Shopping forecast: the latest supplier news

QSR Automations partners with Dave’s Hot Chicken

Kitchen automation and guest management services company QSR Automations is partnering with US chicken brand Dave’s Hot Chicken. The collaboration will see Dave’s Hot Chicken implement QSR Automations’ ConnectSmart Kitchen technology across its growing restaurant portfolio. Dave’s Hot Chicken is set to reach 275 restaurants by the end of 2024, with plans for 1,000 new locations in development globally, including making its debut in the UK with a target of 60 sites. QSR Automations’ technology will be used to help maintain brand consistency, increase productivity, enhance food quality and improve the guest experience at Dave’s Hot Chicken as its continues to grow. The implementation of ConnectSmart Kitchen will also help the chicken brand streamline operations with its delivery partners. “Partnering with Dave’s Hot Chicken during this exciting phase of their expansion gives us an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the full capabilities of our ConnectSmart Kitchen solutions,” says Angela Leet, chief executive officer at QSR Automations. “Our technology is specifically engineered to support fast-growing chains like Dave’s Hot Chicken in preserving their high standards of quality and service while scaling swiftly. We are confident that our innovation will play a pivotal role in their ongoing success.” 

Santa Maria launches K-food range

Santa Maria has launched a range of easy-to-use Korean products to help operators tap into one of the fastest growing cuisines in the UK. Designed with casual dining, QSR, and pubs and bars in mind, the K-food range comprises five mainstream products: a black pepper soy sauce, a fermented chili sauce, a fermented soy and chili paste, a chili and sesame seasoning, and a kimchi paste chili and garlic. The whole product range is vegan, and lactose-free. Santa Maria has teamed up with south London street food operator Bando Belly to promote the new range. Currently available at Brixton pub The Duke of Edinburgh, the menu includes the Seoul Bad Boy chicken burger (twice-fried extra crispy chicken patty dipped in BBQ sauce made with Santa Maria black pepper soy sauce, topped with fresh lettuce, pickles, kimchi slaw and a mayo infused with Santa Maria kimchi paste chili and garlic); and Oh my Goch chicken wings (chicken wings coated in Santa Maria fermented soy and chili paste and honey finished with Santa Maria chili and sesame Seasoning). “I’ve always been a fan of Santa Maria’s products, and incorporating their new, easy-to-use and versatile Korean range into our limited-edition menu felt like a natural fit,” says Bando Belly founder Naz Ramadan. “Our core belief is ‘we do flavours’, and with Santa Maria’s commitment to offering ‘flavours for professionals’ it feels like a match made in heaven.”

Novameat launches meat-free Shredded Nova-b*ef

Sustainable food technology company Novameat has added to its range of plant-based meat alternatives. Its Shredded Nova-b*ef is made using the company’s proprietary texture-building technology, which scales the principles of 3D printing at an industrial level and which creates plant-based products with a meat-like fibrous texture. The new launch joins Novameat’s existing products Nova-Ch*cken mini-fillets and Pulled Nova-ch*cken, and Deli Nova-t*urkey. Earlier this month Novameat successfully raised €17.4m in an oversubscribed Series A round to help it expand into new regions and support the expansion of its product portfolio.

Yarra Valley Caviar hits Harrods’ shelves

Premium Australian caviar brand Yarra Valley Caviar is now available to buy in luxury London department store Harrods. The company humanely and sustainably extracts roe by hand from freshwater salmon, rainbow trout and brook trout using a centuries-old method. Once a year, during milking season, the fish are placed under a natural sedative and their bellies massaged by hand to remove the roe, before being placed back into their ponds to recover and spawn the following year, and for years afterwards. By massaging the fish by hand, Yarra Valley Caviar says it minimises the risk of harming them, increasing their lifespan and the number of years they can produce roe. Its products include hand-milked first harvest salmon roe, smoked salmon, and trout roe, which are packaged on-site with premium salt and brine. “We are unbelievably excited about launching in a global icon like Harrods,” says Nick Gorman, co-owner at Yarra Valley Caviar. “To see the products we make with such passion from our patch of land in Victoria make it to the storied Harrods food hall is such a thrill. We can’t wait for Londoners and visitors from the UK and beyond to try our roe.” Yarra Valley Caviar is currently used by Claude Bosi at his two-Michelin starred restaurant Bibendum and at Bibendum’s Oyster Bar, by chef Scott Hallsworth at his pan-Asian London restaurant Freak Scene, and by Miller Prada and at Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant HUMO.

