Tag: food and drink

Struggling pubs need freedom to stock local products to survive post lockdown

CAMRA’s Cheers for Choice campaign calls on pub companies to allow landlords to sell local beers from small and independent breweries.

Every pub across Scotland should be allowed to stock and sell beer and cider from small, local and independent brewers and cider producers, to help them recover post lockdown.

That’s the message from CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, as they launch their new ‘Cheers for Choice’ campaign this week. 

As pubs prepare for reopening next month, CAMRA’s members across Scotland are signing petitions to pub company bosses urging them to allow all landlords to stock local brews. 

Current beer ties mean that most pub tenants are restricted in what they can sell in their pubs and are often banned from putting on the products they know their customers want to drink. 

The campaign wants pub companies’ beer tie arrangements to be relaxed as pubs reopen following the coronavirus lockdown, so that all parts of the industry can pull together and support each other. 

A recent survey of 21,000 beer drinkers and pub goers across the UK carried out by CAMRA found that 68% of people are less likely to go to a pub if it isn’t selling local and independent beer and cider. 

MSPs are also being urged to support the Tied Pubs Bill being put forward in the Scottish Parliament by Labour MSP Neil Bibby. The legislation would give tied pub tenants protections in law, including a right to be able to sell guest beers in their pubs. 

Commenting, CAMRA Director for Scotland Sarah Crawford said:  “Relaxing restrictions for tied pub tenants is the right thing to do – making sure all parts of the industry, no matter how small, are supported in the recovery from COVID-19 and are able to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. 

“Allowing small and independent brewers and cider producers are able to sell into all pubs will also improve consumer choice and allow pub goers to support local brewing businesses. 

“It also makes business sense, with 68% of pub-goers saying they would be less likely to go back to a pub if it doesn’t have a range of brews from small and independent producers. 

“That’s why we are encouraging pub companies to relax restrictions on what beers can be sold when pubs reopen, as well as urging all MSPs to vote in favour of the Tied Pubs Bill later in the year so all landlords can have a legal right to serve guest beers from local and independent breweries.” 

Labour MSP for the West of Scotland Neil Bibby MSP said: “I agree with CAMRA that restrictions on tied pubs should be relaxed to help brewers into the sector and allow more consumer choice for pub-goers.  

“This is a critical time for pubs and brewers in Scotland. They need all the help they can get. One way the Scottish Parliament can help is through tied pub reform. It’s time to stop the big PubCos extracting profits from Scotland and support Scottish publicans who want to invest in their businesses and provide more choice to customers.”

Brand new brasserie back from the brink

AN AMBITIOUS new restaurant that launched just weeks before lockdown has come back from the brink – after its owner was told it was too new to qualify for grants and the furlough scheme.

Pier Brasserie, the £100K transformation of the former Prezzo site, within Newhaven’s prime former Fishmarket building, launched with much excitement and anticipation in February.

Within weeks it became clear that the spread of Covid-19 was set to devastate the sector along with the dreams of owner Mark Patonyi, one of city’s most esteemed restaurant managers, previously front of house at Martin Wishart’s The Honours, Manager of Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond and general manager of Steak Restaurant at Picardy Place.

Now, Mark, 36, alongside head chef and friend Vladimir Garcik and a team of two, has opened a take away offering, enabling foodies to sample high-quality bistro dishes while taking in the views of Newhaven lighthouse and the bridges, from the harbour.

The father of one, who moved to the UK from Hungary in 2007, said: “It may sound cliché, but 2020 has been an unbelievable rollercoaster of emotions.

“From the highs of our amazing opening – and those initial few weeks which saw us packed out – everything came crashing down.

“It looked like we would never be able to recover – and it has been heart-breaking that we can’t even offer our team the small comfort of furlough, as we’re so new we didn’t receive our PAYE reference number until after the 19 March cut-off date.

“We’re still doing everything we can to appeal that, as it just feels so unfair. As a new business we’ve not had any chance of building up cash reserves.

“Up until a few weeks ago it didn’t seem feasible that we could launch a take-away offering, but it got to the point I couldn’t sit around and wait for my fate any longer.”

He has subsequently launched a carefully selected menu utilising the best local and Scottish produce, including seafood landed in the harbour and meat from Donald Russell butchers. Included in the menu will be ciabattas, fish and chips, burgers, salads and desserts – as well as few options available each day for children.

Mark added: “The menu is an honest reflection of the food we were serving in the restaurant prior to lockdown – and easily enjoyed outside or at home.

