Serve from NAC on North Audley Street. A...

Morrisons is set to cut over 200 jobs from its retail people team as part of a significant cost-saving initiative, becoming the latest supermarket to announce such measures as it navigates the challenging economic landscape of 2025. The move follows CEO Rami Baitiéh’s comments last month about  the “avalanche of costs” businesses will face  after the government’s October Budget. The impacted roles, which include positions in customer experience, employee engagement, recruitment, and payroll, are part of the supermarket’s restructuring efforts,  The Grocer  reported. A spokesperson for the supermarket told the title: “We have recently carried out a review of our People structure to ensure we are offering our stores and sites a timely and consistent service. “We are therefore proposing to remove the roles of regional people manager, store people manager and case specialist from our structure, meaning colleagues in these roles are being placed at risk of redundancy.” “T...

British supermarket group Sainsbury's plans to  reduce its headcount  by over 3,000 roles as it seeks savings to counter a "particularly challenging cost environment". The group, which with a UK  grocery  market share of 16% trails only Tesco, said a head office reorganisation would see a 20% reduction in senior management roles. UK companies, and particularly large employers, are facing increased costs this year after the new Labour government's first budget in October hiked employer social security payments and the  national minimum wage . Sainsbury's  said in November that the rise in employer National Insurance contributions alone would cost it an additional £140 million ($172 million) a year. Seeking additional space in stores to sell more of its fresh food ranges, the retailer is also proposing to close its remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters, as well as its remaining 61 Sainsbury's Cafes. The restructuring of Sainsbury's bakery offer w...

The festive period is in the rear view… The tinsel is back in the loft…. You continue to be baffled by how, where and why pine needles continue to crop up…. You're scrolling through January sales, spotting the gifts you bought now 'half price or less', but feeling buoyed by a freezer full of yellow-stickered bargains.... Next year you'll really be ready for Christmas, won't you? In the meantime, for those of you wanting to keep the spirit alive a little longer, or already looking ahead to the next year's development pipeline… Check out our annual Christmas report on trendhub, which is brimming with festive inspiration. Our top insights from the report include... Quality Not Quantity : The continued squeeze of the cost of living, didn't bring out the Scrooge in us; instead, it saw many consumers spending 'a little more on less', with quality taking pride of place. No Washing Up: Conversely, some consumers opted to dispense with the idea of a home-coo...

Flavours this year range from traditional to adventurous, sweet to spicy. (Getty Images) What do consumers want food to taste like this year? Flavour is at the absolute heart of what consumers look for from food. As the old adage goes, “taste is king”. And in order to understand what to aim for in new product development (NPD), manufacturers must have an idea about what consumers want from their food. Though this, of course, is constantly changing. This year, consumers are looking in multiple directions. Some want flavours that evoke the comfort of nostalgia and authenticity, while some have a lust for adventurous flavour combinations and global tastes. Nostalgia and authenticity One trend for this year is, according to Innova Market Insights, eating in order to inspire emotion, what they call ‘sensory therapy.’ In an extension of the old saying ‘eat your feelings,’ explains Mimi Bonnett, senior director of insights at Innova, “it’s really people who are eating  for  their fee...

Household spending on take-home groceries hit a record high this Christmas at £460 on average, according to our latest data.  Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 2.1% over the four weeks to 29 December compared with last year. It was a solid Christmas at the supermarkets with sales surpassing £13 billion during the four weeks of December for the first time ever showing people were clearly in the mood to celebrate and spend.  However, despite the festive cheer, grocery price inflation has ticked up to 3.7%, its highest level since March 2024. In contrast to reports of disappointing footfall across the rest of the high street, it was a very different story in the world of grocery.  The average household made nearly 17 separate shopping trips this December, delivering the busiest month for the retailers since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020.  As anticipated, Monday 23 December was the most popular shopping day of the year, with sales a whopping 30% higher...

 Source: foodfuturesinsights.com   As we launch our next London food-to-go safari on March 20, we take look back on some of the key developments over the past year. From a macro perspective, the picture has been mixed. Offset against more people working in London more often, and the continued buoyancy of leisure traffic to the UK's capital, there have been significant headwinds for many to face into. From a broader concept and proposition perspective, we highlight some of the key developments we've witnessed over the past year. 1.        Healthier specialists in expansion mode   Farmer J. atis. The Salad Project. They are all a lot more prominent in the London food-to-go consumer's mindset than they were one year ago. Fresh, healthier ingredients, put together in attractive bowls and (in the case of Farmer J) fieldtrays, lie at the heart of their appeal. And for us a key takeaway is how both atis and The Salad Project have a broad view ...