Industry News
Thursday night’s SuperMeat & Fish Awards celebrated the best British supermarkets have to offer, with Tesco winning overall retailer of the year.
Tesco took home the title of Meat and Fish Retailer of the Year as well as the Head office Initiative Award.
Head judge Fred A’Court, who was impressed with the Tesco stores, said: “A high level of consistent quality in its product range, allied to attention to detail and good availability throughout its stores helped Tesco to a good win in this year’s awards. It is now making progress in creating warmer, friendlier and distinctive shopping zones in some of its stores that make customers feel comfortable and relaxed while they shop.”
Attending the prestigious event in central London Mark Green, who collected the overall retailer award for Tesco told Meatinfo.co.uk: “This is the award we wanted and why we entered.“ Tesco are committed to develop and train staff and our fresh food capability sets us apart. From a head office perspective we are committed to train our staff, over the course of the year we have trained 3,000 colleagues on how to skin our meat and fish, right through to the finished product. We are really proud of the products we sell and the service that we offer our customers.“ When you look at the competition whether it be Aldi, Lidl or Morrison’s, everybody has done a great job and it is extremely competitive, so we are extremely proud to come out on top.” Ed Bedington, editor of Meat Trades Journal which organised the awards, said: “Many congratulations to Tesco – a most deserved win. The results, which saw Tesco perform consistently well throughout, show the amount of work the retailer has been doing to improve its quality.”
A total of 13 product awards and seven regional store awards were given out at the glitzy event presented by musician and television personality Myleene Klass.
Best Overall Product was awarded to Marks & Spencer for its Steak and Old Peculier Ale Pie. Morrisons Camden scooped two awards for Best Store Team and Best Meat Counter, while Tesco Superstore, Launceston, Cornwall was awarded Best Fish Counter. The most innovative product was given to Tesco for its Beef Lollipops with a Cherry BBQ Sauce.
This year’s ceremony also played host to the Tri-Nations Butchery Awards, held earlier in the day at the Great Yorkshire Show. This saw top butchers from Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand go head-to-head for the title. The Kiwis were crowned champions for the second consecutive year.
Bedington added: “This competition is a great showcase for the supermarket sector, and this year was no different, with a superb range of entries and a close-fought battle for every category. We look forward to seeing how Tesco defend their title next year, as I know the other retailers will be itching to get their hands on the crown.”
Switching from regular to organic produce could give same benefits as adding one or two portions to your current 5 A DAY intake
Organic food contains more of the antioxidant compounds linked to better health and lower levels of toxic metals and pesticides, according to a new study. The international team behind the study suggest that switching from regular to organic fruit and vegetables could give the same benefits as adding one or two portions of the 5 A DAY currently recommended, The Guardian reports.
The news outlet reported that the team, led by Professor Carlo Leifert at the University of Newcastle, found that there are “statistically significant, meaningful” differences between organic and regular produce, with a range of antioxidants being “substantially higher” – between 19% and 69% – in organic food.
It is believed to be the first study to demonstrate clear and wide-ranging differences between organic and conventional fruits, vegetables and cereals.
The researchers say the increased levels of antioxidants are equivalent to “one to two of the five portions of fruits and vegetables recommended to be consumed daily, and would therefore be significant and meaningful in terms of human nutrition, if information linking these [compounds] to the health benefits associated with increased fruit, vegetable and whole grain consumption is confirmed.”
However, Tom Sanders, a professor of nutrition at King’s College London, told The Guardian that while the research did show some differences, “the question is are they within natural variation? And are they nutritionally relevant? I am not convinced.”
He added that Leifert’s work had caused controversy in the past.
The results are based on an analysis of a record-breaking 343 previously peer-reviewed studies from all over the world which examine differences between organic and conventional fruit, vegetables and cereals.
The research is due to be published in the British Journal of Nutrition next week. It has, however, appeared on numerous medical sites this week.
Research suggests that online shopping is the way forward for butchers, with turnover from online retail expected to rise 175% in five years.
A study into the independent retail sector, commissioned by Eblex, showed that currently relatively few butchers sell online – total butcher’s shop sales are estimated to be worth £2.24 billion annually, but just 0.2% of this is accounted for by online sales. Only 8% of butchers currently offer online shopping, with those shops averaging three orders and an average sales value of £61 a week. However, Eblex said that large growth is expected in this area.
Matthew Southam, Eblex multiple retailer account manager, explained: “This survey provides revealing insight into the butcher’s shop sector and, in particular, the online marketing opportunity. When compared to other food businesses the proportion of turnover accounted for by online sales is quite low for butchers. While that’s to be expected in a sector which prides itself on personal service and where customers want to see and learn about the product they are buying, there is untapped potential for progressive butchers.
