Cook Wrap Export

Selling your food to the world

by Bruce McMichael

Produced by

HARRIMAN HOUSE LTD

18 College Street

Petersfield

Hampshire

GU31 4AD

GREAT BRITAIN

Tel: +44 (0)1730 233870

Email: enquiries@harriman-house.com

Website: www.harriman-house.com

First edition published in Great Britain in 2015.

Copyright © Bruce McMichael

The right of Bruce McMichael to be identified as the Author has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 9781908003669

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior written consent of the Publisher.

No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading material in this book can be accepted by the Publisher, by the Author, or by the employer of the Author.

This book is dedicated to my father, Mac, and Mother whose tales of travels, adventures and business inspired me to use my passport and enjoy a world of food!

Contents

Who This Book is For

Cook Wrap Sell

1. An Exporter’s Overview

The UK’s largest manufacturing sector

Why export?

Where to export?

What to export?

Government support

Cultural considerations

The steps you have to take

2. Is Exporting Right for Me?

Six key issues to consider before you start exporting

Preparing for export

SWOT Analysis

Summary

3. Where Are My Markets?

Fail to plan … plan to fail

Seven key research questions

Finding answers

Identifying your potential markets

Aid-funded business

Six research tips

Summary

4. Marketing and Sales

Mind your Ps and Cs

Your product

Exhibitions, festivals and shows

Pricing

Awards

Summary

5. Getting Noticed Online

Website etiquette

Content is king, and links are queens

Social media marketing

Mobile communications

Apps

Social media

A changing landscape

Summary

6. Labelling

Label design

Health and nutrition

Packing for delivery

Summary

7. Routes to Market

Agents

Distributors

Routes to market

UK Trade & Investment

Protecting your intellectual property

Summary

8. Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Your export policy

Delivery: logistics and distribution

Summary

9. Business Travel and Culture

Business travel

Export Insight Visits

Culture

Cultural awareness and business practices

Summary

10. Finance and Money

Funding

Getting paid

Open a foreign bank account

Insurance

Accepting payment online

Letters of credit

Distance Selling Regulations

Paying duty within the EU

Summary

Conclusion

Useful Resources

Advice and support

Background information

British Government

Trade statistics

Find that company

Industry groups

Business travel advice & languages

Regional food & drink groups

Exhibitions in the UK and abroad

Magazines and websites

Learning

Export companies

Country profiles for the UK’s top and potential export markets

Who This Book is For

Your journey to becoming a food and drink exporter may well start with an unexpected but thrilling sales enquiry from Russia, India or South Africa, or it might have always been part of your business plan.

Whatever it is that first prompts you to explore exporting your food business’s products, this book is the definitive guide to everything that the journey will entail. There is much to learn and do before a trickle of export orders is transformed into an established and growing part of your income. Here you’ll find out everything you need to know to get started on an international journey, giving you the confidence to take on, and succeed in, a competitive marketplace.

This book is a guide for those dipping their toes into the exciting, challenging world of food and drink exporting. It’s as much for those making their very first overseas sales, as it is for those seeking inspiration and advice on taking an existing export business to the next level.

There is a vast global market hungry for quality British food and drink. Consumers in China, Russia, the Middle East and many other markets are actively seeking out the ‘sharp’ taste of British products such as potato crisps, apples (selling for around £1.50 in Kuala Lumpur!) and mustard and pickles.

Backed up by a huge amount of support from government and business support organisations such as Enterprise Nation, you’ll have the confidence to take your products to lucrative new markets and fulfil orders around the world. There’s never been a better time to jump in, and this book will be with you every step of the way.

Bruce McMichael

BRUCE McMICHAEL is freelance writer, journalist and publisher and is passionate about local food, inspired by local provenance through meeting and learning from the producers and chefs.

He published and edited a local food magazine, Taste Shropshire, which included news and reviews of local food producers, restaurant and hotel reviews and local and regional recipes.

As a regular user of local farmers’ markets, food fairs and festivals he has spoken with hundreds of individual local producers, and small-to-medium-sized businesses eager to share their experiences of working as a food entrepreneurs.

Bruce is an experienced public speaker and conference chair and has judged many cooking competitions including ‘Curry Chef of the Year’ organised by Shropshire Council, a best Fidget Pie challenge run by the famous Ludlow Food Festival, and a Best Sausage competition run by the regional food group Heart of England Fine Foods. He is an active member of the Guild of Food Writers. Cook Wrap Export is Bruce’s second book.

@cookwrapsell

With Thanks

With thanks to all the companies that contributed thoughts, experiences and advice, to the UK Trade & Investment department for a wealth of information and support, and to Kwintessential (www.kwintessential.co.uk) for sharing experience and knowledge.

