Tag: food and drink

Al fresco dining must not come at the expense of pedestrians

Disabled people and young families risk being inconvenienced by outdoor restaurants as businesses start to take to the footway, says Living Streets Scotland.

Planning law allows for the temporary use of land for up to 28 days without the need to make an application for planning permission, which means an Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs is unlikely to be undertaken. Such an assessment helps to understand and mitigate impacts on people with disabilities.

Penny Morriss, Project Manager, Living Streets Scotland said: “Al fresco dining has the potential to bring our streets to life, creating vibr ant spaces where people want to spend time. However, it must not come at the expense of pedestrians.

“Many of our footways are already too narrow for everyone to be able to practise physical distancing and for people with wheelchairs, buggies or those living with sight loss to manoeuvre safely.

“Town and cities across the Scotland have been investing in trials to create more space for people walking, including widening pavements and closing certain streets to traffic. We should not undo all this great work and investment by crowding pavements with tables and chairs at the expense of the people who need to use them.

“Equality Impact Assessments are incredibly important to ensure the needs of disabled people are considered and recommended in Scottish Government guidance as part of the response to COVID 19. Footways should only be an option where there is at least two metres of space once the furniture and customers are accounted for. Car parks, terraces and parking spaces are great alternatives for temporary beer gardens and eating spaces.”

Morrisons launches family recipe box delivery service with five meals for £30

Morrisons has launched a food box that offers families the ingredients for five meals together with simple recipes describing how to cook them … and all for just £30, including delivery.

The family recipe box – called Five Meals to Feed a Family of Four – is designed to provide quick, easy and affordable homemade meals that families can cook from scratch at home.

Each is designed to be served in the evenings and make mealtimes a social, family experience.

The launch comes after a study released earlier in July showed an increase in family dinners during lockdown, with shared family mealtimes being cited as positive for mental health and social wellbeing[1].

Priced at £30, including next-day or nominated day delivery, the Morrisons family recipe box works out at just £1.50 per meal per head. Other similar boxes on the market cost upwards of £50 for the same number of meals and customers can save up to 78 per cent on the cost of the meals per serving by choosing Morrisons[2].

Unlike other recipe boxes, the Morrisons family recipe box contains full retail-sized packs of ingredients. This means customers will also have ingredients left over at the end of the week – which they can use to cook more meals. 

The box is ideal for families that enjoy preparing meals from scratch and is also a great way to get children involved cooking at home.   

Tessa Callaghan Head of Food Boxes at Morrisons said: “Many of our customers enjoy eating meals as a family and we have seen customers do this more during the pandemic. It can be difficult to constantly cook up new dishes that please everyone. So, we wanted to create a great value box that contained high-quality produce and recipe cards – to make it easier to try new things.”

Recipes that are included in the Morrisons Five Meals to Feed a Family of Four box are:

  • Classic Spaghetti Bolognese
  • Veggie Pasta Bake
  • Rosti Topped Cottage Pie
  • Sausage Tray Bake
  • Mixed Bean Chilli with Wedges

The box contains 22 different products and weighs 14kg. The contents represent a saving on normal Morrisons instore prices, even with next day delivery included.

Morrisons has sold tens of thousands of food boxes. Customers can now choose from 15 varieties including; a Vegetarian Food Box, Gluten Free Food Box, BBQ Food Box, Market Kitchen Takeaway Favourites Box and British Farmers Food Box. For more information, visit: morrisons.com/food-boxes.

The Morrisons Five Meals to Feed a Family of Four is available to buy via www.morrisons.com/food-boxes from Wednesday 15 July. Orders placed before 3pm can be delivered next day.

#ItsMoreThanOurJob

Scotmid delivers snappy shopping service

Residents across Edinburgh can now order food, drink and other essential items and have them delivered to their door within an hour, following the roll out of a speedy shopping service by a leading convenience retailer.

Scotmid is launching its popular Snappy Shopper service in the capital, bringing the online shopping opportunity to the fingertips of more than 500,000 residents.

Customers can order from a range of over 1000 product lines, via the Snappy Shopper app or at www.snappyshopper.co.uk, which are then picked, packed and delivered by Scotmid staff, to their home, within an hour. 

Products have been selected to cater for a range of dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten free and include products from Scottish suppliers such as Barrs, Golden Wonder, Tunnocks and Mackies.

Delivery slots are made available every 24 hours and booked on a first come, first served basis. The concept stands Scotmid apart from other, larger retailers, whose online home delivery services are often booked up days in advance.

Kevin Plant, Head of Food at Scotmid, said: “We are really excited to serve our customers in Edinburgh with our new Snappy Shopper service.

“Our core purpose as a business is to serve our communities and improve people`s everyday lives and our Snappy Shopper service enables Scotmid customers to access great products from the comfort of their own home.”

