Firstly congratulations, you’ve done all that hard work and got your product listed. 3rd party accreditation sounds ominous but is actually the retailers version of supplier approval to prove their due diligence. Depending on the size of your business you would look to achieve one of the following:

SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval)
BRC (British Retail Consortium)

These are certificates issued by an unbiased trained person who checks your business complies with the requirements of the standard.

It doesn’t end there! Standards like the BRC Global Food Standard were written by professionals in manufacturing and retailers to create a foundation for how all food operators should operate to ensure safe food. However as we know everybody is different and it is the same with retailers so as well as wanting you to have accreditation by a 3rd party, many will also have their own standard which is essentially the same but with added extras which you will also need to be audited against. If you are lucky enough to gain a contract with another retailer they may also have their own standard with their added extras. Get the picture?

The problems most businesses face with Third Party Approval.
Preparation, preparation, preparation. In many major manufacturers the technical team are preparing for their next 3rd party audit the day after their last as they understand without this certificate the business could lose customers. The cost of someone coming in to carry out and audit is not cheap. How would you feel if you lost that potential big contract and wasted money in the process because you hadn’t invested the time into understanding the detail required within the standard? How would it look to your customer if you hadn’t taken the time to read or act upon their requirements?

How Rogue Foodies can help you gain accreditation…
Between us our team has spent many years, preparing for, being audited and being auditees for many manufacturers and many retailers. We have a vast wealth of documents and even a complete Quality Management System (QMS), which have been proven to work in audit situations. These are available to our clients to be adapted to suit their process and we are available to help set up or to pre-audit and be a technical guide on the day itself.

REMEMBER – PREPARATION IS THE KEY TO GAINING ACCREDITATION

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

As much as many small food producers go into the business for the love of it and their passion for food; unfortunately you still have to earn money to live! All new businesses expect to lose money at first due to the investment required in stock, marketing, upfront costs etc. but after a time you would expect to start seeing a return.

We are not all accountants and costing products properly to make sure you earn a healthy profit is not an easy thing to learn. You have to take into account raw material prices, labour costs, overheads such as electricity, product testing, storage & transport costs, the list goes on and on and not to forget contingency for any fluctuations in raw material price, utility costs, storage & transport costs……

The problem most businesses face with production.

When faced with having to cut back many businesses look at the ‘easy’ hits first – downgrade ingredients, take expensive ingredients out, move to a supplier who does not have such robust systems. All this can lead to changing your product so significantly that it no longer has the WOW factor or could even become unsafe due to the changes in the delicate balance of ingredients or from using a cheaper but unscrupulous supplier.

This could lead to loss of customers though loss of quality of even death of a customer if your re-developed product has become unsafe.

How Rogue Foodies can help you with your production….
Rogue foodies can help you to reduce your costs without the need to compromise in the quality or safety of your product. We are experienced in all factors that affect costs in food production. We can assess your process and find the bottlenecks, which need to be taken out to increase efficiency and minimise waste. We can evaluate your product and help you understand where certain ingredients can be changed from fresh to frozen and with our wealth of knowledge can even put you in touch with different suppliers who may b able to offer you a better deal.

REMEMBER – REDUCING COST SHOULD NEVER BE ABOUT REDUCING YOUR QUALITY

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

The problem most businesses face with testing.

With so many potential tests to carryout it can easy to just do a few that you think that are important and leave the rest unless there becomes an issue. By doing this you are potentially putting your customers lives and your brand at risk. A simple pH check can determine whether bacteria will grow on your product or not which could mean the difference between a nice eating experience and food poisoning. A taste test can determine whether you receive lots of complaints resulting in loss of customers and loss of respect of your brand.

How Rogue Foodies can help you with your testing regime…

We know the key things that have to be tested and can help after evaluation of your process to identify and implement any other testing that needs to be carried out. We know the test labs and places where testing kit can be brought. We can put you in touch with these and help with the commissioning if required.

REMEMBER – THE IDEA OF TESTING CAN BE TESTING IN ITSELF BUT IT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROCESS.

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

As part of your EHO premises approval all people responsible for the preparation of food must have had an appropriate level of training.

The problem most businesses face with training

There are so many ‘food’ training course available that it can be difficult to know which is the best for your business.
If you are not appropriately trained, you will not get approval from the EHO to produce. No approval, no product, no customers, no business!