Cook Wrap Sell

Cook Wrap Sell is Bruce’s first book, and is also published by Harriman House/Enterprise Nation. There is growing demand for traditional, well-cooked, locally-sourced, homemade food and so there’s never been a better time to start your own food business, and this book will be your guide through all the stages from the lightbulb moment to selling your produce to happy customers. Produced in partnership with Country Living Magazine, this book will help you:

•turn your love of food into a thriving small business, with the right idea and a watertight business plan

•create a home-based kitchen that complies with health and safety legislation

•use social media to promote your produce and brand

•become part of a vibrant community selling at farmers’ markets and food festivals across the UK

•sell into shops, pubs and giant supermarket chains.

This book is sprinkled with real-life stories of people making money from cooking, baking, blogging and much more besides. You’ll meet soft-drink producers, beef burger and sausage makers, chocolate and fudge specialists . . . and more. All of them started from scratch and are now successfully selling into everywhere from farm shops to supermarkets.

www.enterprisenation.com/books/cook-wrap-sell

1. An Exporter’s Overview

Just as British consumers are familiar with international ingredients and cuisines, so the world is keen on buying food and drink ‘Made in Britain’.

In the UK, celebrity chefs and food festivals have driven a huge rise in consumer interest in food. This has given many home cooks the knowledge and skills to create wonderful dishes, with increasing numbers moving on to create food businesses.

Boosted by the internet, affordable international travel and support from the British government through UK Trade & Industry (UKTI), these small and medium-sized food companies are looking further and further afield for their customers and exploring new markets. If you’re reading this book, you may be one of them.

Efficient communications and a wide choice of transport and logistics systems is helping match suppliers with fast-growing demand in booming markets such as Brazil, India and China alongside the UK’s traditional export markets of Ireland, the European Union and the USA.

Armed with the proper research, companies can target the millions and millions of customers living beyond British borders. The challenges of reaching them can seem daunting; there are plenty of questions to be answered before the dollars, euros and yen start rolling in. But they’re not insurmountable.

Let’s start by taking a quick look at exactly what’s going on inside the British food and drink exporting community today.

The UK’s largest manufacturing sector

Food and drink represents the largest manufacturing sector in the UK; employing more than half a million people, it makes a considerable contribution to the economy. Even in the midst of a global economic downturn, food and drink exports are continuing to grow, month on month, year on year. In 2013, food and drink exports grew by 5% to £12.8bn compared with the previous year. Exports to non-European Union markets (up by 11.5%) outperformed those to the EU (up by 3%) pushing the non-EU share up by 1.3%. Including alcoholic drinks, total food and drink exports were £19.4bn, up by 3.7% on 2012.

Ireland and France remain the UK’s biggest food and drink export markets by both overall value and value gained in 2013, rising by 7% to £3.2bn and 10% to £1.5bn respectively. Exports to China rose by a massive 82% compared to 2012, moving China up to become the second largest non-EU market, with exports of British pork (up by 92%) and Scottish salmon (up by 90%) alone contributing £33m, reported the Food and Drink Federation.

Value-added products performed well in both the EU (up by 5%) and non-EU (up by 6%) and the five best-performing value-added products generated gains of over £280m compared to 2012.

Top product categories:

•Chocolate: up by 9% to £571m

•Salmon: up by 38% to £465m

•Cheese: up by 9% to £443m

•Lamb: up by 8% to £383m

•Soft drinks: up by 9% to £378m.

Top performing markets:

•China: up by 82% to £201m

•Australia: up by 18% to £134m

•Hong Kong: up by 16% to £156m

•South Africa: up by 13% to £103m

•Saudi Arabia: up by 12% to £132m.

India-inspired sauces sent to Spain, cheese to Japan and breakfast cereals to China are some of the UK’s food exporting success stories. Meat, dairy, seafood and value-added grocery products are all in demand across Europe and increasingly in Asia, while the Scotch whisky industry continues to expand sales globally. The main recipients of British food and drink exports continue to be mature markets such as the USA, Canada and the EU. However, developing markets such as the Gulf States and Asia are opening up some excellent opportunities for exporters.

Selling tea to China

In late 2013, the then UK minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, led a group of British food and drink producers to Shanghai and the Food and Hotel China exhibition.

The British companies spanned a wide variety of food groups ranging from tea and beer to cheese, smoked salmon, desserts and confectionery.

Speaking at the show, Mr Paterson said: British food is renowned across the world for quality and our smoked salmon, pork, chocolate and Scotch whisky are already popular here in China. I’m in Shanghai to bring some more great British products to Chinese buyers and help get more British food and drink onto your supermarket shelves.

Why export?

Many companies start exporting by accident. Busy developing their businesses in local markets, they might not have considered exporting until an unexpected email or enquiry lands on their desk. This spark may develop the business in unexpected but rewarding ways. Perhaps this inspiration was what you needed to develop an export business, or maybe you made the decision to export for another reason.

The British Chambers of Commerce polled members who currently export products and found an interesting variety of reasons that motivated them into exporting –