All comment & opinion articles
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Comment & OpinionThe Grocer’s 2025 in review: deck the halls and dig in
From soaring cocoa prices to seismic retail shifts, we’ve delivered over 7,000 stories, deep-dive analysis and celebrated the leaders shaping the future of food and drink
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Comment & OpinionBrands should see HFSS policy as a golden opportunity
The rulings, in all their many guises, represent an opportunity to innovate, change behaviours, and create new ways of communicating with consumers, say Rupert Pick, co-founder & global MD, and Louise Forster-Smith, innovation director, at Hot Pickle
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Comment & OpinionWhy retail media is the real Rudolph of Christmas marketing
Once misunderstood by marketers, retail media has earned its stripes as a cultural, creative, and technological force, says Nick Ashley, client development director at Tesco Media and Insight Platform
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Comment & OpinionFeatures editor’s picks 2025: robots, chicken shops and pay gaps
With 2025 drawing to a close – and the weekend almost upon us – we thought this would be a prime opportunity to remind our readers of some of the very best features of the year
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Comment & OpinionCan Minette Batters’ farming review push Defra into action?
Just as MPs were packing up for the festive period, Defra published Batters’ much anticipated Farming Profitability Review – something that had been sat on Emma Reynolds’ desk since October
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Comment & OpinionEPR increase is a very unwelcome Christmas present
With many companies still reeling from the first set of invoices, the last thing they wanted to hear was that the tab will be substantially higher next time around
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Comment & OpinionUK retail must unite on net zero to drive radical change
British Retail Consortium’s latest stocktake reveals supply chain decarbonisation remains the industry’s biggest challenge on the road to net zero by 2040, says BRC CEO Helen Dickinson
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Comment & OpinionWhy 2025 was the year of the BuzzBallz boom
If you have working eyes and live in the UK, you’re highly likely to have spotted an empty BuzzBallz container in the past 12 months
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Comment & OpinionAre UK meat sales soaring – or is someone telling porkies?
A report in The Telegraph said ‘a growing number of supermarket customers switched back to beef, lamb, pork and poultry this year while shunning meat-free options’ – but alas, this is not the case
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Comment & OpinionOur final issue of the year is a cracker!
The headline has to be the healthy switches consumers have made, with vape sales falling dramatically, while the biggest category volume increase was seen in smoking cessation products
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Comment & OpinionMaybelline’s movie stars enact festive romance with a twist
Maybelline has hired the stars of Hot Frosty… but one of them’s concealing something
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Comment & OpinionTop Products 2025: cash-strapped shoppers seek added value
Intentional spending doesn’t automatically translate into a single-minded hunt for the lowest prices or loyalty-led discounts, says Julian Crane, MD UK&I at NIQ
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Comment & OpinionThe Great British Seafood Revival: insightful guide to UK’s underused species
The book showcases a host of varied-yet-achievable recipes - megrim and witch are featured in innovative dishes alongside more familiar turbot and sole
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Comment & OpinionIt’s the most wasteful time of year: how to help cut festive food waste
Jenny Costa of Rubies in the Rubble is encouraging everyone across our industry to help narrow the gap between abundance and need
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Comment & OpinionWhy Guinness picked London for its new Open Gate Brewery
Guinness’ £73m Open Gate Brewery throws open its doors in Covent Garden today. But why has arguably Ireland’s most famous export picked London for its latest brand home?
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Comment & OpinionShopper insight is great, but you have to ask: so what?
Retailers and suppliers say consumer insight is crucial, but if you ask what they really mean the answer often lacks substance, says Jeremy Garlick, partner at Insight Traction
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Comment & OpinionOrganic produce offers huge social value - we need better access
Contrary to popular belief, people on the lowest incomes are as likely to champion organic food and its health benefits as anyone else, says Hannah Gibbs, programme manager at Sustain – Bridging the Gap
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Comment & OpinionScaremongering about emulsifiers ignores the crucial nuance
Reporting of a trial looking at emulsifiers’ effect on Crohn’s sufferers has spread way beyond what was intended, says Anthony Warner, development chef at New Food Innovation
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Comment & OpinionWot, no OOH? Why the HFSS ad ban doesn’t go far enough
In anticipation of the ban, some food brands have spent on reformulating their products. But some have simply shifted marketing spend to billboards
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Comment & OpinionWhat challenges and opportunities do farm shops face in 2026?
Emma Mosey, chair of the Farm Retail Association, looks at what the coming year could mean for farm shops and other independent food and drink retailers