Bombs & Corkers

 The Brownie Bar's Bombs - nuggets of brownie - and Corkers - soft chocolate chip cookie with a gooey brownie core @TheBrownieBaruk

Exploding's Lumberjack

 Lumberjack traybake with apples, dates and coconut topping from Exploding Bakery @explodingbakery

Barista Blend

 Almond Breeze's Barista Blend almond milk "designed to deliver great taste and a rich creamy froth to sit atop lattes, cappuccinos and flat whites"

Cakesmith's Originals

 Loveberry Cheesecake Brownie

 English Garden - traybake based on a gin cocktail with mint, cucumber and grated courgette

Espresso Cheesecake Brownie @CakesmithsHQ

Prickly

Cactus water coming to UK cafes soon @Truenopal to join the others:
Birch http://greatcafes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/straight-from-tree.html
Coconut http://greatcafes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/coconut-water.html

Cakesmiths

 Salted Caramel Bubbles, Honey & Bergamot Slices and Banana and Chocolate Bread

Suppliers to some of the best artisan cafes @CakesmithsHQ

Yummy Chairs

 Good signage, great teas and interesting upholstered chairs at Yumchaa

 @Yumchaatea

Different Doughnuts

 Granger and Co's peanut butter doughnuts @Grangerandco

Coconut Pots

EAT's Coconut Water and Fruit Jelly pots

Street Food Social Club

 Donostia Social Club and tapas at Southbank Centre Market. @donostiasc

Veggie Victory

Pret chief executive Clive Schlee has revealed sales at its site in Broadwick Street, Soho, have jumped more than 70% from last year with the introduction of its vegetarian pop-up. Schlee gave five early insights into the pop-up, which launched this month, and may well be extended. In his blog he wrote: “It has been almost a year in the making. We had two objectives: 1) Give our chefs a turbo-challenge to come up with delicious new veggie and vegan options and 2) Ask our customers what they would like to see end up on Pret’s shelves permanently. We predicted our Veggie Pret shop would see sales drop by up to 30% and the project was expected to be an investment (ie a loss maker). Our teams put an enormous amount of work into designing and fine-tuning the recipes, bringing in small suppliers new to Pret, dressing up the store and training the staff. Two weeks on, I can share five early impressions from the Pret team on what we’ve seen so far:

1. The warmth of the public response: This has taken us completely by surprise. Sales at Broadwick Street, far from falling, are up over 70% on last year. The shop is packed and this is the first time I have seen customers in London sitting on the floor to eat their lunch. The energy of the shop is also quite remarkable, in fact a friend of mine likened it to a Beyoncé concert (I’ve never been to one myself)! A number of visitors to London have come to Soho specifically to see the shop. Customers are taking photos of the food, writing down the ingredients, and giving us messages of overwhelming support on the Hit the Spot/Lost the Plot noticeboard. A meat-free environment seems to generate an infectious positive energy.

2. This is natural: Like all good ideas, Pret’s exclusively veggie shop seemed radical when we first thought of it, but has come to feel very natural. Vegetarianism is becoming much more mainstream and of course the more vegetarian food is available and the more attractive the textures and flavours, the less of a sacrifice you have to make. I had a vegetarian housemate in my third year at university. In an unspoken way we all slightly resented the fact that whoever was cooking had to organise two meals. There would be no question of that now. Social media is playing a role in showing people that vegetarianism is much better for the planet, and I suspect that my housemates would be cooking one vegetarian meal if we lived together in 2016.

3. Vegetarians enjoy the sweet things in life: I don’t know if this should be a surprise, but the top two selling products at Veggie Pret are the Dairy-free Chocolatey Coconut Bite (a vegan bar) and the Cacao & Orange Pot (a vegan dessert). The rate of pudding/chocolate take up in our veggie shop is more than five times a normal Pret!

4. Vegan dishes are the big sellers: The top selling eight new products at Veggie Pret are all vegan, which either shows that vegan dishes can be just as delicious as veggie dishes, or we have underestimated how strong the vegan movement is. One customer commented that ‘I don’t eat vegan. I am vegan.’ The star ingredient so far is a Pret favourite – the avocado. It seems avocado plays an important role in providing texture, the right kind of fat and colour. This plays to Pret’s strengths because, unlike most of our competitors, we can cut them up in the kitchens at the back of our shops.

5. What should Pret do next? It’s early days, and we are having a big internal debate about this. The original idea was to close the shop after four weeks, but we are now inclined to keep it open slightly longer to see whether demand is still as strong once the initial hype dies down. There are some who would like to convert every fourth Pret into a Veggie Pret, and to explore its success in other markets too.”

summary courtesy of Propel Info News

Normal for Norfolk

Great specials board at the Orange Tree, Thornham, Norfolk @OTThornham

S'Mores

Starbucks' new Chocolate Marshmallow and Banana Caramel S'Mores Frappuccino

Barking Crazy

Waitrose now sell Barking Bakery's Woofins - muffins for dogs - £3 for 3! @bakery_barking

Veg Crisps

 Emily Veg Crisps with french beans, sugar snap peas and black edamame - delicious and crunchy

The Place To Eat

 Cake table as you enter The Place To Eat John Lewis restaurant in Birmingham

 Toasted sandwiches with Benugo influences

 Fun design bottled drinks unit

 Soup station

Compost Cookies

 Compost cookies at Yorks Bakery Cafe, Birmingham  @YorksBakeryCafe - everything in them!

 Chocolate & Pistachio cookies and Banana, Date & Pecan loaf

White Choc & Pecan Blondies

Serving Soya

 If you are not offering soya milk, get with it.  The world is moving on to almond milk and more.

Love Mimi

Mimi's Bakehouse, Edinburgh with bold colours and "Scotland's Best Scone" @mimisbakehouse

 Lemon meringue slices

 Mint aero slice

 Chocolate Bounty Brownie

 Seasonal drinks - cake shake, peach pineapple press, iced latte, mango coconut crush

Totally Self-Serve

 Interesting new John Lewis restaurant at New Street Station, Birmingham with two striking self-serve hot drink stations.  This will certainly bust those queues and keep the labour costs down.