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N
ot so long ago, one supermarket was offering not
only free delivery but a bottle of champagne to every
new online customer. Such bribes are no longer
necessary now: normal shopper dynamics have
been suspended as price has taken a back seat, so desperate has
the demand been for online delivery slots.
As shoppers of all generations have flocked online, experts Sainsbury’s boss Simon
are now asking how big online grocery share can get, and at Roberts reshuffles board
what level demand will settle after the crisis, as they’ve dubbed
the current situation “the largest ever global online grocery
trial”.
Well, if it’s a trial, it’s a highly favourable offer. Even better
“If the current than free champagne. It involves quite literally a captive
situation is ‘the audience in many cases. And think of the alternative. Either you
largest ever global can order groceries from the comfort of your home. Or you can
queue up, in the rain, in a mask, remembering to spray yourself How brands are setting up
online grocery and your trolley in bleach as you enter the store, swerving to DTC operations in a jiffy
trial, it’s a highly avoid others as you shop, as you’re marshalled around a one-
favourable offer – way system, while the PA system orders you not to step out of
line. It’s as if Tim Steiner & co have created a nightmare virtual
even better than reality world in which ordinary shopping is as awful as it can
free champagne” possibly be, so as to cast online shopping in an even better light.
Adam Leyland, Editor And yet, for all this growth, it’s not an easy situation for the
supermarkets. And there are a number of far more important
questions that need to be asked – and answered – by those in Co-op CEO responds to
our Online Power List (p24) than how big online grocery market George Floyd killing
share is going to be in the future.
The first is obviously how to crank out more volume to meet
the insatiable demand. A second is how to make sure that the
experience you deliver is of the highest quality. Because, while
shoppers will forgive poor customer service, inappropriate
substitutions and high prices for a period, they will also trial
rival services, as capacity grows and more slots open up.
And the final question is how to make money out of this Over half UK’s wholesalers
demand. Because even without free champagne the costs of may not last the year
online delivery are still exorbitant. And with social distancing
they are only going up.

Over the years the CMA has
quashed a number of deals,
notably the Sainsbury’s-Asda
merger. And recently it started
to show an interest in curbing
the acquisitive tendencies of
technology giants.
All that changed with the
coronavirus pandemic, or so
we thought, as it made a u-turn
on Amazon’s ‘investment’ in
“The collapse of Deliveroo, waving it through
provisionally via the rarely
Adelie raises a used ‘failing firm’ principle.
major question Though its final decision
is not untll next week, the
over the role of the CMA appeared to rethink the
CMA in the crisis” balance access to services that
customers want even at the
Alec Mattinson, finance editor
expense of competition. But
the collapse and closure of
sandwich maker Adelie this
week raises questions again Julie Ashfield on how Aldi
over the role of the CMA in stayed calm in the crisis
the crisis. Ostensibly Adelie’s
collapse was a sad result of the
damage caused by Covid-19.
But this was not inevitable. quote of the week
The Grocer understands the
administrators received a “A world where people
viable offer from Greencore, are judged, discriminated
but the CMA made it clear a against and die due to the
rescue would not receive a colour of their skin is not
swift green light. As a result up the world I want, that any
to 2,200 jobs have been lost. of us want”
And to what end? Major Adelie p6
clients are already switching to
Greencore anyway.
More on page 10

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 3

 HEALTH EMERGENCY
news It is even more critical than ever for the food and drink
industry to stop flooding us with unhealthy food options
– Katharine Jenner, Action on Sugar & Action on Salt

Renewed calls
for clampdown
on unhealthy
food & drink ads
Ian Quinn
Campaign groups have
stepped up their calls
for a clampdown on the
“flood” of marketing of
unhealthy products after
a report by Public Health
England suggested peo-
ple with obesity were
Plans put back because
of the outbreak include
new targets on salt and
calories, a clampdown
on HFSS promotions and
restrictions on advertis-
ing of unhealthy food to
children. The government advises wearing face masks in confined places such as supermarkets
A number of campaign

Face masks to be
more likely to become groups told The Grocer
victims of coronavirus. the study showed the
PHE’s report this week need for the government

sparked fresh anger over
the government’s deci-
sion to suspend its obe-
sity plans because of
‘commonplace’ at
to breathe new life into its
battle against obesity.
“Before this emer-
gency, progress had

the crisis. It also showed
mortality rates from
Covid-19 in the most
deprived areas in the
UK had been more than
double those in the least
deprived areas.
The report highlighted
figures from the Intensive
Care National Audit and
Research Centre, from
data up to 21 May 2020.
These showed that 7.7%
of patients critically ill
in intensive care units
with confirmed Covid-
19 were morbidly obese,
compared with 2.9% of
the general population
(after adjusting for age
and sex).
The study also showed
a relationship between
BMI and death from
Covid-19.
Campaigners have slated
ads linked to Covid crisis
already stalled on a
whole set of government
proposals regarding
advertising, promotional
offers, energy drinks,
extension of the sug-
ary drinks tax and better
nutritional food label-
ling,” said Children’s
Food Campaign co-ordi-
nator Barbara Crowther.
“We’ve seen how, even
during this coronavirus
crisis, junk food brands
have indulged in a range
of marketing tactics,
from sending pizzas into
schools and hospitals,
running competitions to
recreate their products
and their ads, providing
branded backgrounds
for video calls with your
friends, and advertising
during family shows like
Britain’s Got Talent.”
Katharine Jenner, cam-
paign director of Action
on Sugar and Action
on Salt, said: “This is
another in a long line of
reports that clearly shows
the devastating effect
inequality has in widen-
ing health outcomes, in
this case for Covid-19.”
the supermarkets
Ian Quinn
Face masks will become
commonplace on super-
market shelves within
three weeks, according
to suppliers who are in
advanced discussions
with the mults.
The Grocer under-
stands most major food
retailers will soon start
stocking masks, as fears
allay over such a move
depriving frontline medi-
cal workers of supplies.
Among the compa-
nies preparing to sup-
ply masks is TSL, best
known for its range of
feminine care prod-
ucts. It has set up capac-
ity at a factory in Wigan
to make more than 100
million masks a year.
“People should expect to
see masks on the shelves
of most of the supermar-
kets, starting in the next
week to three weeks,”
said MD Chris Patterson.
“Supermarkets have
been incredibly respon-
sible and professional in
the way they have gone
about this. They made
it clear they didn’t want
to touch any supplies
that could possibly have
helped frontline workers
and that continued to be
the case.
“However, as we move
to the next stage of lock-
down, it makes sense for
people to be able to buy
masks from our major
supermarkets.”
The UK government
advises the wearing
of masks in confined
places, such as stores and
supermarkets, following
an earlier move by the
Scottish government.
However, last week
figures from the Office
for National Statistics
revealed only a third of
UK adults were wearing
face masks outside their
homes.
TSL’s Patterson said he
expected different super-
markets to carry different
standards of masks, with
some stocking type 2 sur-
gical face masks and oth-
ers a more basic range of
face coverings.
The company has set
up facilities to handle
both types of orders.
The market has previ-
ously been dominated by
Chinese imports.
The Grocer revealed in
May that UK supermar-
kets were putting plans
in place to begin selling
face masks before they
were recommended for
mass public use, despite
concerns over shortages
of PPE.
Earlier this month,
face mask provider Mask
Bros revealed it was tar-
geting listings in all
major UK supermarkets,
as it aimed to become
a household brand for
high-quality, non-medi-
cal face coverings.

4 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

Supermarkets set to initiate
better supplier collaboration
Harry Holmes
Supermarkets have
pledged to work more
collaboratively with sup-
pliers to manage future
uncertainty surrounding
the release of lockdown,
Christmas planning and
possible Brexit shocks.
The industry vowed
to work together to meet
these challenges during
recent Covid-19 meetings,
attended by many of the
UK’s biggest retailers
and manufacturers, and
hosted by supply chain
consultants Scala.
Retailers and suppliers
have already started to
work more closely since
the onset of the pan-
demic, especially during
the rush of demand ear-
lier in the year.
This approach looks
set to continue as super-
markets are increasingly
keen to better under-
stand their supply chains
and pay more attention to
risk management.
It is expected many
will start asking
Waitrose shop floor worker Omar on cover of Vogue
Anisa Omar was photographed working a regular shift
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Retailers and suppliers are to manage uncertainty at key shopping times like Christmas
suppliers to provide more out’, suddenly people
information on stock lev- have realised that’s not
els, production capacity necessarily the case,”
and transport capabili- said Dave Howorth, exec-
ties, as planning gets utive director at Scala.
underway for peak sea- Although some suppli-
son later in the year. ers will likely be hesitant
“While retailers may about the introduction
have previously taken of additional demands
the view: ‘we’ll just worry and pressures, the move
about demand and the could hand them greater
supply will sort itself influence in determining
A Waitrose shop floor
Jamie Hawkesworth
worker is set to grace the
cover of British Vogue
this month as the fashion
magazine pays tribute
to key workers who have
kept the country func-
tioning during lockdown.
The July issue will be
available in three ver-
sions, with a London
Overground train driver
and a midwife on the
other two covers.
Anisa Omar works at
retail activities such as
promotions, Howorth
suggested. It could
become a fundamental
shift in the way retailers
and suppliers interact.
“It feels like a balanc-
ing out of the power ratio
between retailer and sup-
plier,” he said.
The pandemic has trig-
gered a renewed focus
the King Cross branch
of Waitrose in London,
serving on the checkouts
and restocking shelves.
The 21-year-old had her
photograph taken for the
cover in her Waitrose uni-
form while working dur-
ing a regular shift.
“It’s nice being a key
worker,” she said. “My
job was not something
that was that big of a deal
before. But now it’s like
we’re important. We have
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 5
on supply chain risk as
retailers seek out new
ways to balance demand-
driving activities, such
as price and promotion,
with ensuring their sup-
ply chains are resilient.
There was now “a real
thirst for information” on
how businesses can use
data more effectively to
minimise risks of future
disruption, said Andrew
Opie, director of food and
sustainability at the BRC.
“Obviously one of
the issues everyone ran
into when you had that
unprecedented demand
was how do you man-
age when your normal
data flow and assump-
tions that you’ve built
into your supply chain
don’t necessarily work,”
he said.
With more unknowns
looming over the indus-
try in the second half of
2020 and beyond, any
improvements in collabo-
ration would be a “really
good learning” from the
pandemic, Opie added.
to be here, regardless of
what’s happening in the
world. It’s more than just
a job now.
“Being on the cover of
Vogue is not something
I ever imagined I would
do, but I feel so lucky to
be a part of this experi-
ence. Both my brother
and sister work in differ-
ent Waitrose branches so
we will be excited to see
the magazine on sale in
our shops at work.”
 BLACK LIVES MATTER
news A world where people are judged, discriminated against
and die due to the colour of their skin is not the world I
want, that any of us want – Steve Murrells, CEO, Co-op

Tesco to grow
discounter
Jack’s estate
to 13 stores
Tesco has revealed plans
to launch a 13th Jack’s
store as it presses ahead
with its strategy to take
on the discounters.
The retailer’s lat-
est Jack’s incarna-
tion is set to take over
a vacant Mothercare
store in Kingston Retail
Park, after plans were
submitted to Hull City
Council. The opening
comes despite wide-
spread speculation that
the format was being
wound up.
Doubts over the suc-
cess of the format
emerged last September
when Tesco announced
that Jack’s in Rawtenstall
was to close and turn
back into a Tesco.
“We are always look-
ing for potential sites for
new Jack’s stores and
these applications are
part of this process,” said
a Tesco spokeswoman.
Co-op CEO responds to
George Floyd killing
Edward Devlin that we, together, are try-
Co-op boss Steve ing to build at the Co-op
Murrells has published will only live through
an emotional response actions. Not words
to the death of George alone,”Murrells added.
Floyd, which has sparked “There is no doubt we’ve
protests across the US got more to do. We’re well
and around the world. underway but I’m not
Murrells told his naive enough to think
Twitter followers he that we’re even nearly
wanted to share his done. We need to go fur-
personal reflection on ther and faster.
“the horrific killing” in “That will require
Minneapolis. Floyd’s killing has sparked protests across the globe some big actions from
With disturbances me, management and
continuing to rage in cit- compassion, care and and die due to the col- also thousands of daily
ies throughout the US – commitment,” the Co-op our of their skin is not the actions from all of you –
and protests springing CEO wrote on a Twitter world I want, that any of please, don’t underesti-
up in London, Germany, thread. us want,” he said. “Even mate your own power.”
France and New Zealand “I value all these though we are not in the Co-op colleagues
– Murrells said he felt things regardless of your USA we all have a part to responded to the post by
“compelled” to let all Co- upbringing, skin colour, play. Some of you experi- thanking their boss.
op colleagues know “I sexuality or religion. ence judgement and dis- One said: “Honestly,
care deeply about you”. “We know we can’t crimination every single am so damn glad you’re
“I value your talent, go on like this. A world day. Both in work and our chief, and I work for
time, creativity, energy, where people are judged, outside of work.” a company with ethics at
hard work, passion, discriminated against “The inclusive culture its core.”

Supermarkets urge clarity on Landlords ‘itching to

return of ‘vulnerable’ workers
Retailers are calling for
greater clarity from the
government over whether
elderly staff – and those
with medical conditions
– should return to the
shop floor, as the country
comes out of lockdown.
It is understood up to
half of all current super-
market absentees are
vulnerable people who
have been self-isolating
at home.
The UK government
took the first steps to ease
the lockdown for those
groups at the weekend,
with advice that they
could leave their homes
as diabetes or learning
difficulties.
However, while super-
markets committed to
paying the workers for
the first 12 weeks of the
lockdown, none would
confirm their future
Retailers are calling for plans. A raft of retail-
clarity from government ers admitted it was an
issue being urgently
under strict social dis- discussed.
tancing guidelines. “What is now being
Thousands of staff discussed is whether
have been receiving they are able to come
full pay when they are back to work and how
self-isolating, includ- long we continue to sup-
ing people who are over port them to stay at
70, pregnant or suffer- home,” said one super-
ing from conditions such market source.
evict retail tenants’
Landlords are “itching”
to evict retail tenants
after 30 June, when gov-
ernment protections are
due to end, a property lit-
igation firm has claimed.
Landlords have been
banned from evicting
commercial tenants for
non-rent payment due to
coronavirus since March.
A second protection in
April banned landlords
from issuing winding-
up orders or statutory
demands. Both protec-
tions last until 30 June,
with no extension yet
announced.
“As things stand, from
30 June commercial land-
lords will be able to for-
feit the leases of tenants
who are in rent arrears,
which will be a large pro-
portion of the high street,
by issuing possession
proceedings or simply
by changing the locks
and taking peaceable re-
entry,” said Matt Pugh,
managing partner at
Hägen Wolf. “Possession
orders already made
will also start to become
enforceable. Some land-
lords are itching to pull
the trigger.”
Analysis p12

