28 Feb 2020
Tags: Frozen, Food waste, loose serve, Sustainability, Zero waste, Packaging, packaging free, Waitrose, refill, Ready Meals, Farm Shop & Deli Show, Farm Shops, Farm Retail Association, Awards, Rising Star Awards, premium, Fruit, Vegetables, Freezer, rural economy, rural retail, NEC, field fare
Reducing food waste … one patisserie, pea or pie at a time …
field fare showcases selected lines from their packaging-free, Scoop & Serve and single portion ranges, plus premium ready meals, desserts and vegan products, at …
Stand J86, The Farm Shop & Deli Show, NEC, Birmingham: Monday 30th March - Wednesday 1st April 2020
And demonstrates ongoing support for independent and rural retailers by sponsoring the new Rising Star category of the 2020 Farm Retail Association Awards …
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It is a shocking fact that if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, after China and the US. And 70% of the UK's contribution takes place in the home, with the average family throwing away £700 of food in 2018, according to The Grocer. Premium frozen food specialists, field fare, with their 150-strong, multi award-winning range of ready meals, desserts and pioneering loose serve and individual unit lines, is tackling the sustainability issue in …
Three easy steps …
- Food waste … Frozen food naturally tackles the issue of food waste. It is nature's preservative, which allows the consumer to dip in and use only what is needed. Add to this field fare's unique range of products sold by the unit, including fish and vegan lines, pasties, pies, bakery, pastry and patisserie products, plus their Scoop & Serve range of fruit and veg; and the customer can buy precisely what they need at the outset, reducing waste and cost.
- Food miles … Freezing offers year-round seasonality, negating the hugely damaging air miles clocked up by importing fresh produce. The natural protection of freezing minimises packaging and enables bulk transportation, reducing weight, road freight and frozen storage space. While field fare's one-stop-shop provision of all frozen requirements can further condense deliveries to just one.
- Packaging waste … while Waitrose extends its refillable product trials into four shops, and reports them as outselling packaged alternatives by 68%, field fare's packaging-free, Scoop & Serve frozen fruit and veg was launched 40 years ago; and can be found in over 370 UK farm shops, garden centres and independents. The range has since grown to over 80 lines, including mixed and single fruit and veg lines, bakery, pastry and fish lines. In 2018, it became the focus of an ongoing field fare campaign to encourage stockists to offer Bring Your Own container initiatives, creating a destination of their shop and eco-warriors of their customers. Unsurprisingly, the loose serve range is also increasingly finding a home in the surge of zero waste, refill shops.
What's new on stand J86 at the Farm Shop & Deli Show …
Five chest freezers, each emblazoned with branded magnets featuring tantalising food photography and engaging straplines, and brimming with premium frozen produce and products including …
- Loose Bakery – a Grand Tour of specialist European producers, featuring Danish pastries, Belgian patisseries and waffles and ready to prove croissants from France. And - from National Bakery Award 2020 winners, Proper Cornish - savoury Cheese and Onion Twists, Chorizo sausage rolls and authentic Cornish pasties, including an incredible vegan version. All are sold loose, by the unit, in precise, waste-reducing volumes as required.
- Loose Fruit – from Californian Fruit Salad or Woodland Fruit mixes to Dark Sweet Cherries and sliced Bramley apple pie fillers, from seasonal Scottish Raspberries, grown on Blacketyside Farm in Fife, to redcurrants and rhubarb, frozen within hours of picking and made seasonal year-round. All sold by the weight in either degradable field fare bags or, where available, in Bring Your Own container formats.
- Loose Veg – international mixes ,sold by weight, including Chinese Stir Fry, Tuscan Roasting Veg and Vegetable Biryani, nestle alongside such veggie heroes as Grade AA frozen peas, a Farmhouse Vegetable Mix and extra sweet sweetcorn; and ready prepped time-savers like diced onions, sliced green beans and peeled dry Roasted Potatoes; which head an extensive spud selection that includes bestselling Herby Parmentier Potatoes and individual Potato Gratins, sold by the unit.
- Desserts – a multi-award-winning selection of sweet centrepieces, including gluten free pies and crumbles; and cheesecakes and roulades including Great Taste Award winners: Coffee Roulade, Salted Caramel Cheesecake and the incredible vegan Rich Chocolate Torte. Well worth finishing your greens for!
- Ready meals and savouries – a selection from some 60 products, ranging from comfort food to classics to haute cuisine; and, again, featuring a wide range of individual portion lines, sold by the unit. They include an award-winning range of handmade pies (including vegetarian and gluten free options), individual Yorkshire Puddings, new vegan Quinoa, Beetroot & Edamame Burgers and vegetarian Lentil & Bean Burgers.
The field fare package …
All field fare products come with the guarantee of premium quality, of being made in small batches by specialist producers, using authentic recipes and local ingredients, where relevant. But they also come with …
- The personal support of the field fare team, their extensive sales experience and specialist Food & Drink marketing and PR agency support.
- Eye catching Point of Sale marketing materials, packaging designs and website resource; plus regular e-bulletin support offering market insights, NPD news and advice on what to stock, when.
- Regular NPD activity, identifying trends, keeping freezers fresh and relevant, with a focus on offering a broad cross section of unique, premium products to maximise target markets.
