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More than 500 restaurants - including all National Trust restaurants and tea-rooms, Sainsbury’s in-store restaurants, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage canteens and restaurant chains Giraffe and Leon - have already signed up to Freedom Food’s ‘Simply Ask’ campaign which launched during Farm Animal Week, in October.
TV chef and restaurateur Antony Worrall-Thompson and a host of MPs marked the launch of the campaign - which aims to get people to ‘Simply Ask’ about food provenance when eating out - by signing a giant seven-foot egg at Victoria Tower Gardens in Westminster.
Early signs indicate ‘Simply Ask’ is going down well with consumers too. Numbers of people clicking through to www.freedomfood.co.uk/simplyask from online advertising in October and November were higher than the industry average. Adverts were carried on BBC Good Food, Channel 4 Food and Top Table websites.
The campaign has also received widespread press coverage including:
- 30 national and regional lifestyle magazine articles
including Hello, BBC Good Food, Olive, Delicious,
BBC Easy Cook, Zest and the Daily Mail Weekend
- News items or features appeared in 40 regional newspapers
- Eleven lifestyle websites including All About You -
who reported 449,000 plus unique users - as well as
15 regional news sites
- Mentions on eight MPs websites and on www.politics.co.uk
Freedom Food marketing manager Caroline Gauntlett said: “Simply Ask has got off to a really positive start. With more than 500 restaurants, cafes and pubs already signed up and calls from potential new ‘Simply Ask’ members daily, it has far exceeded our expectations.
“It is clear from the initial results we have found a campaign with which both restaurants and their customers can engage. It is proving to be a real recipe for success.”
However Caroline is keen to stress that there is still a long way to go with the majority of restaurants still using eggs from caged hens.
“Simply Ask isn’t a quick fix solution. We recognise that many restaurants can’t switch to using cage-free eggs overnight. But we want those restaurants to start putting plans in place now to make the change to cage-free eggs by the end of 2010.”
Members who supply restaurants, pubs, cafes or canteens can help ensure the long-term success of the campaign by speaking to their customers about signing up to ‘Simply Ask’. Whilst the current focus is on eggs, over time it is the intention to develop the campaign to cover other products. To find out more visit www.freedomfood.co.uk/simplyask
Plans are already underway to build on ‘Simply Ask’s’ success in 2010 with a major burst of publicity in the summer.
Whilst ‘Simply Ask’ was the main focus of Farm Animal Week this year, both Sainsburys and Tesco took advantage of the heightened media and consumer awareness of farm animal welfare issues during the week. Sainsburys ran a two page advertorial in their popular consumer lifestyle magazine, whilst Tesco produced a leaflet for their stores nationwide, detailing their ranges and highlighting the advantages of Freedom Food to their customers. |