Snappy Shopper has proved particularly valuable to many individuals and families during lockdown. For those who were shielding, considered high risk or who found it hard to get to the shops, the online service has provided a quick and easy means of acquiring their essential items.

The launch follows highly successful pilots in West Lothian, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire and supports Scotmid’s ambitions to lead the way in Scotland for fast, convenient shopping, tied in with its core value of serving communities. 

Stewart Dobbie, Head of Innovation and Change at Scotmid, said: “Snappy Shopper is enabling us to provide on-demand, simple, digital convenience to our customers and the positive feedback we receive daily  from customers in areas where Snappy Shopper is in place supported our decision to expand the offering.

“Our move into the capital marks the next step in our drive to enhance our Food offering to existing and new customers.”

The first delivery for every customer is free when they sign up on the app, with subsequent deliveries across Edinburgh costing just £3.50. There is a £10 minimum basket spend with a limit of 25 products per delivery.

Customers can order for delivery within an hour between 10am to 9pm.

STUC warns hospitality employers not to pass the burden onto workers as businesses reopen

Edinburgh pub worker calls on hospitality staff to join a union

Commenting on the re-opening of indoors hospitality, Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC has reminded employers that workers are preparing to resist detrimental changes to contracts and conditions associated with the safe return to work.

Roz Foyer said: “Indoor hospitality re-opening safely depends on changes to working conditions. But these must not be allowed to come at a cost to workers.

“Workers are the heart of hospitality, but for too long employers have been able to pass the unstable condition of the industry onto their staff.

“We will not forget the businesses who refused to furlough their staff during this pandemic, and who have treated workers callously with attempts to make them sign away their terms and conditions in order to ringfence profit or prevent unexpected costs.

“From cafes like Coias in Dennistoun to cinema chains like Cineworld, workers have come together to win their demands in the return to work period.

“If you are asked to work differently or to sign a new contract, don’t accept, delay, and work out with your colleagues whether you are happy with the proposal. Then join a union and take action.”

Matthew Waddell, 19, who returned to work at the Diggers pub yesterday, urged workers to be prepared to resist the prospect of changes to work and conditions.

He said: “The incoming economic crisis should be a call to all workers to join unions, unionise their workplaces and make sure those unions are active.

“The precarious nature of hospitality work and the effect a COVID recession will have on it makes unionisation all the more urgent.

“The Better Than Zero campaign against precarious work is on hand to give guidance and support for hospitality workers and any other workers who do not have unions.”

Morrisons introduces Food Parcels for customers to donate to food banks

  • Customers can purchase pre-packed bags of groceries designed around the needs of local food banks
  • Move follows £10m initial donation from the supermarket at the start of the pandemic –

Morrisons is making it easier for its customers to feed people in need by launching food parcels that can be bought and then donated at the checkout.

Food banks are often overwhelmed by products such as rice and pasta and short of other items that people actually need.

The supermarket’s new ‘Pick Up Packs’ cost between £1 and £3 and contain a mix of food products that have been requested by the local food bank based on their local needs.

The packs are the brainchild of Morrisons colleague Michelle Leary from Basingstoke, who noticed that customers struggled with what to donate to food banks.

The pre-packed parcels mean that customers don’t need to spend time browsing the shelves for items to donate. After a successful trial, they are now being rolled out nationally.

Customers can easily pick one up at the start of their shop and pay for it at the till with the rest of their shopping. The pack is then put aside and collected by volunteers working for the food bank.

Rebecca Singleton, Community Director at Morrisons, said: “The UK’s food banks are a lifeline for the most vulnerable in our communities and these parcels are an easy way to donate to them. At Morrisons, we want to play our full part in feeding the nation and ensure nobody gets left behind.”

The ‘Pick Up Pack’ initiative is part of Morrisons drive to restock Britain’s food banks and continue feeding the nation, particularly those who are vulnerable and struggling with the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Additionally, Morrisons, in partnership with the Trussell Trust, has also become the first UK supermarket to trial an online donation mechanism that goes straight into the pockets of local food banks.

Customers can purchase £10 vouchers on the Morrisons Food Boxes website (http://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes) which gets sent directly to a local food bank of their choice.  The online scheme was initially piloted with 5 local food banks and has now been rolled out to 50 nationally.

For more information, visit www.morrisons.co.uk.

#ItsMoreThanOurJob

Heart Research UK Healthy Tip: Healthy picnics

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK

Healthy picnics

July is National Picnic month and this is a good time to get outdoors to celebrate the warm weather and enjoy some tasty food with friends and family. An outdoor picnic can provide the perfect setting for some fun activities to get your heart pumping.

