• Opportunities in the FreeFrom world •
Michelle Berriedale-Johnson
• A history lesson •
The 1990s
• Increase in number of children suffering from allergies reaching school age
• Concurrent founding of vocal support groups - Anaphylaxis Campaign, Allergy UK etc
• Increased awareness of prevalence of coeliac disease
• Recognition, especially in popular press that many people suffering from low level of ill-defined ill health which their doctor could not treat and which might be connected with what they ate.
• Celeb adoption of ‘allergy’ - Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow et alia
• Official (DOH/FSA) focus on some foods as precursor to ill health focused attention on all food as possible cause of ill health.
• Growing epidemic of obesity - could it be related to ‘allergic’ foods? Books such as ‘Lose Wheat, Lose Weight’
• Growth in organic, fair trade, focused attention on quality of food, feeding into a growing awareness of food’s possible impact on health.
• FreeFrom in the 1990s •
• Not called FreeFrom – ‘special diet food’…
• Not really in supermarkets
• Dairy-free market served by vegetarian/ soya manufacturers – Alpro, Haldane etc
• Gluten-free market served by coeliac manufacturers – Juvela, Glutafin, Barkat – mainly prescription products.
• FreeFrom 2000–2005 •
Two major changes:
• Burgeoning interest of the supermarkets
• Arrival of internet marketing
• Burgeoning interest of supermarkets •
• Patricia Wheway at Tesco
• Sainsbury own label range
• Variable interest depending on buyer
• Internet Marketing •
Enabled enthusiastic individuals to set up in business with virtually no start up costs and sell direct to the public without the need for distribution
• Food industry 2000–2005 •
• Growth of craft food industries, unwittingly tapped into growing allergy market
• Allergy awareness growing within the industry
• 2005–2011 FreeFrom gathering pace •
• First FreeFrom seminar– 2006
• Adapting existing products – Lactofree
• Dedicated manufacturing sites
• Technical developments – – Genius– Pastas– Swedish Glace & Booja Booja
• Improved packaging, nutritional profile and marketing/advertising spend
• 2008 – the first FreeFrom Food Awards!
• 2011 onwards • Underlying problems have not
changed – they have just got worse!
• Ever increasing incidence of allergy/ intolerance (diagnosed and self-diagnosed) – could be 10% of the population.
• These people need to buy freefrom
• Ever rising incidence of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance – could soon be well over 1 in 50 - 2% of the population.
• These people need to buy freefrom
• Ever growing obesity epidemic – 60% UK population now overweight...
• These people may need to buy freefrom
• Encouraged by health writers complementary practitioners and sustainability campaigners more and more people are questioning
– Where their food came from
– How it was manufactured
– Whether it has an impact on their health
– Whether it is making them/their family fat
Many of these people are choosing to buy freefrom food because they think is better for their health and/or the environment.
Current surveys suggest that:
• 10% of the population buy freefrom because of an allergy/intolerance problem
• Up to 40% of shoppers buy freefrom foods on a ‘regularly occasional’ basis even though they have no medical need to do so.
And this number is going up!
• So, where next? •
• FreeFrom needs to become mainstream - but…
• To become truly mainstream Freefrom needs to taste as good as the mainstream so that…
• Its ‘freefrom’-ness becomes a plus point, not a raison d’etre.
• At that point it can move on to be THE mainstream
• But – how to get there…
• Quality – supplant the ‘normal’ •
More NPD – freefrom products need to taste better, be healthier and cover a wider range –
– more ready meals
– snack products
– treat products
– more products replicating mainstream categories
• FreeFrom products need to replicate non-freefrom products and to taste as good or better so that whole families can eat freefrom even if only one member actually needs or chooses to do so.
• Remove allergens from existing products
• Review portfolio to see whether a minor reformulation would create a freefrom version of an existing, well loved product.
• Listen to your market •
Allergy & GlutenFree Show 2011 survey – (approximate figures only)
• 60% shopped free weekly/bi-weekly
• 70% wanted to be able to buy all freefrom food in a supermarket and 75% wanted to find it in the main aisle and not in a dedicated freefrom area
• 80% found ‘freefrom’ symbols helpful, 85% wanted to see ‘dairy free’/’wheat free’ etc flashed on the front of freefrom products
• 80% wanted to see a full nutritional breakdown on packs
• For 70% of freefrom shoppers the taste was the most important aspect, for 60% its reliability in terms of allergen exclusion and for 40% its nutritional profile.
• Delivery charges and the difficulty of taking delivery of their goods prevented four out of every five shoppers from buying on line.
• Harness the ‘feel good’ factor •
For the average consumer, buying an organic, free trade or local version of a product will give them a ‘warm glow’ – freefrom needs to do the same:Cornflakes are nice, but if the freefrom cornflakes are just as nice and are better for me/my family, then why don’t I buy those and do us all some good at the same time?
However…
If free from is to become ‘mainstream’ let alone THE mainstream… it has to be…
• Available •
• Online is great – but not enough
• Into the corner shop, the motorway service station, the delis, the farmers markets
• Out of the supermarket dedicated fixture and into the main aisles.
and… into food service:
• Restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, hotels
• Canteens, factories
• Hospitals, schools, care homes
• Everywhere you buy food to eat on the hoof
Food service offer huge opportunities for freefrom
• Coeliac UK recently assessed the potential market for gluten-free food in restaurants for coeliacs (and their friends) at around £100 million
• And that is just coeliacs who make up less than 20% of the total number of potential ‘freefrom’ customers
At the moment freefrom ‘diners’ are very poorly provided for.
• Problems inherent in catering for allergics and intolerants
– High turnover of staff– Poor grasp of the language– Minimal training
– Frequently changing menus– High risk of contamination– Menus/ingredients lists
• Ideally food service outlets will learn to cater safely for freefrom customers (another
whole subject…) but there is also a…
• Huge opportunity for quality ready- made freefrom products:
– Complete meals
– Individual dishes
– Mixes, batters, bhaji mix, biscuit bases
– Desserts, ice creams
• Advantages of ready made freefrom products in food service
For the customer:
– Safety - the product is secure from kitchen contamination and staff error
– They can read the ingredients so know exactly what they are eating
For the outlet:
– Safety - they do not need to worry about kitchen contamination
– Staff training and allergy awareness becomes far less of an issue.
• As for retail, so for food service…
• If the ‘freefrom’ version tastes as good as the ‘standard’ product it can be served to everyone.
• If restaurant can offer good ‘freefrom’ food, freefrom customers will bring their whole party in their wake
• Caveat – freefrom manufacturing may offer great
opportunities but it is not without problems
– Cost of ingredients
– Product development more challenging
– Thresholds
– Testing – cost and inconvenience
– Labelling – allergen warnings etc
– Duty of care, due diligence, product recalls
FreeFrom Food Awards
• The industry’s very own awards!! Heavily supported from start by the industry.
• Now in their 5th year - ever bigger and better!
• Existence of the awards encourages excellence & innovation
• Recognition of the awards and the awards logo increases awareness and profile of freefrom food.
Best networking party in town!
Michelle Berriedale-Johnson
www.foodsmatter.comwww.freefromfoodsmatter.comwww.freefromfoodawards.co.uk
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