“The potential is huge: online retailing is an area that continues to grow as consumers change the way they purchase goods and butchers who offer an online shopping facility stand to benefit. We expect annual online sales to increase by 175% to more than £11m in five years as consumer demand increases and greater numbers of butchers embrace the e-commerce space and offer their customers an alternative, more convenient means of buying their meat.”
The research also suggested a lack of online presence generally within the sector: 67% of surveyed butchers didn’t have a company website. Furthermore, around half said they had no intention of developing a website, giving reasons such as “it would be too difficult”, “no time to deal with a website” and “don’t have a need for one”.
Southam added: “There is perhaps a perception that setting up and maintaining a website needs to be a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. That doesn’t always have to be the case. At Eblex, we are increasingly developing online tools and resources which are designed to help butchers to build their business and make the most of marketing opportunities.
“We recently launched an online image library (www.eblextrade.co.uk), providing retailers with access to a wide variety of beef- and lamb-related images, which they can use when developing and updating their websites. Given the anticipated increase in online sales over the next few years, we are now exploring the possibility of offering website templates to butchers who are members of the Eblex Quality Standard Mark Scheme.”
UK’s fourth largest retailer continues online expansion by offering delivery across parts of north London
Morrisons has expanded its online grocery delivery services across north London following a successful trial in Ruislip.
The new coverage area stretches from Ealing to Essex, and from the Thames, north to Cheshunt and Potters Bar.
It gives the UK’s fourth largest retailer an operating area of 1,297 square kilometres across London, encompassing two million homes.
“We want to challenge Londoners’ preconceived ideas of online grocery services by surprising them with just how good an experience it can be with us,” said managing director for online food, Simon Thompson.
The service offers one-hour time slots from £1.00, as well as Morrisons’ rosette rating system for product freshness and quality.
Morrisons made its first online food deliveries on 9 January of this year to homes across the Midlands, followed by Yorkshire in February and Manchester and Hull in May.
Its online proposition is in partnership with Ocado’s logistics and distribution operations. The retailer has previously committed to deliver £550 million in combined sales from its M Local convenience stores and its online business.
Poultry processor Moy Park has revealed plans for an expansion of three of its sites, which will create 628 new jobs.
The company, part of the Marfrig Global Foods group, has announced it will expand its three sites in Northern Ireland – at Dungannon, Ballymena and Craigavon – through a £170 million investment. The investment will include new processing lines and a new innovation centre.
Enterprise, trade and investment minister Arlene Foster said: “This investment, which will mean a £10.5m increase in wages and salaries annually for the local economy, is a huge boost of confidence in Northern Ireland as a European food production and manufacturing centre of excellence by a world-leading company.
“The expansion will further enhance Moy Park’s contribution to the local economy by enabling the business to achieve substantial growth in sales, mostly to customers outside Northern Ireland, by 2018.”
The 628 new jobs, 100 of which have already been posted will include roles in management, supervisory, processing and financial shared services. Foster said the announcement “is a sign of Marfrig’s on-going commitment to Northern Ireland. The new jobs are being created over a four-year period across Moy Park’s three sites, with a variety of roles available, including 70 high-value posts based in the new Innovation Centre.”
Marfrig Global Foods CEO Sergio Rial commented: “We are committed to growing our operations in Northern Ireland and this investment, with support from Invest Northern Ireland, helps us to achieve that. We have had ongoing, positive engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive and have experienced a very pro-business attitude.”
The CLA has said that sharing a farm with a younger person could counter the aging profile of farming industry
Sharing a farm with a younger person could enable thousands more to start a career in agriculture, the CLA has said.
The organisation said that if a quarter of the country’s farmers aged over 65 entered a share farming agreement it would allow more than 3,000 new entrants to start working the land.
Launching its major new drive to encourage share farming at today’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, CLA president Henry Robison said: “This is a simple solution to one of the industry’s most pressing problems – that of an ageing profile.
“Share farming not only offers older farmers a way of reducing their workload while maintaining an income but also gives new entrants an increasingly rare opportunity to start a career in agriculture.”
Share farming differs from traditional contract farming as both parties share the risk and the profits on a pre-agreed percentage. The existing farmer simply provides a portion of his farmland for the partner to work.
Robinson added: “The problem with traditional farming arrangement is that a farmer is either in or out. Share farming provides a middle ground whereby an ageing farmer, who cannot afford to retire, can start to wind-down without having to worry about paying the bills.
