Menulog’s Post

Interesting news in the #food and #drink industry this week: 1. Waitrose & Partners has opened the doors to a new store in Hampton Hill for the first time in six years. This store is the first Little Waitrose to feature a hatch to allow delivery riders from Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat Takeaway.com to complete collections. 2. Dutch Barn Vodka, the British spirits brand backed by comedian Ricky Gervais, has added a trio of flavoured vodkas. Black Cherry, Mediterranean Citrus and Balinese Vanilla have launched via DTC. They carry an RSP of £32 per 70cl bottle and can be purchased as a trio for £86. 3. Unilever’s largest UK food factory has seen a five-year transformation, following a £40m investment bringing its UK condiments production into one specialist hub. The investment follows growth for Unilever’s UK food business division and aims to support the uptick in demand. 4. Aldi UK is rewarding loyalty in the run-up to Christmas in a ‘Big Advent Giveaway’. Every day from Sunday 1 December until 24 December, customers will have the chance to win back the cost of their shopping. To take part, customers must email Aldi a copy of a receipt for a shop in one of its stores earlier the same day. Each day, Aldi will pick one winner at random to receive a full refund for their shop in the form of vouchers, up to a maximum of £100. 5. PRIME Drink Group Corp has announced its intention to acquire Beach Day Every Day, a player in Québec's ready-to-drink beverage category. Beach Day Every Day has established itself the ready-to-drink segment, reporting unaudited annual sales exceeding $30 million for the fiscal year ending 2023. #christmasgiveaways #grocery #readytodrink

Tesco super profits everywhere once again.... If your a D2C farm business, or have elements that are, then you have one MASSIVE edge over Tesco (and every supermarket / retail chain)...your STORY. Leverage this at every opportunity, these chains have NO story. Use this story to add additional value to your products...Tesco and the likes can't do this and this is your edge. At the very least have a QR code on your products that leads to a webpage that tells the story of that product, the love, care and time that has gone into it etc. Then add more value with - free recipe ideas for said products - free products (mint sauce with that amazing lamb box of yours) - free by products (chicken feet for dogs etc) - invites to farm tours - tasting events (link these with village open days etc) - create a membership to make things even more intimate etc. Oh, one more thing...if TESCO want to use YOUR story to promote their products, then make sure you aren't handing that over FOC 😬

🥐🍜🍒 Foodie Tuesdays: The Grocer Awards Edition The ECJ team is excited to share our favourite brands that received a Grocer Awards this year: 🚀 MOTH Drinks - B Corp™: Making waves in the RTD market MOTH's tinned cocktails are revolutionising the RTD scene. Crafted with award-winning spirits, MOTH now dominates 70% of the ‘super-premium’ RTD market and 73% of UK grocery margarita sales. In 2023, sales soared to nearly £9M, with availability in 3,500 outlets including Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Morrisons. A can is sold every 10 seconds in the UK. 🥒 VADASZ DELI LTD: Creating a new superfood category, Vadasz's kimchi, fresh pickles, and ferments have come a long way from humble beginnings. Inspired by family tradition, Nick Vadasz launched Vadasz Deli in 2009. The homemade pickles quickly became a standout, evolving into a leading superfood brand. 🌽 LOVE CORN: Snack Disruptor Love Corn impressed the judges with its crunchy corn. This year, their lunchbox-friendly multipack tripled Tesco distribution and added Sainsbury’s, Co-op, WH Smith, and Ocado. Their clever branding and partnerships have led to skyrocketing sales and expansion into the US market with 12,000+ points of sale. 🛍️ Tesco: Supermarket of the year, Tesco celebrates a decade as Britain’s top supermarket, excelling in convenience, promotions, technology, assortment, availability, and overall shopping experience. With 19% naming Tesco their favourite and 65% showing definite interest in shopping there, Tesco also led as the favourite online supermarket with 25% of the vote. Who were your favourite Grocer Award-winning brands this year? Let us know in the comments. 🍽️ #FoodieTuesday #FoodNews #FoodandDrink #FoodTrends #TheGrocer #GrocerAwards24 #GrocerAwards

