H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered.
This week, we met with John Hartley, UK Country Director at Fry’s Family Foods UK to gain a better understanding of the business. Fry’s Family Foods produces vegan based meat free solutions for the foodservice industry which are great tasting, Halaal, Kosher and Shudda approved and ‘freezer to plate’ in most instances in under 7 minutes.
Currently around 27% of the UK population enjoy vegetarian food, be it based on dietary or ethnicity requirements, with a further 10 million committed flexitarians.
This figure is projected to grow by a further 10% by 2016. The trend is definably on the move so ignore it at your peril! Fry’s can help.
Fry’s Family Foods Business Background and History
There aren’t many great entrepreneurial South African success stories in the food industry which start with a philosophy, deep passion…and a garage. But Wally Fry’s did and today, in the Group’s 23rd year, Fry’s vegetarian products are sold in over 23 countries worldwide
When Wally Fry met his wife Debbie, she was a born vegetarian and Wally was buying and selling livestock for slaughter. “I was the furthest thing from a vegetarian you could imagine,” he says. Marriage to Debbie didn’t change his love of meat, although faced with vegetarianism daily as a way of life, it did make him think.
Wally joined the construction industry and recalls being immensely proud of one of his projects. “It was a 4,000 sow unit – a very complex structure to build and I was genuinely proud of it. But when we returned to the site to do the ‘snagging’ I saw, in action, what I’d created – four thousand female pigs, artificially inseminated, lying on their sides, held in place by bars their entire lives, unable to move, while their young are separated from them, within suckling distance. The pigs are fed to a level which just produces the right amount of quality milk at the least possible cost. These animals are simply economic units of value, like pound coins. The owners take out their wallets and spend the lives of the animals the way they’d spend a rand and I was part of that. It is nothing to be proud of.”
What had originally been a niggle became something more. Wally questioned the ethical issues surrounding meat and took a decision. It took about 18 months to wind down his business to the point where he was willing to give up his income and start something totally new…”something that I didn’t know how to do,” he says. “But I had to make a difference somehow.”
Wally grew up on a farm enjoying meat as a staple, loving both the taste and texture. He was no cook, but being creative and introspective he realised meat was all about taste. “Before you eat meat, you taste nothing. When it’s in your mouth, you taste the meat taste you’ve come to expect. When you’ve swallowed it, you taste nothing again. So for that brief minute or two of pleasure, you’re prepared to wreak havoc on the planet and inflict cruelty on animals.”
Wally took the decision not to be part of it – “I needed something to take the place of meat; food that would have the look, taste and texture of meat with the same flavour and feel, but wouldn’t involve animals. “I was totally over broccoli, feta and spinach, which most chefs think is what vegetarians eat, but we need protein like anybody else and that’s why I started.”
With little knowledge and no real tools, but with masses of determination, Wally and Debbie spent almost two years in their garage working 24/7. They produced four vegan products which were not genetically modified.
It’s hard to imagine how to source reliable information without the internet, but Wally did. “I phoned people and asked them what would happen if I mixed this and that ingredient with water”. Wally began to learn the science of ingredients and to get a feeling for what he needed to do to create the ‘mouth feel’ he wanted – “I needed to imitate a real meat burger or meat sausage.” And he did.
“We developed the product to share with vegetarian friends and family. I started out doing this for myself and, in a sense, didn’t believe I’d make it – it’s very, very tough becoming a vegetarian. It’s worse than giving up smoking because it’s more of a social thing. Take the turkey out of Christmas and what have you left? The real essence of Christmas. The real meaning. Once I’d broken through these illusions, I’d made it easier for myself. We created four or five beautiful, tasty products, which were really acceptable even to meat eaters…”
The son of the Chairman of South Africa’s Vegetarian Society rang Wally, as he’d heard about the products and wanted to taste them. He not only loved them, but offered to pass on to Wally his marketing expertise. “He did this huge marketing plan and basically taught me what I needed to do to get an appointment with a supermarket buyer.”
