Food Manufacturing News
It’s been a fifth successive quarter of falling revenue at Asda, as CEO laments the “challenge” nature of the UK grocery market
Asda has seen like-for-like sales fall by 4.5% in the three months to the end of September, its fifth quarter of falling revenue.
In the previous quarter, Asda’s sales slumped 4.7%, marking its worst performance in its 50-year history.
The retailer said, sales volumes remained under pressure from discount supermarkets such as Aldi & Lidl.
Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said the UK grocery market continued to be “challenging”.
It is now the worst performing of the Big Four supermarkets.
Nevertheless, Clarke added that Asda had the “financial strength and clear plan to sustain us through this period, while we take appropriate and considered action to further strengthen our competitive position”.
Veg Lovers aims to tempt new consumers into trying fresh prepared lines by focusing on core, successful products
QV Foods has extended its Veg Lovers brand into prepared produce.
Sister brand to QV Foods’ Potato Lovers range, Veg Lovers aims to encourage and tempt new consumers into trying fresh prepared lines by focusing on “core, successful products” rather than “baffling them with an array of choices”.
The move to establish Veg Lovers comes after QV Foods was tasked by one of its customers to bring a new branded range of fresh prepared vegetables and potatoes to market in less than a month.
The packaging has been designed to try and simply convey the name of the product and its contents, whilst looking good on shelf.
Sales and marketing director Simon Martin: “Everyone at QV worked really closely to create this range. From the pack imagery to the cooking instructions, it’s been a real team effort.
“Since launching, the Veg Lovers’ prepared range has seen astonishing double digit week-on-week growth, meaning that consumers are indeed identifying with the brand and the products.
“QV Foods’ development team plan to ensure that a steady stream of innovative new lines are rolled out into the brand over the course of next year, whilst keeping to the philosophy of focusing on proven formats.”
Lincolnshire store offered crate of free fruit to children saying it wants to encourage healthy eating
A Tesco store has impressed shoppers by offering free fruit for children to eat while their parents shop.
The Lincolnshire store put a notice up by a crate full of fruit consisting of: bananas, oranges, apples, berries and other fruit, saying it wanted to encourage healthy eating.
Shopper Vicci Skinn posted a photo of the sign on Tesco’s Facebook page. It said: “Hi parents. Please feel free to take a piece of fruit on us for your children to eat whilst you shop.
“We would like to encourage healthy eating and make your shopping trip that bit easier.
“Enjoy your day and thank you for shopping at Tesco Brigg!!”
Skinn wrote under the post: “I just wanted to say how wonderful it was to see this display in our local Tesco today. After seeing all the sweets out for Hallowe’en this made a refreshing change.”
Tesco responded to the post to say: “Hi Vicci. This is fantastic to see! I’m glad you appreciate the free fruit our store offers.”
Major fast food chain McDonald’s has revealed a pilot range of premium burgers which it launched in 28 restaurants last week.
The new editions to the menu have been created by McDonald’s team of food specialists and its Chefs Council – a team of chefs with experience ranging from working in Michelin-starred restaurants to cooking for international royalty.
Known as ‘The Signature Collection’, the premium burger range consists of a much thicker beef patty, made using 100% British and Irish beef. The burgers are available in three varieties: The Classic, The BBQ and The Spicy. Each is served in a brioche-style bun.
“At McDonald’s we are committed to listening to our customers and evolving our menu to offer something for everyone,” explained Duncan Cruttenden, food development director for the restaurant chain.
Cruttenden headed a team of experts who used customer insight to create the products. During research, three key focus points arose. It was revealed that customers wanted a thicker beef burger, high-quality ingredients and for the meals to be freshly prepared. Following this hypothesis, McDonald’s Food Development team joined forces with the Chefs’ Council to create the range with these areas at the heart of the products.
“When the Chefs Council started to develop this new premium offering, we worked with a brief generated by our customers – they told us they wanted thicker beef patties, high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared,” added Cruttenden.
