Written by NFFF President, Andrew Crook

I’m often asked how I manage to preform the NFFF role whilst running my own business. I do have a great team in my shop which helps enormously but often the two roles overlap. Today was one of those days where a lot happened but with the wonders of modern technology it does make things a lot more manageable.

The first meeting of the day was with Craig from Pukka who visited (social distanced of course) to have a chat about their new Vegan range and what Pukka are working on as a company. Communication between the NFFF and the suppliers is vital, even more so during this crisis and we are lucky to have so many proactive and supportive businesses supplying our trade.

Next up was the British Takeaway Campaign Quarterly Members Meeting which was held on Zoom. This meeting was attended by representatives of the takeaway cuisines, the Food Equipment Association, UK Hospitality and Just Eat, collectively representing more than 100,000 hospitality businesses. This is the meeting where we review the years activity and plan our key areas of focus for the next twelve months. Topics discussed where remove the ‘h’ the proposed ban of HFSS Food Advertising, support needed for the sector, immigration, commodity price increases, problems getting new utility contracts and VAT. I will put a report together in the coming days for the members area on NFFF.co.uk.

After a quick visit to do a few jobs for my mum I have change have to had to get back to work to opening remove ‘ing’ for the evening shift. I received a call from BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss appearing next week on one of their programs to talk about businesses and the way they have adapted to trade during the pandemic. It has been a tough year but it has forced most of us to adopt technology and will have a lasting benefit. We will let everyone know when I’m going to be on air next week when the time is confirmed. and replace with ‘once confirmed’.

I was working most of the evening in my shop but we were also contacted by a German press agency who are putting a story together about Brexit, again we will share any stories that come from the interview once it is released. These international interviews may not have a direct benefit but they do help fish and chips keep their place at the top of iconic British dishes when tourism gets back to normal in the future.