The Best of the Lunch and Casual Dining Shows

Our favourite shows, it has to be said. Our heartland in marketing is right here. Food to go, meals, snacking, coffee, restaurants... it's a massive two days with some excellent brands and foods on display. Here are our favourite- the best of the Lunch and Casual Dining Shows.

CheeseO's

Honestly, these guys knocked us for six. We've never seen a concept which smacks of 'why has no one ever done this before?', executed so brilliantly. Proper, full cheese, cheesy snacks. Think proper Wotsits. They'll be unhappy us making that comparison but there is no comparison. Made from 100% Irish Cheddar, which is slowly baked so it puffs. That's it. The plain version is 100% cheddar, the flavoured versions (which are all excellent) are just as authentic with a couple of flavourings. We wonder why these guys aren't on every grocery and convenience shelf - they should be as the product proposition which is so vital to get right is absolutely perfect.

Novameat

It's no secret we think these guys have the best 'virtual meat' plant based product out there. The pulled beef, the chicken, both absolutely perfect in terms of real 'stringy' texture and flavour.

They bought their new pastrami to the show and it was a brilliant execution of something most of their competitors haven't got right. This Isn't were a few stands away and the difference between the two was remarkable.

God knows how the extrusion tech works, but we can't wait to see more of this on our menus.

The Savourists

There were a lot (A LOT) of snacking offers on show this year. Lots of very virtuous brands talking about sourcing, flavours, free-from... but none delivered as well as The Savourists.

Their 'Crunchits' were a fantastic concept we gradually worked our way through as all the flavours did excellent work in delivery. Our favourite thing was that they used a unique combo of edamame and black beans to create a 'crunchy morsel' which was interesting and made us stand there going, 'oooh... ahhh'. Excellent work, we hope they go far, preferably into the pub chains we think they'd do well in.

Vegan Shack

A moment to recognise an inspirational operator who was on the Next Big Thing panel at the end of the second day.

Dimeji Sadiq (second from the left), founder of Vegan Shack in Manchester had a wonderful story. A fashion college drop out who dabbled with social media creative before realising he couldn't get the kind of vegan food on Deliveroo he really wanted. Vegan Shack was born.

Made in his kitchen, delivered through food delivery agents, he ran out of capacity quickly and opened an outlet on Piccadilly. Was honest enough to say it might have been too soon to do that! Our favourite bit - he tests all his new food on people who eat meat. We've been saying this for ages, consumers have told us this in research. The way to win in plant based is make it as good as the original, lead on flavour, and excite those who wouldn't normally try it. A perfect execution. We'll pop in there next time we're in Manchester!

All in all a busy show with some great products and brands on display. But it's clear that the winners always start with knowing their customer and delivering in terms of product experience. We help brands identify this sweet spot. Come and talk to us and you'll smash Lunch or Casual Dining next year!