Umpf Food & Drink PR
At Umpf, we know how to cook up creative PR ideas for food and drinks brands. Cutting through the noise to pack a punch in the media requires a recipe of creativity, clever thinking and careful planning.
From running a full press office – including proactive and reactive media relations – to social media management, influencer collaborations, branded content, and experiential events, our integrated approach creates a buzz and serves up award-winning campaigns. With in-house design and creative, we can deliver everything from animation and photography to web-builds and brand identities.
From household names to restaurant groups and artisan food producers, we can help brand stories resonate with consumers, the trade and the media.
Read on for:
- Umpf’s Food & Drink Experience
- Examples of Umpf’s Food & Drink Press Office Experience
- 5 Umpf Food & Drink Case Studies
- Umpf’s Food & Drink Awards
Umpf’s Food & Drink Experience
Food & Drink PR is about creating appetite for your brand. It’s not just about product placement, but about building awareness, driving sales, and ensuring you’re being spoken about by both media and consumers.
Through media coverage, influencer partnerships, social campaigns, experiential events, and clever storytelling, we ensure food and drink brands cut through a crowded market. Done right, it builds brand reputation, inspires customer loyalty and delivers measurable results that last beyond the latest food trends.
With more than a decade of experience in the food and drink sector, we’ve helped brands of every size generate awareness, boost sales and land standout media coverage.
Brands we’ve worked with include Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate, GLORIOUS! Soups, Goodfella’s, Joe & Seph’s Popcorn, Lanchester Wines, Larkfire Water, Love Brownies, Pork Farms, Whittard of Chelsea, not forgetting pet food brands, too.
Restaurant-wise, we’ve a wealth of experience supporting the likes of Bill’s, Popeyes, Captain D’s, Slim Chickens, Banana Tree, German Doner Kebab, The Ivy Asia. Long-term partners have included the likes of D&D London, Forage Bar & Kitchen and Trinity Kitchen. Read more about the restaurant brands we work with.
And then there’s our work with chefs which have included partnerships with Brian Turner, Craig Rogan, Glynn Purnell, Hairy Bikers, John Torode, Lisa Faulkner, Marcus Bean, Matt Healy, Stacie Stewart and Tom Kitchin.
We have also worked on recipes and food collabs with brands including Aqua Optima, Belling, Morphy Richards and Stoves.
Examples of Umpf’s Food & Drink Press Office Activity
Our press office expertise helps food and drink brands stay top of mind with both consumers and trade. Day-to-day activity includes press releases, pitching product features, securing media interviews, coordinating photo calls, placing competitions, and entering industry awards. We also work with journalists on reviews and tasting opportunities and secure placements at leading food shows and events such as the BBC Good Food Show. We can also get creative with new flavours that tap into local traditions or key calendar dates – such as launching rhubarb-flavoured popcorn at Xscape to celebrate Yorkshire Day, or inventing a white rose-flavoured chocolate for White Rose Shopping Centre.
Using our strong contacts – plus online media request tools – we match our clients’ products with the right journalists and features. Proactive outreach ensures coverage momentum, while our reputation in the sector means food reviewers, influencers and journalists often approach us directly for content and expert comment.
5 Umpf Food & Drink PR Campaigns That Served Up Success
1. Cafédirect – Machu Picchu Coffee
To highlight Cafédirect’s Fairtrade and B Corp coffee, we created content that brought its origins to life. Wanting to focus on the higher purpose of its best-selling, grown-at-altitude, Machu Picchu coffee, the brand launched a TV campaign which Umpf supported through a series of social content.
From at-desk travel guides for coffee lovers stuck indoors, to mocktail recipes crafted with Instagram mixologists, the campaign achieved a 26% engagement rate on Facebook, grew Instagram organically by 334% and boosted brand awareness and recall.
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2. Trinity Leeds – Putting Street Food on the Map
We manage ongoing PR for Trinity Leeds shopping centre’s Trinity Kitchen, a unique venue that rotates its street food vendors every few months, trading alongside a handful of permanent eateries. From local and regional coverage of new line-ups to influencer events and national foodie features, we’ve secured opportunities ranging from Rick Stein’s Food Stories on BBC Two to teaming up with local tourism bodies to host groups of international influencers from around the world, as well as key local food influencers who showcase the offerings to their engaged audiences.
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3. Love Brownies – Launching Cafés Around the UK
To support the rapid growth of Love Brownies’ cafés, we created a PR blueprint for new openings nationwide, looking after the launch of ten stores. Each launch involved inviting local press and influencers, generating around 15 pieces of media coverage each time. We also handled all press office activity, including seasonal product placement, promotions, and national press features – making sure Love Brownies was always in the headlines.