“A share farming agreement really is very straightforward and we have produced an easy-to-use advisory handbook that guides farmers through all the basics they need to get up and running including a template agreement.”
CLA rural surveyor Jacqui Stoddart said share farming offers a real hope for the thousands of talented young people desperate to get into the industry.
“It’s a very exciting project for us and we have already started working with the Federation of Young Farmers to look at ways of pairing up older farmers with younger people in their area, who are ready and willing to work,” she said.
Environment secretary Owen Paterson said: “I share the CLA’s commitment to doing all we can to help aspiring people take up jobs in the industry. Share farming gives new entrants more opportunities to start a business and build up their skills drawing from farmers with many years’ experience.”
In the wake of the UK’s beef pricing crisis, Waitrose has raised its “price floor” for British beef.
The supermarket set a minimum price it would pay British farmers for their beef at £3.40 per kilo until September 2014. However, this has now been raised to £3.45 per kilo until 1 October 2014. In addition to this price rise, Waitrose will also raise the price paid for standard British cattle, used for the Essential Waitrose range, by 0.02p per kilo. “Because British beef is such a key part of our business and we are certain that a further erosion of prices will not serve well processors or producers, we decided, in early May, along with our own dedicated processor Dovecote Park, to set a price floor for beef,” a spokeswoman for the supermarket told Meatinfo.
Meatinfo has reported extensively on the beef pricing crisis affecting British farmers, who have seen the farmgate price for beef cattle drop significantly. Farmers argue this has been caused by cheaper imports flooding the market, especially from Ireland, coupled by a lack of commitment from supermarkets to support British farmers.
This step from Waitrose has been welcomed by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), which is urging other supermarkets to follow suit. Pete Garbutt, chief livestock advisor at the NFU, told Meatinfo: “This is good news and an example of a supermarket standing by its suppliers and looking to the long term.
“When Waitrose announced its threshold price last month the NFU came out and praised it publicly. This is a great example of supermarkets working for the long term and would love other supermarkets to take a similar view.”
Premium retailer’s food like-for-like sales were up 1.7% while online sales plummeted by 8.1%
Sales from Marks & Spencer’s website M&S.com fell by 8.1% in the first quarter of 2014, while food like-for-like sales rose 1.7%.
The company said its buoyant food business has been driven by a strategy to be more specialist, as well as new products.
Chief executive Marc Bolland said the new M&S.com site has had an impact on general merchandise sales, while food continues to outperform the market.
“Our food business had a great quarter with our strategy to be more specialist setting us apart from the competition,” he said. “With value top of mind for customers, we remained price competitive while protecting our gross margin. We launched some 700 new products giving customers more choice than ever.
“In line with our increased focus on margin, we were less promotional, both online and in stores. While this has affected the sales performance, particularly online, we are on track to deliver our full year gross margin guidance.”
Bolland confirmed that the premium retailer is on track to open 150 new Simply Food stores opening over the next three years.
He said the website has been “technically resilient” and confirmed the company is now focused on optimising the website commercially, with updates made on a regular basis.
“We have recently seen a gradual improvement in sales performance, despite a lower level of promotional activity. We expect to return to growth ahead of our peak trading period,” he added.
Trading conditions in the Republic of Ireland continue to be challenging, Bolland said, while sales in the Middle East were impacted by the timing of shipments to franchise partners.
Retailer confirms job losses after 45-day consultation period and interviews with staff as part of restructure strategy
Asda has today announced it will cut up to 1,360 jobs following an “intense consultation period” as it sets out to cater for new shopping habits.
The UK’s second largest retailer said the final outcome of the management restructure plan will create 5,670 roles, as it moves to emphasise e-commerce, puts more staff on shop floors and removes back office administration tasks.
But those who chose to leave after their roles were removed, or who did not meet the selection criteria, will take a redundancy package over the coming weeks.
“As much as it is my job, and privilege, to be CEO of this business and to do what is right for Asda as a whole, this is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make,” said Andy Clarke, Asda chief executive. “While I genuinely believe that it is the right decision for the future of Asda, knowing that it will result in valued colleagues leaving us is not easy.”
Clarke said every supermarket must adapt to the intense changes in UK retailing or they will get left behind.
He first publicly outlined a proposal to restructure store management in May of this year, and the 4,100 staff directly affected entered a formal 45-day consultation period.
During the consultation, managers affected by the proposal were involved in influencing the final version that was considered by its executive team yesterday.
Asda said that all staff members affected had at least three individual discussions about the proposal and the roles potentially available to them. Each executive team member also visited stores to meet affected colleagues and listen to their views.