“We’ve crafted a range that is a truly exciting permanent addition to our menu – every product has to earn a place on our menu and our customers have told us the Signature Collection has done just that.”
To ensure that the range stands out from other products on the menu, the Signature Collection is served in a stylish black packaging, with fries served in a matching carton.
The new burgers hitting the restaurants are:
1) The Classic: 100% British and Irish beef patty served with two rashers of Beechwood smoked bacon, a slice of natural cheddar cheese, wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, ketchup, Batavia lettuce and red onion.
2) The BBQ: 100% British and Irish beef patty topped with smoky BBQ sauce, coleslaw, red onion and Batavia lettuce, also served with Beechwood smoked bacon and a slice of natural cheddar cheese.
3) The Spicy: 100% British and Irish beef patty complemented with jalapeño slices, Pepper Jack cheese, Batavia lettuce, mayonnaise and a spicy relish.
Due to the thickness of the premium patties, the burger takes slightly longer to cook than other burgers on the menu.
The trial was launched on last week, (4 November) in 28 restaurants in London and the south of the country, with plans to roll out to an estimated 400 additional restaurants as of next summer.
Retailer will stock wonky carrots, potatoes, onions and parsnips in new range after Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall highlights food waste
Morrisons is launching a new permanent range of wonky vegetables before the end of this year at a discounted price.
The new range will include wonky veg such as onions, potatoes, carrots and parsnips, Morrisons told FPJ. A spokesperson said the retailer already sells Class 2 carrots as part of its Savers range, but the new wonky range is a new addition.
The news comes following a programme by celebrity chef and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, named Hugh’s War on Waste, where he gave away outgrade parsnips outside a London branch of Morrisons to highlight the problem of food waste.
In response, the retailer conducted a trial of selling wonky courgettes alongside Class One courgettes, but found that the ‘ugly’ vegetables sold much more slowly which was anticipated. Morrisons said this was because it had been priced the same as the Class One produce, and wonky veg only works when it is discounted.
Fearnley-Whittingstall criticised the trial as “pathetic” and told the Guardian newspaper that placing Class One next to substandard produce is “not what we’re asking supermarkets to do”.
It’s not the first time a celebrity chef has been instrumental in prompting a supermarket to stock outgrade produce – earlier this year Jamie Oliver persuaded Asda to launch its first-ever range of wonky fruit and vegetables after meeting growers as part of his Channel 4 series Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.
Analysts say supermarket is moving in the right direction despite decline in sales over the latest quarter
Morrisons has insisted it is making “good progress” against its targets despite posting a sales decline in the latest quarter
Like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 2.6% in the 13 weeks to 1 November, with the retailer pointing out that investment in lower prices brought 2.2% deflation in the period and 5.3% deflation on a two-year basis.
Morrisons also reduced the number of vouchers it accepted, whch hit third-quarter sales to the tune of 2.4%.
The company predicted that underlying pre-tax profit would be higher in the second half of 2015-16 than in the first, with net space sales growth of around 0.5% following the closure of 11 supermarkets and the sale of 140 M local stores.
Chief executive David Potts said: “The business is moving at pace on the long journey towards improving the shopping trip for customers. Our priorities for the rest of the year are unchanged – to stabilise trading, reduce costs and further improve the capability of the leadership team.
“We are making good progress in many areas and customers are noticing improvements.”
David Gray, an analyst at Planet Retail, said the numbers represented “limited progress”, but pointed out that it puts Morrisons behind key competitors Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
“Even so, credit must be given to Morrisons’ new management under David Potts for taking some tough but necessary decisions to protect the long-term profitability of the business – exiting convenience and the price comparison loyalty scheme, Match & More,” he said. “Both initiatives were a major cost and their removal will allow the chain to invest in the core proposition, hypermarkets and superstores. This after all is where Morrisons makes the vast majority of its sales and profits.