6 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

news technology & logistics
Payzone sees
2,300 retailer
signups in last
six months
Payzone has signed up
2,300 independents in
the past six months,
including independent
Budgens, Bestway and
Costcutter operators.
Owned by the Post
Office since 2013,
Payzone now has termi-
nals in 24,000 locations.
The average number
of transactions through
a Payzone till has more
than doubled since
January as a result of an
agreement to become the
exclusive bill payments
provider for British Gas.
Payzone said the new
contract wins with 2,300
indie retailers also drove
footfall into shops.
“The new contract
wins highlight Payzone’s
significantly strength-
ened offering to retail-
ers and their customers
alike,” said Andrew
Goddard, Payzone bill
payments MD.
Co-op expands Milton Keynes Red tape cut helps
Starship robot delivery service logistics restart
The Co-op is expand-
ing its autonomous
robot delivery service
to a further two stores
this month, after see-
ing demand more than
double since the start of
lockdown.
Available from two
stores in Milton Keynes
since last year, another
six stores in the town
were made available
for deliveries via the
Starship Technologies
app in March.
Not only has there
been a growth in number
of orders delivered by the
six-wheeled autonomous
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Aldi in plan to install
more self-checkouts
Steve Farrell
Aldi is bringing self-
checkouts to more stores
as it assesses the tech-
nology with an eye on a
wider rollout.
Stores in Lichfield,
Atherstone, Hounslow
and Tooting are to get
self-checkouts between
now and the end of July.
Aldi’s first self-check-
outs, installed in spring
last year in Glascote,
near its Atherstone HQ,
were a departure for the
discounter, which has
always prided itself on
swift service at staffed
checkouts.
In August last year
they were rolled out to
new-format ‘Aldi Local’
stores in London.
The latest four stores
due to get them will bring
the total to 12. All stores
Another six stores are now
using Starship Tech robots
bots, but their value has
increased four-fold “as
shopping habits change”,
Co-op said.
Delivery fees, which
range from £1.49 to
£2.49 depending on dis-
tance travelled, have
been waived for NHS
come with social distanc-
ing measures, including
Perspex screens separat-
ing them, regular clean-
ing and antibacterial gel.
The checkouts were
introduced in Lichfield
this week, while the
Atherstone store will
follow on 29 June. Self-
checkouts in Hounslow
and Tooting will be intro-
duced on 13 and 27 July
Aldi’s self-checkouts photographed before the pandemic respectively.
The further push on
with self-checkouts also the move a test, and is in-store technology
retain staffed checkouts assessing which stores coincides with the dis-
for customers who want may be more suited to counter taking tentative
to use them. staffed checkouts only steps into online gro-
Aldi staff all perform before a wider rollout. cery. Last month Aldi
a variety of store tasks Customer feedback is confirmed it was launch-
and the self-checkouts said to have been posi- ing a delivery service via
are expected to free them tive. The ‘Tell Aldi’ cus- Deliveroo. It is currently
up to spend more time tomer feedback platform available through a sin-
on the shop floor help- has seen 99% say they gle Nottingham store trial
ing customers. The dis- would use them again. that is set to roll out to at
counter still considers The self-checkouts least seven more.
workers. The robots have Logistics groups have must make a judgment
also been programmed been given the green on whether an employee
to pause and “clap and light to return to work has contracted Covid-19
cheer” to recognise car- after a campaign by because of occupational
ers and key workers. business group FTA exposure. The FTA said
The rollout of more convinced the Health the amendment provided
robots has been & Safety Executive to employers with flexibility
described as a “lifeline” remove red tape. to decide if submitting a
for vulnerable or house- The industry organisa- report was required.
bound members of the tion lobbied the agency “Before this addition,
community, the conveni- to amend guidance for our employer members
ence retailer said. Reporting of Injuries, were concerned the lack
“Quality, ease and con- Diseases and Dangerous of clarity on the guidance
venience is at the core Occurrences Regulations would have left them vul-
of our approach and we to avoid businesses being nerable to excessive or
continue to innovate and penalised unfairly as unfair litigation, as well
expand access to our they restart or scale up as facing an administra-
products online,” said operations. tive burden,” said FTA
Jason Perry, Co-op head Under the new report- policy director Elizabeth
of online development. ing guidance, employers de Jong.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 7
news wholesale & convenience
Costcutter
expands free
coronavirus
support packs
Costcutter has expanded
its free online coronavi-
rus support package and
made it available to all
independent retailers to
help them support their
local communities.
The online resource
now includes guides on
home delivery, call &
collect and NHS ‘thank
yous’, which are avail-
able to download on its
dedicated website fresh-
start.costcutter.co.uk.
The package already
featured guidance on
in-store social distanc-
ing measures and sto-
ries from retailers on
how they are meeting the
challenges of the Covid-
19 crisis.
“Our retailers continue
to do an incredible job
supporting their local
communities,” said Jamie
Davison, Costcutter busi-
ness development direc-
tor of new business.
JJ Foodservice reports return to DCS predicts c-store
pre-lockdown turnover levels personal care boom
JJ Foodservice has seen
weekly turnover return
to pre-lockdown levels
after counteracting wide-
spread hospitality clo-
sures with its growing
DTC business.
The wholesaler
recorded sales of £4.2m
last week, representing a
return to the figures seen
in the first two months of
the year, before the pan-
demic hit.
JJ told The Grocer its
newly launched direct-to-
consumer operation now
accounted for 35% of its
customer base, equating
to £550k a week. That’s
8 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
Cook accelerates its
online delivery rollout
Lyndsey Cambridge
Cook has accelerated the
rollout of its online deliv-
ery service to meet the
surge in demand during
the coronavirus crisis.
The retailer told The
Grocer it had added 14
vans to its existing fleet
of 36 over the past two
months. This has enabled
it to offer home delivery
from a further 36 stores,
making the service avail-
able from 77 stores in its
89-strong estate.
Cook had originally
planned a gradual rollout
of its online service over
two years, but it acceler-
ated the pace after see-
ing a huge increase in
demand for home deliv-
ery. Cook said online now
accounted for 60% of its
overall sales compared to
just 20% before the crisis.
JJ’s new DTC offer has hit
£550k in weekly sales
up from just £152k prior
to March 2020.
Head of operations
Sedat Kaan Hendekli
said its clientele had
changed “drastically”
and put its success down
to the company’s invest-
ment in technology over
Cook now offers home delivery from a total of 77 stores
The retailer has also
reduced its threshold
for free delivery from
stores to £40 from £50.
For those areas without a
shop locally, Cook uses a
national courier service,
which also requires a £40
minimum spend to qual-
ify for free delivery.
“Online sales have shot
up,” said Cook owner
the past year. This has
included a new website
with features designed
to mirror those of con-
sumer-friendly Amazon,
the introduction of an
app and enhanced deliv-
ery communications
such as 10-minute order
drop warnings.
“It has been more like
a natural progression
rather than a shock,” said
Kaan Hendekli.
“Having a consumer-
friendly system helped
our new customers adapt
to us, and has really
helped us expand in this
area.”
Edward Perry. “This has
been a massive shift in
how we do business.
When the Covid crisis
started, it was obvious
that we were fortunate
enough, through dumb
luck, to have a product
that people needed.
“While coping with an
unprecedented surge in
demand, we have been
DCS Group has launched
a series of webinars to
educate wholesalers and
convenience retailers on
how to boost personal
care sales amid the coro-
navirus crisis.
By stocking the right
range of goods, c-stores
would be well placed to
capitalise on a shifting
consumer trend to shop
locally, where increased
footfall has seen sales of
some personal care lines
rise 300%, the distribu-
tor said.
The first of the webi-
nars had 50 attendees,
including buyers from 21
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
prioritising deliveries
for the most vulnerable,
those self-isolating, and
NHS staff.”
Cook’s store sales have
also shot up during the
pandemic. Like-for-like
store sales were up more
than 100% in March as
panic buying and stock-
piling peaked, it said,
while its like-for-likes
during April and May
were up 30%.
The frozen ready meal
producer said it had
adapted its stores to offer
a counter service to meet
government social dis-
tancing guidelines.
Cook has also set up a
Kindness fund through
which it has given away
80,000 meals since the
beginning of March. It is
aiming to take this total
to 100,000.
convenience and whole-
sale customers, and
covered ‘Destination
Convenience’.
It consisted of two half-
hour channel insight
briefings followed by
direct conversations
between customers and
DCS account managers.
Advice included stock-
ing ‘main shop’ pack
sizes alongside top-up
formats and taking a
lower margin to grow
overall profit. DCS also
gave advice on ranging
higher-value and margin
lines such as pregnancy
tests and skincare.
 SANDWICH DEAL OFF
news finance It is very unfortunate that we couldn’t enact
the previously agreed sale – Rob Harding, joint
administrator, Deloitte

Strong demand for

avocados drives sales
growth at Greencell
Sales at fruit & vegetable
supplier Greencell rose
marginally last year due
to increased demand for
avocados, sparking fur-
ther investment into its
Lincolnshire site.
The company’s reve-
nues rose £9m, or 4.6%,
to £205m in the year
ended December 2019 as
a result of volume growth
in its retail business.
Operating profits
were up 2% to £5.1m
after Greencell invested
a further £469k to
increase the capacity
Avocados helped Greencell
grow revenues to £205m
Wholey Moly raises
of its avocado ripening
and packing facilities at
Spalding, Lincolnshire.
The prior financial year
saw the company invest
£974k in the factory.
Looking ahead for
the 2020 financial year,
Greencell expects to see
another sales increase
on the back of further
avocado volume growth.
This may require the
company to increase its
investment into its pro- The Grocer understands Greencore had agreed a deal to take on Adelie as a going concern
duction facilities, it said.
With regards to the
coronavirus pandemic,
Greencell’s directors said
they had reviewed the
Competition fears
business’ performance
and cashflow forecasts.
In conclusion, they sur-
mised that the company
scuppered rescue
“has access to and the
ability to generate ade-
quate resources to con-
tinue in operational
package for Adelie
existence”. Alec Mattinson But it couldn’t imple- and associated impact
Competition concerns ment an agreed going on the ‘food to go’ sec-
scuppered a rescue deal concern sale “due to a tor,” said Rob Harding,
for the UK’s third-largest key regulatory approval joint administrator at
sandwich maker Adelie
Foods, resulting in its
not being forthcoming”.
A CMA source said an
Deloitte. “It is very unfor-
tunate that we couldn’t

support funding collapse and the loss of

Healthier cookies startup
Wholey Moly has closed
a small funding round
to support it through the
coronavirus pandemic.
The company was able
to raise the funds from
friends and family after
a bigger raise with angel
investors was postponed
due to the crisis.
It plans to use the cash
to invest in marketing
and PR activities, as well
as to pivot the business
towards e-commerce,
after conversations with
retailers for further list-
ings were paused.
“We decided to raise a
Wholey Moly has turned to
friends and family for funds
small amount to tide us
over,” founder Meenesh
Mistry told The Grocer.
“We will have to use
the money to create an
e-commerce website
and launch on Amazon
to take advantage of the
online growth.”
almost 2,200 jobs.
The Grocer under-
stands listed food-to-
go giant Greencore had
agreed a deal to take on
Adelie as a going concern
before it was placed into
administration last week.
However, it is believed
initial conversations
with the Competition &
Markets Authority led
to a belief that receiving
competition clearance
would be problematic.
This led Greencore to step
away from the deal.
Administrator Deloitte
had been seeking a rapid
sale for Adelie in the
absence of funding to
enable ongoing trade.
investigation had not
been opened into Adelie
and that it did not “pre-
authorise” deals.
Nevertheless, a num-
ber of sources confirmed
the CMA had in effect
blocked a rescue deal by
indicating it would not
waive competition con-
cerns to prevent Adelie’s
subsequent collapse.
Deloitte confirmed
on Monday that Adelie
Foods had permanently
ceased trading after a res-
cue package was unable
to be reached, resulting
in the loss of 2,169 jobs.
“Covid-19 has pre-
sented huge challenges
to this business given
the lockdown measures
enact the previously
agreed sale and it is with
sadness that we now
have to announce such
a significant number of
redundancies.”
At the time of the
appointment of adminis-
trators, Adelie operated
from three manufactur-
ing sites and five DCs.
Deloitte has now
begun a process to sell off
these assets.
City sources suggested
existing players in the
sandwich market, such
as Greencore itself and
Samworth Brothers, may
be more open to buy-
ing its factory assets as
demand for food to go
returns through the year.

10 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


Typhoo cautions over
future prospects after
posting further losses
Elena Cherubini
Typhoo Tea has reported
mounting losses in a
“watershed” year for
the business, raising
doubts on the historic
tea brand’s ability to con-
tinue trading.
The tea maker reported
pre-tax losses of £29.9m
for the 12 months to
March 2019, up from
£20m the prior year.
The loss was exacer-
bated by an £11.6m write-
off on the value of its
brands, while revenues
also slumped to £60.9m
from £70.2m.
The accounts warned
that an inability to
refinance or extend
its current financing
agreements “repre-
sents a material uncer-
tainty which may cast
Fullers Foods maintains ‘full
operations’ during pandemic
Frozen specialist Fullers
Foods has remained
“fully operational” dur-
ing the coronavirus crisis
and posted a jump in full-
year profits.
The private label sup-
plier said it maintained
close consultation with
employees, suppliers and
customers to ensure the
business was operating
“as effectively as possi-
ble” during the crisis.
“We are extremely
proud of how everyone
has contributed with
these unusual condi-
tions to ensure that the
business remains fully
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
decision to continue to
pursue an “aggressive”
sales growth strategy
focused on boosting its
own-label business.
A new strategy was
implemented in mid-2019
alongside a shake-up of
its management team,
Typhoo revenues slumped which saw Des Kingsley
from £70.2m to £60.9m take over as CEO in July
and Paul White become
significant doubt over the CFO in January 2019.
company’s ability to con- Kingsley said the 2018-
tinue as a going concern”. 19 results were not reflec-
Furthermore, the tive of the company's
accounts stated there current performance.
remained a “high level “Typhoo Tea remains
of uncertainty” as to the one of Britain’s most
impact of the coronavirus iconic brands and as the
outbreak, despite report- business continues to
ing an upward trend in recover from its perfor-
supermarket sales under mance, its prospects are
lockdown. better than they have
Typhoo blamed its been for many years,” he
poor performance on the said.
However, operating
profits rose 85% to £9.8m
due to a fall in admin-
istrative expenses and
a drop in staffing costs
from £10.6m to £8m.
The business said it
has “adequate finan-
Fullers Foods is a frozen cial resources” which,
private-label supplier together with contracts
and agreements with
operational and there is “major” customers and
a continuous supply of suppliers, ensure it is
food for all parts of Great able to manage risks.
Britain and Ireland,” the “This year continues
company said. to be a difficult environ-
Its annual results for ment, but the directors
the year ended January consider it well placed to
2020 showed flat reve- meet the challenges,” the
nues at £287m. accounts stated.
city news
SSP GROUP SHARES
Dates: 4 June 2019 – 4 June 2020
750
650
550
450
350
250
150
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
2019 2020
Upper Crust owner SSP Group already tapped
investors for an extra £216m cash in March to mit-
igate the damage coronavirus has wrought. This
week it pleaded with shareholders to reinvest the
dividend payment it was obligated to pay.
Announcing its first-half results this week, the
travel food-to-go specialist swung to an interim
loss for the six months to 31 March as the pan-
demic “heavily impacted” trading.
SSP saw like-for-like revenues fall 8.4% to
£1.2m. It also suffered a pre-tax loss of £34.3m,
compared with profits of £54.2m the year before.
Trading was hit by the early coronavirus outbreak
in Asia and its subsequent spread resulted in trad-
ing “deteriorating rapidly” across the group.
In March it raised £216m through a share plac-
ing to bolster its balance sheet amid the global
slump in air and rail passenger numbers.
However, it had to return to shareholders cap
in hand this week. They had already approved
a £26.8m full-year dividend in February that
the company is now loathe to pay out due to the
slump in trading. After failing to agree to cancel
or further defer the dividend, it offered investors
the chance to reinvest the sum in new shares. In
the end, it managed to raise £11m – under half the
maximum sum it was seeking – at 315.2p a share.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said
the offer “feels like an act of financial gymnas-
tics”, adding: “For all its talk of emerging a fitter,
stronger business at the end of the crisis, at pre-
sent sales are running 95% lower year on year so
it is all about survival for the time being.”
SSP Group shares rose 3.2% to 315.2p on
Wednesday, but remain down by more than 50%
so far this year.
Meanwhile, international coffee player JDE
Peet’s managed to shrug off the chaotic market to
pull off a rare IPO – Europe’s largest for two years.
The Kenco owner raised €2.25bn to value it
at €16.8bn when it listed last Friday, pricing its
shares at €31.50. The well-received IPO – com-
pleted in just 72 hours due to demand – was
trading at €36.90 by Thursday this week.
Track the latest share price movement and
performance of 200 UK and international grocery
and fmcg stocks via the new Grocer Finance
channel at thegrocer.co.uk
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 11
analysis property

Can property code

of practice prevent
‘cliff edge’ collapses?
Steve Farrell

With the end of government’s bans on non-rent

payment evictions and winding-up orders
imminent, what now for retailers and landlords?

A
cliff edge is looming for Last week, some cause for And if you were hoping for
retail at the end of this optimism arrived in the govern- more clarity, you would have
month, when the gov- ment’s announcement it was been disappointed. So, what do
ernment’s three-month ban on working on a ‘code of practice’ those industry bodies involved
eviction for non-rent payment for retailers and landlords in expect from it?
is due to expire. Landlords are finding solutions. It was being
“itching to pull the trigger and developed with industry bodies Code welcomed
take possession”, Matt Pugh, on either side of the talks and The BRC, UKHospitality
managing partner at property would give “clarity and reassur- and BPF all welcomed the
litigation firm Hägen Wolf told ance to both”, said communities announcement, but it perhaps
The Grocer this week. secretary Robert Jenrick. got its most enthusiastic recep-
A ban on winding-up orders The code would encourage tion from the latter. This could
and statutory demands over “fair and transparent discus- be because, in the announce-
rent debt is also set to expire on sions” over rental payments, ment itself, tenants were “Government
30 June, meaning retailers could according to the Ministry of reminded the protections in intervention
be forced out of business. Housing, Communities & Local place were not intended to pro-
For months the British Government’s announcement. vide a “rental holiday” – which is desperately
Property Federation and BRC It would be temporary but – landlords have complained needed”
have been calling for the gov- somewhat confusingly, if its aim some well-capitalised retailers
ernment to pay rent in a ‘fur- is simply to encourage negotia- are taking advantage of.
loughed space grant scheme’ tion – the government would According to BPF CEO tenants, the retailers who are
but none has been forthcoming. also explore mandating it. Melanie Leech, at a roundtable protected but are not necessar-
following the announcement of ily engaging in conversations
the winding-up and statutory with their landlords and storing
demand ban in April, minis- up that cliff-edge problem.”
How the grant scheme could work ters acknowledged the measure The BPF also wants the pro-
had been imbalanced in favour tections for tenants removed
Around £1.4bn of retail’s quarterly £2.5bn rent bill was unpaid at of tenants. “But they wanted at the earliest possible date.
the end of March, according to the British Property Federation. to take action to try to support “Ministers made it really clear
After months of zero turnover for many businesses, their capacity landlords, recognising that no to us that they saw the morato-
to pay at the end of June is unlikely to have improved. This is the one party in the chain of fund- riums as exceptional short-term
government bailout package proposed by the BPF, BRC and Revo ing could take all the pain and measures to deal with a crisis
in April, with grants awarded on a sliding scale according to a there had to be solutions that situation and give tenants some
retailer’s loss of turnover. shared the pain equally.” breathing space,” says Leech.
Leech wants a voluntary “We will be expecting them to
RETAILER’S CERTIFIED DROP GOVERNMENT’S CONTRIBUTION code, encouraging negotia- stick to that.”
IN TURNOVER TO FIXED PROPERTY COSTS
tions only. While she stresses But in the interest of both par-
40%-60% 25% many tenants have continued ties, tenants who simply don’t
60%-80% 50% to talk constructively with land- have the money also need to be
80%-99% 80% lords, a minority have not, she saved from hurtling off that cliff
Not trading at all 100% says. “The code has to speak edge. So, the BPF also continues
to all parties but in particular to call for a government grant