It is important to ensure that any investment in training is spent wisely.

How Rogue Foodies can help you gain approval…

Rogue Foodies run their own certified HACCP & Food Safety Courses. We run scheduled events at our head office for smaller groups or if you require training for a larger group, we can schedule training specifically for your business with training and examples being specifically tailored for your process.

We will evaluate your process and let you know which training package would best suit you. In the event that we do not run the course to fit your process, we can source the most appropriate once for you, saving you both time and possibly money

REMEMBER – TRAINING STAFF IS AN INVESTMENT

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

The problem most businesses face with physical & chemical contamination.
When starting out many people have to contend with the fact that they are producing in their kitchen, which is part of the family home. How would the rest of the family feel if they had to drink out of plastic mugs because you are worried some glass might get into your product. It might sound funny but these types of contaminants are no laughing matter. They can injure, maim and even kill. Your reputation and brand is going to go nowhere fast if you have the reputation of including a free helping of fingernail with your soup.

How Rogue Foodies can help you with your contamination issues…
We can come to your facility, look at your processes and advise where we think either improvements could be made or where we could put in check sheets for items like glass. We can advise on the possible ‘danger’ ingredients which may have pesticide issues and if necessary put you in touch with testing facilities so you have back up certificates as part of your due diligence.

REMEMBER – PHYSICAL CONTAMINATION REDUCTION IS IN YOUR HANDS!

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

You remember being told to wash your hands before dinner even though they looked clean and you would wonder why? No doubt you have since found out about the world of bacteria and could probably even name a few that cause food poisoning. However would you know which ones are more likely to survive in your product? Would you know how to control, eradicate, and prevent them from being in your food? As part of your due diligence product should be tested at regular intervals in laboratories. Would you know where to send, what to have tested and how often?

The problem most businesses face with bacteria.
Lack of knowledge! It is not all about keeping clean, ensuring product is cooked sufficiently and cooled correctly. Did you know that by adding vinegar to a recipe, you could also be helping to reduce the number of bacteria that survive in a product? At the same time by adding some fresh chopped herbs instead of using dried, you could be increasing the number of bacteria. If people get food poisoning from your product, they will more than likely ever buy it again. They will also tell their friends, who will tell their friends. Some food poisoning cases can be so severe that they can cause disability and even death! You could end up with recalls, fines, and court appearances, jail. You need to do all you can to protect your customer and protect your brand.

How Rogue Foodies can help you with the micro beasties…
At Rogue Foodies we have a vast wealth of knowledge about the world of food borne pathogens. We can advise on your process by looking for ‘dead spaces’ where bacteria may accumulate; look at your hygiene procedures; assess your product & ingredients and advise where we feel any changes need to be made. We have contacts in the laboratory world and can help to set up sampling regimes to ensure your product is being tested correctly and at the right intervals.

REMEMBER – YOU HAVE TO B.CEREUS ABOUT BACTERIA, IT’S NO LAUGHING MATTER!

Call Rogue Foodies today on +44 (0)207 923 6925 and find out how they can help you get approved, produce your product and protect your brand.

Great news today another of our clients has successfully had a product launched into one of London’s Favourite department stores.

Rogue Foodies undertook a
Watch out in the ‘Wonder Bar’ at Selfridges as G’Nosh are looking to do something special with their Executive Chef.

The Rogue Foodie

She will be back again judging the greatest pies, pastries, chocolates and deli meats. I Foodies dream… So much food in one place.

The Quality Food Awards are the most prestigious awards for food and drink products in UK supermarkets and grocery’s. A massive part of the prestige is due to the transparency and robustness of the judging process, rightly regarded as the most rigorous in the industry.

The judging panels are comprised of Top Chefs, Food Lecturers, Home Economists, Food Photographers, Food Writers, Food Technologists and other Foodie Groups who all bring their extensive knowledge and expertise to the judging debate. Obviously we are over the moon to be invited to be amongst some of the food industries leading personalities.

The Quality Food Awards are unique in that they reward great tasting food products with the finest of flavours, textures and aromas. They reward nutritious products with the best ingredients lists whilst recognising innovation, great packaging and presentation.

They are not associated with a particular publication so they are not influenced by ad revenue spending or outside influence.

The team at Rogue Foodies.