KitKat Gold

Nestlé is to launch popular Kit Kat Gold in the UK following success down under. The four-finger Kit Kat is made up of the brand’s trademark crispy wafer on a milk chocolate base, topped with white chocolate flavoured with “sweet caramel notes”. Kit Kat Gold originally launched on a limited-edition basis in Australia in 2018, but was made permanent soon after. It will hit Co-op and Nisa from 3 February, before landing in most major retailers from 31 March (rsp: 85p/45g). The rollout to the UK is the latest in a series of Kit Kat innovations, including Green Tea Matcha and Ruby bars in 2019 and 2018 respectively. Nestlé marketing director Alex Gonella said he was “certain that Kit Kat Gold was going to be just as big a hit” in the UK as in Australia. The launch was “just one of the exciting plans we have for Kit Kat, and our confectionery portfolio in general” in 2020, he added. 

KitKat Gold

Greggs Bonus

Thousands of Greggs staff are set to get a £300 one-off payment after a "phenomenal year", the firm said. Sales growth had been helped by strong demand for its traditional snacks and Greggs' "now iconic" vegan sausage rolls, the bakery chain said. Greggs staff will share a £7m payment after shareholders received a £35m special dividend in October.he 19,000 Greggs staff who have been with the chain since before 31 March will get a £300 windfall at the end of January, while the remaining 6,000 will get £75 for each quarter they have worked for Greggs. The one-off payment to staff will be on top of the profit-sharing scheme that Greggs already has, a spokeswoman said. The bakery chain already shares 10% of profits with employees, she said. It isn't uncommon for workers to benefit from a share in the profits. Other UK retailers that have staff bonus schemes include John Lewis and Waitrose, Sainsbury's, and Sports Direct for shop floor workers. Maureen Hinton, global retail research director at GlobalData, said offering a staff bonus reflected a growing trend amongst firms to want to appear ethical.

Greggs Bonus

Quibi

A deep-pocketed new streaming service has revealed it will launch in the US on 6 April. Quibi has raised $1bn (£763m) in funds and commissioned some of Hollywood's biggest names to make content for its mobile-only service. Each show will be 10 minutes or shorter. The firm intends to charge $4.99 (£3.80) per month for basic access and $7.99 for an ad-free version. In addition to entertainment, the service intends to screen bespoke news bulletins from NBC, BBC and Telemundo, among others. Quibi which stands for "quick bites" is commissioning videos running from four to 10 minutes in length. One of Quibi's biggest challenges will be persuading the public to pay for an additional streaming service. Quibi said it would target viewers aged between 18 and 44 years old.

Quibi

Trainer Entrepreneur

Can you remember your 12th birthday? There was probably some cake - maybe even in the shape of a caterpillar - and, if you were lucky, friends, family and a few presents. Whatever you did that day, the chances are it's not affected the rest of your life very much.  But for Joe Franklin, who possesses a trainer collection so exclusive he's become one of the go-to suppliers for the UK rap scene, that day is when it all began. He saved up some birthday money and put it towards a pair of Jessie J's signature Nike Air Max 90s, trainers he says he only wanted to impress his friends. "Later that day someone offered me double what I paid. So obviously I took it and I made double my money". Since then the most expensive pair of trainers he's sold went for £62,000, after he flew to LA and bought them from a collector for £45,000. Joe says on an average week he now makes anywhere between £5,000 and £20,000.  He was making half of that while still at school - so it's probably not surprising he ended up dropping out of college at 16 with just a couple of GCSEs.

Trainers

Cereal Change Up

Lidl is to remove cartoon characters from its own-brand cereal ranges to help parents resist pester power and tackle Britain’s growing childhood obesity crisis.The discount retailer, which has almost 800 UK stores, pledged to remove cartoon characters from eight of its cereal ranges by spring. The company said it was prompted to take action after nearly three-quarters of parents said their children pressurised them to buy certain items in the supermarket, with more than half believing cartoon characters on packaging encouraged this.Many of Lidl’s cereals have unhealthy-sounding names that will not be changed – such as Choco Rice, Cereal Cookie, Choco Shells and Frosted Flakes – but the company says that over the last four years it has reduced the sugar content by 20%.Georgina Hall, Lidl’s head of corporate social responsibility, said: “We want to help parents across Britain make healthy and informed choices about the food they buy for their children. We know pester power can cause difficult battles on the shop floor and we’re hoping that removing cartoon characters from cereal packaging will alleviate some of the pressure parents are under.”
Cereal Change

Veganuary

Greggs, the UK’s largest bakery chain, will end speculation about its hotly anticipated new vegan snack by launching a meat-free version of its popular steak bake. Since the runaway success of its meatless sausage roll, the chain – which serves more than 6 million customers a week from its 2,000 outlets – has been working to develop vegan versions of its other bestselling items. The new product arrives on Greggs’ shelves at the start of Veganuary – a growing movement that encourages people to embrace plant-based diets during January. The vegan steak bake has been created to mirror some of the original snack’s features, including 96 thin layers of puff pastry but without the egg glaze. The filling is made with pieces of the fungi-based protein Quorn instead of beef, mixed with diced onions and meat-free gravy. Costing from £1.55, it will go on sale in 1,300 shops from Thursday before being rolled out to the remaining 700 outlets on 16 January. The launch comes as retailers expand their vegan and plant-based offerings amid the growing popularity of flexitarian diets – where a largely vegetable-based diet is supplemented occasionally with meat.

Veganuary

Death of Saturday Jobs

The number of working teenagers has almost halved in the last 20 years, a study suggests, sparking fears of the "death of the Saturday job". A Resolution Foundation report suggests a quarter of 16 and 17-year-olds were in work between 2017 and 2019 - falling from 48% in 1997-99. Young people were instead prioritising studies over part-time work, it added. The think tank says the number of people who have never worked increased by 52% over the last 20 years. The report says 8.2% of people aged 16-64 - some 3.4 million people in total - had never had a paid job. That is a 52% increase since 1998 when 5.4% had never worked, the report added.

Saturday Job