12 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


scheme, access to which is con-
tingent on compliance with
the code. That way, compli-
ance would be encouraged and
where no constructive outcome
to negotiation could be found,
the grant scheme would provide
one. “The tenant has to pay a
bit of the rent, the landlord has
to accept it’s not going to get all
of the rent, and the government
will put in a little bit of money to
bridge the gap,” says Leech.
Misaligned expectations
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there
is some misalignment of these
expectations with tenants’.
Both the BRC and
UKHospitality have wel-
comed the code with cau-
tion. “Hospitality businesses
have seen revenues all but
dry up since March, so gov-
ernment intervention is des-
perately needed – with a
sustainable financial plan in
place,” said UKHospitality CEO
Katie Nicholls as the code was
announced last week.
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
BRC property policy adviser
Dominic Curran says the body
is “working constructively with
the government and landlords
to agree a code that will set out
expectations”.
But he adds a note of cau-
tion: “If a voluntary code
doesn’t work, however, govern-
ment will need to explore other
options, such as supporting
rents through the furloughed
space grant scheme and linking
this to a code which is binding
on all parties.”
Sources in the tenant camp,
familiar with the draft code,
are privately more pessimistic.
The attitude is a voluntary code
already exists. “It’s called talk-
ing to landlords.”
It is claimed the reality is
those landlords and tenants
who have been in a position to
have constructive talks have
done so. Those that have not
are unlikely to be brought to
an agreement by “exhortations
from Robert Jenrick”.
From this perspective, the
voluntary code is destined to
fail and there are three possi-
ble outcomes. One is that the
protections are extended for
another quarter at least, and
the code changes in nature and
becomes mandated. It would
now dictate the outcome of talks
rather than the process. Yet
both camps see this as extreme
intervention. “Given that ten-
ants don’t have any money it
would be mandating that land-
lords don’t get as much, which
would be a big steer from gov-
ernment,” says a tenant source.
The BPF balks at the notion.
“It would be tearing up a con-
tract that has been entered into
in good faith between two par-
ties, and replacing it with an
arbitrary government view,”
says Leech.
The second outcome from the
tenant camp perspective is that
the protections are extended
and the grant scheme is
launched, saving those tenants
– and landlords – for whom the
money is not there.
The code needs to deal
with the looming threat of
‘mass redundancies and
administrations’ this summer
The third option is that the
voluntary code fails and busi-
nesses that don’t have the
money are allowed to go over
the cliff, leading to “mass
redundancies and administra-
tions from retailers and hospi-
tality businesses”.
“I know of otherwise very
sustainable businesses that
were looking to invest and
expand and had no leverage
problems – who will go bust or
enter into a CVA this summer
unless action is taken on rent,”
says a source. “That could be an
outcome, if government is pre-
pared to accept that.”
There is at least one point,
then, on which both sides of the
fence agree: the need for a grant
scheme. It is the same point on
which they have agreed since 17
April, when the BRC, BPF and
shopping centre industry body
Revo called for it in a joint letter
to Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
With the cliff edge approach-
ing, time is running short for
the government to see it too.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 13
analysis sugar
Does new UK tariff policy
mean cheaper sugar?
Tate & Lyle targets Brazilian sugar in post-Brexit tariff framework
Harry Holmes
I
t’s not surprising Tate
& Lyle Sugars backed
Brexit. The London
refinery has long been infuri-
ated by the EU’s punitive tariff
regime on the raw sugar cane
imports upon which it relies.
Fortunately for T&L, this is
set to change, with the UK’s
new tariff policy from 1 January.
Although British prices should
be somewhat supported
through tariffs staying roughly
equivalent to those of the EU’s,
a 260k tonne tariff-free quota for
raw cane sugar is also included,
a remnant of the government’s
no-deal tariff schedule last year,
meant to ensure sugar supplies
kept flowing.
This time, no-deal is not the
plan. The new policy is seem-
ingly reliant on a parallel EU
trade deal, or else European
imports will fall under the same
regime and significant price
hikes become inevitable.
Long-term fears
British Sugar therefore fears
the quota – the only agricul-
tural allocation within the tariff
schedule – will lead to long-
term increases in raw cane
imports and drive down British
sugar prices. “All this will do
is provide a free subsidy for
cane coming into the UK at the
expense of UK farmers,” says
British Sugar MD Paul Kenward.
The quota, alongside an EU
trade deal, could open the door
to a flood of cheap global sugar,
argues Michael Sly, chair of
the NFU’s Sugar Board. “We’d
actually increase the amount of
sugar coming into the market-
place, driving the price down
more,” he warns.
The UK imported 447k tonnes
14 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
Tate & Lyle Sugars has long been
infuriated by the EU’s tariffs on
raw sugar cane imports
of raw cane sugar in 2018/2019,
according to Eurostat, all of
which was taken by Tate & Lyle
Sugars as the UK’s only raw
cane refiner. To the concern
of British producers, the tariff
protection on almost of all this
could soon be stripped. On top
of the 260k tonne quota, the
UK’s rollover of EU trade agree-
ments includes 142k tonnes
exempt from duty, meaning
402k tonnes of raw cane sugar
able to enter the UK tariff-free.
“It’s a straightforward sub-
sidy to Tate & Lyle,” says Philip
de Pass, chair of the ACP/LDC
sugar industries group. The
costs will not only be shoul-
dered by British producers, he
argues, but low-income coun-
tries such as Mauritius and
Belize will lose their preferen-
tial access to the UK market.
Their higher production costs
are expected to leave them una-
ble to compete with the likes
of Brazil, one of Tate & Lyle’s
future priorities, which is cur-
rently selling at record low
prices aided by a 13.3% devalua-
tion of the real this year.
Alternative markets
Yet this argument “fundamen-
tally misses the fact” that these
low-income countries have
been searching for alternative
markets for years as result of
Europe’s low prices, says Gerald
Mason, senior VP at Tate &
Lyle Sugars, leaving importers
such as itself unable to pay the
premium prices it could once
afford. Nor will it force price
falls in the UK market as T&L
will only import “if there’s an
economic demand”, he says.
The new tariff will simply
allow the company to com-
pete more effectively on the
UK market following a decade
of decline in which the refin-
ery’s production volumes have
almost halved, he argues.
Price pressures have largely
excluded Tate & Lyle from food
and drink manufacturing,
something Mason hopes the
new policy will change.
However, it’s argued sepa-
rately there could soon be fewer
manufacturers to sell into. The
UK’s new tariff policy will abol-
ish the Meursing table, a feature
of the EU’s tariff schedule that
allows duties on cakes, biscuits
and other confectionery goods
to be adjusted depending on the
make-up of ingredients such as
sugar and butter.
It will be replaced by a set of
fixed tariffs on these products
that are consistently around
5%-10%. Sugar tariffs, mean-
while, are closer to 100%.
If a no-deal looks likely, man-
ufacturers may consider reloca-
tion across the Channel in order
to take advantage of the final
product’s cheaper tariff. “The
tariff on cake has to be related
to the tariff on the product with
which cake is made or else
you’ll just make cake elsewhere
and ship it in,” says James Kane,
trade policy associate at the
Institute for Government.
The departure of British man-
ufacturers would be a devastat-
ing blow for British growers who
sell 85% of domestic sugar beet
to such businesses, according
to British Sugar. After years of
sugar beet dominance, the dice
is rolling on its future.
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
the grocer 33 mystery shopper
Tesco impresses with safety
measures and availability
Edward Devlin
A
vailability made all
the difference in this
high-scoring week as
Tesco triumphed over Asda
and Waitrose, with all three
well-organised and safe stores
impressing our shoppers.
The “plentiful” Tesco in
Chepstow was close to provid-
ing a full basket on Sunday
lunchtime, with just two prod-
ucts not stocked. There were no
gaps on shelves and staff were
replenishing stock while being
mindful of social distancing.
Our shopper didn’t have to
queue to get into the store and
was greeted with hand sanitiser
and towels in the foyer. Signage
was clear at the entrance and a
staff member explained the one-
way system. Relevant products
and promotions were available
at the front of the shop, includ-
ing toilet paper, lemonade and
bread rolls.
“It was a lovely store and
appeared very well-organised
with friendly staff who seemed
happy to be at work,” our mys-
tery shopper said.
Asda in Glasgow had a near-
perfect score in all categories
thanks to a calm and clean shop
and helpful, knowledgeable
staff. However, six items were
missing from our shopper’s list.
WEEK 49: Sunday 31 May 2020, 12 noon-3pm
SERVICE & AVAILABILITY
Car park score (out of 10)
Store standards score (20)
Store layout (10)
Shop floor service (20)
Checkout score (20)
Availability score (20)
TOTAL (100)
Out of stock/not stocked
Availability
16 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
Tesco in Chepstow was ‘a lovely, well-organised store with friendly staff’
Canned food was in short
supply in some areas, with
notable absences in anti-bac-
terial wipes, bleach and hand
gel. Still, our shopper pointed
out that the majority of the store
was well-stocked.
Staff were also “extremely”
helpful, and checked the stock-
room for missing items or
directed customers to the cor-
rect part of the store.
Despite “a very clear” one-
way system in place, our shop-
per was frustrated by customers
ignoring the measure. Staff did
their best to encourage shop-
pers to stick to the rules.
“I was very impressed by the
organisation and stock levels
Asda Morrisons
Glasgow  Wakefield,
West Yorkshire
10 8 9
18 10
10 6 5
19 6 9
20 17
9 12
86 59
5/1 4/0
84.4 87.9
All staff members were sym-
pathetic to the social distanc-
ing measures and were friendly,
polite and professional.
The remaining two stores
were well off the pace this week,
with Sainsbury’s in Tooting
proving to be “an unpleasant
and stressful” experience.
The queue to enter was short
and hand sanitiser was avail-
able to use at the front of store.
However, our shopper was criti-
cal of the rest of the shop. The
one-way system was ignored by
customers and staff did not reg-
ulate the flow through the store.
Availability was mixed. Six
products were missing, as
generally,” the shopper said. tinned and dry goods areas
“Staff were doing a great job in were low on stock.
difficult circumstances.” Still, the checkout experi-
Waitrose in Harrogate ence was quick, safe and easy.
was also well-organised but Spots on the floor told custom-
dropped marks for a long wait ers where to stand to encourage
to get into the shop and for six social distancing and staff were
missing products. Despite the “pleasant and friendly”.
gaps, the store in general was A “chaotic” Morrisons in
“immaculate and to a very high Wakefield finished bottom of
standard”, our shopper said. the pile, with low scores for
Outdoor displays of “attrac- standards and shop floor ser-
tive and colourful” plants, gar- vice. Staff were impossible to
den essentials and barbecue find inside the store, apart from
accessories were targeted at those at the entrance.
the waiting customers. Inside The hand sanitiser station
the store was “very calm and was a mess and no one was
ordered”, with markings on using it, the shopper said. The
the floor indicating two-metre store in general was untidy,
distancing. with piles of boxes in the aisles.
WINNER
Sainsbury’s Tesco Waitrose Notes
Tooting, Chepstow, Harrogate, The Grocer 33 scoring system has been
London Monmouthshire North Yorkshire adjusted to reflect the extraordinary
conditions in which supermarkets are now
8 7 operating due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As well as a more understanding approach on
12 20 17
availability, we’ve focused more on staff
10 10 efforts to control queues, maintain social
15 18 distance, and replenish shelves. The list of 33
19 19 17 items is also chosen by mystery shoppers
based on their own needs, to comply with
12 18 10 government guidelines around ‘essential’
66 90 79 shopping, but have been vetted to ensure the
2/4 0/2 4/2 list is balanced across a number of categories.
For more details see thegrocer.co.uk/stores
93.1 100 87.1
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

store of the week
Winner: Tesco Chepstow
Store manager: Robert Bayley
Open: 1998
Size: 37,000 sq ft
Market share: 14.8%
Nearest rivals: Lidl – 1 mile
Asda – 6 miles
Waitrose – 6.1 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI.
Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
How is the store looking now
compared with the height of
panic buying? The team has
been absolutely amazing over
the past three months in terms
of pulling together. I’ve led with
a really clear purpose around
safety and social distancing.
My assistant manager Connor
has been fantastic in focusing
on the trading side so I can look
after the customer/colleague
side. If you tried to run the
whole operation at the moment
you would struggle. Availability
is generally good now, aside
from flour.
Our mystery shopper felt safe
and complimented staff on their
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
social distancing awareness.
How have you managed the
safety measures? As a business,
we created a social distancing
team that looked after front of
store and the checkout system.
We communicated everybody’s
role and what they are account-
able for around the shop. I really
made a stand around ensur-
ing I’m looking after the col-
leagues while they are at work.
Customers have generally been
great, but if any are not follow-
ing social distancing, then I’m
very clear with them.
Have there been any difficul-
ties in Chepstow with differ-
ent lockdown rules in England
and Wales? Being on the Welsh
border makes it interesting,
with Wales two weeks behind
England in easing lockdown.
When you head over the bridge
by the shop and cross the river
you are in England, so you have
half a town coming out of lock-
down and the other half still
in full lockdown. But it hasn’t
caused as many headaches as
you might expect.
What is the planning for long-
term measures as the UK
GOLD MEMBERS GET MORE!
Read itemised service score breakdowns and
full mystery shopper comments from each
store visit at thegrocer.co.uk/grocer-33
eases out of lockdown? We are
going to just sustain what we
are doing and make sure the
colleagues lead by example,
because that is where it can go
wrong. If staff forget to social
distance, customers will pick up
on that.
Are customers wearing masks
or face coverings when they
come into store? It’s a mix. I’d
say it is maybe 50/50.
How are you communicating
with colleagues on the govern-
ment shielding list? I have a
percentage of the team out and
we are working really closely
with them on the situation.
We’ve made sure we’ve had
“I have a percentage
of the team who are
shielding and we
are working really
closely with them.
Every fortnight we
have a conversation
to see how they are”
great communication between
the team manager and those
colleagues. Every fortnight
they’ve had a conversation to
see how they are. We’ve done a
piece of work asking how they’d
feel if they were asked to come
back. So we have a very good
understanding of how each col-
league is feeling.
Are staff feeling appreciated
by the business and by shop-
pers? Morale feels really good.
What the past three months
has shown me is how commit-
ted and driven the team are.
Not one of my team managers
has missed work with days off
throughout the crisis. We get
lots of positive comments on
our customer viewpoint system,
which I share with staff. Morale
is probably the strongest it has
been for a long time.
Has the new barbecue Fire
Pit range sold well during the
sunny weather? It has gone
down well with customers. It is
a great range and the packaging
is really good on it.
Robert Bayley was talking to
Edward Devlin
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 17
the grocer 33 prices

Asda notches up Price & Promo History

Average price Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans

a win with £3 lead PRICE

£11.08
CHANGE YOY

over runner-up 53p

CHANGE YOY
5.0% 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020
£10.30
£12.00

Asda Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans

£9.00
£12.00

Average: £10.16
YoY: 97p (10.6%)
Weeks on offer: 31 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020

Morrisons Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans

£12.00
£11.26
Average: £11.83
Asda was exclusively cheapest for 11 lines, including own-label ham YoY: 81p (7.4%)
Weeks on offer: 17 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020

A
Ronan Hegarty
sda has delivered a hat-
trick of pricing victories
in the penultimate week
of the Grocer 33 year.
The Walmart-owned retailer
undercut its nearest rival by £3
this week, cementing its domi-
nance in the full-year period.
Mowbray mini pork pies.
At £73.11, Morrisons took
third spot. It was £3.67 more Sainsbury’s Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans
expensive than Asda and 67p
more than Tesco. It offered the
lowest price for 10 lines and, £10.00
£12.00
like Tesco, was exclusively
Average: £11.49
cheapest on three: the Birds Eye YoY: 55p (5.0%)
Chicken Dippers, Chicago Town Weeks on offer: 11 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020

At £69.44, Asda offered the pizzas and guacamole.

lowest price for 22 products and
was exclusively cheapest for 11.
All bar the Jackson’s Yorkshire
Bloomer were either fresh or
own-label lines. These included
the mushrooms, blueberries,
cheese and onion sandwich
filler and wafer-thin ham.
Sainsbury’s was just shy of a
fiver more expensive than Asda Tesco Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans
at £74.36, as new CEO Simon
Roberts officially took charge
£9.00
this week. It offered the low- £12.00
est price for eight items and
Average: £10.46
was cheaper than all its rivals YoY: £0.00 (0.0%)
on the tortilla wraps and the Weeks on offer: 13 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020

Asda also carried the most Wensleydale with cranberries.

deals this week with 10 promos,
eight of which were price reduc-
tions. Tesco had nine deals,
Morrisons eight, Sainsbury’s six
and Waitrose five.
Tesco took the runner-up spot
having come in a distant fourth
last week. At £72.44 it offered
Waitrose was well adrift of
the pack this week. At £83.20 it Waitrose Guinness Draught, 10x440ml cans
was £13.76 more expensive than
Asda, having offered the lowest
price on just five lines. Its only £12.00
exclusively cheapest line was £10.50
Average: £11.32
the Cauldron tofu. YoY: 27p (2.5%)
It was a mixed picture in Weeks on offer: 20 52 W/E 31 MAY 2020

the lowest price for 14 lines and terms of inflation, but collec-
was exclusively cheapest on the tively the retailers were 0.4%
Air Wick room spray, apricots, more expensive than last month
large whole chicken and Melton and up 0.7% on last year. SEE PRICE HISTORY FOR ALL 33 ITEMS
Gold members can view current and historic price and
The Grocer 33 was conducted in association with Edge by Ascential. Trusted promo details for all 33 products, plus meta-analysis
by major FMCG manufacturers and retailers, Edge by Ascential (formerly of promo mechanics, cashback and cheapest products
Brand View) is the UK’s largest provider of real-time price and promotion
tracking and analysis. Learn more and sign up for a 14-day free evaluation at at thegrocer.co.uk/stores/the-grocer-33/prices
www.ascentialedge.com. Tel: 0844 357 9970 Email: Sales@brandview.com

18 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

 1.10 0 8 WANT TO KNOW THE DEAL IN DETAIL?
View precise promotion mechanic details by scrolling over the red dot on
2.25 ∙ 0 -2
our enhanced online version of the Grocer 33 at thegrocer.co.uk/stores/
the-grocer-33. You can also view full price and promo history, as per the
example left, for all 33 items, as well as other analytics, using the widget