🚀 Looking for Advice: How to Get Our Premium Vodkas Into Big Supermarkets and Pub Chains? 🚀 Hi LinkedIn community! At Cheeky Swank, we’re passionate about our locally distilled flavoured vodkas, like our popular Lemon Sherbet and Banoffee Pie. We’ve been gaining some amazing traction at local pop-ups and events, but now we’re ready to take things to the next level and get into larger retail and hospitality spaces. ❓ What’s the best way to approach supermarkets and pub chains to get our products on their shelves and behind the bar? Any tips, strategies, or connections that can help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your insights! 🙏 #CheekySwank #CraftSpirits #Vodka #Supermarket #PubChains #SmallBusiness #LocallyDistilled #AdviceWanted

An exciting milestone! As the largest retailer-owned supermarket cooperative in the U.S., Wakefern's continued success underscores the opportunity capturing attention across the retail ecosystem and C-Suite: Understanding what's happening inside stores for the first time to reinvent business cost structures. https://lnkd.in/gRUSxAUv

The food-to-go category is booming. However, keeping your business running smoothly whilst delivering new food offerings can feel like a balancing act. Here are some of the challenges we have been helping managers and owners of supermarkets, petrol stations, and convenience stores: • Delivering freshness and reducing food waste. How are you ensuring your grab-and-go offerings stay fresh and delicious throughout the day? • Fierce competition. From trendy cafes to fellow convenience stores, the food-to-go battlefield is crowded. How are you differentiating yourself and attracting customers? • Keeping up with food trends. How do you ensure your food-to-go offerings are relevant and exciting for today's taste buds?  • Staffing shortages. Finding and retaining talented staff is a struggle across industries. Is it impacting your ability to deliver top-notch service and meet peak hour demands? • Rising costs. How are you managing these rising costs without sacrificing quality or profit margins? Share your strategies for staying ahead of the curve. #foodandbeverage #supermarkets #foodtogo

Consumer demand for fresh food is transforming US #c-stores. Enhanced c-stores with dine-in options now account for 58% of spending, up from 48% five years ago. Larger chains are leading this shift, leveraging resources for expansion, retrofits, and M&A activities. #RaboResearch #foodservice https://lnkd.in/eaFyCwyf

Which of the below products do you recognise? I'm surprised that other supermarkets haven't been piggybacking on all the recent Marks and Spencer x ZOE activation. 🐖 It has undoubtedly been a great success so far and demand is still strong enough to justify a dedicated, branded chiller for just this one SKU; something more traditionally associated with the likes of The Coca-Cola Company. M&S have done all the heavy lifting here to bring new consumers into the kefir category, so it would probably be an easy opportunity for Morrisons and Waitrose & Partners, who both already sell own-brand milk kefir drinks, to do something similar in-store with minimal marketing spend, if any at all. #GutHealth #Kefir #ConsumerTrends #Grocery

Consumer demand for fresh food is transforming US #c-stores. Enhanced c-stores with dine-in options now account for 58% of spending, up from 48% five years ago. Larger chains are leading this shift, leveraging resources for expansion, retrofits, and M&A activities. #RaboResearch #foodservice

I remember the days when we used to for groceries over weekend. Buying groceries was the main task and once finished only then plan something else or rest on weekend. Buying groceries used be an experience in itself. These days #Zepto #Blinkit and others have completely disrupted and redefined the meaning and experience of buying groceries. Now same sonic speed delivery is being implemented by #Myntra and #Swiggy for clothing and food ordering. If it's packaged items, I still can see this as somewhat successful and working but not sure how you can deliver food from local restaurant in 10 mins whereas Domino's 's 30 mins delivery also get late sometime. May be this service will select only restaurants where food is already prepared like buffet, and serve it. Hope this wouldn't disrupt the market and force others to follow. Sometime we need quality than speed.