Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 20 July 2019 | The Grocer | 39Müller pop-up: Müller is inviting
people to create their own Müller
yoghurt – with up to 28,000 com-
binations available – at its first
ever pop-up shop. The Müller Corner Shop at
London’s Westfield Stratford City is open until 27
July and will give shoppers the chance to use a
range of yoghurt bases, fruit compotes and ingre-
dients to make their ideal yoghurt. Müller is
encouraging people to share their creations using
the #mullerlicious hashtag for a chance to be the
brand’s next potential limited edition.A taste for plant-based: Almost a quarter (23%)
of Brits used plant-based milk alternatives in the
three months to February 2019, up from just 19%
in 2018, according to new research by Mintel.
Among 16 to 24-year-olds, that figure was 33%.
However, the use of plant-based milk alternatives
in cooking is still limited and 65% of Brits would
like more tips on how to use them in cooking and
baking, it found.Yeo sponsors Bristol City: Ye o
Valley has renewed its shirt spon-
sorship deal with Bristol City
Women’s FC for the next two sea-
sons. After the World Cup in France led to a surge
in interest in women’s football, the dairy brand
said it was hoping the sport’s popularity would
continue into the Women’s Super League next
season. “Supporting women’s football gives Yeo
Valley the opportunity to talk to a new audience
about our brand, organic food and dairy health,”
said executive chairman Adrian Carne.Ornua restructure: Following a review of its
European ingredients’ operations, Ornua has
announced plans to close its Whitchurch site and
transfer production to its nearby Nantwich cheese
ingredients facility. The Irish dairy co-op said the
majority of the 90 people employed at Whitchurch
would transfer to Nantwich, while the clo-
sure would allow it to create a more “stream-
lined” business able to better respond to market
opportunities.Gut-friendly coconut yoghurt: The Coconut
Collaborative has upgraded the recipe of its coco-
nut-based yoghurt alternatives to contain billions
of gut-friendly live cultures. The supplier said it
was the first vegan brand in the UK that could
make this claim, and would appeal to shoppers
interested in gut health who weren’t fans of fer-
mented foods such as kombucha and kefir.Love Seitan grows in UK: British
meat alternative brand Love
Seitan has joined forces with
vegan food distributor Bravura
Foods to increase its footprint in the UK retail
market for its wheat-based vegan products. The
products will be rolling out to independent health
food stores and the mults over coming months.fresh digest
Flamingo supplies flowers,
plants and veg to the mults
Flamingo Produce,
which supplies fresh
flowers, plants and veg
to the mults, shrugged
off difficult market condi-
tions to almost double its
profits last year.
Despite stating turno-
ver – which rose 3% to
Flamingo shrugs off
difficult conditions
£1264m – had not been
“as strong as we had
hoped”, director Lorraine
Dalton stressed the com-
pany had “performed
well” amid “strong
headwinds”.
Flamingo faced chal-
lenging external factors
such as retailer promo-
tional strategies, cost and
labour pressures during- However, improved
margin control helped
operating profit climb
from £3.5m to £6.7m for
the year, according to
accounts for the year to
31 December lodged with
Companies House.
Dairy co-op First Milk
has announced plans
to close one and sell
another of its Scottish
creameries, putting more
than half of the 30 jobs at
both sites at risk.
It follows last year’s
strategic review which
deemed both facilities no
longer a “strategic fit” for
the business.
The company said
it had launched an
employee consultation
over its Arran facility.
However, First Milk was
“hopeful” it could sell its
Campbeltown plant to
local farmers.First Milk to
‘scale down’
Scottish sites
Kevin White
Yazoo owner Friesland-
Campina has launched
its Dutch chocolate milk
brand Chocomel in the
UK for the first time.
The brand, which is
described as one of the
Netherlands’ “best-kept
secrets” by the dairy
co-op, marks Friesland’s
latest attempt to expand
its UK portfolio with one
of its top-selling Dutch
brands.
Available in a 250ml
can (rsp: £1.65), the prod-
uct has gone on sale ini-
tially in the wholesale
and convenience chan-
nels. It is intended to
tap an impulse market
currently dominated
by chocolate milk-
shake brands such as
Yazoo and Frijj, and
FrieslandCampina to
bring Dutch choc milk
hit Chocomel to UK
Dunn’s River’s canned
Nurishment drink.
Chocomel boasts more
than 80 years of herit-
age in the Netherlands,
and with sales of €59.3m
(£53.5m) last year [IRI,
52 w/e 31 December], it is
bigger than brands such
as Arla, Heinz and Nestlé
in its home market.
Chocomel had already
seen its Dutch success
replicated in countriessuch as Belgium, so the
time was right to bring it
to the UK, said marketing
manager Kate Allison.
“Chocomel has a
unique premium taste.
We’ve created an excep-
tionally smooth and
chocolatey recipe that
we’re really proud of.”
The drink is Friesland’s
third-bestselling brand
in the Netherlands, after
Campina and Optimel.
The latter was launched
in the UK as Optiwell in
2015 but delisted within a
year due to poor sales.
Chocomel’s UK arrival
comes a month after
new UK MD Will Jones
announced ambitions
to double the size of
Friesland’s business over
the next five years, with a
big emphasis on NPD.Chocomel has 80 years of
heritage in the Netherlands