Industry insights

We welcome the balanced and considered approach to the proposed new School Food Standards, which maintains the ambition to improve children’s nutrition while recognising the practical realities facing schools and caterers, including pupil acceptance, meal uptake, cost and implementation.

We are now awaiting the final guidance and legislation in October and, behind the scenes, are already developing a new menu cycle to help customers prepare for the changes. Clear guidance, appropriate funding and continued collaboration across the wider food industry will be essential to ensure the standards can be implemented successfully.

Food should be recognised as a critical part of the UK’s national resilience, alongside energy, fuel and water. Recent global events have highlighted the importance of a secure and reliable food system, and there is a real opportunity for government and industry to work more closely together to strengthen preparedness for future challenges.

The UK’s food sector demonstrated during COVID how effectively it can collaborate in times of crisis, and greater coordination between government and food businesses would help ensure robust planning and resilience for the future.

For the full interview on BBC Radio 4, listen here (fast forward to 2:35:35): https://lnkd.in/e9JWuP6g

As a foodservice wholesaler, we’re all too familiar with the risks and challenges of resilient food supply, from our network of UK fruit and vegetable growers who are dealing firsthand with all the challenges outlined in this letter, to the price increases that are experienced by both our public and private sector customers. I would entirely agree with the Labour election manifesto that ‘food security is national security’, so for this and more reasons, Bidfood entirely supports the call for a Good Food Bill.

Currently, around 4–7% of UK adults (approximately 2.1–3.7 million people) are using GLP-1 medications such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro for weight loss, with usage roughly doubling between 2024 and 2025 (KAM). These drugs suppress appetite, meaning users typically eat less and need to make careful food choices to meet their nutritional needs (British Nutrition Foundation).

As a result, when eating out, many are seeking venues that offer healthier options and allow customisation, while research also suggests 65% say they now choose different types of food and are willing to pay a premium for healthier options (KAM).

Venues can respond by offering smaller portions and incorporating more nutrient-dense ingredients such as beans, lean meat, fish, wholegrains, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables. This reflects a broader shift in the UK eating-out market, where growing health awareness extends beyond GLP-1 users, driving demand for dishes that are higher in protein and fibre and lower in sugar, without compromising on flavour (Lumina Intelligence UK Menu & Food Trends Report). The key opportunity for operators will be balancing these nutrient-dense choices with familiar favourites to reflect how consumers’ eating habits are evolving.

UK farmers deserve our full support. They are the backbone of national food security, ensuring we can feed ourselves with high-quality, traceable produce while reducing reliance on imports. Beyond food, farming sustains rural economies, supports thousands of jobs, and protects the countryside we all value. These are often family-run businesses passed down through generations, operating on tight margins and long hours. Fair, stable policy matters, not just for farmers, but for everyone who depends on a secure, resilient food system.

The latest figures from UK Hospitality reveal that of the 164,641 job losses across the UK since last October’s Budget, almost 89,000 have come from hospitality alone. This means our sector accounts for more than half of all redundancies – a stark reminder that pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels are being pushed beyond breaking point. While we welcome recent government steps, such as the 40% rates relief for 2025/26 and plans to consider lower multipliers from 2026, these measures are not enough to offset the tax increases and rising costs that have disproportionately hit hospitality.

We support UK Hospitality’s call for urgent action at the November Budget. The Chancellor must urgently consider applying the maximum discount to the multiplier for hospitality properties under £500,000, pause measures that would drive up costs further, and bring forward targeted reliefs to safeguard jobs. Without decisive intervention, more businesses will close and communities across the UK will lose not only vital local venues but also the livelihoods they sustain.

You may have seen that in recent months meat prices in the UK have risen sharply, especially beef which is up 30 to 40% compared to last year. This is due to a combination of factors including reduced supply, increased demand globally, higher costs such as National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Insurance (NI), weather issues, feed and fuel costs, and post-Brexit tariffs.

Due to these challenges, especially the rise in NI and NMW, it is clear the farming industry needs support and investment to survive. Previous removal of inheritance tax benefits and subsidies has hurt farmers, evidenced by over 30 farms being forced to close in Scotland alone over the past 12-18 months. There is hope for support in the Autumn budget, but for now it remains a volatile environment.

As a key supplier to the UK hospitality sector, Bidfood is voicing the concerns shared across the industry regarding the planned removal of key hospitality roles from the Skilled Worker visa route from 22 July 2025.

Roles such as chefs, restaurant and catering managers, and hotel and bar supervisors are vital to the success and smooth operation of hospitality businesses. Removing these roles from eligibility risks worsening the already critical labour shortages faced by venues across the country.

We urge the government to consult closely with hospitality leaders on this issue as, if implemented, this policy change undermines the sector’s ability to recruit essential talent at a time when the industry is still grappling with many challenges.

It’s important to remember that the hospitality industry plays a vital role in the UK economy and needs a workforce strategy that recognises its value and supports its future.

We’ve seen the recent reports highlighting concerns over reduced portion sizes and lower meat content in school lunches, and we understand the concern around this. School catering teams are facing unprecedented pressures, from rising food costs and tight budgets to increasing dietary and sustainability demands, resulting in difficult decisions in school kitchens across the country.

While changes to meal composition can sometimes reflect wider economic pressures, our goal remains to support schools in providing children with meals that are nourishing, satisfying, and aligned with school food standards.

We continue to advocate for greater investment in school catering and are actively collaborating with local authorities and partners to ensure that every child receives the quality meals they deserve.

Allergens remains a key focus for us at Bidfood and we welcome the new allergy information guidance for non-prepacked foods. Out of home businesses are extremely diverse, varying in size, often operate across multiple sites and serving food in a variety of ways. Therefore, flexibility is crucial to this guidance.

We’re pleased to see the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have taken into consideration some of the concerns of the industry, adopting a more flexible approach that advises businesses on different options to deliver clear written and verbal information to consumers as not ones size can fit all.

Although not a legal requirement, this will hopefully help to raise allergen management standards and ensure operators are meeting their consumer expectations in a way that works for their businesses.