Unox launches ‘the most powerful combi oven ever made’

Unox has launched a new flagship combi oven that it says is the most powerful that has ever been made. Featuring two different models - CHEFTOP-X™ and BAKERTOP-X™ - X-Generation is the result of a project that lasted more than three years and combined the expertise of over 50 dedicated engineers, physicists, chemists and chefs. Created by taking inspiration from the way people interact with smartphones, the new products feature Digital.ID™ for a ‘fast, intuitive and fully customisable interface, complete with hyper-connectivity enhanced with artificial intelligence’. CHEFTOP-X™ is designed for use in foodservice, while BAKERTOP-X™ is devised specifically for the needs of bakeries and pastry shops. “Innovation runs to the very heart of our business,” says Unox UK managing director Scott Duncan. “From striving to develop commercial cooking equipment with energy efficiency and sustainability at its core, to technology that supports operators, drives consistency and delivers precision time and time again. Continuing to explore the possibilities in terms of manufacturing and technological evolution, we’re proud to launch X-Generation – the most powerful range of combi ovens ever.”

The Access Group buys QikServe

Business management software provider The Access Group has announced the acquisition of QikServe, the digital commerce platform, content management system, kiosk and mobile order and pay provider to the hospitality sector. QikServe will become part of the group’s Hospitality division, which provides IT solutions for all aspects of the hospitality business, from guest booking, EPoS, table management and marketing to procurement, facilities management, training and hotel PMS. The QikServe platform allows customers to order and pay for items from a smartphone, tablet or self-service terminal. “QikServe brings us new capabilities and a strong customer base in cafés, quick-service restaurants, hotels, casinos and resorts, which complements our existing UK operations and helps us further our international expansion plans,” says Access Hospitality’s managing director Champa Magesh. “Our goal is to build an integrated hospitality suite of solutions, on a single platform, which helps operators deliver the best guest experience, makes them more effective and ultimately more profitable. The acquisition of QikServe is an important step in bringing this vision to life through its innovative CMS, kiosk solution, connectivity and data orchestration capabilities.”

The Sommelier’s Selection olive oil

Certified olive oil sommelier Mazen Assaf has unveiled his most exclusive offering yet. Called The Sommelier’s Selection, it is a hand-picked collection that showcases the finest olive oils from across the Mediterranean, and will be available to purchase this November. The Sommelier’s Selection features six olive oils from Italy, Spain, Greece, and Lebanon. Oils in the range are Frantoio from Puglia, Italy; Coratina from Puglia, Italy; Koroneiki from Peloponnese, Greece; Manaki from Peloponnese, Greece; Picual from Andalucia, Spain; and Souriani from Chouf, Lebanon. The Sommelier’s Selection will be available for restaurants, and can be purchased online as a tasting box of two bottles (priced at £56), four bottles (£104) or six bottles (£156) at www.oliveoilguy.com.

Gastronomy Plus acquires Cinders Barbecues

Gastronomy Plus, owner of the Kasai, Delivita, and Bertha wood/charcoal fired cooking equipment brands, has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of Cinders Barbecues. The addition of the successful Lancaster-based producer of premium quality barbecues and outdoor cooking equipment will also give Gastronomy Plus access to Cinders’ extensive manufacturing facilities. “This is a really exciting development for us, not just because it strengthens our range of wood/charcoal fired cooking equipment, but also because it will enable us to consolidate the manufacture of many of our other products at one site, including our Kasai Japanese style Konro grills, sous vide water baths and eventually our Bertha charcoal ovens and DeliVita pizza ovens,” says Gastronomy Plus Alex Shannon. Shannon adds that manufacturing locally will make Gastronomy Plus a more sustainable business and will also enable it to produce products more efficiently, carry out in-house research and development, hold more stock, and ultimately provide a better service to its customers.

Phat Pasty Company reveals festive range

Foodservice supplier of pies, pasties and savoury treats Phat Pasty Company has revealed its festive range for 2024. With the UK free-from market anticipated to grow at 12.2% between 2023-2033, new for this year is the introduction of the wild boar, apple and cider gluten-free pie. Made with wild boar and apple, in a creamy cider and mustard sauce, topped with a golden gluten-free pastry, the pie was overall runner up and Silver Award Winner in the Free From category at the British Pie Awards 2024. The new pie joins a line-up of three hot-to-go yuletide treats including the Phat Christmas dinner pasty, filled with turkey, bacon, sausage and cranberries, seasoned with sage and onion and encased in a hand-crimped pasty, and the Phat festive chunky sausage roll, with pork, turkey, ham & cranberries, wrapped in a puff pastry roll. With nearly seven out of 10 (67%) consumers extremely sustainability conscious and a third reducing their overall meat intake, the range also offers meat-free option the Phat Festive Vegan Bake. The puff pastry slice is filled with mushrooms, cranberries and pea protein chunks in a creamy coconut milk sauce, seasoned with sage and thyme.