Food Manufacturing News
French importer expands presence in Central and Eastern Europe with new facility close to Hungarian capital
French tropical fruit importer Compagnie Fruitière has opened a new Hungarian subsidiary to expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe.
Compagnie Fruitière Hungary will now market all products in the region, previously distributed through local partners.
The company will now use its own ripening facility to develop its distribution network, located on near major roads and on an industrial estate close to Budapest.
It is equipped with the latest ripening technology, with 12 two-tier ripening rooms, each holding 24 pallets and with a ripening capacity of 20,000 boxes a week. The facility is IFS-certified (International Food Standard).
Tesco has been given a month to improve how it treats suppliers following an investigation by the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA)
The GCA was concerned about three key issues: Tesco making unilateral deductions from suppliers, the length of time taken to pay money due to suppliers and, in some cases, an intentional delay in paying suppliers.
Over the course of her investigation, adjudicator Christine Tacon found delay in payments arising from data input errors, duplicate invoicing, reductions to maintain Tesco margin, as well as unilateral deductions resulting from forensic auditing, short deliveries and service level charges.
She said: “The sums were often significant and the length of time taken to repay them was too long. One supplier was owed a multi-million-pound sum as a result of price changes being incorrectly applied to Tesco systems over a long period. This was eventually paid back by Tesco more than two years after the incorrect charging had begun.”
Tacon advised Tesco to “hold off” making unilateral decisions from money owned for goods supplied, to give suppliers 30 days to challenge any proposed deductions and that the retailer correct any pricing errors within seven days of notification.
Tesco has been given four weeks to say how it plans to implement recommendations by the GCA, with regular reports demanded on its progress.
Concerns were also raised over payments for better positioning on the retailer’s shelves. Although no evidence of direct payments were found, Tacon is to launch a consultation into indirect methods of obtaining better positioning. “I am concerned that, as a result of these practices, the purpose of the Code may be circumvented to the detriment of smaller suppliers who cannot compete with payments for better positioning, category captaincy or to participate in range reviews,” said Tacon. “I have decided to launch a formal consultation with the sector, involving both retailers and suppliers, to help me reach a firm conclusion on whether these practices are acceptable.”
Dave Lewis, Tesco group chief executive officer, said: “In 2014 we undertook our own review into certain historic practices, which were both unsustainable and harmful to our suppliers. We shared these practices with the Adjudicator, and publicly apologised. I would like to apologise again. We are sorry.
“I am grateful to the Adjudicator for the professional manner in which the investigation has been conducted. We accept the report’s findings, which are consistent with our own investigation.
“Over the last year we have worked hard to make Tesco a very different company from the one described in the GCA report. The absolute focus on operating margin had damaging consequences for the business and our relationship with suppliers. This has now been fundamentally changed.
“In January 2015, we made material changes to our business that addressed the majority of the historic practices referred to in the report. We have changed the way we work by reorganising, refocusing and retraining our teams and we will continue to work in a way which is consistent with the recommendations.”
Leading CEOs and ministers from around the world have become ‘champions’ of new partnership on food waste
Tesco chief executive has been named as chair of a new high-profile global campaign to reduce food waste.
The movement, named Champions 12.3, was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week and aims to “mobilise global action” to halve per capita food waste.
Alongside Lewis, it has been signed by 30 chief executives, government ministers and other leaders, including USDA secretary Tom Vilsack, Nestle chief executive Paul Bulcke, Unliver chief executive Paul Polman and president of The Rockefeller Foundation, Judith Rodin.
Countries that have signed up include Vietnam, the Netherlands, South Africa and Denmark.
The list of ‘champions’ will inspire action by leading by example on how to reduce food loss and waste, motivating others, advocating for more innovation to reduce food waste, and communicating the importance of waste reduction.
“Reducing food loss and waste is a significant global challenge and it’s very important that business plays its part,” said Lewis. “At Tesco, we’re committed to tackling food waste not only in our own operations but also through strong and effective partnerships with our suppliers and by helping our customers reduce waste and save money. This is an opportunity for businesses to work together and make a real difference to Target 12.3.”
Eva Kjer Hansen, minister of environment and food, Denmark, said: “Food loss and waste is a huge challenge for global food security, human livelihoods and the conservation of the environment that calls for global responses and individual action. And Denmark is ready to take its share and to engage in a new solution based global partnership.
“One of the initiatives we have launched in Denmark is a national partnership for reduction of avoidable food waste, which will foster voluntary and binding collaboration between all links in the food chain and relevant authorities and organizations, as solutions and barriers should be addressed across all stakeholders.”
