Issue 180 - March 2019

The latest news; The Sammies 2019 shortlists plus features and profiles from around the sandwich and food to go industry.

Pret’s food safety advisor Tim Smith has called for an improved process of reporting allergy-related deaths and serious incidents, with possible mandatory registration. He revealed there had been an “unacceptable” gap of almost nine months when Pret was unaware of the tragic allergy-related death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, at the recent MCA Food To Go Conference.
Sandwich and food to go chain Philpotts has been bought by Spar retailer A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd, following the administration of parent company Patisserie Valerie. The move sees the £1.1bn family-owned food and drinks business acquire the 21 Phillpotts stores located across the UK whilst securing the jobs of 210 Philpotts employees and adding to A.F. Blakemore’s existing retail, whole sale and growing food service offer.

Reformatted EAT stores are seeing a big sales increase, with the coffee offer repositioned, a back-served hot cabinet and new focus on food quality, says CEO Andrew Walker. Speed of service is now the name of the game
Given its border location and the strength of sales in the Republic of Ireland, DELI-LITES could be forgiven for being a little nervous of the looming nature of Brexit, but if they are, it’s not showing! The business has just invested £250,000 in a new on-site innovation hub and the refurbishment and extension of its premises
Offering healthy food is one of a number of challenges and opportunities facing the coffee shop sector currently, says Hannah McKay, Head of Food and Beverage for Caffe Nero

M&S’s new vegan biryani wrap raised a ﬁ restorm of protest from Indian chefs recently, outraged by the absence of meat and other classical elements. Can ‘cultural appropriation’ be justiﬁ ed if it’s not totally authentic? Mark Arnold, Street Eats’ Head of Innovation, and a well-known developer of fusion sandwiches, takes a broad view