News

The destination will depend on the average temperature from this month to August. Pho has announced a chance for customers to have a free trip to either Vietnam or a staycation within the country. Partnering once more with Rickshaw Travel, customers can submit their entries online at www.phocafe.co.uk/summer2018 or via the menu cards on tables at any Pho restaurant. Pho will either provide a one economy class return flight from London to Vietnam (either Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi) or one night accommodation for two people in Brighton, Cambridge or Oxford, 2 round trip train tickets from London to Brighton, Cambridge or Oxford, and a meal for 2 at Pho in Brighton, Cambridge or Oxford. To determine the type of prize, Pho will take the average temperature of the days between June 11 and August 31 as published by the Met Office at Heathrow Airport. The highest temperature of each day will be recorded. If there were more days under 23 degrees Celsius during the time period, the prize will be the Vietnam trip. If not, the winners will have a staycation at their selected city.

The menu is based on the author’s new book, Real Food Kids Will Love. Recently opened Bluebird Café has teamed up with children’s cookery author Annabel Karmel to have an exclusive menu collaboration specifically designed for Bluebird Café’s family diners. The menu is based on her upcoming book Real Food Kids Will Love, slated to launch on June 28, and will be offered during a six-week residency in the café. Offerings for children include hidden vegetables Bolognese, roast chicken, roast potatoes, squash and sage stuffing, and no-sugar chocolate orange energy balls. Adults, meanwhile, will also have a friendly selection that includes the mini raspberry cheesecakes. “The team is consequently thrilled to be welcoming Annabel through its new White City doors, where her signature dishes shall run alongside Executive Chef Simon Gregory’s modern European menu,” Bluebird Café said. Two ticketed children’s cookery workshops hosted by Karmel and Gregory, will also take place by August during the residency period.  

The revamped menu comes with the brand’s first vegan-friendly wrap. Greggs has announced that it has relaunched its range of sandwich offerings, including their Mexican Bean Wrap – their first vegan-friendly offering. The vegan wrap is soft tortilla wrap packed with mixed beans, sweetcorn and mixed peppers, tomato sauce, guacamole, chili sauce and some fresh salad leaves. New additions to the range include the Tandoori Chicken Wrap, Chicken Caesar Oval Bite, and mature Cheese Ploughman’s Oval Bite. Classic sandwich offerings have been updated, such as the Tuna Crunch Baguette. The revamped sandwich range has been made available since June 14. 

This is part of their long-term plastic waste reduction initiative. Burger King UK announced a series of new commitments to reduce plastic waste by the end of the year, in line with the brand’s vision for all packaging used in its 500 stores nationwide to be recyclable, biodegradable or compostable by 2025. Key projects include the introduction of a smaller, lighter-weight and compostable drinking straw, in restaurants nationwide in September 2018, which will reportedly reduce the fast food brand’s total plastic output by 36% a year or approximately 29 metric tonnes. They are also working with suppliers to find a completely biodegradable straw replacement that still works for customers, in line with their goal of completely eliminating plastic straws from all restaurants. A pilot test will also take place from 1st July 2018 in 70 restaurants, where straws and cup lids will only be given to customers when requested. Burger King says a nationwide, permanent roll out before the end of the year might be implemented if this shows positive results. “Packaging helps us to provide guests with the same great tasting, quality food that they expect from us, however we are aware of the negative impact that plastics in particular can have. We are firmly committed to making a real difference and increasing the recyclability of the materials we use, as well as helping our customers to dispose of packaging more responsibly,” Burger King UK chief financial officer Tim Doubleday.

The food item was previously launched last year.

This is one of the brand’s three openings scheduled for this year. Rosa’s Thai Café is now set to open one of its newest sites in Bluewater later this year, after signing an agreement with commercial property company Landsec to acquire 2,500 sq ft in the area. “London was a great starting point for us to offer our authentic and sustainably sourced dishes, but we wanted to reach out to an even wider market. We’re delighted to be bringing an entirely new type of cuisine to Bluewater, which we view as one of the UK’s leading retail and leisure destinations,” Rosa’s Thai Café managing director Gavin Adair said. The brand, who was recently acquired by private equity firm TriSpan, is noted for their signature Thai food with seasonal ingredients and sustainability credentials. (Also read: Rosa's Thai Café acquired by private equity firm TriSpan) “Guests at Bluewater have told us for some time that they would like to see Thai cuisine offered as part of our dining options. We have seen strong demand for space in the plaza and we know Rosa’s Thai Cafe will be a popular addition,” Robert Hardie, Portfolio Director at Landsec, co-owner and asset manager of Bluewater, added.

This initiative allows restaurants with existing delivery services to join the online delivery platform. For the first time, restaurants who make deliveries with their own rider fleets will now be able to join Deliveroo and make use of their 15,000-strong UK rider network. Through the new ‘Marketplace+’ service, customers on the app will see both restaurants who make use of Deliveroo’s ‘core’ delivery network and restaurants who deliver meals themselves starting July. Restaurants, meanwhile, will be able to deliver to customers using either their own riders or Deliveroo’s rider network – enabling them to fulfil more orders at times of high customer demand, speed up delivery, and extend the times where they can offer delivery. The company says customers will see an additional 5,000 restaurants on the platform by the end of the year, widening their selection. Marketplace+ is being rolled out globally this year, launching in Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong and the UK and Ireland in July. “[W]e are unveiling the next big step in our plan to offer customers an even greater choice of restaurants, at a greater range of prices while continually improving service. This is a major development for the company that will mean thousands of new restaurants delivering new orders to new customers and it’s part of our mission to become the definitive food company,” Deliveroo CEO and co-founder Will Shu said. 

The limited-edition cups are launched ahead of Pride marches across the country. Celebrating the LGBT community, Costa Coffee has unveiled its first-ever rainbow-coloured cups. The limited-edition Pride cups will be fully available in selected stores across the UK in Edinburgh, Essex, London, Glasgow, Brighton, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff. They products are fully recyclable and ordered in place of the standard red cup for each store to reduce waste. The coffee brand is a founding partner of GLOW (Gay Lesbian Out at Whitbread), a group of over 1,000 members that champion equality and inclusion in the workplace. “Our all new rainbow cups are a fun way to celebrate Pride and reflect Costa Coffee’s values of equality, and diversity. We are passionate about championing team members rights to work in an inclusive, supportive environment. We’re so proud of the achievements of the GLOW team and look forward to seeing them marching at the many of the Pride Parades across the UK,” Costa Coffee managing director for UK & Ireland Jason Cotta.

One of their offerings includes a vegan option.

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

Find out what QSRs have been up to on social media. NEW ON THE MENU

A recent study suggests that the Western-dominated franchise scene will change.

Nando’s customers can now book their orders a day in advance.

The hospitality company originally planned to spin-off the coffee business.

Their London flagship store will be located in Covent Garden.

The new site resulted from a partnership between SSP and Welcome Break.