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Hand & Flowers’ bar manager launches rum brand Fr’um


The Hand & Flowers’ bar man- ager Anthony Peart has launched his own rum brand to showcase his Caribbean heritage. The manager at Tom Kerridge’s


two-Michelin-starred pub in Mar- low said Fr’um is the culmina- tion of three years research and work after he felt there was “a lack of premium spiced rum offerings on the market that aren’t overly sweet”. To create his rum, Peart, who


has worked at the Hand & Flow- ers for 10 years, teamed up with nearby gin and rum company the Henley Distillery. To create the label and brand-


ing, Peart worked with artist Autistic Ian, who has created art- work for chefs and restaurants including Clare Smyth, Andrew Wong and Pierre Koffmann. Peart said: “Blending my own rum has been a labour of love


Anthony Peart (left) has teamed up with the nearby Henley Distillery


over the last three years, start- ing with the initial concept being developed in the lockdown of April 2020. I really wanted Fr’um to showcase my Caribbean herit- age combined with my love for big flavours and rum.”


Fr’um is now available throughout the Tom Kerridge Group sites as well as select venues including the Oarsman Marlow, Rebellion Brewery in Marlow and the Crown at Bray, near Maidenhead.


Wonky fruit brand Flawsome! partners with Zizzi


Wonky fruit drinks brand Flaw- some! has partnered with Italian restaurant chain Zizzi to bring its new Wonky Fruit water cartons to the children’s menu. Flawsome!’s deal with the


group is expected to exceed £100,000. The new range was launched in


June in flavours including sweet apples and apple and sour cherry and will be on offer at Zizzi’s 127 venues from next month. Karina Sudenyte, co-founder


News in brief


Beer brand Hofmeister has signed a deal with bar operator Loungers to stock its products in the bar group’s 197 sites and its restaurant brand Cosy Club’s 35 venues by the end of September. The original


Hofmeister beer was founded in the 1980s by Edinburgh’s


Scottish and Newcastle brewery. After two decades of trading, the brand was discontinued in 2003 and was acquired by Heineken when it took over the brewery in 2007. Friends


Spencer Chambers and Richard Longhurst bought the name from the brewer in 2016 and


relaunched the beer a year later. Online booking software


provider ResDiary has urged restaurants not to miss out on Christmas bookings by


leaving it too late to plan for the festive season. The Glasgow- headquartered platform, which is used by around 7,100 UK


venues, surveyed 61 restaurants across the UK and Ireland and found that 34% of restaurants that didn’t plan ahead of


Christmas were not fully booked during the festive period. This figure almost halved to 18%


when venues began their festive planning before August. It also revealed more than eight in 10 venues that planned for the


festive season over the summer period took significantly more revenue.


of Flawsome!, told The Caterer: “It’s evident that children have a keen desire for flavourful drinks, especially when dining out. Unfortunately, finding options that are both healthy and free from sweeteners has been quite a challenge until now.” Sudenyte added that the brand


aimed to provide healthy and sus- tainably sourced drinks, without the need for artificial sweeteners. Her comments come as research from the WHO emerged earlier this summer about the poten- tial carcinogenic effects of aspar- tame, a popular sweetener found


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Soft drinks manufacturer Britvic is investing £22.5m in its sixth bottling line at its East London factory, which aims to increase production capacity by nearly 30%. The


first products are expected to become available this month. Britvic said the investment will create 18 new jobs. The


Flawsome!’s new range will be on the children’s menu at Zizzi


in drinks including diet versions of Coca-Cola and Schweppes. She said: “This exciting new collaboration is a step forward in making delicious, sweetener-free drinks more readily available for kids, and I’m hopeful that it will become their preferred choice


when dining out.” A spokesperson for Zizzi’s par-


ent company Azzurri said Flaw- some’s “unparalleled flavour palate, innovative approach, and staunch commitment to sustain- ability makes them the perfect match for us”.


new recruits will be working in engineering and manufacturing roles and bring the total site headcount to more than 240 people. The announcement follows Britvic’s recent £8m


investment to improve energy efficiency at the factory in a bid to cut carbon emissions by 50%.


15 September 2023 | The Caterer | 37


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