Burnley steps down early as interim Asda CEO
After only few months into a period in which he was supposed to hold down the role of chief executive officer for a year, Roger Burnley has stepped down from Asda. The supermarket chain has yet to find a replacement, but Burnley’s exit was agreed on by both sides, according to the company’s owners Mohsin […]
Divine trinity: Fresh, with a Bite and a Zing
Food is a central theme during meetings between individuals who work in the fresh produce industry. In Croatia, I recently had a discussion with a French colleague, who told me about the love that the famous French chef Paul Bocuse had for cream, butter, and wine. Bocuse reputedly once said: “I like butter, cream and […]
National Food Strategy: What a tax on salt, sugar would mean
The second part of the UK’s National Food Strategy, led by Leon co-founder Henry Dimbleby, was released last week, showing what it would take financially to get the nation on a more long-term path to more healthy, sustainable eating and the potential for general practitioners to prescribe foods for patients. Among the many parts of […]
UK retail food and grocery market growth to slow sharply
In its annual retail food and grocery market forecast, IGD predicts that the growth in 2020 will slow this year and the next, as shoppers economize and the foodservice industry reclaims sales. The unprecedented 8.5% growth last year is predicted to drop to 1.7% in 2021 and then to 0.9% in 2022. This sharp decline […]
Deeper issues at heart of driver shortage as crisis sets to intensify
The disruption highlights longstanding recruitment difficulties plus food pricing concerns, and may worsen as consumer demand rises this summer. Real solutions are needed to resolve the current shortage of delivery drivers in the UK. That is the consensus of representatives from the fresh produce supply chain, who point out that this crisis has long been […]
Carrefour and Tesco to end purchasing alliance
Tesco and French supermarket group Carrefour said they will not extend a purchasing alliance heralded originally as a potential way to trim costs, Reuters reports. The companies said in a joint statement that “they have decided not to extend their purchasing alliance beyond the three-year operational framework agreed in 2018”, without giving further details. Two sources familiar […]
Consumer demand helps spark increase in organic land conversion
As shoppers are changing their habits toward embracing more organic food, so too are farmers across the UK, according to the latest Organic Statistics for 2020 report from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). There has been a more than 11% increase in the conversion of land to become certified organic – […]
In U.S. and across globe, retail success may be hard to sustain
Originally printed in the April 2021 issue of Produce Business. Though the produce category had a record year at retail in 2020, foodservice was, of course, way down as so many restaurants were closed as were institutions such as schools and their lunch and meal programs. The statistics are not all in yet, but there is […]
