In honour of English Breakfast Day 2023, our Development Chef and Innovation Consultant Ben Rowland reveals the breakfast spots on his 2023 hit list...

As innovators we very rarely innovate the models we use for innovation planning. The reason is called the success trap - the 'it was successful before, let's eat, sleep, repeat...' mentality.

Download the latest Future Food Trend Tracker, a report outlining the relationship between food trend predictions alongside consumer readiness and acceptance of these trends, and how that manifests over time.

The current economic climate is enough to make us all feel a little down. Days are rapidly shortening, the list of price increases rapidly lengthening, daily doom alerts demand we lower our thermostats, turn off our lights, don’t boil our kettles… (really?! We Brits cannot do without a cuppa!).

Protecting the longevity & profitability of business means ensuring that the cultural working environment is both robust & flexible enough to respond rapidly & efficiently to changing circumstances, positive & negative. It is important to create & maintain an innovative, supportive culture which works towards creating predictable success.

According to Planetly, the F&B industry is responsible for 1/3 of global emissions. Hence the importance of the work being done across our industry to reduce the impact on our planet, most recently the drive to become Carbon Negative. From Behemoths such as Mondelez aiming for 2050 and UK brands such as Yorkshire Tea already sitting at carbon neutral, the gauntlet has well and truly been laid down.

Good Sense Research presented recently at September’s Speciality Fine Food Fair on ‘driving sustainability & ESG in food & drink’ the research telling us that whilst the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis (COLC) has re-focussed consumer minds somewhat in the short-term, they continue to be consciously aware regarding sustainability issues.

When it was launched last year, Future Food set out to demonstrate the relationship between future trend predictions and customer acceptance, readiness, and most importantly how that manifests over time. They aim to provide the food industry with meaningful insights that make a real difference to understanding where future trends and consumers are heading collectively.

Businesses tend to scale back on innovation during unsettled economic conditions, the conundrum however is that this is perhaps when it is most needed; to deliver differentiation from competitors & drive profitable growth.

WHO states that one in three 11-year olds in the European region are overweight or obese. Food Navigator UK goes further: one in ten children in reception year are classed as obese, rising to one in five by year six. UNICEF state the figure rises again to one in three as either overweight or obese by the time they leave school.

Implementing innovation into a business, negotiating real & perceived obstacles in the way can seem a daunting task, but with careful planning & persistence your reward will bring long-term profits.

How does a small business survive in the current climate of soaring food costs, a desperate staff shortage with inevitable wage cost increases, soaring energy prices and the double whammy of bounce back loan repayments and VAT going back up to 20%…

Wow! We’re literally bursting with excitement, guess what’s happened! We’ve only gone & been awarded the:

SME News, British Made Awards 2022: ‘Best UK F&B Development Consultants 2022’!

Businesses tend to scale back on innovation during unsettled economic conditions, the conundrum however is that this is perhaps when it is most needed; to deliver differentiation from competitors & drive profitable growth.

For 14 years McDonalds have kept their standard cheeseburger at 99p, somehow £1.19, doesn't sound quite the same…Two pints of milk are now selling at the same price that 4 pints of milk were selling at the start of the year. UK inflation is soaring & retail is facing the consequences under the consistent inflationary pressure.

Implementing innovation into a business, negotiating real & perceived obstacles in the way can seem a daunting task, but with careful planning & persistence your reward will bring long-term profits.