Each month the Sharp team saves you time by rounding up some of the latest trends and insights from the world of food and drink. It’s designed to help brand founders like you use trends, fine-tune your messaging and increase your brand awareness.

It’s been another busy month – with trade shows in London, trade delegations in Copenhagen and all the bits in-between!  We uncover the latest trends and foodie discoveries in the UK courtesy of Specialty & Fine Food Fair.

Specialty & Fine Food Fair

The Tube strike did not deter us and Clare headed up to Kensington Olympia taking to the pavements and overground trains to meet clients and discover the latest challenger brands hitting the speciality food shelves.

Provenance and Authenticity

So many of the brands at the show are meeting the consumer desire to eat authentic, natural food that has provenance, is made with high quality natural ingredients with a dash of passion:

Take beekeeper and honey sommelier Sanda Condratiuc from Deukes.  She took me through her array of raw monofloral honeys from Moldova showing the contrasting flavour profiles and storytelling behind each variety.  From the light, clear, delicate floral notes of their Acacia to the earthy, spiced, full bodied aroma of their Buckwheat, it was a taste revelation.

The team at Seggiano Foods are passionate about their Italian artisan produce that delivers on flavour and quality with generations of expertise poured into their product range.  Gagan from their sales team introduced us to their stunning new range of Torrone from his hometown of Cremona – a festive nougat-based speciality which is new to the Seggiano festive line up this year.

Alexandros Papakostas is championing the Saffron farmers in his home village of Krocus in Greece, where he grew up harvesting the saffron.  He has created the most beautiful premium saffron tea blends under the brand Krocus & Co which have been awarded Great Taste stars.  Focused on delivering wellbeing benefits each blend combines different natural ingredients with the superfood saffron to deliver a different moment and flavour experience.

Gut Health is here to stay

So many vibrant young brands hero-ing gut health with superfood ingredients:

·        Toss – your new favourite squeeze for dressings, dips, and marinades made with gut-friendly, fibre rich natural ingredients and micronutrients.

·        Oye Yaar – probiotic soda that is light and refreshing and good for your gut.

·        Northern Pasta – harnessing the gut health power of British grown ancient grain spelt.

Joy Givers

For the pure unadulterated pleasure seekers, there was a host of delicious, mouth-watering sweet treats for those times when only an indulgent treat will do:

·        Melt in the mouth fresh artisan fudge from Fudge Kitchen was light and smooth.

·        Divine lemon and rose popcorn from Dink’s Popcorn – served in pretty tea cups – is a great way to elevate snacks or dessert.

·        Died and went to heaven tasting Anne-Francoise Weyns new House of Hot Chocolate – real cocoa bitterness tempers this rich, creamy, silky hot chocolate.

·        This festive season we urge you to put Christmas Pudding Marmalade from Wooden Spoon on your shopping list -it’s Christmas in a jar!

Calling all brands looking to secure their first listing…

We’re excited to be supporting Feelgood: The Health & Wellness Summit on 9th October in London! It’s the go-to event for ambitious challenger brands looking to launch in the Health & Wellness category. Here’s why it’s unmissable:

• Ground-breaking keynotes from thought-leaders at Supergoods and LYMA
• Insight-packed panels with 20+ experts from The Turmeric Co., BOL, One Living Kombucha, MuscleFood, Nielson IQ, Heights, PÄRLA and others
• Pitching opportunities with buyers from Holland & Barrett, Waitrose, Selfridges, Planet Organic, Whole Foods Market, MuscleFood, Zapp, Healf, Cotswold Fayre, Foodles, Daylesford Organic and Zoom by Ocado
• Unrivalled networking with industry pros who can help take your business to the next level.

Grab a ticket and use promo code PARTNER15 for a discount: The Feelgood Summit 2025 — Bread & Jam

We hope you enjoyed our SHARP Bites digest. Please do share with colleagues and industry contacts.

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