“We’ve put in place all safety precautions too and had the team practice everything rigorously to ensure we can do this in the safest possible way. It gives us a chance to safely gear up to a potential part-opening in weeks, depending on how guidelines change.

“I also want to give a huge thanks to those that have offered kind messages during lockdown, knowing the situation we’re in.”

Ahead of the February launch Mark had been at the heart of the £100,000+ transformation of the site, project managing each process to ensure they meet his exceptionally high standards – as well as hand-picking a 15-strong team.

For more information about Pier Brasserie or to get first sight of the new menu when it launches, visit: https://www.pierbrasserie.com/ or follow us on Facebook @pierbrasserie and Instagram @pierbrasserie

Over 200 young people take part in FDF Scotland’s Lockdown Food Challenge

To help keep pupils engaged with food education during lockdown, Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland challenged young people across Scotland to design an innovative street food dish that they and their families would love.

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Win free doughnuts for a year!

Your favourite signature Original Glazed doughnuts will be available for UK nationwide delivery* with the launch of its latest additions: Krispy Kreme Celebrations – an indulgent doughnut decorating kit, and Say It With Krispy Kreme, a hand-piped half dozen, personalised with a message of your choice.

Krispy Kreme is inviting people across the nation to get creative with their signature original glazed doughnuts. From 22nd June, Krispy Kreme fans can begin placing orders to treat themselves or send the perfect gift to loved ones.

The arrival of the Krispy Kreme Creations kit allows fans to indulge their fantasies of becoming a doughnut chef while Say It With Krispy Kreme adds a personal touch when gifting to a loved one  whether you want to customize with a name or meaningful message.

From birthdays to baby showers, anniversaries to make-shift graduations, with a personalised hand-piped box of Original Glazed doughnuts, whatever you want to say, say it with Krispy Kreme.

The launch of UK nationwide delivery with the Krispy Kreme Creation kits and hand-piped half dozens means doughnut lovers across the country can now order signature Original Glazed doughnuts straight to their door by contactless delivery.

Thanks to the expansion of the doughnut brand’s delivery service, you can now enjoy the infamous Original Glazed from the comfort of home and garden.

Krispy Kreme’s beautiful bespoke hand-piped half dozens are the perfect gift for friends and family. Right now more than ever, everyone deserves a little treat and what better way to put a smile on someone’s face and tell a loved one you’re missing them with the gift of sweet treats.

Complete with everything you need to make the doughnut of your dreams, the Krispy Kreme Creations kit, comes with four Original Glazed doughnuts, chocolatey and caramel icings and a selection of indulgent toppings including cookie crumb, lotus biscoff biscuit crumb, chocolate & honeycomb pieces and white chocolate, the perfect activity for a joy-filled afternoon.

To celebrate the launch of UK nationwide delivery, one lucky customer who places either a Say It With Krispy Kreme or Krispy Kreme Creations order on the 22nd June for a kit of hand-piped half dozen, will win free doughnuts for a year.

Following the prize draw on Tuesday 23rd June, the winner will receive a pre-loaded gift card as part of their doughnut delivery**.

Krispy Kreme Creations kits will be on sale for £14.95 and Say It With Krispy Kreme hand-piped half dozen boxes will be on sale for £10.95. Both available from 22nd June with a £3.95 delivery fee; with first delivery day available from 30th June.

More information can be found at https://www.krispykreme.co.uk/.

*excluding Scottish Highlands & Islands **T&Cs apply

Morrisons introduces lunchtime meal deal which includes premium best sandwiches

*£3 offer is the only supermarket meal deal to include premium sandwiches* 

*Deal also includes options for vegans, Free From, sushi, freshly made sandwiches and hot rolls*

Morrisons is to become the only retailer to sell premium sandwiches as part of its lunchtime meal deal. 

‘The Best’ range which is priced at £2.75 individually will now be included in the £3 meal deal. The new selection will include; ‘The Best’ New York Deli Grab Bag; ‘The Best’ Ham Hock and Egg Sandwich; ‘The Best’ Chicken and Bacon Sandwich and a Morrisons Chicken Caesar Triple Wrap.

Uniquely it includes baguettes, freshly made in-store sandwiches and hot rolls.  Vegan options and even triple sandwiches and wraps are also included. Morrisons customers can enjoy an array of options including:

  • Freshly baked and hand filled baguettes and rolls

  • Salad boxes freshly prepared in store daily

  • A selection of Meat, Fish or Veggie sushi boxes

  • Hot Bacon or Sausage sandwiches

  • In the near future customers will also be able to create a salad box from the Morrisons salad bar, with everything from pasta salads, hard boiled eggs and falafel to onion bhajis, BBQ jackfruit and coleslaw.

