UK set to eliminate all single-use, disposable plastics

Britain’s Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey, is set to announce that disposable plastics such as plates, trays, cups and cutlery will be banned by the end of the year in order to protect wildlife and future generations in England. The new ban will be set in place in October 2023, starting with restaurants, cafes and takeaways […]
Fruits of Thought: Foodservice differentiation

With the pandemic receding, the restaurant industry is recuperating, and some degree of normalcy is returning. Many foodservice distributors found new strengths in being able to serve retail clients, and many foodservice operators became adept at preparing food for delivery. Still we would expect a lot of rebounding back to the norm. We’ve noticed restaurants, […]
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 […]
Will the fresh produce office environment ever be the same?

It feels like a lifetime ago that we were able to walk into a restaurant and order a meal without having to think twice about disinfecting our hands on arrival, registering our health situation, and in certain cases having our temperature checked. Or walk the streets without a facemask. Or have family over for dinner. […]
Technology From Ocado, Others Drives Direct-to-Home Retail Deliveries, But Toronto’s Terminal Market Helps Independents Stay Competitive

Originally printed in the April 2021 issue of Produce Business. The Toronto marketplace is changing but what remains the same is the importance of fresh food and produce in particular at a time when health and wellbeing are of greater concern than ever. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers of all dimensions, including the […]
What happens next? We must position ourselves to seize success in the post-pandemic moment.

Supermarkets have done well in the course of the pandemic. Produce, though, has not done as well as the rest of the store. Partly this is because the perishable nature of produce was not amenable to buying for long term storage during a time when consumers were uncertain about the future. Despite what happened… very […]