WEEK 49 WINNER
SHOPPING BASKET Asda Morrisons Sainsbury’s Tesco Waitrose Average
PRICE P MoM YoY PRICE P MoM YoY PRICE P MoM YoY PRICE P MoM YoY PRICE P MoM YoY PRICE MoM YoY
Air Wick Botanica room spray
Caribbean Vetiver & Sandalwood, 236ml 4.00 ∙ 55 3.98 0 5.00 ∙ 116 3.00 ∙ 23 4.00 0 4.00 39
Apricots 1.29 ∙ -1 1.18 17 1.00 -55 5 0.59 ∙ 5 2.00 0 1.21 -55 5
Own-label, 320g

Baxters beetroot 1.54 0 4 1.60 60 -13 1.55 17 1 1.54 0 3 1.60 0 2 1.57 15 -1

Crinkle cut, 567g

Birds Eye Chicken Dippers 4.00 19 40 3.25 0 -17 4.00 0 5 4.00 0 29 4.00 0 7 3.85 4 13
38-pack, 697g

Blueberries
Own-label, 150g (125g-150g) 1.43 ∙ 13 10 2.00 ∙ 0 1 1.75 1 -18 2.00 0 6 2.50 0 0 1.94 3 0
Cadbury Bitsa Wispa 1.00 ∙ -45
110g 1.00 0 0 -23 1.50 0 3 1.00 ∙ -21 2 1.12 ∙ -36 -6 1.12 -20 -5
Cauldron tofu 2.25 0 -2 2.20 0 0 2.50 0 -3 2.50 0 -6 1.87 ∙ -63 -16 2.26 -13 -5
Marinated, 160g

Centrum Advance multivitamin

50-plus, 30-pack 4.50 ∙ 0 9 4.50 0 0 5.00 0 -12 4.50 ∙ 0 0 4.65 0 0 4.63 0 -1
Chicago Town pizza 2.00 ∙
Four Cheese, twin-pack, 320g
0 3 1.25 0 -16 1.50 ∙ -50 -3 2.00 0 0 2.00 ∙ 0 1 1.75 -10 -3
Cottage pie
Own-label, premium, 400g (400g-425g) 3.00 0 15 3.50 ∙ 0 12 3.25 ∙ 29 -30 3.50 ∙ 0 3 4.00 0 3.45 6 0
Garlic ciabatta 1.50 0 0 1.60 ∙ 21 8 1.65 0 5 1.60 0 -1 1.89 0 1 1.65 4 3
Own-label, 260g (260g-275g)

Grapes 1.75 ∙
Own-label, black seedless, 500g (400g-500g) 1.25 0 -16 0 9 2.00 ∙ 15 -3 2.00 0 1 2.50 0 -4 1.90 3 -3
Guacamole 1.80 0 -6 1.60 ∙ 0 0 1.82 0 8 1.72 -12 -1 2.35 -24 -1 1.86 -7 0
Own-label, 200g

Guinness 12.00 226 97 12.00 ∙ 0 81 12.00 0 55 12.00 0 12.00 0 27 12.00 45 65

Cans, 10x440ml

Häagen-Dazs Minicup Collection

Caramel, 4x95ml 4.50 0 -23 4.20 97 -24 4.20 0 17 4.50 0 -20 4.59 ∙ 82 -1 4.40 36 -10
Honey roast ham
Own-label, wafer thin, 480g (360g-480g) 1.98 ∙ -22 7 2.40 0 3 2.64 0 3 3.60 27 5.33 0 0 3.19 1 3
Jackson’s bread 1.20 ∙ 1.50 0 1.40 0 0 1.45 0 -2 1.49 0 3 1.41 0 0
Yorkshire Champion, Brown Bloomer, 800g

Kerrygold butter 1.90 0 3 2.00 0 4 2.05 0 4 1.90 0 0 1.90 0 0 1.95 0 2

Salted, 250g

Lindt bar
Dark Hazelnut, 150g 2.50 ∙ -50 3.00 0 46 2.50 ∙ -21 17 2.50 0 24 2.50 0 24 2.60 -14 28
Melton Mowbray mini pork pies
Own-label, six-pack, 300g 1.65 0 -2 2.00 0 3 1.75 ∙ -23 14 1.50 ∙ -80 11 2.49 0 3 1.88 -21 6
Milk 0.80 0 0 0.80 0 -2 0.80 0 0 0.80 0 0 0.89 0 0 0.82 0 0
Own-label, whole, two-pints

Mushrooms 0.75 0 7 0.90 0 10 1.10 -5 7 0.90 0 0 1.19 0 0 0.97 -1 5

Own-label, baby button, 200g (150g-200g)

Onions
Own-label, brown, prepacked, 1kg 0.70 ∙ 0 0.75 ∙ -25 22 0.85 0 6 0.85 0 4 0.95 0 14 0.82 -5 12
Sandwich filler 1.00 ∙ -6 1 1.12 ∙ 0 0 1.41 0 14 1.15 0 2 1.25 24 12 1.19 4 6
Own-label, cheese & onion, 200g (170g-270g)

Soft cheese 0.86 0 0 1.00 0 0 1.05 0 1 1.00 0 -13 1.10 0 -2 1.00 0 -3

Own-label light, 250g (200g-300g)

Sweetcorn on the cob

Own-label, two-pack 1.00 ∙ -40 -11 1.70 0 2 1.00 ∙ -50 -5 1.29 ∙ 4 -6 1.65 0 -9 1.33 -17 -6
Tomatoes 0.35 0 0 0.35 0 -4 0.40 0 -2 0.35 ∙ 0 0 0.45 0 3 0.38 0 -1
Own-label, peeled plum, 400g

Tonic water 0.35 0 1 0.45 0 0 0.60 0 5 0.50 0 6 0.60 0 4 0.50 0 3

Own-label, bottle, onel-litre

Tortilla wraps 1.00 0 2 1.00 0 0 0.90 0 -6 0.95 0 -1 1.00 0 0 0.97 0 -1

Own-label, plain, white, eight-pack

Warburtons bread 0.90 0 1 0.90 0 0 1.00 0 3 0.90 0 3 0.90 0 3 0.92 0 2

White, sliced, Danish, 400g

Wensleydale with cranberries

Own-label, 200g (180g-225g) 1.75 ∙ 10 -12 2.22 ∙ 0 1.50 ∙ -8 -3 1.75 0 -18 2.00 ∙ 0 -36 1.84 0 -17
Whole chicken 3.69 ∙ 10
Own-label, large, 1.8kg (1.6kg-2kg)
-2 3.76 0 -40 3.69 0 -48 3.60 ∙ -7 -34 4.89 0 0 3.93 1 -25
Yeo Valley yoghurt 1.00 ∙ -4
Strawberry, organic, 450g
-6 1.65∙ 23 0 ∙ -44
1.00 -3 1.00 ∙ -50 -2 ∙ 0
1.55 -4 1.24 -15 -3

TOTAL (£) 69.44 73.11 74.36 72.44 83.20 74.51

Inflation/deflation on total (pence) 211 119 131 79 -78 37 -116 -5 -17 25 26 51
Inflation/deflation on total (%) 313.4 180.0 182.5 111.2 -103.8 51.1 -157.6 -6.9 -20.4 30.5 0 1
Price-only promotions 8 2 6 6 2 5
Multibuy promotions 2 6 0 3 3 3
Key: On promo (details online) Off promo (details online) ■ Out-of-stock ■ Not stocked

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 19

comment & opinion
The challenges & opportunities of online
Erik Wallin
S
upermarkets have spent
yea rs encourag ing
their customers to shop
online more, offering everything
from introductory incentives to
rewards programmes to try and
tempt households into shop-
ping from the comfort of home.
Their efforts paid off incremen-
tally: since online grocery was
launched by Tesco in 1997, it took
23 years for the market to grow to
7% of grocery sales.
Then Covid-19 arrived on the
scene and within just a couple
of weeks, demand for online
grocery shopping had shot up
beyond any grocer’s wildest
dreams. Nielsen research shows
that in just 12 weeks, the propor-
tion of food bought online has
almost doubled to 13%. There
are now 10.4 million households
shopping online compared to 4.8
million 12 months ago.
Ways to engage buyers remotely
Dave Knowles
T
he Covid-19 pandemic
has sparked a home-
working revolution.
There will be some that argue
you cannot use a video call to
emulate the benefits of working
together. However, there are a lot
of arguments in favour of home
working where possible: reduced
chance of the workforce falling ill
from Covid-19, saving on office
rental costs, reduced travel time,
environmental benefits, a better
work-life balance and so on.
In the world of fmcg, many
20 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
the saturday essay
Such a huge and unexpected
surge in demand for online
grocery services has, under-
standably, left many compa-
nies struggling to keep up with
demand. That’s at the same time
as trying to protect their own
workforces from coronavirus.
In terms of the bigger pic-
ture, the majority of retailers
are also not yet mature when
it comes to their e-commerce
activities. According to Profitero
and Kantar’s 2020 eCommerce
Organizational Benchmark
Report, just 17% of brand leaders
feel they are ahead of the curve
when it comes to organising for
e-commerce. That compares with
71% who feel that they are either
keeping pace or catching up.
Yet as we face a future where
the shopping experience has
been so radically redefined, there
are not just challenges ahead, but
also opportunities.
As grocers move away from
responding to panic buying-
induced shortages and revising
third party
business meetings that would
previously have happened in per-
son will now happen via video
conference. For many suppliers,
face-to-face meetings with buy-
ers will now be a thing of the past.
This poses a challenge. In a
world where a retail buyer can
look after up to 100 suppliers,
as an account manager how on
earth do you get cut-through
over video conference, phone
and email, when there are hun-
dreds of others also fighting to get
a piece of the buyer’s time?
I believe there are three ways
account managers can optimise
their chances of engaging suc-
cessfully with buyers remotely:
their future online shopping and
app strategies, they will concen-
trate on taking advantage of
this massive surge in consumer
demand.
The stats show the huge poten-
tial that online grocers have
here. Apptopia reported that by
15 March 2020, daily downloads
for Walmart Grocery had risen
“ Online grocers
need to be
thinking several
steps ahead”
by 160% when compared with
the average for February. Other
online food retailers have expe-
rienced similar jumps in demand
for their apps. This is why it’s so
important to be thinking ahead.
With many households buy-
ing online for the first time and
discovering the convenience of
doing so, new shopping habits
Communication: Buyers are
extremely busy. Therefore com-
munication with them needs to
be clear, concise and consistent.
Account managers should not
inundate buyers with missed
calls and countless emails.
Instead only contact your buyer
if there is a genuine opportunity
to help them grow their business
or solve a problem.
Data: Buyers like numbers and
facts. Support yours by analysing
robust data and providing valu-
able insight that can be turned
into positive action.
Multi-level contacts: Support
your retailer at multiple levels
within their business. I’ve been
are being formed across the US
and Europe.
App users are often quick to
demand more of the services that
they use. As such, online grocers
need to be thinking several steps
ahead.
The University of Washington’s
Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation, which is modelling
the projected impact of Covid-19
in the US, assumes that social
distancing measures will be
in place until August. A study
by University College London,
meanwhile, has found it takes
an average of 66 days for a new
behaviour to become automatic.
I believe this means that the
trend for online grocery shopping
will continue to strengthen. All of
this means online grocery retail-
ers have an incredible oppor-
tunity right now. The coming
months will tell how well they are
able to grasp that potential.
Erik Wallin is co-founder of
Northfork
speaking to a lot of suppliers
about this recently in the light
of Covid-related supply issues. If
account managers can spot and
fix issues in retail supply chains,
for example poor availability on a
key selling product, not only does
it save them a job, it helps to boost
sales for you and the retailer.
The home-working revolution
does present challenges but is
a fantastic opportunity for both
retailers and suppliers to save on
cost, reduce travel time, improve
employee work-life balance, and
help the environment.
Dave Knowles is MD of Alpine
Online
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

Post-pandemic packaging
Andrew Swift
A T
substantial portion of
food and drink packag-
ing is based on mate-
rials derived from petroleum
feedstock – ie plastics. These
fossil-carbon based materials
have been developed to protect
the foodstuff from the external
environment and so confer many
of the necessary barrier proper-
ties. These are desirable attrib-
utes in the cause of minimising
food waste for economic, societal
and environmental benefits.
However, the environmental
concerns resulting from their
end of use, and their behaviour
and fate when discarded into
the environment, have been well
documented. Most fossil fuel-
derived plastic materials persist
in the environment for many dec-
ades, resulting in the images fre-
quently reported in the media of
oceans accumulating plastic.
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
second opinion
As a result, much research is
underway to develop new, alter-
native packaging materials, with
most of the focus being given to
the degradation of these new
materials in the environment.
More specifically for food and
drink packaging, their safety in
terms of the transfer of chemicals
into the packaged food or bever-
“There is an
urgency to develop
the materials
of the future”
age, known as migration, is also
not known.
Also worrying is that many
are labelled and marketed as
‘biodegradable’, ‘eco-friendly’,
‘organic’, ‘natural’, or even in
some cases ‘100% bamboo’,
which does not reflect the true
nature of the product – mislead-
ing the consumer.
higgins
What impact will the current
pandemic have on the develop-
ment of future food contact mate-
rials and articles?
We anticipate consumers will
seek the safety assurance of the
use of more primary and second-
ary packaging for food products
to address concerns of transmis-
sion from consumer handling
of fresh (unwrapped) products.
This is converse to the desired
outcome of minimising the use
of packaging material from the
outset.
All of this heightens the
urgency and need to develop the
materials of the future. These
materials must address all of
these issues, and achieve the
government targets of the 25 Year
Environment Plan and net-zero
carbon goals, while seeking to
extend shelf life to reduce food
waste – and all must be safe for
food contact.
Andrew Swift is CEO of Fera
Science
CRITICAL EYE
George Nott
he most anxiety-
inducing music you've
got,” was likely the
request put to the sound library
from the makers of Tesco: Panic
in the Aisles (Channel 5, 31
May, 7.15pm). Frenetic violins
played constantly through the
first third of this documentary,
billed as a deep dive into how
the supermarket responded to
the challenges of lockdown.
Cue a montage of clips of
empty shelves, queues around
the car park and fights in the
aisles, all sourced from social
media, set against a frenzied
soundtrack and commentary
like “wooooow, everything’s
gone” and “oh my good god!”.
Host Fiona Phillips upped the
ante with her overlaid remarks.
She described “tempers
BOILING over” as it cut to a clip
of customers wrestling by the
toilet paper.
Sure, the situation was a
strange one. But the response
wasn’t as panicked as the
soundtrack may have you
believe. Experts briefly
described a pre-pandemic
“doomsday exercise” where
the supermarket – “under a veil
of secrecy” – had planned for
broken supply chains and head
office working from home.
Not too much time was
spent on that, though. The
programme then leapt back in
time to Tesco’s origins with a
potted history, lazily cut and
pasted from C5’s Inside Tesco
show from April last year.
Finally, it reverted to the
present day with a cursory
mention of changing shopping
habits, the opportunity
to “capitalise on their
[foodservice] rivals’ woes”, and
the ongoing discounter threat.
Essentially a rushed renosing
of an old documentary, with
scant added value.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 21
 comment & opinion

to contact us...
e-mail: name.surname@thegrocer.co.uk
talking shop
tel: 01293 610 +(3 Digit Extension)
letters: letters@thegrocer.co.uk
editorial
Editor Adam Leyland 263
Managing editor Carina Perkins 240
Pandemic geo-targeting
news desk
News editor Ronan Hegarty 406
Deputy news editor
Steve Farrell 01293 846613
Chief reporter Ian Quinn 265 for years. The past few years, test and learn what types of crea-
Senior reporter Marianne Calnan 319
Retail reporter
however, saw the performance tive, messaging and mechanisms
Lyndsey Cambridge 01293 846647 Matt Lee and execution of geo-targeting work, and most importantly how
Digital & social editor Ellis Hawthorne 468

B
Online content assistant becoming increasingly more fine- audiences respond. Digital for-
Maddie Maynard 440 rands are facing a pleth- tuned, across mediums of social, mats, unlike other formats of
finance desk ora of challenges. As peo- proximity and programmatic. shopper, are entirely compli-
Finance editor Alec Mattinson 01293 846512
City reporter Elena Cherubini 411 ple buy in bulk and larger We’ve never had a more perfect ant, make the most of significant
buying & supplying desk formats, many of the smaller and environment to activate digital reach and most importantly can
Food & drink editor Daniel Woolfson 442
Fresh foods editor Kevin White 290 more convenience-oriented prod- activity, e-commerce and geo- be optimised throughout a cam-
Fresh foods reporter Henry Sandercock 492 ucts – the profitable ones – have targeting. Twenty-plus minutes paign. Naturally, it’s easier to
International trade reporter
Harry Holmes 01293 846553 suffered immeasurably. of engagement while shoppers learn when the marketing effects
Food & drink reporter
Abbie Dawson 01293 846516
Dare we say it again, but scroll, absorbed in one medium, are larger, but we’ve never seen
features desk you’ve likely heard Covid-19 a more apt time to see precisely
has changed the way we shop. what’s working.
Group features editor Emma Weinbren 488
Technology editor George Nott 247
Special projects editor Daniel Selwood 369 Recent research has shown we
“We’ve never had Thus it comes as no sur-
subs desk are reducing our trips to super- a more perfect prise brands are now focusing
Chief sub-editor Mark Dishman 232 markets, with 47% of us only their shopper marketing efforts
Sub-editor Charlie Cook 415
shopping once per week, and
environment to toward digital and e-commerce
art desk
Art director Michael Joslin 207
Group Art editor Stuart Milligan 270
over 50% always planning out activate digital” campaigns. We’re witnessing a
Art editor Nick Figgins 451 grocery trips and taking a pre- colossal shift in mentality, as our
Designer Caitlin Watson 01293 846611 pared list. shopper becomes more accus-
commercial But most importantly, nearly to test which advertisements are tomed to using digital, and as
Commercial director
Cathy McDonagh 289 60% of us are spending up to 20 most effective, right before com- agencies and brands capitalise
Area sales managers
Beverley Burkett 284
minutes standing in a queue out- mencing their shop. This isn’t just on this.
Stephen Cooke 436 side. Fifteen per cent of us queue about putting a five-mile radius Now is the time to upweight
Sam Dack 453
Damien DuVivier 245 for more than 20 minutes. And around a store, but about find- spend to digital formats. Now is
Oliver Hamilton-Williams 352
Mark Hayward 293
how are we spending that very ing the right individuals stand- the time to jump aboard the digi-
Tim Parker 217 specific, very long and tedious ing mere metres away from where tal, e-commerce and geo-target-
Andrew Simcock 285
CCM ad production amount of time? On our phones. your product can be found. ing bandwagon: we’re unlikely
Kevin Porter 020 7216 6449 Geo-targeting isn’t exactly Digital and geo-targeting was to be able to gain these shopper
recruitment new. Brands and agencies have working before, but now it’s insights and effectiveness learn-
Recruitment Commercial Director
Zoe Cooper 278 been reaching people based going to work better than ever. ings for a long time after this.
Online sales executives
Esther Mean 250
on their location or proximity There has never been a more val-
Holly Shazell 589 to a landmark, store or event uable and cost-effective time to Matt Lee is MD at Capture
events
Events manager Helen Law 587
corporate contacts
Managing director Retail & Manufacturing
Lorraine Hendle 243
CEO Charles Reed 242
polling station
Head of content marketing
Tracy Larner 01293 846543
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opening another Jack’s store? ● Should focus on c-stores
Vote now at twitter.com/thegrocer ● It’s still going?

