Following the example of New York City and the state of California, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) is launching the first phase of its plan to introduce nutrition information in a range of catering outlets. The FSA is wanting to see more consistent nutrition information for consumers at the point they make a decision about what they eat out of home and announced that the first step will be the introduction of calorie labelling. A similar plan may be unveiled in Australia later this year,... ...Read more »
Australian restaurants could soon be forced to follow some of their American counterparts by posting calorie counts on menus. The Preventative Health Taskforce, set up to provide recommendations to the Federal Government on health policy going forward, is contemplating a number of labelling approaches. The Taskforce is to submit the ‘National Preventative Health Strategy’ to the Department of Health and Ageing in June this year, with many potential changes affecting all in the food industry. Chairman... ...Read more »
Pizza Hut, the world’s largest pizza franchise, is launching the first stage in a menu-wide transition to pizzas made entirely from natural ingredients in the US. The new pizzas will provide their customers the opportunity to have pizza free from artificial preservatives, colours and flavours, they advised. The notion of ‘natural’ has been a popular one in the food industry over the last couple of years, with research released yesterday suggesting that “natural” was... ...Read more »
American fast-food chain Burger King is attempting a novel way to stimulate interest in their brand with the help of social networking website Facebook. Companies have been looking for ways to benefit from the Facebook phenomenon ever since it started to gather momentum a few years ago. This has led to the creation of applications that allow the sending of ‘virtual’ branded gifts to friends and, more recently, the ability to purchase real beverages for friends on the site. Not to mention... ...Read more »
The Coalition for Responsible Nutrition Information (CRNI*) has launched a campaign to pass national legislation that will provide consumers across America with detailed nutrition information in chain restaurants and other food service establishments using a uniform standard. The National Restaurant Association (NRA), which represents the 380,000 member restaurant establishments, is supporting the scheme. “People are always looking for help to make better choices especially at the beginning... ...Read more »
Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has advised against an overreaction to the low 0.1 percent increase in November 2008 retail trade trends and remained optimistic growth would begin to return to the sector by April 2009, with significant recovery expected through the September 2009 quarter. The data beat expectations, with food retail again leading the way. ARA Executive Director Richard Evans said retail trade growth for November (NSW - 0.2%, Vic 0.6%, Qld 0.1%,... ...Read more »
Spotting trends in food is essential to understanding what food consumers are doing now and more importantly may be doing in the future. ‘thefoodpeople‘, a British-based food consultancy, split their food trend predictions into “mega trends” - which are already apparent within the market - and also “emerging trends” that are just starting to take hold.”The big trends for 2009 include comfort food, nostalgia, scratch cooking and home baking as consumers want... ...Read more »
A new report, which analyses how retailers are currently satisfying consumers’ needs for ready-to-eat foods, has discovered that retail stores (supermarkets, grocers, gourmet food stores) have taken a greater share of ready-to-eat meal and snack purchases in America. The fast food or quick service restaurant (QSR) segment and the full service restaurant categories have been put under greater pressure. In the US, QSR’s realised a 1 per cent increase in sales to August, while retail stores... ...Read more »
Pizza lovers can design their own pizzas, adding and removing toppings, sauces and condiments, under a new online ordering system by Eagle Boys Pizza, one of Australia’s largest pizza franchises. An increased desire for convenience over the past decade, in particular, has assisted with the growth of online services and internet ordering is now steadily becoming more popular. In the case of the new Eagle Boys system - customers can order up to 14 days in advance. It also taps into the trend... ...Read more »
KFC, one of the world’s largest fast food franchises, has indicated they will branch out to grilled chicken as they seek to attract health driven consumers. Renowned for their fried chicken, the company’s brand owner has announced grilled chicken will be put on the menu next year. Chairman and CEO of the owner of the KFC brand - Yum Brands - David Novak, revealed plans last week for a second-quarter rollout of the grilled chicken product during an investor conference held in New York,... ...Read more »