Armed with Fry’s packaging mock-ups on cardboard and with sample products displaying little information flags on them, Wally walked into the first supermarket buyers’ office. “He wasn’t keen to taste them” Wally admits, “but I persisted and eventually he was persuaded to try them. He then called in members of his staff and their response was overwhelming. His only question was “When can you supply”?
The Fry’s had no factory. The products were made on a small burner with an AMC cooking pot and a glass thermometer to control the temperature. The sausage peeling involved a small piece of electrical conduit through which Wally pushed the sausages; he had a Stanley knife to cut the cellulose casings and a cappuccino machine delivering steam. “This was the machinery I had when I got a listing in a major supermarket chain.”
Entrepreneurial to the core, Wally told the buyer that he was already so busy he was unsure whether he could produce for him immediately! “I had to rush out and make a factory. I didn’t even know which machines to buy. There was some divine intervention there, because the day after seeing the buyer there was an auction of machinery in Durban. I bought it all because I didn’t know what I needed and I didn’t even know if, or how, it worked. I then trucked it back to the mini factory we’d set up.”
Eventually they were producing 50kg a day of what is now known as Fry’s Family Foods. Now, in one shift, Fry’s probably makes around 14,000 kg of vegan food.
Initially the company comprised Wally, Debbie and three employees. “I was literally loading a whole container on my own. Debbie did the weighing – I did the production – and we’d clean the factory together in the evening, before going home. It was hard and we were scared we’d make a mistake.”
Then Fry’s began to employ more staff, a number of which are still happily working with the Group today. Mr Zulu, who recently passed away, came to them with a background in machinery. “He taught us how to use the machines and how to clean a factory. He’d worked in a meat factory and he knew what hygiene was. He’d reprimand us until we got it right.”
When it came to flavours, the Fry’s created food they liked – “No chef thinks ‘I wonder if everybody will like this’. They’re interested in whether they like it,” said Wally. “We knew we needed meat substitutes that tasted a lot like traditional sausages, hot dogs and burgers. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t succeed.”
Today, Fry’s Family Foods exports their 28 vegan (no meat, egg or dairy), non GM products – as well as 15 catering products – to more than 23 countries around the world. The international reach began with a staff member who emigrated to Australia. He took Fry’s with him. Today, South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom are their biggest markets.
Undoubtedly, vegetarianism is on the increase, and although that’s great for Fry’s, it was never about the money. “Of course it’s great to make money,” says Wally, “but that’s not what it’s about. It’s always been about our family ethos, where we’re committed to educating people about the negative impact animal agriculture has on the animals, our planet and biodiversity, and our health.”
For Wally, it’s not even about being an animal lover: “I’m just a lover of practising no harm. I have a great respect for life. Increasingly, people understand that what they do as individuals has a negative or positive impact on everything else. It’s like throwing stones into a pond – those ripples go all the way to the bank. The whole pond is affected by one stone. It’s a fact of physics, an inescapable truth, as Newton said, ‘for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.’”
The Fry’s family hasn’t stopped at a handful of products. They’re constantly investing in new flavours to keep their consumers excited, and which also, importantly, talk to non-vegans or vegetarians. They’ve moved with the times and taken a meat free, protein substitute, which doesn’t have to be eaten as is, but can also be used as an ingredient, and worked with top chefs, fashionable food constituents and cooking methodologies which all combine to conjure up good-looking, contemporary dishes. Their product range now extends to (meat free) crispy prawns, made with vegetable proteins and coated in a light, crispy batter, which was co-created by SA’s Masterchef, Deena Naidoo.
