Signals 1 - Fairway Foodservice

We’re thrilled to share part one of the first edition of Fairway #Signals with you! This periodic newsletter will give you market insights and resources to inform and help you sell.

We’ve a lot to share, so the first few emails will be closer together before we get into a steadier pattern. So don’t be alarmed!

Let’s start with the basics of who we are…

We’re a buying and marketing group working exclusively with our 20 wholesale members to help facilitate sales. We do this by creating an approved list of suppliers with negotiated terms, prices, promotions, and marketing agreements. We also manage a member-exclusive own brand range, Fairway Assured. Finally, we support members with business solutions, technical support, and marketing services.

We’ll start by saying that this is your brand, and it gives you a great point of difference when competing for business. It’s an extensive range with 600 products split across eight categories and specifically developed for foodservice. The Excellence brand is reserved for fine foods of superior quality and exceptional taste.

Now is a fantastic time to leverage your own brand, here’s why…

LEARNING FROM RETAIL

Retailers report that the cost-of-living crisis has seen increasing demand for own brand products, whilst branded sales have been dropping. According to environmental organisation Hubbub, one in four Brits are now choosing own brand products more often. The latest figures from Kantar shows sales of own brand items have risen 2.9% over the last 12 weeks while sales of branded products have fallen by 1%.

However, this is not the complete story, sales of the value own-label lines of supermarkets such as Co-op Honest Value, Sainsbury’s Imperfectly Tasty, and Asda’s newly launched Just Essentials range, surged 12%. Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said staples such as pasta, bread and beans, which have seen the biggest price increases, have experienced the largest shift to own brand.

WHAT ABOUT CATERERS

Both profit and cost sector caterers are being hit with rising costs across food, energy and staff. Cost sector is having an especially hard time as they can’t pass on these increases, so it’s taking away from already tight budgets.

STEP IN FAIRWAY ASSURED

Now is the perfect time for you to help customers by offering them your own brand catering range.

It’s important to appreciate that it’s not a “value” or “essentials” range. Rather, each product has been carefully selected to equal or better the brand leader with an emphasis on superior quality, price, taste and consistency often with higher ingredient ratios and winning out in blind taste tests. Every product is on a constant and ongoing cycle of improvement through benchmarking and rolling in feedback from caterers and members.

It’s a range you should be confident in offering, the “assured” in Fairway Assured.

Here’s how you can find out more:

Here are some of the resources we have to help you promote the range:

Fairway Assured Brochure

A concise introduction and overview of the categories.

View Here

Fairway Desserts Brochure

A companion to the range brochure this covers the latest products.

View Here

Marketing Hub

You’ll find all the brand assets including ads, images, video and so forth. It’s likely your team already have access to this.

Fairway Website

You can search, click tags, and navigate through the site to explore the range and even download PDF data sheets.

Talking of websites, have you visited us lately?

Our recently updated site has some new and enhanced features to help you and your customers:

Our Products:

Given a facelift to make navigation easier and better explain the difference between a Fairway Assured and Fairway Excellence products.

Intelligent Search:

You can search products and articles with just a few keystrokes.

INSIDER:

Here you will find all the article content we produce which you are welcome to share with your customers.

Recipes:

Send your customers here if they are struggling for inspiration!

The Food Price Index, compiled by the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), measures monthly changes in international food prices.

The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 140.9 points in July 2022, down 13.3 points (8.6 percent) from June, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline.

Nevertheless, it remained 16.4 points (13.1 percent) above its value in the corresponding month last year.

The July decline was the steepest monthly fall in the value of the index since October 2008, led by significant drops in vegetable oil and cereal indices, while those of sugar, dairy and meat also fell but to a lesser extent.

Sign up to Fairway Signals

LEARNING FROM RETAIL

WHAT ABOUT CATERERS

STEP IN FAIRWAY ASSURED