Make your picnic a healthy one by following our healthy tips:  

Choose a location for your picnic

Plan your picnic in a relaxing spot where you can include a brisk walk or some fun activities, such as a game of frisbee or rounders. Getting plenty of physical activity can help to keep your heart healthy.

Avoid too much fat, salt and sugar

A diet that includes too much salt, fat and sugar is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Instead of taking crisps, salted nuts, sausage rolls, cakes, chocolate and sugary drinks on your picnic, choose healthier options, such as unsalted nuts, lean meat (e.g. chicken breast), fresh fruit and veg, low-fat and low-sugar yoghurts and sugar-free drinks or water. 

Switch to wholegrain

Wholegrain foods are a good source of nutrients, including fibre, which is good for your heart. Try switching from white bread to wholemeal bread for your sandwiches or wholemeal pita or wraps. Salads can include wholemeal pasta or brown rice to
increase your fibre intake.

Pack in the fruit and veg

Pack raw veg sticks, such as carrots celery, peppers, cucumber and sugar snap peas to have with healthy dips, such as low-fat hummus or tzatziki. For a healthy dessert, you could try making a fresh fruit salad or fruit skewers served with low-fat and low-sugar yoghurt.

Find healthy and delicious recipes for your picnic

There are plenty of healthy picnic recipes available online, such as the BBC Good Food Healthy Picnic Recipes:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/healthy-picnic

Henderson’s to close

We have some extremely sad news: it is with a very heavy heart that the Henderson family took the decision earlier this month to close the doors of Hendersons of Holyrood & Hendersons of Hanover after 58 years in trading.

As a family-run business since the beginning, the shop/deli first opened in 1962, driven by Janet Henderson who 30 years earlier had discovered during her travels in Europe about the benefits of an organic and vegetarian diet. She and her husband Mac then brought this to life on their farm with an organic market garden in East Lothian. Mac Henderson lived to the ripe old age of 101.

As Covid 19 took hold in February/March 2020, this had a very detrimental effect on the business in terms of both footfall and revenue. Covid 19 hit us at a hard time, as we were just coming out of the quieter winter months, looking forward to Easter, summer trading and Edinburgh Festival.

The Government’s resistance to close hospitality businesses until late March meant that by this time our restaurant & deli business closed, we had haemorrhaged a serious amount of money leaving us in a very weak position.

The furlough scheme was a life-line with some hope but still came at a cost with 40 employees, plus we still had essential fixed operating costs, insurance, rent, utilities – with very high monthly outgoing costs and no income coming in – the current situation was unsustainable.

We opened the shop/deli for a month, providing a food/vegetable box delivery and click & collect service. Unfortunately, the city centre is bereft of footfall as virtually no passers-by, tourists or office workers, thus it was impossible to continue operating at a loss.

If our location was in a neighbourhood area it might have been a different story and if we had more of a strong online presence or wholesale trade, perhaps we could have pushed through and come out the other side.

Due to the uncertainty of the future of hospitality, lack of guidance from the Government and ongoing restrictions, there was no realistic prospect of us returning to any kind of normality in the foreseeable future.

As a family, this has not been an easy decision and we are absolutely devastated to be in this situation, outwith our control. The three restaurants and deli will not re-open.

Our family has been privileged to play our part in Janet and Mac Henderson’s great adventure that has been so well supported over the years.

It has been a very difficult decision for us and the Henderson family would like to thank our loyal customers, brilliant suppliers and lovely staff over the past 58 years and we will miss being part of what was Edinburgh’s bustling restaurant scene, which we hope will return in the not too distant future.

Local businesses urged to sign up to ‘Eat Out to Help Out’

Edinburgh and Lothians restaurants, pubs, cafes and other establishments that sell food for consumption on-premises are being urged to sign up to the UK Government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme.

Businesses who use the scheme will offer a 50% reduction, up to a maximum of £10 per person, to all diners who eat or drink-in throughout August.

The scheme is open to businesses across the UK and can be used all day, Monday to Wednesday in August.

Customers do not need a voucher as participating establishments will just remove the discount from their bill. Businesses simply reclaim the discounted amount through an online service, supported by HMRC.

The scheme is aimed at protecting jobs in the hospitality industry and is in addition to the reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% for tourism and hospitality businesses.

Businesses who sign up to the scheme will receive a window sticker and will be able to use promotional items such as posters and logos for social media.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “During lockdown the hospitality industry has been one of the hardest industries due to necessary closures.

“This scheme can give the industry a real boost during August to help businesses get back on their feet again.

“The hospitality and catering industry supports a huge number of jobs in Edinburgh and the Lothians which rely on the sector doing well.

“I encourage businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians sign up to this scheme to attract more custom at the beginning of the week throughout August.”