You won’t find vast quantities of soy in the Fry’s factory because, contrary to the vegetarian expectation, the product contains a low percentage of it. Wally says the secret to Fry’s is in the method, not the ingredients. “Ingredients are listed on the pack, but the techniques we use are unique. They’re a family secret if you like. It took 25 years to develop what we have, a vegan product which has the look, taste and feel of meat. There aren’t many products which can compete. We really do make a product which is consistent and as a meat eater, it doesn’t disappoint. You might still choose to continue eating meat, but Fry’s won’t disappoint you.”
‘Fry’s since 1991’ – that’s the logo, and it says it all. Wally and Debbie, their three daughters along with their husbands and children, are all vegetarians working in the family business sharing the same driving passion and ethos for the product.
Product and Service Operation
The Fry’s UK business is now run out of offices in Brackley Northamptonshire, with its primary storage and distribution being handled by a warehousing and storage partner based in Wolverhampton. From there we supply both retail and foodservice partners, customers and wholesalers. Using this method of service we are able to supply anyone in the UK, Northern Ireland or Eire, usually within 72 hours if not sooner, dependent on location and routing.
Currently around 27% of the UK population enjoy vegetarian food, be it based on dietary or ethnicity requirements, with a further 10 million committed flexitarians. This figure is projected to grow by a further 10% by 2016. The trend is definably on the move so ignore it at your peril!
The Fry’s range is all Vegan, Vegetarian, Halaal, Kosher and Shudda approved with a couple of exceptions that are currently being worked on. We offer ingredient, centre plate, finger food, “food to go” and pastry based items and of course sausages and burgers. All our ingredients are based around soy, wheat germ, seasonings and spices, alongside other natural vegetable proteins.
Our catering cases contain handy portion packs inside, making them ideal for storage and easy portion control.
As all the Fry’s range is pre-cooked, with the exception of the pastry products, meals can be served to customers within 7 minutes from freezer to plate (pastry lines typically take 15-20 minutes from frozen) which means chefs can offer a vegan / vegetarian based menu with little or no waste, and minimum investment.
With a minimum drop of 3 or 4 cases available from some of our national distributors there has never been a better time to add vegan/vegetarian foods to the menu, or to add a case or two to your next order through your existing foodservice distributor, such as 3663.
Current trends show that around 18% of menus now offer meat free options, and this is set to rise to 25% by 2017, however, many chefs are still failing to meet their vegetarian/vegan customers’ needs, resulting in loss of sales.
Trends and the Future
It is an undeniable fact that vegetarian food is a reality that is not going away! We’ve already established the dynamics of the need in the UK. Fry’s can help fulfil this need by matching a range, with a recipe,tailored to a location, be it bar snacking, wraps and sandwiches, meal solutions or by providing recipe ideas through our e-cookbook, which includes recipe suggestions for canapés, mail meals and even BBQ ideas for Summer.
We need to introduce more people to the market by encouraging consumers to try new things when eating out. Alongside that is the need to expand the range of vegan and vegetarian foods on offer. Currently its very ‘chicken and egg’ in that many operators deny that the need is there, but the fact is that existing vegetarians don’t frequent their establishments purely due to the lack of availability of an exciting vegetarian option.
In terms of new trends and ranges, we have an exciting 18 months ahead of us in the UK with many market opportunities to follow up and a host of new ideas and products in the pipeline.
H & C News comment
We very much enjoyed meeting with John, his passion for food and all things vegetarian is contagious! It is amazing that so many foodservice outlets overlook having a vegetarian option given the current demand and growth forecast for this sector. We will be publishing weekly recipes from Fry’s Family Foods in the months ahead and a recipe book is available too, all you have to do is send us an email for your copy.
Enquiries
So get in touch today, through our website, or by emailing us on enquiries@frysfamilyfoods.co.uk or simply by picking up the phone and calling 01280 701608.
We are passionate about what we do and about the Fry’s brand, and we endeavour to respond to every enquiry within 24 hours of contact.
For those attending IFE this year we look forward to welcoming you to Stand 6259 in the South Hall where you will be able to enjoy sampling our products and meeting our team who will be delighted to see you.
Visit our website here