Business Conference

BFFF CONFERENCE – “RIGHT ON THE MONEY”

The BFFF Conference and exhibition was another huge success this year, with over 100 companies attending the show along with a “stellar line up” of speakers.

Following last year’s successful launch event, 200 industry delegates gathered at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwickshire on 16 February for what has been hailed a “fabulous event”.

Brian Young, Director-General of the BFFF, says the aim of the event is to bring the industry together to debate on all matters topical to frozen. “This conference gives our industry leaders the platform to spell out their visions for our industry, create debates, provide superb networking opportunities, allow our members to showcase their products and services and to meet friends and colleagues alike.”

Before handing over to conference chair Clive Beddall, former editor of the Grocer magazine, Young opened theconference with an insight into how the BFFF promotes frozen food, as well as their scheduled seminar events for 2012. After reminding guests about their Gala Dinner and Dance Awards in July which is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, he went on to thank the sponsors of the event; Reed Boardall, GRG Recruitment, Authentic Food Company, Plusfood UK, Coppenrath and Wiese, Central Food Group and Tipiak.

Beddall then gave an overview of the day as well as a reminder of what the conference is all about. “Today is about enjoying full and frank debates about our industry. “It is also about building contacts,” he added.

The first keynote speaker to take to the stage was Ed Garner, communications director at Kantar Worldpanel, who also presented at last year’s event. He looked at upcoming consumer trends based on ongoing research into the frozen food industry. He not only reviewed the retail trade but also focused on the growth of the market versus inflation which he described as being “absolutely key to how consumers and retailers are behaving and spending”. He then went on to look at the growth rate for own labels, as well as the growth rates of niches including Aldi and Lidl and Waitrose.

Next up economist Roger Martin-Fagg, who presented the opening address of the BFFF conference last year, kicked off his session by reminding delegates why he was miserable this time last year as a result of the economy, and why a year on, he is feeling the same. “For those who attended last year’s event, you may recall me being pretty miserable then, well nothing has picked up in my frame of mind.” He explained why we are where we are and how long he thinks it will take for us to get back to normal.

“If you think of the economy,” he says “think of a hose pipe. Assuming a hose pipe doesn’t have any holes in it, if you put water in one end, the same amount of water will come out the other end. The economy is just the same. In our economic pipe, there are all of these businesses trying to survive by adding value.”

After explaining the economic pipe in more detail, he concluded the overall outlook for the year as being “pretty much flat.” He said we are in a 0.6% recession, otherwise known as a “mild recession”. “Whatever you are doing this year, is going to be the same next year and the year after that. It is a grinding push to make progress.”

Next up setting the scene was Simon Strutt, managing director of The Marketing Works, who shared with delegates the latest research on the frozen pizza category. He touched on premiumisation and demonstrated how Dr Oetker, for example, is pushing itself in this category. He also described the crossover between fresh and frozen. “What we have found is that people are buying frozen when actually they want that product for that particular day. Increasingly people are buying chilled and then freezing the product. We are seeing this more as supermarkets discount more. So people will pick up a two for the price of one, for example, and will freeze half of it.

“The key trend here is that frozen is being bought more for today, and chilled is being perceived as a standby.” He also explained how price offering, packaging and branding is crucial to the consumer’s purchasing decision and how shopping for frozen is still an area of concern and needs to be looked at. He ended his session with four factors he believes could solve the negative perception of frozen food: “There are four ways to get over this,” he said. “These are prejudices, food value, packaging and NPD.”

Beddall then welcomed Simon Twigger, business director of fresh & frozen foods Sainsbury’s, on stage to give his view on frozen. “I think frozen food is a great place for Sainsbury’s,” he said. He also used his session to explain some of the biggest opportunities frozen food offers Sainsburys. “We have a lot to do as an industry to maximise the experience for our shoppers. It’s crucial that we offer them a better environment when it comes down to frozen.”

Sainsbury’s is always evolving, he added. The supermarket giant currently has over 1,000 shops and 22 million transactions a week. “We have also grown by 33% over the past five years because we have expanded our space.” Twigger explained Sainsbury’s corporate vision: “To be the most trusted retailer and do a better job for our customers in terms of quality.”

He added that the growth of frozen food is “bumping along but we could be improving on this.”