22 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


feedback
Food retailers:
commit to helping
our UK farmers
Sir, We are calling upon
food retailers to commit to
supporting our farmers.
Our concerns are mounting
about how the higher welfare
and production standards
in UK agriculture will be
protected long term, given that
MPs failed to enshrine that
protection in law when voting
against the amendment to the
Agriculture Bill last month.
As vets, we are proud of
the higher welfare standards
achieved by UK farmers. Future
trade deals to allow cheap food
imports from countries outside
of the EU will jeopardise this.
Autumn bank holidays?
● Sir, There has been discus-
sion in some quarters on having
an autumn bank holiday, given
the long gap between summer
and Christmas.
Surely however the sim-
plest solution is to legislate for
retail closure for Remembrance
Sunday like on Easter Sunday,
to give society a real breather
and pause for reflection – and
to enhance the peace and deco-
rum inherent in Remembrance
Sunday. More working people
and their families would be able
to partake in this day – and the
retail sector would benefit as
more goods would be bought
before the one-day closure.
Such a move also makes logi-
cal sense. When Sunday hours
were liberalised in 1994, parlia-
ment had the presence of mind
to “ring fence” Easter Sunday
but overlooked the other
extra special Sunday: namely
Remembrance Sunday. Time to
correct this omission.
John Barstow, Usdaw executive
council
Long-term market share
● Sir, Looking at the growth in
sales across the major multiples
(‘Inflation up to 3.1% on fewer
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
COMMIT TO WELFARE
Concerns are mounting about how the higher welfare
and production standards in UK agriculture will be
protected long term – Ian Cure, VetPartners
By committing to higher
welfare standards, retailers
can help prevent a shift
towards lower standards as UK
farmers attempt to compete.
We ask them to engage with
the industry and prioritise a
range of Red Tractor produce at
varying prices, while avoiding
deals and change in channels’
29 May, thegrocer.co.uk), I won-
der is short-term market share
so relevant? It’s the long term
that really matters.
They are all growing at levels
your tweets
Decisions, decisions… Healthy
snacking category report 2020
None of the processed snacks
can be considered healthy.
With the exceptions of pas-
teurized milk, unflavoured
full fat live yogurt and full
fat actual cheeses, processed
food isn’t healthy.
@velvetsilk
How Iceland has fought to
reduce food waste
Great news, Richard. We look
forward to helping Iceland
reduce waste even further
in the coming months and
years ahead.
@kris_hamer
How brands are setting up DTC
I get why #DTC works for pre-
mium/high-engagement cat-
egories (craft coffee/beer,
baby food), but can it be
long-term sustainable for the
likes of... Heinz?
@kien1974
designating shelf space to lower
quality imports. By doing this,
retailers can have a high level
of influence over the future of
UK food and farming.
Ian Cure, VetPartners farm
director, on behalf of the
farm clinical directors within
VetPartners
they could never have expected.
Most of the major multiples
dropped promotion activity
during the recent crisis to try to
stay in stock – this was the right
thing to do.
Markets that were static or in
small growth suddenly came to
life as people started to cook at
home again. Pasta is a wonder-
ful example of this. Multiples
had rationalised ranges and
some had even reduced shelf
space and out of stocks were
seen everywhere.
When everything settles
down, I believe the dried pasta
market will be one of the fastest
growing markets of the year.
The question will be: how
quickly can the multiples react
to the changing habits of the
consumer? Will they start to
give more space to these devel-
opments and offer more choice?
The ones that can react
quickly will be the successful
ones: these multiples will gain
market share quickly.
At the moment very few range
reviews are happening for obvi-
ous reasons, but with this mod-
ern-day technology it’s the
multiples that can move quickly
and they will be the ones that in
the long term gain market share
and will succeed.
Stephen Barlow, via thegrocer.
co.uk
best of the blogs
Four ways the world will
‘never be the same again’
for Marks & Spencer
M&S published its annual
report today, and with
it some phrases that are
beginning to become
familiar from the retailer’s
bosses. As well as revealing
the sad loss of two M&S
colleagues to the virus, and
that others are in hospital,
chairman Archie Norman
also talks in the report
about lasting change. The
way customers “live and
shop has changed beyond
recognition”, he says.
Steve Farrell, 3 June
Bumper exec pay packets
are a PR disaster in the
Covid-19 era
As staff are furloughed,
redundancies loom and
widespread administrations
beckon, doing a roaring
trade seems somewhat
distasteful. So it’s little
surprise that executive
pay has come under the
spotlight more than ever this
week. It is very difficult to
justify bumper pay packages
at this time. Although these
packages apply to the year
before Covid-19 hit, the
mood has changed.
Emma Weinbren, 2 June
Healthy eating is more
important than ever, but
don’t expect an HFSS tax
any time soon
The concept of a junk food
tax is neither unusual nor
new. But the latest calls for it
are extremely relevant given
both the extraordinary
health crisis in which the
world finds itself, and the
war on obesity Johnson has
vowed to launch following
his life-threatening brush
with the virus.
Daniel Selwood, 1 June
You can subscribe to the
Daily Bread blog and the
new finance newsletter and
blog at thegrocer.co.uk
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 23
power list online
13% 1 in 5
Amount of groceries British households
now bought online, ordering groceries
almost double the online in the
levels 12 weeks most recent four
ago [Nielsen] weeks [Kantar]
POWER
Demand for online grocery shopping
has soared under lockdown. Our
power list looks at who’s managed
growth best, and the challenges they
now face, from retention to profitability
O
nline growth in grocery was
slow before. Now it’s on ster-
oids. Millions of consumers
have changed their food shop-
ping habits. Overnight.
Estimates vary. Kantar puts share at 11.5%
of all grocery sales and says the channel has
attracted more new shoppers in 2020 than in
the previous five years put together.
Nielsen puts the online share of the gro-
cery market in the four weeks to 16 May even
higher, at 13%. That’s nearly double its share
for the same time last year.
Dealing with the massive demand – which
has come from all demographics, not just
older people – has seen the leaders listed here
pulling off feats unimaginable just months
ago, fuelled by a desire to serve the most vul-
nerable in society and a devotion to customer
satisfaction.
24 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
{ 1.6m } 74 %
Additional UK Frequent online
households now shoppers intending
buying groceries to stick to the channel
online compared to after restrictions lift
last year [Kantar] [Barclaycard survey]
Is this, then, the ‘new normal’ for online
grocery? And if so, what does it mean for the
sector’s online leaders?
It is fair to say that online grocery was not
fully prepared for the national change in shop-
ping behaviour sparked by the lockdown.
Websites and apps strained and sometimes
snapped under the weight of traffic. Ocado
pulled its app “due to performance issues
driven by continued high demand” as its web-
site wrestled with a 1,000% uplift in traffic, its
systems thinking they were suffering a denial
of service attack.
Waitrose.com was intermittently unavail-
able, which the supermarket blamed on “IT
issues due to the amount of traffic on the site”.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda were
all struck by temporary website outages.
“The speed at which this traffic increase
happened affected the ability of all retailers to
SPONSORED BY
ONLINE
Written by
George Nott
keep their websites functioning,” says Asda
VP e-commerce Simon Gregg. “My team
worked incredibly hard behind the scenes.”
Virtual queueing systems were introduced.
Several supermarkets stopped onboarding
new customers completely. Available deliv-
ery slots were pushed weeks into the future.
Increasing capacity
As immediate technical issues were being
ironed out, the supermarkets worked flat out
to increase delivery slots.
“The online team met several times a day
and we worked to make meaningful progress
every 24 hours. This meant fast decision mak-
ing, even when all the data was not availa-
ble,” says Tesco MD online Chris Poad. Tesco
has increased the number of online orders
fulfilled each week from 590,000 in the first
week of the crisis, to more than 1.4 million.
“At the time, we didn’t know how we were
going to get there. However, we found and
implemented about 50 different ideas to max-
imise the number of customers we could
serve – mostly through our existing assets,”
Poad adds.
Asda has grown capacity from 450,000
slots to around 725,000. Sainsbury’s has
doubled capacity to 600,000 online slots per
week.
Iceland has increased its online delivery
capacity by 250%. “This task, which would
typically take years, was achieved in weeks,”
says chief customer and digital officer David
Devany.
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
power list online

74 % 48 % 31% “This demand is

People more nervous Increase in total People who have going to drive some
about visiting a
supermarket than at
minutes spent on
grocery e-commerce
switched their
primary grocery store
lasting problems
the start of lockdown sites during during coronavirus for grocers”
[Shopmium] coronavirus [IAB UK] [Shopmium]

when it was just 5% to 7% of sales it was a “significant shift in investment” towards costly in terms of capital outlay, and with lots
burden that could be managed. When online automation and robotics, Halliwell adds. The of spare space in its huge Extras, Tesco has
sales are 15% of your gross sales, coming question is how. switched its focus from its ‘dark stores’ (it has
from your best customers, you can’t afford six) to omnichannel stores featuring greater
to ignore these issues,” says Publicis Sapient Dark stores and automation automation. Pre-pandemic it outlined plans
retail analyst Halliwell. The advantage of store-picking online models to roll out 25 automated urban fulfilment cen-
Profitability issues are worse for those that is proximity to the customer base and incre- tres – using Takeoff robotics – in the back of
have leaned heavily on external partners like mental labour costs, but with extra demand larger stores over the next three years. Given
Deliveroo, he adds. “Delivery businesses are and social distancing, they are becoming Walmart’s investment in Alert Innovation-
a lot more expensive than internal fulfil- more resource-intensive. So Waitrose, as well made robotic CFCs in the US, a similar move
ment and they need to turn their own prof- as adding in-store picking at more stores, last by Asda seems likely. As to Morrisons, it says
its, Looking longer term, they are part of the month opened a second CFC in Enfield (add- it is expanding stores to provide space for
profitability problem, not a solution to it,” ing to the one in Coulsdon) as it gears up to thousands of Amazon order packers, but it’s
Halliwell explains. compete following the loss of the Ocado con- not clear how automation might play a role.
With labour costs soaring, grocers will tract. It will employ 850 people when run- Ocado’s solution to this age-old conun-
be seeking to better automate the process ning at full lick. drum is a hybrid, with smaller automated
to reduce ballooning payrolls, leading to a On the other hand, dark stores are hugely facilities set to become a strategic priority.
Its micro-CFC rapid grocery Zoom facility
in Acton has achieved “planned end game
capacity” a year ahead of plan, while the first
mini-CFC in Bristol will open by the end of
2020 or early 2021 – opening the door to fur-
There’s no doubt the Covid-19 won’t last. As lockdown starts ther regional rollouts.
crisis has accelerated the move to ease, customers will become Another approach is to tempt newly won
towards online. Kantar figures much more demanding on online customers into stores and click & col-
show more new online grocery product availability, their lect, where their custom is more profitable.
shoppers in 2020 than in the concerns over the freshness of “The key focus for grocers now has to
previous five years, with online produce will resurface, and the be retaining those new online customers
now making up 11.5% of grocery need for convenient delivery post-lockdown, and converting them into
sales. That equates to nearly one slots will return. So now is the omnichannel customers,” says Miya Knights,
Tim in five British households having time for retailers to ensure head of industry insight at Eagle Eye.
Murray ordered groceries online in the
past four weeks.
their online proposition is
attractive.
“Their next phase should focus on build-
ing relevance and consistency across their
Director, Newton While some retailers have Achieving the best medium online and store channels, and recognising
fared better than others, as a to long-term result requires and rewarding their best customers that shop
whole the industry has done a prioritisation of customers. across both,” she adds.
good job at stepping up capacity This is where the chief digital Some of our power list are already on the
to service this surge in demand. officers on this list can really case. Moriarty alludes to this work when she
It won’t feel like it right now, earn their salt. says: “What this period has shown is that we
but I’m afraid to say that’s the Digital has a huge role need to offer our customers a choice of both
easy bit. The real challenge, and to play to provide the data- physical and digital ways to shop with us
the big opportunity, is to retain derived insight needed to make quickly and conveniently.”
these new customers while the right decisions. Poad shares a similar strategy. “Hardly
structural change is put in place Modelling which customer anyone, including me, exclusively shops
to meet the full demand in an groups are most valuable and online for food,” he says. “Our mission is
effective and efficient way. tailoring the proposition to to continue to grow with our customers’
During the crisis many give them a great experience demand, continue to exceed their expecta-
customers are just happy to get will make or break whether tions, but ensure we create seamless experi-
a delivery containing most of online revenue growth delivers ences whether they’re shopping online, doing
the essentials. That sentiment increased profit. a big shop in a large store or topping up their
shopping in a convenience store.”

26 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


buying & supplying grocery
Higgidy makes ready meals
debut with veggie quartet
Abbie Dawson
Higgidy is making a
major move into the
ready meals category –
the first time the brand
has launched a product
outside savoury pastries.
It has created a quartet
of four “premium” meals:
Mac ‘n’ Super Green with
a Crispy Kale & Pumpkin
Seed Crumb; Mushroom
& Puy Lentil Cottage Pie
with Kale & Butter Bean
Mash; Roasted Aubergine
& Pepper Gratin with
Cherry Tomatoes; and a
Roasted Cauliflower &
Paneer Curry with Carrot
Bhaji Crust.
They will hit
Sainsbury’s on 24 June
(rsp: £4.25/360g-390g),
with packs pro-
moting Higgidy’s
#EattheRainbow cam-
paign: the brand is
Bio&Me adds lower- Hike in demand prompts Pure
sugar Gut granola Pet Food to increase production
Bio&Me has added a
naturally lower-sugar
variant to its Gut Lovin’
Granola range.
The new SKU, called
Low Sugar Naturally,
contains less than 5%
natural sugar, while
its existing four-strong
Low Sugar Naturally has
joined the Gut Lovin’ range
32 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
Higgidy’s premium ready meals will launch into Sainsbury’s on 24 June in four varieties
donating 100% of the
proceeds from the meals
in the first eight weeks
of sale to NHS Charities
Together.
Higgidy co-founder
Camilla Stephens said
she “wanted to create a
range of recipes that were
range each contains 10%
natural sugar.
Co-founder Dr Megan
Rossi told The Grocer
the key concept of the
range was that it all had
no added sugar, and
got its sweetness from
ingredients such as
dates, which she said-
contained dietary fibre
and other plant chemi-
cals which feed the gut
bacteria.
The new granola, like
the others, is billed as
being good for the gut.
It will roll out at Planet
Organic and Booths on 9
June (rsp: £3.99/360g).
veg-focused and put veg
right into the centre of
the plate”.
“More and more people
are thinking holistically
about health during lock-
down, and even before
that we were aware that
people wanted to eat
Natural petfood subscrip-
tion brand Pure Pet Food
is ramping up production
following a huge increase
in new trade during the
coronavirus crisis.
The brand, which
claims its products are
“human grade” because
they are made without
“harmful processing
methods or low-quality
ingredients”, has taken
on a new 14,000 sq ft
manufacturing facility in
Cleckheaton, Yorkshire.
The site will help it meet
a surge in demand that
saw new customers dou-
ble over past months,
CENTREPIECE
We wanted to create a range of recipes that put veg
right into the centre of the plate – Camilla Stephens,
co-founder, Higgidy
more veg but needed help
with it,” she said.
“That’s where Higgidy
comes in.”
Stephens also empha-
sised the flexibility of the
dishes, noting they could
be used as a meal or split
in two and used with
Pure Pet Food claims its
products are ‘human grade’
while returning customer
sales increased 44%.
The brand said it had
been buoyed by “the
rise in pet ownership
and increased demand
for contactless home
delivery”, but it also
believed “the increase in
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
other ingredients.
“For instance, the
Aubergine & Pepper
Gratin could be split in
two and put with a jacket
potato or some cous
cous,” she said.
When developing the
range, Stephens said
it was important that
the meals in the range
were “relevant and
recognisable”.
For example, she said,
by including a curry dish
and a pasta dish that
shoppers would be used
to seeing on the ready
meal aisle, while main-
taining a “Higgidy twist”.
Higgidy has also added
a limited-edition sum-
mer savouries range of
quiches, tortillas, rolls
and the brand’s first-ever
mini egg muffins (rsp:
£2.65-£4.25).
awareness around health
and fitness in lockdown
has also transferred to
our pets”.
“As we invest in our
own health and wellbe-
ing, it makes sense that
we would also invest
in our pets’ health too,
after all, they’re a mem-
ber of our family,” said
its founder Mathew
Cockroft.
The move would
“allow us to grow to
around 10 times our cur-
rent size”, he said, and
“will allow us to add
another layer of person-
alisation to our product”.

