Co-op Food is today announced as Official Sponsor of Love British Food and the 2016 national food promotion, British Food Fortnight. The two organisations will join forces to spearhead the celebration of British produce during the patriotic year ahead.
Led by Raymond Blanc OBE, his son Olivier and farming ambassador Milly Fyfe, the Love British Food team are working to bring the ‘buy British food’ message to consumers.
A National Committee including Campaign to Protect Rural England, National Trust, National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs, Women’s Institutes and the National Association of British Market Authorities are planning a raft of pilot initiatives to increase sales and give Britishness a boost across the UK.
The Committee pilot promotions will be run in schools, hospitals and care homes, and the most successful will be used as blue prints to be replicated across the UK in 2017 and beyond.
2016 sees The Queens 90th Birthday and a huge sporting summer including the Euros and Team GB taking on the world at the Olympic Games.
There will be a fun competition for schools building on the success of Cook for the Queen which was run for the Diamond Jubilee.
And in the autumn, British Food Fortnight will take place at its traditional time, from the 17th September to 2nd October, with British food promotions being run in shops, markets and outlets nationwide and lots of consumer-engagement activities planned.
The annual competition to find the most imaginative celebration of British food enters its 4th year, having been won by the City of Peterborough in 2015.
The competition, which takes place at Harvest time, ensures that the celebration of the Harvest remains firmly on the national calendar.
Love British Food leaflets promoting Harvest festival will be distributed and the Harvest Torch will continue its’ journey around the UK.
It is the perfect opportunity for farmers and producers to engage with their local communities, to celebrate the harvest and to spread the word about the wonderfully diverse and delicious, high quality food Britain produces.
Alexia Robinson, Founder of Love British Food says: “The opportunity to promote British food this year is huge.
“Royal celebrations and food go hand in hand, as do food and sport, and this summer presents a huge opportunity for everyone involved in food and farming to get out the ‘Buy British food’ message.
“And hot on the heels of summer, is the national food promotion, British Food Fortnight, with lots of consumer-engagement activity and promotions planned to communicate to consumers the reasons for making a conscious effort to buy British when they are shopping or eating out.”
She continues: “We are very fortunate to be working with such a strong supporter of British food and farming in Co-op Food and look forward to working with them to encourage people to fly the Union Jack on their plates as well as on their bunting.
“With their exceptionally strong British offering, and with stores in every corner of the UK, Co-op are the perfect partner for the national Love British Food campaign.”
Cathryn Higgs, Food Policy Manager at Co-op Food says: “We are really very pleased to be supporting Love British Food this year and sponsoring British Food Fortnight.
“We know food provenance really matters to our customers, which drives our enthusiasm to invest in the UK economy to provide an opportunity for British food to have pride of place in our stores.
“It’s why we continue to be a major supporter of British farming and home produced foods, trading with almost 2,000 UK farms and over 500 suppliers from across the UK.
“British products are the ‘staples’ of our stores, and we go above and beyond many other retailers to make it easy for our customers to choose British – from fresh beef, chicken, pork and sausages to the meat in our sandwiches and chilled pies and ready meals.
“We are looking forward to working together with Love British Food and seeing the exciting activities we’ve got planned for 2016 coming to fruition.”
