waitrose
Waitrose vows to halve packaging by 2016
UK retailer Waitrose has announced plans to cut its packaging in half by 2016. It has also revealed three major changes to its product ranges that it says will save nearly 100 tonnes of packaging each year. The Menu from Waitrose range of prepared meals has been relaunched with a full redesign and packaging update […]
Coup for cardboard can
The winner of this year’s Fresh Ideas award at the Pro2Pac show is Itsu’s ‘cardcan’ – an environmentally friendly iced tea pack declaring itself ‘the only cardboard drink can on the market’. The can, which launched in Waitrose stores across the UK in February, has a smaller carbon footprint than aluminium cans or plastic bottles, […]
Waitrose sets up own frozen meat facility
UK supermarket chain Waitrose has announced that it is to build its own facility to produce a range of frozen meat products. The new unit is planned to be operational within the next three months and will be based at Dovecote Park’s facility in Yorkshire. Dovecote Park has been exclusively supplying Waitrose with fresh beef […]
‘This year will be challenging – but rewarding too’
Christopher McCuin, event director of Pro2Pac and IFE, is hungry for success – and a solution to food wastage
Warm reception for pioneering refrigeration technology
A world-first in refrigeration technology, which harnesses the latest generation of low global warming HFO refrigerants in a Waitrose branch in London, has won a national award for the supermarket and its project partners, Klima-Therm, Frascold and Geoclima. The project, at Waitrose Bromley, secured the retailer the End User of the Year Award in the […]
Brewery staff drink to success
A fast-expanding Cornish brewery exceeded £4 million (€4.8m) sales for the first time last year, with turnover rising by around 12 per cent. And Skinner’s Brewery chief executive Steve Skinner says it’s all down to his team. “Our 30 staff have worked enormously hard to win this success. Their commitment and dedication is absolutely outstanding, […]
Waitrose drives hybrid breakthrough
Waitrose stores in central London are now receiving deliveries from the first of a new breed of low emission Mercedes-Benz trucks. Operated by shared user distribution firm Lenham Storage, the Atego BlueTec Hybrid employs a Euro 5 diesel engine and an electric motor, which can power the vehicle individually or in tandem. A dashboard display […]
JF Hillebrand wins new Waitrose wine contract
JF Hillebrand, logistics provider to the global beverage market, has been awarded a new contract to manage all wine imports for Waitrose. Th three-year contract builds upon an relationship the two companies have maintained and developed for more than 10 years. JF Hillebrand is now the strategic solus partner for Waitrose and will provide full […]
Waitrose acquires Co-op stores
Upmarket supermarket Waitrose has announced the acquisition of five shops from The Co-operative Group. The retailer – part of the John Lewis Partnership – has entered into an agreement to buy four Somerfield stores in Ashbourne, Melksham, Storrington and Wellington, along with a Co-operative shop in Menai Bridge. All existing employees will become partners within […]
Great Scots!
Scotland’s food and drink industry has been given a boost with the promise of thousands of new jobs and extra investment in the country’s produce. Aldi, Asda, The Co-Operative, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and the Scottish Retail Consortium met with Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead late last month to set out […]
Surge in sales of own-label products
Newly released figures from Datamonitor reveal that 41 per cent of all grocery sales at the end of July were own-label items – up from 38.2 per cent last year. On average, own-label goods are 22 per cent cheaper than brands, says Datamonitor. So it’s hardly surprising that cash-strapped consumers have sparked a surge in […]
Waitrose and Morrisons celebrate sales surge
Despite catering for very different parts of the market, Waitrose and Morrisons have become Britain’s fastest-growing supermarkets, with both posting sales growth of more than 8 per cent. By contrast, Tesco sales grew by only 5.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to July 11, according to figures released this week. Morrisons has since revealed […]
Morrisons sales soar
Morrisons is enjoying the fastest growth rate in sales among the UK’s multiples and is outpacing the discounters, according to new figures from TNS Worldpanel. The UK’s fourth-largest grocer saw its sales rise by 9.3% in the 12 weeks to 14 June, taking its market share to 11.6%. Meanwhile, budget supermarkets Aldi and Lidl saw […]
Waitrose gives last-mintue backing to ombudsman plan
The deadline for responses to the Competition Commission’s plan to introduce an ombudsman to adjudicate on disputes between suppliers and supermarkets passed at the end of last month. And as it did so, Waitrose stepped in to back the proposal, saying that it had ‘stood apart from the majority of retailers by telling the Competition […]