Snacks include a jumbo vegetable samosa or succulent king prawns with a sweet chilli dip and for those with a sweet tooth – rocky road or caramel flapjacks.

Finally to wash it all down, there’s a wide range of drinks including Innocent Green Smoothies and Costa Coffee Lattes.

Morrisons £3 Meal Deal Selection:

MAINS

Sandwiches and Wraps – including triple sandwiches and wraps and vegan and gluten free options as well as Morrisons ‘The Best’ range of sandwiches

Baguettes and Rolls – Freshly baked and hand-filled daily

Salad Boxes – Freshly prepared in store daily

Hot Rolls – Bacon and Sausage Sandwiches

Pasta Pots – selection of pasta pots including loaded chicken and tuna and sweetcorn

Medium Salad Box – Create your own salad box from Morrisons in store salad bar

SNACKS

Crisps

Fruit pots

Yogurts

Flapjacks

Protein pots

Sushi Snack Packs

Selected Pastries

DRINKS

Fizzy drinks including 500ml Coca-cola

Water

Fresh juice

Hot Drinks from Morrisons in store coffee machine

Morrisons meal deal is available in all stores nationwide.

Mimi’s Bakehouse supports Cyrenians through ‘pay it forward’ scheme

Mimi’s Bakehouse is offering its customers a fresh way to support homelessness charity Cyrenians with its ‘pay it forward’ scheme, delivering cakes and sweet treats for at-risk communities across Edinburgh.

Cyrenians, a Scottish charity tackling the causes and consequences of homelessness, has adapted many of its service as part of its response to COVID19.

Their Community Cook School, which provided classes to those at-risk or with experience of homelessness, is now a production kitchen cooking 5000 nutritious ready meals a week, delivering to communities across Edinburgh: from those suffering the injustice of food poverty, to frontline workers separated from their families.

Mimi’s Bakehouse is now offering their customers the opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ by purchasing a box of handcrafted cakes for donation to Cyrenians to include in their food deliveries.

Ashley Harley from Mimi’s Bakehouse said: “We were keen to work with Cyrenians as they are providing an invaluable service to our local community during this particularly difficult time and nothing spreads joy more than boxes of cake.

“We are very lucky to have a wonderful customer base that donated over 500 boxes of cake to the NHS during peak lockdown and we hope to continue supporting others as best we can going forward.”

Ewan Aitken, CEO, said: “It’s been staggering and humbling to see the way that communities across Scotland have come together during an exceptionally difficult time, and we’re incredibly grateful for this generous show of support from Mimi’s Bakehouse.

“It’s absolutely wonderful to be able to include these high-end products in our deliveries, letting people know how valued they are – I would like to extend a thank you from myself and from everyone at Cyrenians to Mimi’s Bakehouse, and to their customers in advance, for their compassion and generosity.”

Find out more https://mimisbakehouse.com/collections/pay-it-forward/products/pay-it-forward-cyerians-box

Morrisons NEW ‘fakeaway’ boxes – high street meals at a fraction of the cost

Morrisons is adding to its food boxes line up with two new ‘fakeaway’ boxes containing Brits favourite meals from the high street.

Each box contains eight meals offering a variety of the nation’s favourite cuisines to satisfy those takeaway cravings but at a fraction of the cost you’d expect to pay at a popular chain.

The boxes are priced at just £30 including next day delivery which works out at just £3.75 per meal.

The Market Kitchen Takeaway Favourites Box contains two Hot Peri Peri Chicken with Spicy Rice, two Garlic Peri Peri Chicken ith Spicy Rice, two Southern Fried Chicken and BBQ Sauce, and two Naked Burrito Bowls.

The Market Kitchen Street Food Menu Box contains two Chicken Katsu with Sticky Rice, two Chicken Pad Thai, two Satay Chicken and two Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curries.

These meals are all brand new to Morrisons and are only available via the food box service.

Hannah Munns, Head of Market Street at Morrisons said: “These new food boxes offer our customers the chance to still enjoy their favourite high-street eats at home.

“They’ve been created using authentic recipes and good ingredients. We hope they’ll go some way to satisfying our cravings for some of our favourite takeaways.” 

Launched at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to help feed the nation, Morrisons has now sold tens of thousands of food boxes delivered to customers’ doorsteps.

