New Covent Garden use fans' recipes for Soup of the Month and Starbucks expands into Finland

It may be the beginning of the summer holidays for some but Food companies are already planning for Winter. New Covent Garden are asking the public to submit Winter soup recipes to be used for their Soup of the Month range. Starbucks will be opening their first outlet at Helsinki airport this winter as it expands into Finland.

New Covent Garden Consumers Decide on New Winter Flavours

New Covent Garden, the UK based fresh soup brand, is breaking new ground in FMCG marketing by enabling consumers to decide the future development of one of its best-selling lines, the Soup of the Month range.

In doing so, the fresh soup specialist aims to create the world's largest online community of soup fans, working with leading social media agency Fresh Networks.

Recipes will be voted for online.

New Covent Garden will then produce each month's preferred recipe, which will be sold in specially-designed soup of the month cartons featuring a picture of the winner.

Each month, members of the online community will be invited to submit new recipe ideas

Nigel Parrott, New Covent Garden Food Co. Group Marketing Director, said:

"The 'people's soup' idea will complement New Covent Garden's wide-ranging NPD and recipe development programme which is set to be accelerated in the coming months.

"New Covent Garden loyalists love to make their own soups and we're intent on using social media to harness that creative flair in the kitchen.

"Importantly however, the online activity will also reach an entirely new audience of younger soup fans who will relate to products created by consumers for consumers."

In addition to creating the new online community, New Covent Garden will be launching a new website which will be positioned as the 'definitive destination for all things soup' and a major online resource for food fans.

The new website and search for the consumer-led soups of the month will go live this summer, with the first consumer-inspired products coming to market this winter.

New Covent Garden's soups of the month are now the 5th best-selling range in the total fresh soup market.

They are playing a key role in attracting new consumers to the New Covent Garden brand which has a 37% value share of the £155 million market, five times more than the combined share of all other branded fresh soups.

www.fdin.org.uk

Starbucks Coffee Expands into Finland

Starbucks Coffee Company and SSP, the leading operator of food and beverage brands in travel locations worldwide, has announced they will expand Starbucks presence into Finland.

The the first Starbucks store will open in Helsinki Airport early 2012.

Last month Starbucks and SSP announced plans to open a store in Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway also in early 2012.

With this month's announcement, Starbucks will have a full presence across the Nordic markets.

SSP will operate two Starbucks stores at Helsinki Airport; one will be located in the arrivals hall where it will be accessible to passengers and visitors from the city.

The other will be located past security for passengers boarding flights.

Commenting on the new openings, SSP's CEO Andrew Lynch said:

"Since we opened the first Starbucks store in Sweden, it has consistently performed above expectations.

"We're delighted to now be building on this achievement with the opening of these new stores to bring the Starbucks Experience to customers in Finland and Norway."

Starbucks and SSP opened its first store in Sweden in 2010 airside at Arlanda Airport.

It will also be opening the first Starbucks accessible to non-travelling customers at Gothenberg and Malmo railway stations.

All the new stores will open in early 2012.

Rich Nelsen, president of Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: "We are looking forward to meeting our new customers in Helsinki, Gothenburg and Malmo and we are delighted to further our expansion into the Nordics."

"This expansion is consistent with our growth strategy to further develop our existing retail business in the travel channel with skilled and experienced partners like SSP."

SSP entered into a strategic relationship with Starbucks in June, 2008 and since that time, the company has opened 29 stores in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

This announcement comes on the heels of a very successful launch of Starbucks Iced Latte, Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso and Milk, and Starbucks bottled Frappuccino coffee drinks in grocery and convenience stores in Denmark, Finland, and Norway.

www.fdin.org.uk