Vice minister for agriculture from the Netherlands, Hans Hoogeveen, said: “Food that is ultimately lost or wasted consumes about a quarter of all water used by agriculture, requires cropland area the size of China, and is responsible for an estimated eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.”
While Andrew Steer of the World Resources Institute said the champions “have the power to convert momentum into a global movement”.
The announcement was made alongside the launch of The Rockefeller Foundation’s new seven-year YieldWise initiative, which aims to cut post-harvest losses in fruits, vegetables, and other staple crops in African countries such as: Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Henderson Brown Recruitment Ltd relocating to purpose built new offices, with twice the amount of space compared to the old office, there is plenty of room to grow and meet our clients’ needs in the future.
| Henderson Brown Recruitment Ltd Sign |
Still situated in Minerva Business Park, almost next to the A1 at Peterborough, this 2 floor building features 3 meeting rooms perfect for client and candidate visits.
| Reception Area |
To celebrate our move, we are hosting a drinks party tomorrow evening, Thursday 21st January from 4pm-7pm. Many of our clients from the Food Manufacturing and Fresh Produce industries will be there. We are looking forward to a good evening and an even better new year!
| Front view of the office |
Neil Sanderson is leaving the food industry and will be replaced by Floreale Operations Director, Doug Robertson
Florette UK and Ireland managing director Neil Sanderson is leaving the business to pursue a career outside of the food industry and will be replaced by Floreale operations director Doug Robertson.
Sanderson, who has been with Florette for five years, will take up the role of director of the York Minster Fund – a body established in the late 1960s in order to raise money for the great work of restoration when the Central Tower was in danger of collapse.
Robertson has worked across the European fresh produce industry with roles at Asda, Geest and Bakkavor, in operations, procurement and general management.
He joined the vegetable division of Florette parent company Agrial to become general manager of Florette Murcia, following the acquisition of the French and Spanish businesses of Bakkavor. For the last three years he has been operations director for the division.
His replacement will be named in the next few weeks.
“The company wish to thank Neil for his contribution to the company over the last five years,” a statement from Florette said.
“We are also delighted to announce that Doug Robertson will be moving from his role in the Floreale central team as operations director to replace Neil in the role of MD Florette UK and Ireland.”
Sanderson is due to stay with the business during the transition period to help complete a series of projects.
Retailer reports ‘strong’ Christmas trading although saw sales fall by 1.5% during the third quarter
Tesco saw like-for-like sales rise by 1.3% during the key six-week Christmas trading period thanks to low prices and a strong “seasonal offering”.
In contrast, like-for-like sales fell by 1.5% during the retailer’s Q3 (13 weeks to 28 November), which the retailer said was down to not repeating ‘£5 off £40’ national coupon campaigns from the previous year.
Chief executive Dave Lewis said more staff on shop floors boosted sales over Christmas, which also saw volumes rise by 3.5% and transactions increase by 3.4%. He hailed the Christmas results as a “significant improvement” on recent years.
“Our Christmas performance was strong, benefiting from lower prices on an outstanding range of products,” Lewis said. “Our customer service improved materially and our colleagues went the extra mile.
“Through our ongoing investment in lower, more stable prices, we were around five per cent cheaper than last year on the lines that mattered most to our customers at Christmas.”
Lewis said strong Christmas performance was evident across all formats and categories, including positive like-for-like sales growth in Tesco Extra.
International sales have continued to grow, he continued, including positive sales momentum in Europe and Asia, and the Thai business reaching its highest-ever market share.
“There is plenty more to do, but we are making good progress and are trading in line with profit expectations for the full year,” he added.
Workers in the fast food industry are expected to be joined this afternoon by members of union GMB in a protest over wages.
The demonstration is due to take place outside McDonald’s in Whitehall, Central London at 5pm. The campaign is fighting to secure a £10 an hour living wage, trade union rights for fast food workers and an end to zero-hours contracts.
Following this, a forum will take place at 6.30pm in Room 8, House of Commons, Westminster. Fast food workers across the UK and US will be joined by speakers John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) president Ian Hodson, and Kevin Rowan of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
“Fast food workers are organising and fighting back,” said Kamaljeet Jandu, GMB national officer. “In the UK and America, fast food workers are forced to live in poverty by multinational and hugely profitable companies like McDonald’s.
“While McDonald’s has raked in profit at the expense of its workers, it has been exposed as not paying its tax. McDonald’s is in the dock. GMB is inviting the public to join fast food workers in the fight for higher wages, union rights and respect at work.”