As the nation’s shopping habits continue to change, Morrisons has increased production to cater for all customers, not just those vulnerable and self-isolating.

The Market Kitchen Takeaway Favourites and Market Street Food Menu Boxes join ten others in Morrisons Food Box range including; the Vegan Essentials Food Box; British Food Box; and Family Meat Box.

In May, Morrisons also announced it was going to be delivering flowers in a box with a range of Bouquet Boxes costing just £20, including next day delivery.

For more information visit: https://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/

#ItsMoreThanOurJob

Morrisons extends NHS 10% discount to September

– Initial 12 week discount for NHS Heroes will be extended until the end of September –

– The move is a thank you to hard working NHS staff during the battle against the coronavirus –

Morrisons is to extend the 10% discount that NHS heroes receive on their grocery shop until the end of September.

The discount was first introduced in April and aims to support the 1.5 million NHS staff through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It is a thank you from Morrisons.

NHS staff are continuing to put themselves at risk and face numerous challenges during the Coronavirus emergency.

Morrisons is therefore to extend the discount until September 30th when it will be reviewed.

For the first time, NHS workers will also be able to gain the discount if they are ordering a home delivery through Morrisons.com. They simply have to sign up for the Morrisons NHS Club to receive the discount.

David Potts, Morrisons Chief Executive said: “We want to thank everybody in the National Health Service for playing their part in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus.

“We hope this measure combined with our dedicated hours for NHS staff will make life a little easier at this very challenging time for them.”

To benefit from the 10% discount staff need to present their NHS ID card in all Morrisons stores.

To make sure NHS staff can get hold of the groceries they need, Morrisons have also introduced an NHS hour at the beginning of every day from 6am-7am. On Sundays, the majority of stores open at 9am for hard working NHS workers to shop.

#ItsMoreThanOurJob

Six in ten nervous about returning to work following lockdown

‘We are personally urging CEO’s to review their thought processes and empower their staff to work from which ever location makes them feel safest and most comfortable’ says Ruari Fairbairns

A nationwide YouGov survey, commissioned by One Year No Beer, has revealed that 60% of the UK workers who are no longer travelling to their usual place of work and now working from home  are nervous about returning to work following lockdown.

The survey also identified that women surveyed appear to be considerably more nervous with 70% of them opening up about their fears of returning to the workplace, opposed to 49% of men.

 61% of 18-34 workers who are not currently in their usual place of work agreed that they were nervous about returning and surprisingly fears were lowest amongst those aged 55 years and over.

Geographically, Midlands came out on top with 72% of all workers no longer travelling to their usual place of work nervous about returning to work, and those most relaxed about getting back to old routines were workers residing in the South (51%).

Whether people had children in their household or not seemed to have little impact on their attitudes towards returning to work with 63% of those with children in the household  opening up to anxiety around returning to the workplace, compared to 60% of those with no children in their household.

Ruari Fairbairns, founder and CEO of One Year No Beer, comments, “As the CEO of a company that operates its entire workforce remotely, I’m not sure why there is such a sense of urgency from employers to get their staff back into the work place, especially if they still feel so uncomfortable returning to work at this stage of the pandemics lifecycle.

 “With so much access to technology and productivity software, there is no need to be sitting in an office with each other right now (or ever) and the flexibility and freedom that working from home affords, by far outweighs any benefits of working in an office.

“We are personally urging CEO’s to review their thought processes and empower their staff to work from which ever location makes them feel safest and most comfortable.”

The same survey also revealed that nearly three-quarters of UK drinkers were drinking the same (45%) or more (29%) during lockdown, leaving only 25% drinking less. 18% believed they would emerge from lockdown drinking more than they did pre-lockdown.

Fairbairns continues, “I think a lot of people will have formed habits during this time they wouldn’t have before, and some may be challenging to shake.

“In hard times it’s easy to let things creep in that you wouldn’t normally do and if people are anxious about returning to work, the concern here is that they will start to lean more so on alcohol as a coping mechanism.”

Passionate about transforming the world’s relationship with alcohol and helping people, ‘Live Life Better’ One Year No Beer is a digital network, which has been designed to transform behaviour and support mental health.

Fairbairns concludes: “At One Year No Beer we focus on the habit-changing process, rather than just deleting alcohol from your life.

“We’ll help you break down and rebuild new habits as well as develop a new mindset that gives you complete control, something that will last way past finishing your challenge.”

For more information visit https://www.oneyearnobeer.com/