4. Lanchester Wines – Boozy Advent Calendar
Our PR support and press office activity has helped make Lanchester Wines’ prosecco advent calendar a Christmas must-have. We supported the brand promote its premium, alcohol-based advent calendars in the run up to December, fighting for space against big brand retailers with their low-cost advent calendars.
By gifting key journalists, providing compelling cut-out and lifestyle imagery and proactive media pitching, we achieved 292 pieces of coverage including ITV This Morning, Metro, BBC Good Food, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, GQ, Stylist, Unilad, The Independent, Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan, driving sell-out success.
5. International Brewing Awards – Brewing & Cider Awards
Dubbed the ‘Oscars’ of the brewing world, we supported the International Brewing & Cider Awards with a mix of trade PR, international media relations, and digital promotion. Our efforts drove entries and secured 200+ pieces of global coverage, 97 of which came before the event itself – putting the world’s most historic brewing competition firmly on the map.
We have also worked with a range of other brands on food and drink related campaigns, such as those in the homes and interiors and travel sectors. Campaigns to note include:
- Launching a limited-edition White Rose chocolate bar with White Rose Shopping Centre and local expert chocolatier Youlden’s of Yorkshire – delicious milk chocolate with swirls of rose-infused white chocolate, topped with edible rose petals. Given exclusively to White Rose PLUS+ members, we encouraged an uplift of 245 PLUS+ newsletter sign-ups – one of the most successful membership-drivers to date.
- Working with appliance brand Belling to launch recipe books, such as an Energy Saving Recipe Book that supported families during the cost-of-living crisis with energy-saving recipes – securing 195 pieces of coverage and an influencer reach of 1m+. We also created superhero recipes inspired by on-screen heroes, achieving 39 pieces of coverage and a 3.5% social engagement rate, and the world’s shortest recipe book made from tweets – both winning several PR awards.
- Launching Morphy Richards’ soup maker by working with a TV chef to make recipes inspired by indulgent soups from high-end restaurants and hotels, made accessible for the consumer, producing 47 pieces of media coverage and 3 million social impressions.
- Spotlighting Cook’s Club’s food and drink offering – a key message for the hotel brand – we launched a cocktail competition with bartender and mixologist content creators. Each developed signature drinks for a new Cook’s Club hotel, with social followers voting on their favourite to secure a place on the official menu. The campaign generated buzz and social engagement, leading on to a naming competition for the winning cocktail. The entrant behind the chosen name won a holiday to the hotel to enjoy the winning cocktail poolside.
- Celebrating Belling’s 100th Birthday at BBC Good Food Show with a 6ft edible cake decorated with birthday messages from customer tweets printed on edible paper using edible ink. Supported by celebrity chefs – including James Martin and Paul Hollywood – the campaign generated 165,000 social impressions.
Umpf’s Food & Drink PR Awards
Our campaigns have won multiple awards in the food and drink sector, recognised for creativity, innovation and measurable impact:
- CIPR Pride Awards –
- Integrated Campaign – Belling Recipe Book, Creating Lockdown Superheroes
- Best Use of Content – Belling Recipe Book, Creating Lockdown Superheroes
- Best Use of Social Media – Belling at BBC Good Food Show
- Best Event – We’re Jammin: The WI and Stoves Real Jam Festival
- Best Use of Social Media – Belling, The World’s Shortest Recipe Book
- Consumer Relations – The GE Royal Fridge: Global awareness from a £250 stunt
- CIPR Excellence Awards – Best Use of Social Media – Belling, The World’s Shortest Recipe Book
We were also nominated for PR Moment Awards and CIPR Excellence Awards in 2025 for the Belling Energy Saving Recipe Book campaign.
Why Choose Umpf as Your Food & Drink PR Agency
- Specialist experience – 15+ years delivering results for food and drink brands, both on social and in the media.
- Award-winning creativity – recognised nationally for multiple campaigns in the sector.
- Integrated approach – from product placement to influencer marketing and events, as well as day-to-day press office activity.
- Proven results – securing sell-out product success, national headlines, and measurable growth.
Let’s Talk Food & Drink
If you’re looking for an experienced Food & Drink PR agency to build awareness, boost sales, and get your brand talked about, let’s chat. Get in touch with our teams in Leeds or London to find out how Umpf can put your food or drinks brand in the spotlight.