Spirit of Christmas
This year’s final issue of Food & Drink Technology has gone to press, so I can wholeheartedly turn my thoughts to Christmas now.
With just a few days to go until 25 December, I am yet to get the dreaded ‘supermarket run’ out of the way. And judging by the length of the queue in Tesco at lunchtime, my guests might just have to go hungry this year!
According to the latest retail data from IRI, I’m not the only one leaving the food shop until the last minute. Figures from IRI’s Retail Advantage, which measures major UK grocery multiples, reveal that in the two weeks to 12 December 2015, food sales totalled £3.5 billion – down 1.3 per cent on last year.
On the other hand, shoppers spent over £630 million in total on beers, wines and spirits, up 3.3 per cent on last year. Of this, over £200 million was spent on spirits alone, up 3.8 per cent – the equivalent of an extra £7 million over the same two-week period in 2014.
On that note, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas.
