BRITISH SANDWICH ASSOCIATION

www.sandwich.org.uk

There's some back story as to why I looked at this website originally which I won't go into here, mainly because it's of no interest to anyone, but I'm going to start this pointless trade associations blog project with the British Sandwich Association because it has many of the key qualities of a good trade association website and it was while I was looking at it that I realised how much I like these sites.

Firstly, the URL is nice and basic. www.sandwich.org.uk. Excellent. Also, the site itself is really simple and slightly unattractive. This is good. Flash animations have no place on a trade website, you just want to be able to access the information quickly and easily.



I like the advert on the side there. Where better for The Sauce Company to advertise than on the website for the British Sandwich Association? Surely a large proportion of all the mayonnaise eaten in the UK is eaten in sandwiches.

There are British Sandwich Association awards! The Sammies! Who knew? Why aren't these awards better publicised? I eat sandwiches almost every day, but I watch maybe only one film a week, yet the Oscars get much more coverage than the Sammies. It's wrong. The Sammies should be on BBC1. Everyone likes sandwiches, surely. Millions of people would tune in. Come on BBC.

And look, there's a British Sandwich Association magazine! The International Sandwich & Snack News. This is what's in the current issue:

BSA
Sandwich Designer of the Year: It's time to get your design hats on again, with the top award up for grabs
The Sammies awards might seem some way off, but now's the time to put your hat in the ring or nominate someone else

PROFILES
The sandwich world has a new designer star in the shape of Hain Celestial's Jay Gosh. Simon Ambrose went to meet him.
Apostrophe is one of London's fast-growing sandwich stars with sixteen stores, the latest in the new Westfield complex in Shepherd's Bush. But is its reputation for excellence deserved? Nellie Nichols goes along to find out

INDEPENDENT PROFILES
Reynolds sandwich bar and café works closely with its suppliers, including running trials and offering its store as a sampling facility
Single-minded Victoria Pike always wanted to run her own sandwich bar and spent years working for other companies to achieve her objective. It's a story of dedication and training

SANDWICH RESEARCH
Saturation, what saturation? Jeffrey Young, Alegra Strategies' founder, says there's in the region of five years more expansion still to come for sandwich bars and cafés

I like the phrase "sandwich research".

The British Sandwich Association has a mission. And they stated what their mission is in their mission statement:

As the voice of the British sandwich industry, the primary objectives of The British Sandwich Association are:

SAFETY - To safeguard the integrity of the sandwich market by setting standards for sandwich making, by encouraging excellence in sandwich making and by encouraging the development of the industry in terms of skills, innovation and overall market development.
GROWTH - To encourage positive growth both in the market and the Association both through the development of the organisation and by promoting the consumption of sandwiches.
COMMUNICATION - To represent the interests of the industry and members to Government and all those in a position influence the industry or factors affecting the industry.
SUPPORT - To provide a source of support and information for members

I wonder how they promote the consumption of sandwiches. I haven't seen any adverts for sandwiches on TV.

EAT SANDWICHES YOU BASTARDS.

That would be a good slogan. If any representatives from the BSA are reading this, you're welcome to use that slogan.

There's also an information centre with lots of information about sandwiches. Unfortunately, most of it is restricted only to members of the BSA, so I have no idea what the management committee have to say, but you can see all the people who have won a Sammie since the awards began in 1995 which is handy seeing as the BBC website is no use.

There are also some very interesting insights into the sandwich market. Some of which, it is promised, will make your mouth water.

It is also estimated that the lunchbox market (that’s sandwiches made at home but carried out to be consumed at work or school etc.) represent around 24% of all sandwiches. It is believed that around 74% of all lunch boxes contain a sandwich.

What could possibly be in the remaining 26% of lunchboxes?


This article by Jane Baynton is fascinating.

Automatic bread feeders, bread buttering and spray buttering machines, sonic cutters, flow wrappers, multivacs, thermoformers and automatic labellers have all become common place. In very recent years we have seen the creation of the fully automated line. Who could ever have envisaged sandwiches being made by robots?

Who indeed.

Sonic cutters sound exciting don't they? They look impressive too:



You can buy them from a company called Millitec, although the website doesn't say how much they cost. I'm guessing they're probably quite expensive. The Ultra-cut can slice up to sixty sandwiches in a minute. That's probably faster than I need to slice sandwiches to be honest as I normally only make one sandwich at a time.

You can also get a butterer and a butterbox. I'm not entirely sure what a butterbox is. Obviously, it's something to do with buttering bread, but quite how you use it is a mystery. This is what a butterbox looks like:



Those cogs on the side look pleasingly functional.

Millitec's new Butterbox is the first truly hygienic way to mechanically butter. The unique design maintains the proven concept of mechanical buttering but completely eliminates the terrible food traps associated with traditional butterers. The same Butterbox will fit most manufacturer's machines with mountings for AFT, Rutland Handling and their clones. The minimal part count enables simple strip down and build up for hygiene with no scope for incorrect assembly. Improved seal technology reduces leakage from the box and large integrated bearing surfaces eliminate the need for frequent bush change. Food traps on the box and rollers are completely eliminated by manufacturing as single piece solid units. The box can be supplied with a jacketed induction heater hopper, allowing controlled localised warming of the butter with no electrical connections at all.

I don't know what any of that means.

Look at this too:



It can slice up to two and a half thousand kilograms of tomatoes in a single day. Incredible. I don't even know what two and a half thousand kilograms of tomatoes looks like. How many tomatoes is that? How much does a single tomato weigh? I don't know. Brilliant.