This month, Allegra and her panel look at the latest supermarket revolution; the increase of specialist, British, local products from smaller suppliers on the shelves. It’s a trend that’s already affecting what ends up in our shopping baskets. At Asda in Kendal for example, regional Cumberland sausages are outselling the supermarket’s extra special range by ten to one while local ice cream outsells Hagens Dazs by five to one.

But is it just window dressing? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was recently quoted by the Independent as saying that supermarket’s attempts to sell local produce was like "crack dealers selling fudge because it was good for PR”. Whatever the truth of the matter, with supermarkets as the single biggest customer of British farming and with one in four of the trucks on Britain’s roads carrying food, there’s no denying the supermarket’s power to influence what we eat.

Find out what the current and future supermarket trends are; how much local produce you’ll actually be able to find in store; what the arrival of American organic retailing giant Whole Foods in the UK means for the supermarkets, and why you wont find Patchwork Pate in Sainsbury’s.

Join the debate by emailing Allegra at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or leave a message on Food Radio voicemail by calling 0870 33 33 33 (national rates apply).

The panel

Rufus Carter – Managing Director, The Patchwork Traditional Food Company

Rufus Carter, is the Managing Director of The Patchwork Traditional Food Company, based in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales. His mother Margaret founded the company in 1982. Rufus was appointed True Taste Ambassador in 2005 & in 2005 Insider Magazine awarded him with an Innovation award for his leadership style. Many supermarkets have been asking him to supply his patés: “We are in the eye of the storm regarding the multiples sudden interesting small producers. It is really worrying and we are still trying to decide what to do.”

Ian Jarmarkier – Head of Food & Innovation Centre, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd.

Ian heads up Sainsbury’s Food and Innovation Centre at their central offices in Holborn, a role he took up in 2005 having joined Sainsbury’s in 2001. He grew up in a farming community and his varied experience covers an early career in engineering, then business change and marketing, providing an opportunity for travel and to develop his natural interest and passion for food. His current role includes running Sainsbury’s “Supply Something New” scheme, spearheading the search for innovative or authentic products from smaller suppliers.

Andrew Thornton – owner, Budgens Crouch End

Andrew Thornton owns Budgens in Crouch End, North London, which he bought last year. He has a background in retail theory and a masters degree in marketing. Andrew worked as a consultant for Budgens, M &S, Tesco, Sainsburys etc before he bought the store. His shop showcases local produce, sourced from within 100 miles of the store. These include bread from Dunns, the local bakery, Suffolk products, natural ready meals from Cooks, posh Paxton and Whitfield cheeses, and Bookhams pastas etc. He calls his shop The Local Epicurean.

The Host

Allegra McEvedy – chef, restaurateur, writer and broadcaster

Allegra worked at notable London restaurants Green's, The Belvedere, The Groucho Club and The River Café before gaining a special visa to the US as 'an alien with extraordinary ability in the culinary arts' where she worked at Robert de Niro's New York restaurant Tribeca Grill. She is a founding partner of Leon a healthy fast-food restaurant concept that won Best New Restaurant in the 2005 Observer food awards. She has a weekly column in the Evening Standard's ES Magazine and monthly columns in Elle, Living etc and Image. She has contributed to GQ, Tesco Magazine, The Guardian and Good Housekeeping.

Supermarket Local Food Initiatives

Tesco’s Localchoice milk campaign has put own-branded regional milk in stores (eg. Cornish milk in Cornish stores). According to the Tesco website, ‘Smaller, family run farms can struggle to balance their costs. We pay our local choice farmers more for the milk they supply, over and above the high rate we pay farmers that supply our standard milk, and one of the highest prices paid to any producers in the country. Therefore, by choosing to pay a little bit more for localchoice milk you are helping to support your local farming community.

Sainsbury’s Supply Something New scheme. From the website: ‘..the Supply something new initiative will see top representatives from Sainsbury's taking to the road every two months in a search for new, innovative UK suppliers, both large and small. Our Supply something new panel will be looking for products that have something different about them, an interesting heritage and, most importantly, that taste great … Successful applicants will attend a workshop where they will each have a 40-minute window to convince our panel that their goods should be sold on the shelves at Sainsbury’s. After presenting their case, suppliers will be given an almost immediate answer and, if successful, could see their products on the shelf in just three months. Successful producers may start by supplying just a few stores in their region. If their products have a wider appeal, we will help to build their businesses by expanding distribution.’

Waitrose Locally Produced Initiative. They say “Waitrose is the only supermarket to define a local product according to guidelines set by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). In line with this definition, local food must be produced within a 30 mile radius of the store in which it’s sold. Moor Organic Juice (in Ramsgate) is just one of 250 suppliers on the Waitrose Locally Produced Initiative, which now includes over 688 products in Waitrose shops across the country.’

Asda’s regional “Best of…” brand. “We help smaller suppliers, people who have a fantastic product that’s fine for selling at the farmers’ markets, but not commercially ’ The company say they help suppliers with payment terms according to the supplier’s needs as well as issues such as barcodes, health and safety and hygiene laws.

Marks and Spencer’s local sourcing policy. They say ‘We are exploring opportunities to align our supplying farms completely with the region of supply e.g. exclusively Welsh eggs in Welsh stores etc. We actively promote our British sourcing policy on fruit and vegetables and work with our growers to expand the UK season. This year we were the first major retailer to sell 100% English asparagus, and this year, we are able to offer our customers 100% British organic asparagus during the English season.’

Budgens. The company is franchising their stores and allowing franchisees to buy 5% of their stock directly from local smaller suppliers.

Resources

Food Radio Local Supplier search

Food From Britain Buyers Guide

Supermarkets in the United Kingdom at Wikipedia

BuyLocalFood.co.uk

Further Reading