Nestlé shifts Smarties
choc blocks into paper
recyclable packaging
Daniel Woolfson
Smarties is moving its
chocolate sharing blocks
into recyclable paper
wrappers.
The Nestlé brand,
which plans to sell all of
its products in paper by
2021, utilised the same
technology used for Yes
fruit and nut bars last
year, which allows paper
to be used on high-speed
production lines previ-
ously designed for plastic
or laminate.
It is the first time the
technology has been
used at such scale – some
3.5 million Smarties
blocks are sold every
year.
The packs themselves
are paper with a disper-
sion coating which acts
as a barrier to moisture
Häagen-Dazs takes
plastic spoons away
Häagen-Dazs has ditched
single-use plastic
spoons from its mini cup
multipacks.
The ice cream brand
said the move would save
some 126 tonnes of plas-
tic and prevent the dis-
tribution of roughly 30
Häagen-Dazs has removed
the spoons from multipacks
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Nestlé plans to sell all of its
products in paper by 2021
and oxygen to preserve
freshness.
“Paper is not like
plastic – you cannot treat
it exactly like you would
on a normal wrapping
set-up, you have to adapt
the whole process from
start to finish to make
sure you can handle the
product gently,” said
Nestlé packaging lead
Bruce Funnell.
“We are going to work
million plastic spoons
in the UK alone per year.
Further sustainability
“milestones” would fol-
low this year, it said.
The brand “wanted
to demonstrate our true
commitment to a more
sustainable future”, said
its marketing manager
Kat Jones.
Past months have seen
the brand boosting its
credentials in the booze
world, partnering with
the likes of Sipsmith
Gin and Piper-Heidsieck
champagne to create
cocktail recipes incorpo-
rating its ice cream.
in R&D to improve the
performance of paper
over time and make it
even better than it is.”
Nestlé had originally
planned to transition the
entire Smarties brand
to paper by the end of
this year. “However our
suppliers have been
impacted where some
of the material and
machinery are being
manufactured,” said
Funnell.
“It’s a small delay –
the major deployments
we expect will take place
in the first part of next
year.”
Nestlé has pledged to
transition all its packag-
ing to recyclable or reusa-
ble materials and reduce
its use of virgin plastic by
one third by 2025.
Jelly Belly
adds chilli
Bean Boozled
Jelly Belly has created
a five-strong range of
Bean Boozled jelly beans
inspired by chillies from
around the world.
The sweets, which
carry a recommendation
they are only consumed
by healthy individu-
als over the age of 13,
are: Sriracha, Jalapeño,
Cayenne, Habanero and
Carolina Reaper.
“We had to consider
not only how to balance
the vegetative notes in
the flavour, but also how
the heat presents itself,”
said the brand’s R&D
manager Luz Osbun.
grocery digest
Kellogg’s pride: Kellogg’s lit up its
factory in rainbow colours this
week to mark the beginning of
what is traditionally a season of
Pride events. With such events postponed due to
the current pandemic, Kellogg’s said it wanted to
“find a different way to celebrate and recognise its
LGBTQ+ colleagues and communities”.
Tempeh spare ‘ribz’: Plant Power has unveiled
vegan ‘ribz’ – a meat-free alternative to spare ribs
made with fermented soya beans in sticky BBQ
sauce. They have rolled into Sainsbury’s (rsp:
£3.15).
Bakers’ campaign: The Federation of Bakers has
mounted a new push to “remind consumers and
healthcare professionals about the nutritional
value of bread”. It will launch a targeted PR cam-
paign and relaunch its website.
Freddie’s Farm snack bags: Children’s snack-
ing brand Freddie’s Farm has launched with a
range of fruit and vegetable snack bags made on
the family farm in Kent. The range includes three
flavours – apple, blueberry and raspberry. They
have hit Amazon (rsp: £12.50/25x20g).
Funkin Peach Bellini: Funkin
Cocktails has unveiled a Peach
Bellini RTD. Funkin said the
drink (5% abv) was made with
“the finest fruits picked in season, ensuring maxi-
mum flavour”. It has rolled into Sainsbury’s (rsp:
£2/250ml).
Broma listing: Broma Foods has
gained listings for its duo of
drinking chocolate sauces at
Planet Organic. The range com-
prises two flavours – Raw Cacao and Raw Cacao
with Orange – and is billed as being vegan, high
in fibre and free from refined sugar.
Sheppy’s Redstreak: Sheppy’s has added a new
Redstreak cider to its range. The cider (4% abv)
is described as a “medium-sweet single variety
cider”, made with Somerset Redstreak apples (rsp:
£29.55/12x500ml).
English Whisky Co single malt:
The English Whisky Co is to
launch what it claims is England’s
first 11-year-old single malt
whisky. The whisky (46% abv) offers a “fruity fla-
vour” with oak overtones, it said. A limited run of
2,466 bottles launched this week (rsp:
£59.95/700ml).
Coconuts Organic in M&S: Vegan
ice cream brand Coconuts
Organic has secured listings for
two flavours at M&S. Choc Orange
Swirl and Double Caramel hit stores this week.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 33
 LONG-TERM OPTIMISM
buying & supplying drinks We shall emerge from this crisis stronger than when it
started – Simon Robinson, chairman, WineGB

Covid-19 deals heavy

blow to English wine
A limited run of 378 bottles Daniel Woolfson surveyed said they were
has rolled out this week Two-thirds of English reducing production
and Welsh wine mak- because of coronavirus.
Fortnum and ers are battling cashflow It comes after a decade
concerns as a result of of solid growth for the
Patrón team the coronavirus crisis, a UK’s homegrown wine
up on tequila new report has warned.
The University of
industry: the number of
hectares used to produce
Fortnum & Mason has Edinburgh Business English and Welsh wine
partnered with Patrón on School report, which has more than doubled,
a new single cask tequila. laid bare the worries of with UK brands currently
The 25-month-aged the sector’s players, also exported to more than 40
tequila (40% abv) was found half have delayed countries.
selected exclusively from investment as a result of Winemakers have reported cashflow and supply fears “Many wineries that
Patrón’s Barrel Select the pandemic, despite we have been in contact
reserves at its distillery in seeing an uptick in respondents to the sur- vineyards being closed”, with over the past two
Mexico. online sales. vey said they anticipated said WineGB chairman months are hugely prag-
Fortnum’s wine & spir- One third of winemak- their businesses would Simon Robinson. matic,” Robinson added.
its buyer Oscar Dodd said ers surveyed said they shrink. On average, However, he added: “Life is going to be
the drink was “quite the were experiencing supply respondents said they “Although this crisis has tough, but the overall
spectrum of flavours, chain issues, while four expected revenues to fall had a significant impact sense of what has been
aromas and textures”, out of 10 reported higher by as much as 52%. on our fledgling industry, achieved over the past
more often associated stress levels. One third The sector had “been we remain very optimis- five years gives me a very
with whisky than tequila. said they had sought to badly hit by the down- tic about the medium to positive feeling that we
A limited run of 378 delay payments, and 30% turn in sales, particularly long-term future.” shall emerge from this
bottles rolled out this said they had cut prices. with hospitality in com- Despite these setbacks, crisis stronger than when
week (rsp: £75/70cl). More than half of plete lockdown and our only 20% of winemakers it started.”

Molson Coors is to distribute Speciality Brands to

Bodega Bay hard seltzer in UK
Molson Coors is jump-
ing on the hard seltzer
bandwagon.
The brewer has inked
a distribution deal with
startup Bodega Bay
to grow the brand –
which is already listed
in Sainsbury’s and
Morrisons – across the
rest of the mults and
convenience.
The potential for
growth in the burgeon-
ing hard seltzer category
was clear, said Molson
Coors category, insight
and innovation director
Jim Shearer.
“We wanted to partner
Bodega Bay is already
listed in JS and Morrisons
with a brand we felt had
the ability, because of the
sheer quality of the drink
and brand proposition, to
become a cornerstone of
the category as it grows,”
he said.
Bodega Bay founder
Charlie Markland said
the two businesses “have
a shared ethos around
how to nurture and grow
brands in the trade”.
“We’re starting in the
UK, but the plan is to
scale internationally with
Molson Coors, targeting
Western Europe markets,
Australia, Japan and
South Korea.”
It comes as Molson
Coors is expanding
outside of its brewing
heartlands into other
categories: last year
saw it move into soft
drinks with the launch of
hopped sparkling water
brand Wellraiser.
distribute Waterford
Speciality Brands has
signed up to bring Irish
‘terroir-driven’ whis-
key brand Waterford
Distillery to the UK.
Speciality Brands was
“hugely impressed by
the unique thinking and
innovative character”
Waterford’s first two
whiskies roll out on 22 June
of Waterford Distillery,
said its MD Chris Seale,
billing it “a revolution-
ary concept for the whis-
key world with seriously
experienced people
behind it”.
The Irish whiskey
producer releases sin-
gle-malt whiskies from
individual farms and
harvests, the first two of
which – Bannow Island
and Ballykilcavan – will
launch on 22 June in a
run of 1,500 bottles each.
The drinks will roll out
into specialist whiskey
stores and e-commerce
platforms (rsp: £70/70cl).

34 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


buying & supplying fresh
Processors are lobbying to have roles added to the post-Brexit shortage occupation list
Butchers & abattoirs
face looming crisis
of worker shortages
Kevin White
An already-significant
shortage of butchers and
skilled abattoir workers
could escalate into a full-
blown crisis unless the
government adds the role
to its post-Brexit shortage
occupation list, proces-
sors have warned.
The independent
Migration Advisory
Committee – which
advises the government
on immigration policy
– launched a review of
the list last month, in a
bid to further consider
the workforce needs of
British industry in light
of the coronavirus crisis.
The MAC came under
fire from agrifood sec-
tor leaders last year for
largely ignoring its needs
for non-UK workers in a
variety of roles.
With a new consulta-
tion now open and the
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
committee due to report
back to the home sec-
retary by September, it
was vital the renewed list
recognised the impor-
tance of butchers and
other skilled abattoir
roles, urged British Meat
Processors Association
CEO Nick Allen.
The committee’s cat-
egorisation of ‘butcher’
encompassed many more
skilled roles in slaughter-
houses than merely those
of an actual butcher,
Allen pointed out, from
slaughtermen to workers
involved in boning and
cutting, plus the trim-
ming specialists that pre-
pare carcases for storage,
processing and sale.
UK meat processors
were already contending
with a 10%-15% shortfall
in these skilled workers
before the coronavirus
crisis, Allen added, as
he warned cutting the
supply of skilled foreign
workers would make it
“harder and harder” for
processors to operate.
This could also pose
yet another challenge
for the sector’s cost base,
with the issue of car-
case balance – which
has plagued the sec-
tor throughout the crisis
– also rearing its head.
“You need those skilled
people to maximise the
value of the carcase,” he
warned.
Allen’s comments were
echoed by Association
of Independent Meat
Suppliers head of pol-
icy Norman Bagley, who
warned relying purely
on unemployed British
people would not solve
the sector’s labour issues
alone. “We’re lobbying
for as much flexibility on
this issue as possible.”
MAXIMISING VALUE
You need those skilled people to maximise the value of
the carcase – BMPA CEO Nick Allen
Lords warn of
‘anxiety’ over
agrifood checks
at GB-NI border
Harry Holmes
The government must
clarify how checks
will take place on agri-
foods entering Northern
Ireland if businesses are
to have any chance of
responding by the end of
the year, a Lords commit-
tee has warned.
There was a “very high
level of anxiety” in the
industry regarding how
the Northern Ireland
protocol will be imple-
mented and the impact
it will have on food and
drink businesses, said
Monday’s report by the
House of Lords European
Union Committee.
The peers warned
businesses were facing
a “Herculean task” to
implement the protocol
by 1 January even before
the coronavirus pan-
demic hit. “That task has
become even more diffi-
cult, given the impact of
Covid-19 on the economy
and the capacity of indi-
vidual businesses to cope
with the problems con-
fronting them.”
A joint committee
made up of EU and UK
senior figures is responsi-
ble for implementing the
protocol. The Lords peers
called on the body to
Peers fear extra checks
may harm trade in NI
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 37
take a flexible approach
in ensuring the Northern
Irish economy was pro-
tected, echoing industry
concerns that the checks
and processes for goods
moving from GB-NI could
prompt businesses to
reconsider their Northern
Irish operations.
“There is a real dan-
ger that businesses based
in Great Britain could
conclude that it is eco-
nomically unviable to
continue to operate in
Northern Ireland, lead-
ing in turn to reduced
choice and higher costs
for Northern Ireland
consumers.”
Although the talks on
Northern Ireland run
separately to official
trade negotiations, the
scale of future checks
on foods entering NI
from GB could be greatly
determined by the future
UK-EU relationship and
the extent of Britain’s reg-
ulatory divergence.
Trade talks appeared
to have hit an impasse
as they restarted this
week after UK negotiator
David Frost and his coun-
terpart, Michel Barnier,
exchanged angry let-
ters last month. Barnier
accused Boris Johnson
of reneging on previous
commitments in an inter-
view with the Sunday
Times last week.
The Lords Committee
concluded in its report
that the government was
trying to “reinterpret”
the Northern Ireland pro-
tocol agreed with the EU
last year.
 TRUST IN BRITISH FARMING
buying & supplying fresh This is an important broadening of the scheme which
for 20 years has built trust in British farming and food
quality – Red Tractor CEO Jim Moseley

Red Tractor launches

new chicken standard
Kevin White
Red Tractor has launched
a new enhanced welfare
marque for chicken –
part of a trio of beefed-up
standards to be unveiled
this year.
The new chicken
standard for indoor-
reared birds – which is
already in use on Tesco’s
new Room to Roam range
– was “an important
broadening” of the farm
assurance scheme, said
CEO Jim Moseley.
It mandates the use of
slower-growing chicken
breeds and more space
and natural light in barns
to encourage natural
behaviours like pecking,
scratching, wing flapping
and the use of perches.
Participating producers
will also be required to
reduce stocking densities
Its new marque is part of a trio of enhanced standards
from 38kg/m² to 30kg/m², chicken breeds and high fits of Red Tractor”, the
Red Tractor said.
The launch follows
a series of alleged ani-
mal welfare breaches
on poultry farms over
the past two years, and
comes amid growing
calls from animal wel-
fare campaigners for the
poultry sector to move
away from fast-growing
using purple. A new free-
range chicken marque
soft-launched during the
spring uses orange, while
a planned organic stand-
ard will use green.
The new chicken wel-
fare standard met all
the requirements of the
2026 Better Chicken
Commitment/European
Chicken Commitment but
was also underpinned by
“the world-leading safety
and traceability bene-
stocking densities. scheme claimed.
The new standards The launch of Tesco’s
retain the union flag and Room to Roam range at
the scheme’s tractor logo, the start of April also
but replaces the words meant about 5% of all
‘certified standards’ with supermarket chicken
the farming method used. sold in the UK now
Each new marque met the Better Chicken
will have its own colour, Commitment, claimed
with the enhanced wel- animal welfare charity
fare for chicken standard the Humane League.
Its new campaign will air
on Channel 4 on 12 June
Pink Lady to
launch first-
ever TV ad
Apple brand Pink Lady
is to launch its first-ever
UK TV ad campaign this
month, as part of an
extensive media push to
elevate brand awareness.
The campaign, using
new creative highlighting
the “multisensory expe-
rience of eating a Pink
Lady apple”, will launch
on 12 June on Channel 4
during the centre break
of Gogglebox.
The TV ads will con-
tinue to roll out across
Channel 4, More 4, E4,
Dave, W Channel and
Alibi throughout June.

Crediton sales up 7% FAIRR: meat industry ‘highly

but profits fall back vulnerable’ to more pandemics
Crediton Dairy overcame
“difficult” dairy mar-
ket conditions to post a
6.9% increase in sales to
£74.5m last year, latest
accounts have shown.
The processor was
buoyed by a “strong
increase” in sales of its
Crediton Dairy produces
the Arctic Coffee RTD range
range of added-value,
branded and own-label
dairy drinks for the
53-week period ending 4
January 2020.
It ploughed £8m into
capital investment in
2019 as it created a sec-
ond filling hall for added-
value dairy drinks and
speciality milks.
However, this invest-
ment ultimately hit prof-
itability, said MD Tim
Smiddy, with pre-tax
profits falling by 28.6% to
£4.5m due in part to the
impact of construction on
the day-to-day running of
the business.
The global meat industry
is highly vulnerable to
another pandemic, a new
report has warned.
FAIRR, a network of
global investors, con-
cluded 44 of the world’s
60 largest meat, fish and
dairy businesses were at
‘high risk’ of both creat-
ing another pandemic
and potentially being
impacted. The companies
were assessed on seven
criteria, including worker
safety, food safety and
antibiotic use.
International food
giants JBS, Thai Union
and Minerva were among
Most large meat businesses
were ‘high risk’ said FAIRR
those criticised by inves-
tors for their inability to
protect against the emer-
gence of new diseases.
Cranswick, the only
UK-listed company to be
included, ranked in the
top 10 as a ‘medium risk’.
Although the processor
has maintained produc-
tion throughout the pan-
demic, three workers at
its South Yorkshire plant
have reportedly died after
testing positive for Covid-
19. Coronavirus should
act as a wake-up call for
retailers to ensure their
suppliers are secure, said
Maria Lettini, executive
director at FAIRR.
“It is a supply chain
risk. It’s a risk of how
they will ensure that the
meat, fish and dairy on
shelves will be there if
another type of disrup-
tion of this size and scale
happens again.”

