Friday 21 March 2014

Bakery specialist Butt Foods reaps the benefits of being more environmentally friendly

Bakery specialist Butt Foods Ltd has cut its landfill waste by two thirds, significantly reduced its food miles and introduced energy-saving measures at its Nottingham bakery.
Three years ago the company, which produces a range of bakery products for the UK and European foodservice and manufacturing markets, began looking at ways of reducing its carbon footprint.
After implementing a series of changes, the company – and its customers – are now reaping the benefits.
The move has saved the company £5,000 a year in landfill waste costs alone, cut the number of lorry journeys made in the past two years to deliver naan breads by 58, and has allowed the firm to become more competitive, more efficient and more environmentally friendly, said managing director David Williams.
“We are really proud that we’ve been able to reduce our environmental impact,” he said. “Not only is this good news for our carbon footprint and the environment in general, it’s also good news for our customers because we are operating more efficiently.”
He was inspired to look into ways of reducing waste partly by his son Harrison, now ten.
“He would come home from school and tell me to separate our home waste and behave responsibly as far as the environment is concerned, and when I looked around I realised there was more we could do at our manufacturing unit,” added David.
Butt Foods, which bakes a range of products, including naan breads, flat breads, top loader hot dog rolls, sub rolls, canapé bases and fruit breads, introduced a number of measures to reduce waste and become more efficient. This included:
  •  Creating different waste collection points in the bakery and training staff to separate for recycling
  • Asking suppliers to alter the way they packaged ingredients by putting them in recyclable containers
  • Redesigning the firm’s own packaging to increase the number of items that could fit onto each pallet
The firm, which was established in 1990, and now bakes up to 60 million products per year at its manufacturing unit in The Midway, Lenton Industrial Estate, Nottingham, also installed environmentally friendly compressors onto its blast freezer, which has led to a drop in the amount of electricity the company uses. 
“We blast freeze our products immediately after baking to maintain freshness, and by installing the latest units and replacing older, less efficient, technology we have been able to reduce the energy use of the equipment by 44%,” added David.
The business has cut the amount it sends to landfill from three skips to one skip per week.
Over the past two years, on one line alone, Butt Foods has significantly reduced the number of lorry load deliveries as a result of more efficient packaging and packing on each pallet. Figures show it has been able to send out 1,500 fewer pallets of naan breads, which has resulted in 58 fewer lorry loads, even though overall sales of naan breads have risen 30% in the last three years.
“Not only has it reduced food miles and saved on transport and fuel costs, there have also been associated savings, such as boxes being smaller, using less tape and polythene in bags, and of course there has been less space required for storage here and at our customers’ premises, which is harder to define,” said David.
“Our experience is an illustration of what can be achieved when a company sets out to make itself more environmentally friendly and less wasteful. I am very pleased that the whole team at Butt Foods got behind our efforts. They should be justifiably proud of the results, which show that it’s virtually always possible to become more efficient without compromising on quality or customer service.
“We are also grateful to our ingredients suppliers and to refrigeration engineers Transcool (UK) Ltd who helped us achieve our aims.”
Now the company is switching its attention to making its products more healthy by turning the spotlight on reformulation.
For more information visit www.buttfoods.co.uk
Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Monday 10 March 2014

Ten out of ten for Croots Farm Shop products

Derbyshire farm shop Croots scored success for its sausages and meat products by picking up ten awards at the Regional Pork Product Excellence Awards Roadshow.
Croots Farm Shop struck gold four times with its homemade sausage roll, Scotch egg, haslet, and pork and apple burger. The farm shop near Duffield also took two silver awards for its pork, leek and Stilton sausage, and its smoked bacon sausage, and a bronze for its pork, apple and cider sausage.
Meanwhile, Croots butcher Richard Bott hit the jackpot in the Young Sausage Maker Category by winning three bronze awards for his pork and wild mushroom sausage, his Toulouse sausage and his sweet chilli and coriander sausage.
Farm shop owner Steve Croot said: “We have won many awards for our homemade sausages, pies and meat products, and the Croots butchers’ counter is renowned across the area for its quality and range, but we are chuffed to have won so many accolades at the BPEX awards, which are judged by industry experts.
“It now means that virtually all of our sausages are award-winning. One of the keys to our success is the excellent pork that we use. Another is the innovative way that we develop new products – it’s something that our customers really embrace. We’re delighted to have won another great batch of awards to add to the scores that have already been awarded to Croots products.”
Richard, 25, joined Croots towards the end of 2013 and is one of three butchers at the farm shop, which is based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road. 
The BPEX awards roadshow, which was held at Newark, attracted entries from butchers across the region and was judged by industry experts. 
Croots Farm Shop, which opened in June 2008, extended its butchers’ counter as a result of demand and has won many national, local and regional awards for its sausages, pies and other products, which are made in-store. 
All the pork sausages at Croots are made using free range Packington Pork from Barton-under-Needwood, near Burton-upon-Trent. Croots has a range of around 65 different flavours of banger, which it sells on a rotating basis, with between 12 and 14 on sale at any one time.
Croots Farm Shop is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (Shires Eatery until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.
For more information visit www.croots.co.uk
Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk



Wednesday 5 March 2014

Focus Consultants appointed on energy carbon sustainability contracts

Building and property services firm Focus Consultants has extended its geographical reach with two new energy carbon sustainability appointments in the north of Lincolnshire.
The Boston office of Focus has secured contracts to assess and check the environmental credentials of two Scunthorpe residential developments, currently under construction.
Scunthorpe-based TG Sowerby Developments Ltd has appointed Focus as the Code for Sustainable Homes assessor on a scheme of 20 affordable houses and bungalows being built for Guinness Northern Counties in Morecambe Avenue, and on a project to create eight flats for North Lincolnshire Homes in Haig Avenue.
The Haig Avenue development is designed for people with learning difficulties and is a partnership between NLH, the Homes and Communities Agency and North Lincolnshire Council.
As well as acting as assessor for the Code for Sustainable Homes rating, which is an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes, Focus experts have also been appointed to issue the Energy Performance Certificates and undertake the Standard Assessment Procedures for the two schemes.
“Energy carbon sustainability is one of our key services, and we are very pleased to have extended our reach further north in the county with these two recent appointments from TG Sowerby Developments Ltd,” said senior building surveyor Darren Booker, who is based in Focus’ Boston office in Endeavour Park.
As well as offices in Endeavour Park, Boston, and Manor Farm, Aubourn near Lincoln, Focus has branches in Nottingham, Leicester and London. It provides a range of consultancy services to the construction industry, including construction and property services, project and programme management, energy carbon sustainability support and economic development and funding advice.
For more information visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk
Press release issued by Louise Duffield, Perfect 10 PR, on behalf of Focus Consultants www.perfect10pr.co.uk