California Raisins are known the world over for providing flavour, texture and colour to a wide variety of products.
California Raisins add a wide range of benefits to products, from baked goods and confectionery to main meals and desserts. Not many ingredients are quite as versatile, nor do they offer the consistent quality that the California Raisin does. Consumers looking for low fat, low salt content will benefit from products containing California Raisins. They contain protein, fibre, calcium and iron, all of which improve nutritional profiles. California Raisins are a truly versatile ingredient – 100% natural, sun-dried, sweet and juicy, with an intense rich flavour.
Over 50,000 metric tonnes of California Raisins are used every year in a wide variety of products across Europe, from bakery and confectionery to cereals, dairy and ice creams. Rigorous inspections and safety checks, often set to client specifications, are key factors that make California Raisins appealing to international brands and manufacturers.
The California Raisins team are continually promoting the message across to UK trade and consumers about the benefits of California Raisins in cooking, baking and snacking, and keeping audiences up to date about why California Raisins present a smarter, confident choice, all through a combination of targeted initiatives.
May 2013 saw an industry visit to the UK from California which represented a “first” for more than 20 years, when the California Raisins UK team welcomed a delegation from the California Raisin Industry to meet importers, retailers and wholesalers. 125 members of National Dried Fruit Trade Association (NDFTA) and their guests joined growers and packers from Fresno to hear about the latest news and views from California.
For 11 years California Raisins has been committed to supporting Britain’s professional bakers and in 2013 they attended the conference of the former National Association of Master Bakers, now known as the Craft Bakers Association. In June they supported the Alliance for Bakery Students and Trainees’ Annual Conference at Alton Towers and the Scottish Bakers’ Conference, where, collectively, they put the California Raisins proposition in front of over 500 key bakery companies. In July the team were at the Skills for Chefs Conference at the University of Sheffield, and in October the emphasis was on bakery, when California Raisins supported National Craft Bakers’ Week encouraging bakers to pull out all the stops and offer shoppers the best handmade baked goods available. This year saw an increase of at least 30%?more bakeries taking part compared to last year. Also in October California Raisins attended IBIE 13 in Las Vegas with winners from the national California Raisin bakery competition.
At the end of November the team went international again and travelled to Frankfurt, taking part in the US Pavilion at Food Ingredients Europe. ‘FIE’ is considered the world’s most important gathering of ingredient suppliers, distributors and buyers – the perfect audience for California Raisins to demonstrate their value to the global manufacturing community.
On the consumer side, California Raisins is increasingly active in online consumer advertising. In 2013 they teamed up with ‘madeformums.com’ and launched an on line advertising campaign to young mums with pre-school and primary school children, reaching an audience of 1.7 million. Mums were invited to request a special California Raisin activity pack, resulting in a total of 313,000 impressions throughout the campaign.
California Raisins also teamed up with the W.I. and celebrity chef Brian Turner last year and invited the W.I.’s 210,000 members to create an exciting new dish made with California Raisins. Brian Turner was on hand not only to judge the competition but also to re-create the winning dishes.
Getting our message across is an ongoing process and this work continues into 2014 at Foodex where we look forward to catching up with colleagues both old new. California Raisins will again be at the NEC in Birmingham this year from Monday 24th March to Wednesday 26th March 2014. You can find California Raisins at booth number F313 in Hall 20.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to visit our stand and find out more about the versatility of California Raisins, AND the chance to win one of two £500 holiday vouchers!
So come along and visit the California Raisins, Hall 20, booth Number F313 at the NEC Birmingham from Monday 24th March to Wednesday 26th March 2014, or email us info@ukraisins.com for further details.
California Raisins – loved the world over
California Raisins UK
Tel: 01753 827650
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