Case studies

Fosters Bakeries

Britain's assault on French cookery has been stepped up by a Yorkshire bakery which has started exporting lorry-loads of baguettes across the Channel.

Fosters of Barnsley has used a legal loophole to beat local boulangers to a contract supplying the narrow loaves to the whole of the French railway system.

The order follows a double whammy for North of England butchers who stole Grand Prix d'Excellence awards earlier this year at Europe's biggest black pudding contest in France. The Real Lancashire Pudding company went on to take two gold medals in the usually French and Belgian-dominated tasting organised by the Compagnons de la Gastronomie Porcine. The baguette triumph, which has earned Fosters managing director, John Foster, the French media title of "most hated man in France", is down to the firm's expertise in making long-life loaves.

French local law forbids the use of fat which is key to the long-life process, Foster said yesterday, but competitors from elsewhere in the European Union can sidestep the ban, under European legislation. Building on the "rolling stock" order, the Barnsley bakery is now challenging the brioche market in France, using the same method. "Their own bakers could give them a good product, but it didn't fit the railway's needs," said Foster. "In Yorkshire we've a tradition of giving customers what they want. They asked for baguettes which don't go stale and we said yes, we can do you them. We're shipping the stuff out by the wagon-load."

Foster said he had been surprised by the "cheek" of the mismatch between French and EU law but recognised a good sales opportunity.

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Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Ltd

Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Ltd is one of the largest producers and suppliers of convenience foods in the UK

Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods Ltd is one of the largest producers and suppliers of convenience foods in the UK and in particular egg mayonnaise sandwich fillings to the growing retail sandwich market. Fresh-Pak is owned as a subsidiary by Perkins Foods, who acquired the company in July 1998 for £9.7m.

The facility at Waterside Park in Wombwell, Barnsley is now the largest supplier of egg mayonnaise to the UK sandwich market (estimated at 200t per week). The sandwich market is a rapidly growing area in the food industry (currently 10% per year) and so the facility is seen as a response to an established and increasing market demand.

The plant can process over seven million per week (in excess of 250t of egg mayonnaise per week). Phase three is still in the planning stage but it is expected that the operation will be increased in size to accommodate the growing market for other sandwich fillings beside the egg mayonnaise.

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