Tim Knowles

European food scares and their impact on EU food policy

Purpose – This paper aims to chart the wide range of food scares reported throughout the EU over the period 1986‐2006 and explores their impact on EU policy.Design/methodology/approach – There is much extant research that solely investigates the occurrences of specific food scares, however; little emphasis is given to the responses of policy makers. This research aims to narrow this gap in the literature by reviewing the major food scares, which have occurred throughout the EU and the subsequent policy responses.Findings – A number of food scares have dominated media reports over the last two decades, but this study reveals the increasing emergence of rare serotypes of foodborne pathogens, as well as a rising trend of EU‐wide contaminant and animal disease‐related food scares. Simultaneously, there is evidence of evolution from a product‐focused food policy to a risk‐based policy, which has developed into a tentative EU consumer‐based food policy. Inevitably, in a market of 25 member‐states the concept of...

Performance of tourism partnerships: a focus on York.

Abstract Partnerships between the public and the private sectors have recently come to prominence as a strategic tool for tourism development. The reasons for entering into such agreements and the nature of partnerships have been widely recognised. However, no concise set of criteria, against which the performance of partnerships can be assessed, has been established. As a result, little research has been done in the area of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of tourism partnerships. This article aims to identify critical success factors for partnerships between the public and the private sectors at tourism destinations and to assess the performance of such arrangements. An extensive literature review has been undertaken in order to specify a set of tourism partnership success factors. A case study approach, with a tourism partnership in York constituting its subject, has been utilised for the evaluation of tourism partnerships against the critical success factors. The empirical study provides a useful source for extending the existing list of factors influencing the performance of tourism partnerships by new determinants. It also gives a framework for self-assessment of partnership, which seems to be of utmost importance in securing a long-term viability of these agreements.

The changing structure of UK brewing and pub retailing

This paper charts the major structural changes that have occurred in both UK brewing and pub retailing during the period 1989-2000. This has been a period of rapid and extensive changes in the UK brewing industry culminating in the strategic decision of two of the nation’s biggest breweries to sell off their brewing operations and, in the case of Whitbread, to sell off their public house estate and concentrate on their hotel and leisure interests. A key theme in the restructuring of the brewing industry has been the rapid consolidation of the brewing sector in an attempt to achieve economies of scale in production, distribution and marketing. This paper attempts to analyse the changes in the UK brewing industry from 1989, the year of publication of the MMC’s report, The Supply of Beer – A Report on the Supply of Beer for Retail Sale in the United Kingdom, which could be regarded as the catalyst to the restructuring of the UK brewing industry.

Tourism and hospitality education in Brazil and the UK: a comparison.

Makes a comparative analysis between undergraduate level courses in tourism/hospitality in Brazil and those in the UK, building on work by Teixeira et al. Analyses courses structure, reason for creation and focus. In Brazil, according to Rejowski, undergraduate university level courses in tourism/hospitality are relatively recent, beginning in the 1970s. The first hospitality course was created by the Universidade de Caxias do Sul, 1978. According to data gathered by the Ministry of Education, there has been an impressive growth in the number of tourism/hospitality undergraduate courses in Brazil. Data provided by the Ministry state that the total number of courses registered is 284; 225 in tourism and 59 in hospitality/hospitality management. First, presents a brief theoretical review about tourism/hospitality education; after that, a description of the methodological approach adopted in this study with a description of type, method, tools, and data collection procedures used in the research. Analyses the results of the project along with comparisons in the UK. Finally, presents a conclusion to this study.

Branding in the UK public house sector: recent developments

While the traditional English public house still represents the largest part of the market, its share is falling with the introduction of themed branded establishments. The UK’s pub retailers have over the past five years reacted to a developing society whereby attitudes towards leisure time, drinking, eating out, health and entertainment have changed. Through diversification, they have moved away from the traditional British public house towards branded outlets that are able to appeal to diverse consumer demands. The reasons for this diversification will be explored along with the brewers’ response. Within this process of diversification lies the matter of promotion and branding. The emphasis seems to be slowly moving away from the beer product of a particular brewer to a focus on the service providers’ corporate image, name and reputation. In cases such as Whitbread and Bass, companies are introducing a hierarchy of brands that revolve around five issues: physical evidence, service delivery, process, people, and quality. It is the customer’s perception of these five attributes that will determine establishments’ success. One such brand has been the Irish themed pub. This paper will critically analyse the reasons for the success of this Irish phenomenon with a link made between the nature of this particular “product” and customers’ perception of it.

Trends in food safety: implications for European hotels.

The central message coming out of this paper is that the realisation of food safety legislation within the context of the European internal market, whilst laudable, has encountered, and will continue to meet with difficulties in its effective implementation. In considering specifically food safety within the European hotel industry, there has been a move away from prescription to generalised principles contained within the relevant legislation. Yet, with such flexibility, differences have emerged in interpretation, all at the expense of the single market, free of trade barriers. The size of the EU inevitably means that more emphasis regarding food safety procedures will be placed on shifting responsibility to hotel proprietors and also on appropriate monitoring by authorities. However, because of the nature and structure of the European hotel industry, in terms of chain and independent hotels, and its transient workforce, the evidence suggests that a substantial minority are still not ready to assume those responsibilities.