“Morrisons may be moving in the right direction under new management though this has yet to show in the numbers.”
New slaughter regulations from Defra regarding the killing of poultry have raised concerns over the welfare of the birds with the British Veterinary Association (BVA).
The organisation is apprehensive of Defra’s decision not to include stunning parameters in the legislation when it involves poultry being slaughtered ‘in accordance with religious rites’. Despite these concerns, BVA, or the most part, has applauded the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (WATOK) Regulations.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has worked hard to evaluate parameters for electrical waterbath stunning of poultry, which has led to European legislation including rules on stunning when it comes to animal welfare at slaughter.
There are fears that if rules are not clearly stated and implemented in electrical waterbath stunning for birds killed ‘in accordance with religious rites’, then the animals will be immobilised rather than stunned when it comes to slaughter. This would result in the animal still being conscious at the time of slaughter.
“In the last year we have seen headlines about the inhumane treatments of animals at slaughter and, while these new WATOK regulations are strong in many areas, we are concerned that the omission of specific parameters for electrical waterbath stunning leaves some poultry vulnerable to ineffective stunning,” explained BVA president Sean Wensley.
The BVA believes that European legislation should be practised throughout WATOK, with fears that taking away the requirements in electrical waterbath stunning may also remove the legal guarantee for effective stunning before slaughter.
In response to these issues, the BVA has voiced its concerns in a letter to Defra, seeking clarification as to how it will be ensured that the bird is stunned before the time of death.
“We have written to Defra outlining our concerns about this gap that undermines the science the regulations are built upon,” continued Wensley.
“It is difficult to see how effective stunning can be assured for all poultry if parameters are not set when poultry are killed in accordance with religious rites. Slaughtermen, official veterinarians and animal welfare officers in abattoirs are not able to tell the difference between birds that have been effectively stunned and those that are just electro-immobilised, thus compromising the animal welfare standards that these regulations are being put in place to protect.”
Going forward, M&S has planned and targeted to concentrate on increasing food sales
Sales at Marks & Spencer have fallen for the six months to the 26th of September.
UK like-for-like sales fell by 0.4% for the period, and while sales of general merchandise, which includes the clothing division, were down by 1.2%, food sales rose by 0.2%.
The retailer said underlying profits rose by 6.1% to £284 million, although after taking into account one-off items, pre-tax profit fell 22.7% to £216m.
Those one-off items included almost £27m on revamping UK stores and £22m on European store costs.
M&S noted that it plans to concentrate on increasing food sales, gross margins and cash generation.
Research by mySupermarket.co.uk in October also found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 to £86.16 in that month
Morrisons has narrowly come out cheapest in a study of grocery essentials for the month of October.
The monthly study, conducted by mySupermarket.co.uk, the shopping and comparison website, monitors the cost of the same 35 most-commonly bought grocery products.
Overall, it found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 in September to £86.16 in October.
The October increase was driven by a sharp rise in the cost of broccoli, up 18%, and mushrooms, up 11%. Only apples fell significantly in price, dropping 11% in price compared to September.
The small rise follows a period of falling grocery prices, with the September basket total of £85.94 having been the lowest in 2015.
mySupermarket analysed the basket cost across the top four supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons, plus Waitrose and Ocado, and found significant differences in price.
Morrisons was the cheapest closely followed by Asda. Ocado was most expensive, with Waitrose coming second bottom.
In comparison to a year ago, though, the same basket in October 2014 would have cost shoppers £89.74, a saving of 4%.
Gilad Simhony, CEO of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “One side effect of the current supermarket price war – the environment in which supermarkets are fighting for shoppers hard earned pounds – is that the cost of grocery staples are being priced very competitively.
“This is great news for shoppers who are looking to make savings. Another side effect, however, is more confusion regarding which of the supermarkets is cheapest as the price of our favourite grocery products can change on a daily basis. Shoppers need to be aware and take control of their weekly shop as the differences in price can be huge.”