As previously suggested I went along to the Speciality and Fine Food Fair today, it sure was very interesting. Saw a number of well packaged and very tasty foods available there. (Not for sale though, but lots of free samples which was great!) Lots of different types of foods there, ranging from tasty lemonade, natural beers, sauces, spices, crisps, biscuits, breads, hot chocolates, the list went on and on. While there were also a lot of other ancillary organisations there as well, like labelling companies, packaging makers and food magazines.
Found a few competitors, checked out some of their products and pricing. Some of their products look really good and helped give me a few idea”s of my own.
While wandering around I also had a minor brain wave, walked past a Jelly Bean Factory stand and went over to have a conversation with one of the guys there about putting Jelly Bean”s in cookies. To begin with I wasn’t even sure if you could put Jelly Bean”s in, I mean wouldn’t they melt at the oven temperatures. But no, apparently they melt just a bit but not that much.
He said that they had done a trial run with one of the bigger biscuit manufacturers, and it had worked fine but that nothing further had come from it. Does that mean no one really liked Jelly Bean cookies? Well definitely going to try making some of those myself, could be a good difference to the standard Smartie/M M cookies.
Definitely a day well spent, lots of ideas and brochures picked up which I”m sure will be handy later on.