He ended his session on a high: “Going forward, we as an industry need to manage promotions, and offer more meal solutions – and it’s the frozen food that needs to do this. We want to help dispel the myth of frozen food.”

Martin Glenn, chief executive of Birds Eye Group, agreed with Twigger in terms of improving the overall customer experience, which he described as “pretty dire”. He said when it comes to ‘convenience without compromise’, we need a clear strategy. “This involves quality core offerings, attractive shopping experience, constant advertising pressure and rapid innovation.” He also applauded the work the BFFF are doing and said “the world would be a much better place if more people used frozen”.

“Let’s bring the freezer section into the 21st Century,” he said. “I am really confident we can continue to change attitudes positively. Let’s really drive the things we are good at.”

After lunch speakers Richard Cienciala, deputy director at Department of Health, Ian Sarson of Compass and Jenny Wilson from 3663, each focused on health and nutrition in foodservice. Cienciala spoke about the Government’s continuous interest in scores on the doors and calorie counting on menus, meanwhile Ian Sarson gave an insight into how the contract caterer is supporting the Responsibility Deal.

Compass has committed to the deal by providing GDA information across the business. They are also working with their suppliers to remove all trans fats. Sarson said getting behind the Responsibility Deal was a positive step for Compass: “The Responsibility Deal is here to stay. It has been a catalyst for change for us. It’s all about doing lots of little things, but as a collective. But this is going to take years – a decade at least.”

Meanwhile Digby Lord Jones, a leading figure on the political and international trade relations scene, closed the conference by “taking us on a walk around the world”. He gave an inspirational speech on the long term impact of change as well as the potential for growth and competiveness for the UK as the economic confidence returns.

Running alongside the conference was an exhibition which gave delegates the opportunity to network and sample products. Exhibiting companies included Chalcroft Construction, Cold Move, Frigoblock UK Ltd, Partner Logistics and International Association for Cold Storage Construction and Coppenrath & Wiese, to name a few.

Hugh Ashworth from Air Products, who exhibited at the event last year, thought the event was a great success. “I think this is a brilliant venue,” he said. “Absolutely excellent. Everything is very close to the main conference room which is excellent for us as exhibitors, and the attendees as well are up on last year which is great. That’s what we want, more people, increasing year on year.” Alex Vaks From Buhler Sortex, who also exhibited last year, agreed: “It’s been really good,” he said. “It’s not the typical exhibition that we are used to so we have to make the effort to go and mingle with people, which is fantastic. Equally it’s very interesting and important to keep on top of what’s happening in the industry and understand what’s going on in other sectors and look at not only our first year customers, but our second year. It’s important to understand what their requirements are and where their markets are going.”

First time exhibitor Paul Tuszynski from Fownd said the event was the perfect vehicle for exposing their products to the market. “It’s our first year here and the objective of the exercise here is to expose our product to the market and we think this event is the perfect vehicle for that. The executives of the BFFF are doing everything they can to help us promote the product and they couldn’t have been more helpful. There is no question that this is the right market for us it’s a product that carries frozen food, it’s the perfect match.”

Tony Reeves from Monday Swiss, who launched his products at the conference for the first time in the UK, said the event was above and beyond all expectations: “The response from senior buyers, foodservice and retail has been remarkable. We will be walking away with some fantastic leads and have lots to do after the show. We want to be here next year. We really couldn’t have expected more. This was a perfect shop window for us launching into the UK.”

Gareth Grey, director of GRG Recruitment, added: This years’ BFFF conference was the first year GRG Recruitment has attended and exhibited as an Associate Member. I found the programme content and calibre of speakers very impressive and really highlighted the key factors affecting the frozen food sector, both challenges faced, and opportunities moving forward.”

Other delegates to attend the show included MDC Foods Ltd, McCain Foods Ltd, Pelican PR, Bernard Matthews, Classic Cuisine and Iceland Foods.

After an action packed day at the conference, delegates gathered for pre-dinner drinks and dinner where they enjoyed a four course meal as well as entertainment by magician Steve Faulkner.

Brian Young is delighted with the turnout of the event and looks forward to next year’s event: “This year’s event was fabulous with outstanding speakers, relevant topics, excellent attendance and great networking.

“The quality, depth and insight of the speakers was amazing with very thought provoking analysis being shared, There was a good balance of retail and foodservice, sellers and buyers and all parts of the industry represented. The issues covered were very topical and right on the money.”