38 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


Emmi makes switch
into plant-based with
launch of Beleaf range
Kevin White
Emmi has become the
latest major dairy player
to diversify into plant-
based products with the
launch of Beleaf, a range
of drinks, yoghurt alter-
natives and cultured
shots made with almonds
and oats.
The dairy giant intro-
duced Beleaf into its
Swiss home market in
March and will start roll-
ing the brand into UK
retailers later this month.
Targeted primarily at
flexitarians but also cer-
tified vegan, the Beleaf
brand focuses on “great
taste, clean ingredients,
minimal processing and
sustainable packaging”,
Emmi said. Made at seg-
regated manufacturing
facilities owned by the
Müller adds first-
ever Skyr Corners
Müller has expanded its
Müller Corner yoghurt
portfolio with a first-ever
skyr product.
Its Müller Corner
Icelandic-style Skyr
range will start roll-
ing out this month in
skyr with raspberry &
Icelandic-style Skyr will
roll out in three variants
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
fresh digest
Stilton boost: Struggling stilton
producers have been boosted
after Ocean Outdoor gave the
Stilton Cheese Makers Assoc-
iation free advertising at more than 20 outdoor
sites for two weeks from 1 June. It follows a 30%
slump in sales during the coronavirus lockdown.
Gressingham turkey: Duck and poultry specialist
Gressingham Foods has expanded its range with
a new turkey burger . It went on sale in Waitrose
includes almond-based last week (rsp: £3.50/two-pack).
cultured shots in straw-
berry and plain variants Beeswax Dyson joins co-op: Berry farmer
containing live active Beeswax Dyson has joined the Berry Gardens
cultures and added vita- farming co-op. The partnership will allow it to sell
mins (rsp: £3/6x65g), an its strawberries through Berry Gardens into the
almond-based unsweet- UK retail market, and means British strawberries
ened drink and an oat- will be supplied all year round next year.
based unsweetened
Beleaf products will start drink (rsp: £1/one litre). Edwards of Conwy in Tesco:
rolling out this month The drinks will go on North Wales-based butcher brand
sale across wholesale Edwards of Conwy has secured
processor in Spain and and convenience chan- new listings in Tesco stores across
Switzerland, the range nels from 17 June, fol- Wales and the north of England for its new
is made up of almond- lowed by a listing for the chicken quarter pounders (rsp: £3.49/4-pack),
based small yoghurt brand’s 350g yoghurt chicken peri peri burgers (rsp: £3/2-pack) and
alternative pots in ber- alternatives in Tesco on 6 chicken chipolatas (rsp: £3/10-pack).
ries, mango & passion- July and for both sizes of
fruit and plain almond the yoghurt alternatives Plant-based Richmond: Kerry
variants (rsp: £1/120g); and the shots in Asda on Group has expanded the plant-
alongside almond-based 22 July. based offering of its Richmond
big pots in mango & Beleaf is “inspira- sausage brand with new twin-
passionfruit and plain tional, joyful and mod- pack and frozen variants. The twin-pack (rsp:
almond flavours (rsp: ern and delivers on great £3.50/16 sausages) will launch into Asda and
£2.50/350g). taste”, said Emmi UK MD Tesco this month, while the frozen variant (rsp:
The brand lineup also Julie Plant. £2/8 sausages) launched into Tesco this week.
Tulip food waste: Tulip is to review its entire sup-
ply chain in a bid to further cut down on food
Philadelphia
to get recycled
waste. The pork giant’s waste levels already repre-
sented just 0.1% of its output. However, it is aim-
plastic packs
ing to further reduce these levels to increase the
amount of surplus donated to FareShare.
hazelnut granola; skyr Mondelez International Applewood in Sainsbury’s:
with nuts, chocolate- is to switch production Cheese brand Applewood has
coated balls & granola: of Philadelphia cream secured a listing in Sainsbury’s
and skyr with banana & cheese sold in the UK and for its new Vegan Slices. The
almond granola. Europe to recycled plastic product will go on sale in 304 Sainsbury’s stores
The range’s single 180g packaging from 2022. from 14 June (rsp: £2.50/10 slices).
pots were Müller Corner’s The fmcg giant said the
largest, it said, and con- brand would “pioneer Fairfields food boxes: Crisp and
tained 13g of protein this innovation”, with the potato supplier Fairfields Farm
each. They also boast a move representing a step has branched out into fruit and
transparent corner so in the company’s goal to veg box delivery. The boxes are
shoppers can see the use 5% recycled content available nationwide from fairfieldsfarmcrisps.
inclusions. across its entire plastic co.uk, and cost £18 each.
The NPD will be avail- packaging portfolio.
able in Morrisons and It follows the recent Dairy bailout: Defra has confirmed its £10,000
Co-op in June and Tesco, change in the UK to make Dairy Response Fund, created to assist farmers
Asda and Waitrose in Dairylea Lunchables and hit by the coronavirus crisis, will start paying out
July, and will be sup- Dairylea Snackers pack- on 6 July. It will be open to those who saw a 25%
ported by a multimillion- aging with 75% recycled price cut in April and May.
pound campaign. PET plastic.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 39
focus on... oils
42 Sunflower makes strides
Extra virgin olive oil remains
market leader, but sunflower oil
has seen serious growth
48 Xylella fastidiosa 46 The great healer
The disease threat to olive How various cooking oils are
production – and how it’s being making waves in the health &
dealt with beauty aisles

Holiday in a bottle
Brits may not be jetting off to sunny climes any time soon, but a
growing number are using oils to create holiday moments at home
Harry Holmes “As people expand their cooking repertoire, British shores. There’s also been a “rapid

G
oing abroad this summer?
Probably not. As the government
looks set to introduce a 14-day
quarantine for travellers enter-
ing the UK, an overseas holiday is highly
unlikely. After all, who wants to follow a week
in sunny Sorrento with a legally enforced fort-
night indoors?
It’s a frustrating state of affairs for Brits
after more than two months of lockdown. No
wonder so many have been trying to sate their
wanderlust by cooking up a taste of abroad.
According to Tesco research unveiled in
April, more than half of the UK’s adults have
been experimenting in their kitchens and
using new ingredients since the pandemic
took hold.
That’s great news for cooking oils, says Neil
Brownbill, commercial director at Napolina.
they’re expanding their oil repertoire so they
can cook those different dishes in a more
authentic way.”
Olive oil is, of course, the obvious choice
for recreating authentic dishes from sunny
Sorrento. That’s helped boost the overall olive
oil market, which has shot up 21.4% in value
and 22.1% in volume since lockdown began
[Kantar 12 w/e 19 April].
But it’s not just the taste of Italy that con-
sumers are missing as they are confined to
“As people expand their
cooking repertoire,
they’re expanding their
oil repertoire”
acceleration of eastern cooking” notes Simon
Corner, sales & marketing director at oils sup-
plier Kerfoot Group.
“We have seen a notable rise in consumers
tackling traditional recipes and dishes from
countries such as China and India in an effort
to spice up their lockdown diets, as well as
replicating culinary trends from South Korea,
Thailand, Malaysia and the Middle East,”
he says.
That’s aided a 16.3% rise in value for speci-
ality oils such as sesame, peanut and grape-
seed, which have generated an extra £9.3m
[Kantar]. All in all, it’s looking like Brits are
getting more authentic in their oil choices.
Granted, there are some shoppers who
“will use one oil for everything”, says Kim
Matthews, commercial director at Edible Oils,
supplier of branded and own-label cooking
oils. But the most exacting would-be

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 41

focus on... oils
Sunflower catches up: oil sales by value in the past quarter
Extra virgin olive oil
£24.7m
(▲ 17.6%)
Vegetable oil
£17.1m
(▲ 14.8%)
Source: Kantar 12 w/e 19 April 2020
● Cooking oils slid through
supermarket tills at a rate
of knots as the UK went into
lockdown, with sales up
18.2% in value and 20.1% in
volume, shows Kantar data
for the past 12 weeks.
● Extra virgin olive oil kept
its place as market leader
as Covid-19 hit. Taking in
£24.7m over that period,
it accounts for almost a
quarter of the market.
● But sunflower oil is hot
on its heels, having made
just £200k less than that in
the past 12 weeks.
● There’s much larger
42 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
Sunflower oil
£24.5m
(▲ 24.5%)
Speciality oil
£9.3m
(▲ 16.3%)
margin between the two
when it comes to average
pricer per litre, however.
Extra virgin is up 1p to
£4.72, while sunflower is
down a penny to £1.30. Only
vegetable oil is cheaper, at
an average of £1.17 a litre.
● In percentage terms,
other olive oil – not extra
virgin– is the fastest
grower. It’s up 26.9% in
value and 29.7% in value.
Kantar’s Worldpanel FMCG service monitors consumer behaviour across Great Britain. Its primary panel tracks
take-home purchases of 30,000 demographically representative households. Data on consumption habits,
nutrition and out of home sales is collected through subsidiary panels. Visit kantarworldpanel.com for details.
“With outdoor living
restricted, consumers
are making a switch to
healthier choices”
chefs are ensuring they have an oil for
every meal occasion – they “will have two or
three or four or five different bottles depend-
ing on what they’re going to cook”, he says.
Edible Oils looked to encourage this behav-
iour with the launch of a range of special-
ity blends in March. Available via Tesco and
Amazon, the U:ME range is designed to lure
shoppers into trying oils they may not know
Other olive oil much about by detailing ideal usage and a
£19.6m recipe suggestion on each SKU.
The lineup, which comes in both standard
(▲ 26.9%)
and spray bottle formats, comprises a vege-
table & olive oil mix for roasting and frying,
and a coconut, rapeseed & sunflower blend
aimed at stir-frying and baking.
Healthy choices
Authenticity isn’t the only factor swaying
Britain towards less mainstream oil choices,
though. Fears about coronavirus have made
health claims more powerful in all food and
drink categories, including oil.
“With outdoor living restricted and a
heightened awareness of bodily health,
many consumers are taking a closer look at
the ingredients in their food, and are mak-
ing a proactive switch to healthier, authentic
and traceable choices to meet the challenges
Coconut oil Rapeseed oil of isolation,” says Corner of Kerfoot Group. As
£3.8m £3.0m such, he has seen an increasing “demand for
speciality fats and oils that come with specific
(▼ 17.0%) (▲ 8.6%) flavours and dietary benefits”.
That’s has played a crucial part in the
recent success of avocado oil, suggests Amy
Moring. She’s the founder of Hunter & Gather
Foods, which produces an avocado oil made
● The only oil not to from hand-picked ‘wonky’ avocados that are
have made gains during rejected by the grocers.
the mass buying of the According to Moring, sales of the brand’s
pandemic is coconut 250ml avocado oil were up 144% year on
oil. Once favoured by year on Ocado in February, while Hunter
Hollywood royalty & Gather’s DTC sales “are up 365% for the
like Angelina Jolie and month of April 2020 versus April 2019 on avo-
Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s fast cado oil”. Lockdown seems to have acceler-
falling out of favour among ated the trend. “For the full month of April
UK shoppers. Its value 2020 on our site versus January 2020, we have
slumped by 17% in Kantar’s seen a 145% increase on sales of avocado oil,”
latest data period – while she adds.
volumes fell 10.7%. For Moring, health associations have been
key. “Avocado has become the poster child
of the health movement,” she says. That’s
thanks to numerous studies, which have
found the oil improves cholesterol and low-
ers cardiovascular risk due to its high
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
focus on... oils

Cooking up growth: value sales of the top 10 oil brands in the past quarter
● Six of the top 10 oil
brands have achieved
more than 40% value
growth so far this year.
This is partly due to
“shoppers stocking up
on essential cooking
ingredients, including
oils, in order to cook
from scratch” notes Karl
Ruggiero, Nielsen retailer
services client manager.
● “In terms of absolute
sales value, private label
and branded products
over the latest 12-week
period now make up
an exact 50-50 split for
the total cooking oils
category,” he adds.
● Filippo Berio continues
to lead the branded oil
market with a 41.5%
value gain. It comes after
the Italian supplier won a
three-month battle with
TfL in November to be
allowed to advertise on
London taxis. That was
followed in February by
a change for its one-litre
bottle from plastic to
glass.
● The only brand failing
to fully capitalise on the Filippo Berio (▲ 41.5%)
sales boom is Olivio. Its
value might be up 1.7%
£11.1m
but that’s due only to KTC (▲ 50.8%)
a rise in average price.
Volumes slipped 6.1% £8.2m
after the US brand’s
orchards were hit by the Napolina (▲ 42.9%)
fires in California last £8.2m
year. That caused serious
supply issues for Olivio, Crisp ‘n Dry (▲ 35.9%)
which is now out of stock £5.1m
in most UK retailers, says
Ruggiero. Fry Light (▲ 26.2%)
● However, Olivio’s UK
distributor Edible Oils
£4.9m
is seeing more success Flora (▲ 72.1%)
with its other brands
Mazola and Crisp ‘n Dry, £3.6m
both up more than 30%
Farchioni (▲ 53.5%)
in value and over 20% in
volume. Kim Matthews, £1.5m
commercial director
at Edible Oils, claims La Española (▲ 129.3%)
the lines are doing well £1.2m
“because customers trust
the brands”. Olivio (▲ 1.7%)
£1.0m
Mazola (▲ 31.1%)
Nielsen Scantrack monitors weekly data from a
national network of EPoS scanners to represent £0.9m
sales in grocery multiples, co-ops, multiple off-
licences, independents, forecourts, convenience
multiples, symbols and online grocery retailers. Source: Nielsen 12 w/e 2 May 2020 For the full data, visit thegrocer.co.uk

levels of oleic acid, the same omega-9 fatty
acid commonly found in olive oil. Avocado
oil is also rich in lutein, an antioxidant that
is said to benefit skin and eye health. These
benefits have led big names such as Khloe
Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Teresa ‘The
Healthy Chef’ Cutter to sing its praises.
Avocado oil, basically, is ever so trendy –
but it’s also pricey. Take Hunter & Gather’s
500ml bottle. At around £11, it’s vastly more
expensive than extra virgin olive oil, which
retails at an average of £4.72 per litre, or veg-
etable oil, which is just £1.17 per litre [Kantar].
So these oils may never be mass market.
Adam Palmer, MD of cold-pressed rapeseed
oil brand Littleseed, admits growth is likely
to slow. “We’re realistic about the fact that it’s
unlikely we will sustain growth at the rate we
have seen over the past two months.”
Even if speciality fare does continue on an
upwards trajectory, its market share will still
be tiny. Just look at the numbers: speciality
oils made £9.3m in the past three months,
which was just a fraction of £102.3m worth
of sales in the total market [Kantar]. Market
leader extra virgin olive oil is worth a far more
substantial £24.7m, and is growing faster
than speciality fare at a rate of 17.6%.
That’s why Lisa Mullins, marketing man-
ager at olive oil leader Filippo Berio, is pretty
unfazed. “You might find there are some
niches that come into play, but they are small
and destined to come and go.”
Plus she has particular reason to feel con-
fident. The Filippo Berio brand has grown
ahead of the market, up 42% to £11.1m
[Nielsen 12 w/e 2 May 2020]. It’s one of the six
oil brands in the top 10 to see growth of more
than 40% (see above).
There is a good reason why these brands
have performed so well. Because the panic
“It’s unlikely we will
sustain growth at the
rate we have seen over
the past two months”
buying start of the pandemic rendered the
price difference between brands and own
label irrelevant. While own label suppliers
struggled to keep up with elevated demand,
higher-priced brands cashed in on their abil-
ity to keep supply chains flowing smoothly,
according to Filippo Berio MD Walter Zanre.
“Whoever’s got stock on the shelf sells – and
in March, brands did a better job of keeping
product on shelf, so we gained some share.”
Climate emergency
Of course, that’s only a temporary effect. As
supply returns to normal levels, brands will
have to work harder to justify higher prices.
And they could face much tougher conditions
as the economic fallout of the Covid-19 crisis
becomes apparent. Zanre admits previous
economic crises saw people move into private
label and smaller pack sizes.
There is also the threat of shoppers moving
out of extra virgin towards cheaper options
such as sunflower, which is already vying
for the title of Britain’s favourite oil (p42).
Because as the climate crisis tightens its

