Delicious. Healthy. Honest?

myfoodforyou.co.uk - A REVIEW

Coming out of the station today I was handed a flyer for "London's revolutionary new food service - foodfor you.co.uk"

The concept is simple, a weeks worth of home-cooked meals delivered to your door for just £25.

The insight is even simpler "Arriving home after a long day at the office and a few minutes later tucking into a delicious home cooked meal thats not just delicious, but seriously healthy".

I'm a huge fan of cooking, but even for me there are weeks where I get in late, the fridge is bare or I simply dont have the energy to make a full meal.


So where's the catch?

At first glance the word frozen jumps off the page but having worked in foods manufacturing I can vouch for the fact that frozen food locks in freshness and flavour than a home-cooked meal that has gone through 6 hours transit ever will.

Next I looked at the price...£25, that's a little pricy isn't it? Actually...probably not. Considering the target market, £5 for a meal probably seems good value.

Plus, when you factor in that even when I do go to Sainsbury's with a clear list for ingredients, I inevitbaly walk out having spent twice what I planned for...could this be the way to steer clear of BOGOF temptation?

Good marks so far.


Saving the world

It seems almost impossible for a business not to have an eco stance or a way of saving the world and as a result they can get lost in the wind.

However Lina Forsberg - MD, Chef and also attractive I probably shoudlnt say - introduces what seem like genuine personal morals. All ingredients & packaging is ethically sourced, the concept is getting Londoners to eat healthy and if that wasn't enough then, for no obvious reason other than she simply cares, 10% of all profits are given to a cause in Ethiopia.

The idealist in me is a little upset that this seems to symbolise a defeatest outlook for the future of home-cooking. Personally, as a wannabe Jamie Oliver, this has encouraged me to cook more, having realised that I've let my hobby stutter. However for the masses this could unfortunately be a perfect excuse to avoid ever knowing your bouillon from your butter.

Pulling myself back to reality though, would I rather see my friends, who simply wont cook/cant cook, eating a McDonalds or a fresh Pork Fillet in Apricot sauce ....the latter every time.


So is it food glorious food?

The menu looks good & changes weekly but until I've tried it out I can't fairly say whether its a good feed.

However my review isn't completely rosy. There are some obvious questions which I'm sure Lina has accounted for.

1. If the menu is fixed, what about the fussy eaters in the world? - Lina's answered that already - "We offer two alternative meals each week that you can select in place of the meals on the menu."
2. Vegetarians?
3. Is it targetted solely at singletons living alone - why no group buy discount to capture the hords of us living with friends.
4. HOW BIG ARE THE PORTIONS???
5. What percentage of city firms provide free meals to employees working late already?
   
6. Does this have mass appeal or is it too niche to survive - expansion at the moment would rely on geography, party platters etc. but at the moment it's too early to tell.
   

Although it's probably not for me, I'll give it a try and wish Lina all the best with it in the future. If you can pull my Lawyer housemate away from the Fish & Chip shop every now and then it cant be a bad thing.

The Chip Shop Awards 2008

About the Chip Shop Awards

The Chip Shop Awards is about fostering and recognising creativity with no boundaries and no rules. It's an international creative awards, open to anyone with great ideas.

The Chip Shop Awards is there to recognise that the best ideas don't always fall within the rules. This is a worldwide advertising and design competition that has no rules. (Click here to read why the competition is called Chip Shop Awards).

Some prize picks...





My favourite part of it all...

In the 1980s, two young creatives based in Manchester, England, were desperate to establish their reputation as serious advertising creatives. Of course the best way to do this is to win creative awards. For that you need to have some clients and unfortunately for these two creatives, they didn't have any clients.

They thought about how they could overcome this difficult problem and came up with the idea of doing brilliant creative work for a client for free and then using the work to win themselves some awards.

The client they chose was a fast food shop selling the great British dish of deep fried fish and chipped potatoes in the north of Wales. Barnacles Fish & Chip Shop was just an ordinary local takeaway but before long it had an advertising campaign that would be the envy of many business owners.

http://www.chipshopawards.com/

Resurrecting the blog

Just a short note to say that I'm finally bringing this page back to life.

Quick Update:

• Found that super temp job - Oxfam Street Fundraising with TAG - great six weeks.
• Started at Unilever in September 2007 - almost a year in now.
  

Unilever so far:

• 9 months Knorr Global team working on an innovation project
• Currently working in Laundry Brand Building on Persil & Surf

Filling the gaps

Having graduated last year with a job offer, I was given the chance to take a full year out before settling down into the real world.

Jumping at the chance the last year has been as follows for me:

• 3 months working in a bar in Kos - cultural stuff...honest.


• 4 months temping in London at WHSmith Travel's Head Offices - great bunch of people.


• 5 months travelling around S.America, Australia, N.Z. and Africa - wish it had never ended.

Unfortunately I returned home a month sooner than desired, due to 'financial issues' (thanks Natwest!) and am now stuck with only 2 months until I start my new job.

Having spent the past few days contacting various employment agencies, I have found that with such a time frame I am only suitable for Telesales or Bar Work...both jobs I have done before, but is there a niche in the recruitment market for 'super-temporary' work?

As I attempt to find out here are a few agencies who have been helpful in the past and at least courtious in saying no:

Freedom Select - http://www.freedomselect.co.uk/

Office Angels - http://www.officeangels.co.uk/

Brook Street - http://www.brookstreet.co.uk/

£400,000 well spent - London 2012 logo.

Knee-jerk

Like many others my initial reaction to the design unveiled for the London 2012 Olympics was negative to say the least. The logo, created by Wolff Ollins, is meant to reach out to the 'youth of today' and capture their imagination, but at first glance seemed about as effective as a father pulling on a Hawaiian shirt in an attempt to blend in with his kids.

This was not an uncommon reaction as several articles followed in leading Newspapers, designers blogs (such as David Airey's) and even the BBC invited their readers to submit their own articles, providing some fantastic results.

In fact, considering the cost of the logo, I first thought a much simpler idea have been to open the design up to the public with a simple design brief. Every Graphic designer in the country would have jumped at the chance to have this logo in their portfolio, regardless of any reward offered and, looking at some of the 270 plus designs here, would have left us with something we could all identify with and be proud of.

The Brand

At first glance the 127,000 Google hits for "London 2012 logo" suggest that the logo has caused outrage amongst the general public and media community, however are we missing the point on this one?

Whenever we talk about brands, we hear the words 'awareness' and 'exposure' being banded around as measurements of success, yet here we are with a perfect example of gaining media attention at a relatively low cost and we label it a huge faux pas. Indeed, the logo may not have won the support of the British community, but I doubt it will have any impact on the country's enthusiasm for the games.

What I wonder now is, was this a master stroke by Wolff Ollins who realised, that in modern society, sometimes the only thing that will truly reach the youth market is controversy. By provoking a reaction from their target segment, they have already managed to generate more interest than any multi-million pound endorsement or media campaign could hope to achieve.

Take the bid logo for example, would you have read about it, known who designed it, or perhaps even seen it before London emerged as the winning candidate?

No matter your personal opinion, it is hard to deny that the new Logo seems to have awakened a pride amongst the public, showing that people do care about this country's reputation and specifically now, the Olympics in 2012.