Food giant forms design roster

Food giant Van den Bergh Foods has put together a design roster of UK consultancies. Eight UK groups are believed to have been appointed to work for the Unilever-owned company.

Springpoint, Design Bridge, Catalyst, The Sandom Partnership and FLB are believed to be on the strategic roster. White Light, Unlimited and Reeves Hall have been retained for smaller projects.

EDR is rumoured to have been on the company’s steering committee, but both Van den Bergh and EDR declined to comment as Design Week went to press.

A Design Bridge spokeswoman confirms that the group is on the UK roster. “We’ve been working with Van den Bergh internationally for a long time,” says the spokeswoman.

Coley Porter Bell, which has worked on Van den Bergh’s top ten margarine brand Flora, did not make the roster. A consultancy spokeswoman confirms that CPB is not working on the Flora brand and Design Bridge is thought to have taken up design responsibility for it.

Van den Bergh merged with Brooke Bond Foods at the beginning of 1995, creating a combined company with a turnover of 750m. The deal saw some of the UK’s strongest food and beverage brands move into the same stable.