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 45

focus on... oils
How olive oil
has turned
wellbeing
ingredient
Olive oil doesn’t just add
authenticity to a home-
cooked Mediterranean
dish. It also has numerous
health benefits. At least,
that’s been the belief for
centuries.
Hippocrates, the
master physician of
ancient Greece, branded
it “the great healer”. More
recently, it was described
by domestic doyenne Mrs
Beeton as “an antidote
against flatulency” in her
1861 Book of Household
Management. Neither claim
has been scientifically
substantiated.
Nor has the efficacy
of olive oil as a skincare
product been proven
– though some studies
have touted its anti-
inflammatory, hydrating
46 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020
and protective qualities.
Nevertheless, rubbing it
on your face is probably a
waste of time and money.
“You can totally use olive
oil if you really want to,
especially if you’re not
prone to acne or dryness.
But it’s not likely to
transform your skin,” Yale
University dermatologist
Mona Gohara told
Cosmopolitan in October.
Quite the opposite
in fact, she went on to
suggest. “Olive oil is a
naturally heavy oil, making
it a breeding ground for
bacteria that can clog pores
and cause acne.”
And yet, olive oil abides
as an ingredient in beauty
products – some of them
premium. A 30ml bottle
of DHC Olive Virgin Oil
for dry and combination
skin, for instance, retails at
around £29, while Korres
Pure Greek Olive 3 in 1
Nourishing Oil comes at
about £21.
It’s not just olive oil
commanding a pretty
penny in the personal care
market. Endorsements
from such celebrities as
Khloe Kardashian have
fuelled the popularity of
all sorts of cooking oils as
a means to revitalise skin,
deep-condition hair and
even eliminate earwax.
In the US, their
popularity is so great
that the Wonder Valley
brand is happy to charge a
whopping $65 (£52.65) for
a 200ml bottle of geranium
oil combined with avocado,
olive and grapeseed oils
– “to brighten, tone, and
enhance elasticity”.
In the end, however,
there is only one sure-
fire benefit of cooking
oil to wellbeing. One of
the numerous health-
protective antioxidants
found in extra virgin olive
oil, polyphenols, have been
scientifically proven to
help the body fight against
disease and cancer.
Now, more than ever, it’s
a claim that could hit home
with consumers.
“Whoever’s got stock on
the shelf sells – and in
March, brands did a
better job”
grip on the key producing regions of the
Mediterranean, olive oil is only set to get pric-
ier. The effect of droughts, spring frosts and
erratic rain patterns is already clear to see. “If
you look at the past eight years, the price of
olive oil has been highly volatile,” notes Vito
Martielli, senior analyst at Rabobank. “We
used to have a supply shock every five to six
years, but now we’ve had them four times in
the past eight years.”
These shocks can be drastic. Appalling
weather in Italy last year led to the price gulf
between Italian and Spanish olive oil reach-
ing its largest margin in 25 years. Other olive-
growing areas are equally at risk. Greece’s
harvest in December was devastated by
abnormal autumnal rainfall, while south-
ern Spain could soon become a desert, warns
Edible Oil’s Matthews.
“The big risk we’ve got is around the tem-
peratures. If the reservoirs are empty and the
temperatures are high, that’s when you start
to have a lower output in terms of the tonnage
and the quality.”
Spanish success
The good news is that the key players are tak-
ing preventative measures. Spain, for one,
has invested heavily in water storage and
irrigation systems to ensure dry weather does
not spell demise for its olive oil industry.
And it has big plans for the future. Spain
hopes to grow its market-leading position –
it already produces about half of the world’s
olive oil, more than three times as much as
Italy – even further through intensive cul-
tivation. “Part of the Spanish strategy is to
become so dominant that the other players
give up,” claims Zanre.
Portugal is similarly vying for a larger slice
of the market, having quadrupled its pro-
duction in the past decade. The country is
now on course to become the third-largest
global olive oil producer by 2030, according
to a recent report by Consulai & Juan Vilar
Strategic Consultants.
These efforts will be crucial to maintaining
global supply. Iberian production is meet-
ing growing demand in non-traditional mar-
kets such as Brazil and China, says Mintel.
Indeed, Spain supplies four-fifths of China’s
olive oil imports. “There are more and more
rich people that recognise the high value of
this oil in these countries,” Mintel says.
And other countries will struggle to
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
focus on... oils

Vital ingredient: how shoppers feel about cooking oils “Part of the Spanish olive
% of shoppers who agree with statement “I don’t want to run out of..” oil strategy is to become
so dominant that the
other players give up”
AVERAGE
OILS
CATEGORY

83% 35%
step in to fulfil this need. Italy’s olive oil
industry has been lacking serious investment
for years, which means it risks losing its sta-
tus as the king of quality olive oil, Zanre fears.
“Unless the Italians start to pump some seri-
ous money into their agriculture side, the
Italian crop could become so small that it’s
% of shoppers who “would have bought on next trip” insignificant,” he says.
if their choice was not available Greece, the world’s third-largest producer,
is also hindered to a degree. Its mountain-
ous geography limits the introduction of
industrialised processes, says Kamil Shah,
co-founder of the Olive Branch brand, so pro-
duction is “mainly done by hand”.
OILS AVERAGE
CATEGORY Disease threat
18% 13% Plus, all of the above regions are battling with
a microscopic yet deadly threat: the xylella
fastidiosa bacteria. Spread by insects, it has
killed millions of olive trees since being
discovered in 2013, and there is no cure for
infected plants.
THE TOP GROCERY ITEMS THAT SHOPPERS DON’T Most prominent in Puglia (the ‘heel’ of
WANT TO RUN OUT OF Italy), the disease has spread to Spain, France,
Portugal and Greece. It is now considered
TOP 10 CATEGORIES by the European Food Safety Authority as a
“very serious threat” to the European olive
1 Toilet paper
oil industry. Multiple studies have warned
2 Soaps & shower gel of extensive shortages and crippling costs.
3 Toothpaste In April, research by the CNR Institute
4 Milk for Sustainable Plant Protection in Italy
5 Petfood warned the financial impact of xylella fas-
6 Washing up/dishwash tidiosa could run to over €20bn (£18bn).
7 Nappies Nevertheless, Filippo Berio’s Mullins is hope-
8 Feminine hygiene ful. “That study was alarming but it’s assum-
9 Laundry ing interventions don’t start to bear fruit,” she
10 Oils says. “The latest predictions are a bit over-
stated because there are things being done
Source: Shopper Intelligence survey of 272 oil shoppers from base of 77,539 consumers to try and combat the disease.”
Indeed, a growing number of scientific ini-
tiatives are taking the fight to the bacterium,
● Cooking oil is a vital critical,” he adds. choice is not available: 18% using methods such as insect repelling clays,
category for the vast ● Poor availability could versus 13%. vegetative barriers and genetic analysis to
majority of supermarket put the category under ● “The risk associated with determine why some plants are more suscep-
shoppers – 83% agree with more pressure than most, availability is much greater tible to the infection than others.
the statement ‘I don’t want Shopper Intelligence in the oils category,” points Edible Oils’ Matthews similarly has faith
to run out of oils’. warns. In the oils aisle, out Adkins. “We cannot be in how farmers are coping with xylella. “It’s
● “Such a high level of shoppers are more likely sure the shopper’s next visit managed really well, so if there are any cases,
importance around this than average to defer their will be back to the same the farmers just cut it down and burn it to
metric results in oils being purchase if their usual retailer or store.” make sure it doesn’t move across. Unless it
among the top 10 categories changes fundamentally, there won’t be any
across the store,” notes issues from a pricing point of view and a sup-
Shopper Intelligence MD ply point of view.”
Chris Adkins. “Clearly, Shopper Intelligence is an annual multi Category, multi Retailer survey of UK shoppers. Enquiries to www. That’s a heartening prospect for the UK’s
availability is going to be shopperintelligence.com. new raft of culinary enthusiasts.

48 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

news people I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

Roberts shakes up JS i want that job

ops board on first day

Edward Devlin most recently leading the
New Sainsbury’s boss business’ digital strategy.
Simon Roberts shook up She will take on responsi-
the supermarket’s operat- bility for Sainsbury’s and
ing board on his first day Argos stores.
in the top job this week. Combining the retail
Chief digital director and digital teams under
Clodagh Moriarty will Moriarty would bring Grounded is a purpose-
take on the new role of Sainsbury’s, Argos led startup that makes
retail and digital direc- and its different chan- plant-based functional
tor, while chief market- nels closer together, the drinks and is launching
ing officer Mark Given retailer said. the UK’s first 100%
has been promoted to the Given has been at natural plant-based
operating board. Given (l) & Moriarty were promoted on Roberts’ first day Sainsbury’s for more protein shakes.
Roberts announced than seven years in sen- The brand is looking
the appointments to col- and quickly adapted to that we really understand ior marketing roles. As for an energetic, results-
leagues on Monday as what they have told us. how customers are feel- well as overseeing all driven salesperson who
he assumed the title of “Bringing together ing, what they’re think- brand and customer believes in Grounded's
Sainsbury’s CEO. our retail and digital ing and how this affects communications across products and ethos. The
“As our customers’ teams under Clo’s lead- the way they shop.” Sainsbury’s, Argos and successful candidate
lives have changed over ership will create a busi- Roberts was revealed Tu clothing, he looks will implement its
the last two months, so ness that shows up in the as the new CEO in after customer insight, sales strategy across
have we,” Roberts told same way for customers January as Sainsbury’s marketing strategy and foodservice and
staff. “What I am most wherever they shop with announced Mike Coupe’s planning, customer rela- premium independents,
proud of is the way that us,” he added. “Mark’s retirement. tionship management with the focus on
we have constantly lis- appointment to the oper- Moriarty has been at and loyalty, and all digi- growing sales and
tened to our customers ating board will ensure Sainsbury’s for 10 years, tal marketing. distribution. See p52.

my alternative cv
What was your first job? and I enjoy employing Peloton bike, sauna and What’s your favourite
I went to theatre school people and knowing that plunge pool. film? Dog Day Afternoon.
from the age of seven – so as a company we are Do you have any pho- It’s a beautiful film and
my first job was actually serving the local com- bias? I am really not that Al Pacino is fantastic in
a photoshoot for a brand munity as well as our keen on heights. it. It’s a human story and
of soap called Zest. customers. If you could change one so desperate in many
What’s been your worst What is the least reward- thing in grocery, what ways.
job interview? I have ing part? I suppose the would it be? I would What has been the most
never had a job inter- least rewarding part is make companies use embarrassing moment
view, only auditions due when we make a mistake, less packaging – imag- in your life? I’m honestly
to the fact that I was an but we are human and ine how much transport, not that sure. I think as
actor from a very young mistakes are inevitable, energy and space would an actor you get used to
age. I have had plenty of especially in a fast-grow- be saved if we packed just looking like a com-
Carl Saxton humiliating auditions ing business with a lot of things in their true size… plete idiot – I think you
Founder and MD, though. innovation. What luxury would you kind of become immune
Wholegood, on Kraftwerk, What was the first music What is your motto in have on a desert island? to embarrassment.
Al Pacino and Christopher single you bought? life? Disrupt. Sleep. A lot of books, none of Which celebrity would
Walken Kraftwerk – Tour de Disrupt. them about business. you most like to work
France. If you were allowed one What animal reflects with? I’ve worked with
What is the most reward- dream perk, what would your personality? I some great actors, but
ing part of your job? it be? I would love a wasn’t sure so I just took I think I would proba-
Helping growers shift swimming pool under a test online – apparently bly choose Christopher
their produce is great; the warehouse – with a I’m a peacock. Walken.

50 | The Grocer | 6 June 2020 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk


Tesco’s chief financial
officer Alan Stewart to
step down next year
Alec Mattinson
Tesco has announced
its chief financial officer
Alan Stewart will retire
and leave the company
next year.
He will step down on
30 April 2021, more than
six years after joining the
group in September 2014.
Tesco will now conduct a
“thorough” search both
internally and externally
to identify a successor.
Stewart joined the
supermarket from M&S
under its former CEO
Philip Clarke.
Tesco said Stewart had
played an “instrumental
role in the turnaround”
of the business.
The CFO led the corpo-
rate restructuring, rebuilt
the balance sheet, guided
Tesco back to investment
Bibby Line Group announces Sir
Michael Bibby as new chairman
Costcutter owner
Bibby Line Group has
announced Sir Michael
Bibby as the new chair-
man to succeed Paul
Drechsler.
Bibby takes over from
Drechsler on 19 June
when the current chair-
man leaves the group
after five years in the
position.
Bibby previously
served as MD of the
Liverpool-headquartered
group for 19 years and is
currently a non-executive
member of the board.
“The company has
come through a very
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Stewart first joined the
group in September 2014
grade and played a huge
role in the financial
transformation of the
business in the past six
years, it said.
“Alan has been an out-
standing leader and part-
ner at Tesco. He has made
a huge contribution and
on behalf of all of Tesco
colleagues I would like
to thank him for all he
has done,” said CEO Dave
Lewis.
Bibby will take over the
chairman role on 19 June
difficult time in our trad-
ing history and I look for-
ward to working closely
with the executive team
to grow and develop the
group through our core
businesses, as we seek
to meet the challenges
and capitalise on the
how to hire
Jonathan Fitchew
Follow fmcg’s lead
when it comes to
protecting people
W
Chairman John Allan ith many employees returning to sites
added: “Alan has made across the country, there is much to be
an impressive and sus- learnt from the way fmcg businesses
tained contribution both are adapting to their consumers in this time.
as CFO and as a board There are clear takeaways (I couldn’t resist) and
member to Tesco’s turna- transferable concepts. Whether it be a customer
round. On behalf of the queueing for a pasty in Greggs, or an executive
board I would like to preparing for a team meeting in a re-organised
thank him for his con- office space, the duty of care owed to consumer
tribution and, when the and employee alike is incredibly important.
time comes, wish him I found myself weighing a coin in my hand
well for the future.” recently, though not through parsimony! Hard
Stewart said: “Being cash is starting to feel like a relic of a bygone era.
part of the team that has The increased maximum of contactless spend
delivered the turnaround to £45, and the encouraged use of self-service
at Tesco and set it up for machines to further reduce physical contact, has
the next stage means made a society already drifting away from notes
an incredible amount to and coins more cashless than ever before.
me. I shall continue to Supermarkets have recently rolled out updated
focus on delivering the measures and innovations for the safety of their
strategy, supporting the customers. Aldi has deployed a clever automated
business and my col- traffic light system to better control queuing
leagues through the next outside stores, and Asda has taken it one step
11 months, knowing the further with its virtual queueing trials.
business is in a strong While these don’t apply to the reopening of
position.” offices, there are plenty of transferable measures
supermarkets have taken the lead on. One-way
systems and signage that manages the safe
flow of customers will be used to safeguard
employees. Screens shielding cashiers from
shoppers will perform the same function
colleague to colleague, desk to desk, ensuring
all necessary steps are taken to deliver on an
employer’s duty of care, to protect.
opportunities provided We’re now starting to see a future-proofing
by a rapidly changing of these concepts. Take the screen that you see
business landscape,” protecting cashiers while you shop. The supplier
Bibby said. we’re using to prepare our offices has developed
“I would like to thank the concept to a very safe, impressive standard.
Paul for his unending Yes, it will help maintain our efficiency, but
drive, motivation, profes- what’s more important is the health and peace of
sionalism and wise coun- mind that the move secures.
sel as chairman over the While it is unclear just how long these
past five years and hope protective measures will be necessary, it is likely
he does not miss his trips that they will be required for the rest of the year.
up to Liverpool.” Far better that they are kept in place for longer
Drechsler added: “I than necessary, than withdrawn too early. We
am delighted that once simply can’t put a timeline on events, but what
again the chairman- we can do throughout this testing period is
ship of Bibby Line Group ensure the safety of the consumer, the employee
will be in the hands of a – the person.
Bibby family member. Sir
Michael knows the busi- Jonathan Fitchew is CEO of Pareto Law
nesses well.”
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 51
bogof
Sarnie science
shows slicing
satisfaction
For the most part, we’re
making our own sand-
wiches for now. So the
decision on how to slice
them – into rectangles or
triangles – has become a
more pressing matter.
The boffins over at
Popular Mechanics have
applied some science to
the slicing process, and
have determined that
triangular slicing pro-
vides the most satisfying
sarnie.
It’s all about the best
bites, apparently –
and that means crust-
free ones. Weighted
Make space for
new ice cream
With perfect timing,
Netflix this week released
its new show Space Force
just as SpaceX blasted a
couple of astronauts into
the stratosphere.
And with even more
perfect timing, Ben &
Jerry’s launched its own
TV tie-in. Boots on the
Moooo’n commemorates
the comedy with “fudge
cows & toffee meteor
clusters orbiting a sugar
cookie dough core”.
ad of the week: Propercorn makes TV debut with handsome animation
Word has it that social
distancing in the
entertainment industry
means film and TV fans
should get set for a glut
of dramas set in space
and underwater – while
animations will also see
a surge in production.
While space and sea
are beyond the remit
of most food and drink
advertisers, they do have
access to computers.
Hence Propercorn’s
handsome little
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Did somebody say triangle? A sandwich lover’s best bite
calculations of ‘good’
(three points), ‘OK’ (two)
and ‘bad’ (one) bites
(based on the amount of
crust in each one) sees
the diagonally sliced
option come out on top.
The “novelty” of the “side
bites” apparently makes
Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s new
flavour wins the space race
It joins Netflix & Chill’d
and Chip Happens,
which is based on baking
show Nailed It. Wonder
if they’ll do anything
for the second series of
Blood & Water?
animation. It features
a collection of kernels
set against different-
coloured backgrounds.
A percussive, popping
soundtrack sees them
burst into life, form into
patterns and pour into
brightly coloured bags.
Flavours and calorie
counts loom large
on packs, before the
soundtrack’s vocal spells
out the ‘popcorn done
properly’ slogan. Simple
and effective.
DONNA
PUMSEY
FOOD RETAIL EXPORT IMPORT & TRADE MINISTER
D
onna’s cup now runneth over at having
been part of a government that so
sure-footedly led Britain through the
pandemic. I’m interested to see how BoJo intends
to enforce his bonking ban, though I wouldn’t
be surprised if he he’s got someone superlatively
creepy (Matt Hancock?) to monitor the situation
covertly using the new NHSX app. Well, it has to
be good for something, surely?
them taste better, too. Personally I wouldn’t dream of having sex with
There is a third way, anyone outside. My al fresco days are behind me,
the geeks conclude: trap- and thanks to the generously appointed balcony
ezoids. But if you get to at my Mayfair grace-and-favour apartment, the
this point it might be neighbours are rather inclined to peep. Besides,
worth having a look at with visitor numbers limited to five, it hardly
yourself and sorting out seems worth the effort. Talking of transmission
a samosa, sausage roll or rates, I’m going to have to administer a socially
even a salad instead. distant slap on the wrist to Messrs Lewis, Roberts,
Potts and Burnley (ah, such a roll-call of diversity)
when I see them next. No, children, it has not
Ceremonial escaped my eagle eyes that the transmission
rate for inflation has ‘inadvertently’ escalated to
cheese roll a two-year high during the pandemic – and no
One of the fun things lost whining at the back about having to keep shelves
to lockdown has been stocked with white label bog roll. Wasn’t reducing
Gloucestershire’s glori- SKUs supposed to cut costs? Well, then.
ous cheese rolling event. I can see I’m going to have to be a lot stricter
Master of cheese Jem in what the marketing and insight ponytails are
Wakeman instead rolled already referring to as “adjusted normality”. For
a ceremonial wheel last one thing, health & beauty sales have fallen by a
weekend. fifth, which just won’t do. It’s bad enough having
A newspaper report to meet ordinary supermarket shoppers when
suggested said cheese they have washed and put their slap on. But then
was a Babybel, but more again, with online sales almost doubling there
trustworthy local press won’t be nearly so many of them.
credits local cheese-
maker Smart’s. See you
next year, everyone.
6 June 2020 | The Grocer | 53