Today’s events follows a series of protests across the UK last November, outside fast food outlets and Marks & Spencer, to stand alongside workers in New York City campaigning for a real living wage of $15 per hour.
Retailer’s announcement relaunches price war into 2016 while CEO Andy Clarke says ‘radical and logical action’ is needed
Asda has invested £500 million in further price cuts in the first major move this year for price war between the top four retailers and discounters.
Chief executive Andy Clarke said the business must take “radical action” to win back customers and said he expects 2016 to be another year of intense pressure.
The investment into prices comes on top of the £1 billion over five years Asda said it would invest into price in November 2013. It is part of Project Renewal – a two-year programme within Asda’s five-year strategy to reinforce its value proposition.
The news comes as Asda also announced it has joined European buying alliance EMD, which will help develop the company’s own-label range. EMD is made up of 14 national buying structures and pools the collective buying power of 250 supermarket chains.
EMD membership will help develop a “radical shake-up” of its approach to buying, Asda said, and alongside leverage from IPL it will be able to “release significant savings from its supply chain”.
Clarke said: “Asda is unquestionably the UK’s lowest price full range supermarket business and we intend to strengthen that position. Indeed, we reaffirmed this as 2016 began when we became the first retailer to cut unleaded and diesel prices below £1.
“The structure of UK grocery retailing has permanently changed to reflect the way that customers shop today. Being part of Walmart also gives us insight into similar trends in the rest of the world and it’s clear that this is a global phenomenon.”
Clarke said Asda saw the change coming and responded in 2013 but “didn’t move fast enough”. “There is currently no growth in the food market and the rise of the limited assortment discounters means that we must take radical action to win back our customers. Today, from our strong financial position, we are taking another bold step forward in our five year strategy,” he said.
“Fundamentally changing how we buy products means we can realise significant savings from our cost base and pass these directly to customers through a rebased pricing model. Joining forces with the huge EMD network of 250 European supermarkets will give us significant economies of scale. We’ll continue to work with our suppliers to lower costs in our supply chain and return sales to growth in partnership.
“But we are not complacent. We remain cautious and, as the chancellor warned on Thursday, we expect that 2016 will be another year of intense pressure at a macro-economic level in addition to sales remaining under strain from price deflation, a continued competitive background throughout the sector and radically changing customer shopping habits.”
Alongside the price cuts, Asda will also invest in 95 of its largest stores to make them “more relevant”, removing “fringe ranges” and investing in own-label.
Clarke continued: “We know our customers better than anyone else and we need to structure our offer to meet their changing needs. This knowledge has shaped our plans to make our bigger stores easier to shop, laying them out in a way that’s relevant to today’s customers by removing fringe, marginal ranges, significantly investing in our own label ranges and providing services that they need.”
He warned that industry faces “more turbulence” in the short-term, but insisted that in the long-term he has the “right and winning strategy”.
“We expect that 2016 will be another year of intense pressure at a macroeconomic level, in addition to sales remaining under strain from price deflation, a continued competitive background throughout the sector, and radically changing customer shopping habits,” Clarke said.
The news comes as both Aldi and Lidl begun 2016 by reducing the price point of select promoted fresh produce items from 39p to 29p. Trading figures for the key Christmas period are due this week (w/c 11 January) for several of the major retailers, with Asda due to report in mid February.
Discovered by a Spanish grower while walking through his farm in Valencia, and developed in conjunction with Citrus Genesis
The Muñoz Group has unveiled a new, season-extending satsuma.
The new Belalate satsuma is an ultra late variant of the Owari satsuma variety.
It was discovered by Spanish grower Pepe Beltran whilst walking through his farm in Valencia, and has been developed in conjunction with leading varietal specialist company Citrus Genesis.
As the fruit arrives some three to four weeks later than the traditional Owari variety, it will extend the season delivering the same attributes which have made satsumas such a popular citrus product in the UK.
The fruit has a rich orange colour, sweet flavour, is very easy to peel and totally seedless. As it develops later on the tree, the benefits are that the skin is thicker and firmer; it does not require degreening therefore giving a stronger and fresher product with a longer shelf life for the customer.
David Alba, director of Citrus Genesis, said: “This new variety of satsuma represents a significant breakthrough for growers, retailers and customers alike. There have historically been gaps in the satsuma supply in both January and February and mid-July to mid-September.
“Belalate will, once established volumes are in production worldwide, provide an all-year-round supply. It’s a first for true satsumas which are held in high regard by the British public.”
The Belalate satsuma will only be available in Tesco and M&S.