- An active push on promoting awareness of the field fare brand and products, through product awards, including seven Great Taste Awards; and PR and marketing activity that has established MD Karen Deans as a regular spokesperson on matters sustainability and frozen in national trade and consumer press.
Come and meet her at Stand J86, with team members including Head of Sales, Richard Schofield, David Rhodes, Sales & Business Development Manager West and a first Farm Shop & Deli Show outing for Chris Smith, field fare's new Sales & Business Development Manager East.
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FRA Awards …
The Farm Retail Awards annually celebrate the cream of the crop in the farm retail sector, with categories including Large Farm Shop of the Year, Small Farm Shop of the Year, Farmers' Market of the Year, Farm Café/Restaurant of the Year, Trade Supplier Member of the Year and, new for 2020, the Rising Star Award, which is being sponsored by field fare this year.
Said Rob Copley, Chair of FRA, “The 'Rising Star Award' champions and puts the spotlight on newcomers to our industry. We'd like to thank Field Fare for supporting this important award, which has attracted a really high standard of entries. Being shortlisted alone is a tremendous accolade and we wish the finalists the very best of luck: The Farm Stratford (Snitterfield, Warwicks), Bradbury's Farm Shop (Lichfield, Staffs) and Knights Farm Shop (Ottery St Mary, Devon)." The FRA's annual conference will take place from Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th March at The Nottingham Belfry, with an Awards dinner to announce the winners on Tuesday 3rd March 2020.
field fare's ties to the British rural economy have always been strong, with relationships with some farms going back generations and a UK wide farm shop stockist list numbering over 350. MD, Karen Deans is also on the board of the FRA and the company is even based on a working farm in Kent; all of which has earned them hard won permission to use the National Farmers' Union's Back British Farming logo, in recognition of their support.
“We are thrilled to be lending our support to celebrating newcomers to the British farm retail industry,” said Deans of the Rising Star Award, “With consumer interest in sustainability, health, plant based alternatives and locally sourced, field to fork provenance riding high, there has never been a more exciting time for rural retail; nor room for fresh ideas and new faces to continue to develop and grow the sector.”
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editors' notes …
- The FRA … formerly known as FARMA, is a not-for-profit organisation, established in 1979 to unite and represent the best of real farm shops and Farmers' Markets, and to champion those who grow and sell British food. The FRA provides a communication network for the farm retail industry, from mature to SMEs and start- ups. It offers discounts, learning, training, knowledge transfer and networking opportunities. The FRA is managed by Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS), a registered charity. For more information, please contact Jo Francisco, PR Manager: jof@yas.co.uk | Direct Line: 01423 546215 | Mobile 07954 007414.
- the team … field fare remains family owned by the second generation Cryer family and based in Kent on Black Robins Farms, a working farm where llamas guard the sheep (yes, really) and chickens regularly strut through the office (true too). MD Karen Deans has been at the rudder for 18 years. Previously, she worked for 8 years for Storsack UK Ltd, an industrial packaging company, then in the oil industry; and finally joined field fare in 2001, becoming MD in 2003, as Richard and Ann Cryer moved towards retirement.
- the history … 40 years ago, in 1977, field fare launched a pioneering idea in independent retail. Visionary in its environmentalism, brilliant in its simplicity, the idea was high quality, fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen direct from the field and sold loose by the scoop from branded freezers; with minimum packaging and waste, maximum nutrient, vitamin and mineral lock-in, zero additives or preservatives required and the flexibility for customers to economically take as little or as much as they wanted. The loose range now numbers over 80 products. In November 2015 it was joined by a premium ready-meal range, which now numbers over 60 dishes, including comfort food classics, international cuisine, desserts-to-die-for and special dietary requirement dishes.
- the nitty gritty … field fare ready meals are made in small batches and frozen down to between -12°C and -15°C, before being stored at -25°C, which means they immediately retain all those nutrients and flavours with no need to add any preservatives or nasties. Products should be stored at a temperature of -18°C, have a 12 – 18 month shelf life and are mainly to be oven cooked from frozen. Ready meal RRPs range from £2.75 for a single portion Macaroni Cheese to £8.50 for a double portion Fish Pie, and in weight from 300g for a single portion Liver and Bacon to 800g for a double portion Shepherd's Pie.
- the charity… field fare is proud to support the wonderful work of FareShare, a charity that redistribute surplus food to their 20 UK wide regional centres and on to partner charities. 28.6 million meals per year are thus provided to people in need. fareshare.org.uk
- the stockists … field fare is committed to supporting UK farming, recognised by hard won permission from the National Farmers' Union (NFU) to use the Support British Farmers logo. They only supply independent stores, mainly farm shops; and 374 stockists include selected Blue Diamond Group stores, Dart Farm in Devon, Millets Farm Shop in Oxon, Preston's Barton Grange Garden Centre, Polhill Farm Shop and Broadditch Farm Shop in Kent, Calcott Hall, Brentwood, Thorncliffe Farm Shop in Huddersfield and Gonalston Farm Shop in Nottingham and a growing band of zero waste, refill shops.
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Press enquiries, images and sample requests …
Lisa Jones, Dandelion PR
t: 07968 963456
tw / f: @dandylisa / @dandelionPRUK
field fare links:
tw / f: @fieldfarefoods / @fieldfarefoods
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