Tesco Fruit
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.”
Retailer says figures that show exotic salads are becoming lunch option of choice are behind move to expand range
Tesco has trebled its on-the-go salad range to more than 50 lines following new data that shows the lighter salad market is growing around three times as fast as the lunchtime sandwich market.
Data produced by market analysts Nielsen, and published by Tesco, reveals that the sandwich market is growing by 5%, while figures from market insight firm IRI revealed demand for lighter, healthier salads has soared by 19% over the last 52 weeks, while leafy salads are up by 13%.
Tesco said exotic and lighter salads are becoming the lunch option of choice for office workers, as better quality produce is attracting new consumers who might previously have bought a sandwich or wrap. Its new range has expanded both the Finest and Healthy Living tiers, and includes four first-to-market salads.
New additions include a crayfish and mango salad, a coconut Asian chicken salad, and a king prawn and spicy Charlotte potato salad with sour cream.
Tesco salad buyer Helen Dwyer said: “The quality and range of ready to eat salads has improved so much in recent years that they are attracting shoppers who might otherwise have bought a sandwich, roll or wrap.
“Traditionally, sales of prepared salads would rise during the summer months and drop again during the winter. Now, because of the exciting number of new gourmet salads available that demand is not only sustained throughout the year but is bringing in plenty of new customers who might otherwise have chosen a sandwich as a lunchtime snack.
“This current boom has prompted us to launch what we believe to be among the most sumptuous and wide-ranging ‘on the go’ salad range available on the high street but at equally mouth-watering prices.
“We’ve included something for everyone – from our finest top of the range lines to lighter sushi rice salads and Healthy Living range for those looking to maintain a balanced diet.”
Fairtrade Foundation says 100,000 emails have been sent to supermarkets asking them to stock Fairtrade bananas
Shoppers have sent more than 100,000 emails to Asda and Tesco stores asking them to switch their banana offering to Fairtrade, the Fairtrade Foundation has said.
And Fairtrade supporters dressed as bananas, and holding a five-meter inflatable banana decorated with the message ‘Go Fairtrade’, have campaigned outside stores in cities across the UK, and outside Asda’s Leeds HQ.
The organisation launched a new campaign last month to persuade the two top four retailers to choose certified banana lines. It claims that less than 10%% of the bananas sold by Asda and Tesco are currently Fairtrade certified.
It said that more than eight in ten Asda and Tesco shoppers would pay more for their bananas if the workers who produced them would benefit.
But both supermarkets have claimed that their banana procurement and supply chains have higher or equivalent standards than the Fairtrade certification. Asda said that its banana lines are fairly traded, while Tesco said it pays its banana workers on average 6% more than the Fairtrade minimum price.
Head of campaigns at the Fairtrade Foundation, Jonathan Smith, said that since the start of the campaign Tesco has made some new public commitments about its banana sourcing, including a pledge to pay living wages to workers on banana plantations by 2017.
“However, we are still waiting for commitment to independent verification. This is what the UK public are calling for, and what we believe is vital in order to protect the interests of both farmers and workers in the developing world, and shoppers here in the UK,” he said.
“Shoppers across the UK are sending a clear message to Asda and Tesco – they want an independent assurance that banana farmers and workers are not paying the price for their cheap fruit,” said Smith.
Smith added that the campaign has heard “nothing of substance” from Asda.
The Fairtrade Foundation said the typical retail price for bananas is 68p per kilo, compared with £1.08 in 2002, which adjusted for inflation is equivalent to £1.40 today.
First marketing campaign following recent signing of direct supply deal with AMC Group offers boost for Spanish fruit
Tesco is promoting Spanish citrus to the general public in London this week, giving away a high volume of fresh oranges to passing commuters at King’s Cross and Waterloo railway stations.
The promotion, organised by London-based PR agency The Little Big Voice, is the first major promotion to be run by the retailer following the recent contract signing of a five-year deal with its major citrus supplier, Murcia-based AMC Group, to form a joint venture direct supply company AMT Fruit.
AMT is now supplying citrus to Tesco on a global basis via the retailer’s international Group Food Sourcing hubs, sourcing and distributing lemons, limes, satsumas, clementines, oranges, tangerines and grapefruit for sale through its various regional businesses.
The partnership is also aiming to deliver new ranges and produce to Tesco customers and the best varieties in the market through AMC’s varietal development and breeding programme, Citrus Genesis.
Speaking at the Eurofruit Congress Southern Hemisphere in Lima on 6 November, AMC chief executive Alvaro Muñoz revealed that around 857ha had already been planted with Citrus Genesis varieties in South Africa, Peru, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Australia, Egypt and Chile.
Production of the group’s protected varieties is expected to reach 14,000 tonnes this year and estimated to rise to 45,000 tonnes by 2017, he added.