All articles by Adam Leyland – Page 52
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NewsThe glass and a half is full, says Cadbury's Trevor Bond
In an exclusive interview with The Grocer, Cadbury's Trevor Bond tells Adam Leyland that a takeover - by Kraft or any other player - is far from inevitable
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NewsEditor's Comment: The new Abnormally Special range at Waitrose will top the mults' use of superlatives
A knighthood surely beckons for Mark Price if the likeable Waitrose boss has got his sums right.
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News
Editor's Comment: New Nescafé ad shows the defiance of the leading fmcg brands
Nescafé's new £43m ad campaign, Coffee at its Brightest, sounds at first like an inflation-adjusted update to the absurdist 1985 film Brewster's Millions.
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News
Wake-up call for Nescafé
Paul Grimwood is pumping £43m into reviving the instant coffee as he re-energises Nestlé UK, says Adam Leyland
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: In a recession it takes guts to open a c-store, let alone a supermarket chain
When I first heard that a supermarket chain called Asco was being launched, I assumed it was a joke. This is the silly season, after all.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Change of legal climate signals prosecution o’clock
It's almost a year since the supermarkets went to war with the brands on their very shelves, with TV ads and new web features provocatively urging consumers to choose own-label over bestselling brands.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Benn should have praised the industry for bogofs reduction
If the prospect of a minister running the country by Blackberry seems frightening, the strangely unthere-thereness of Environment Minister Hilary Benn's appearance this week is surely worse.
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News
Editor's Comment: For the industry's sake, ask your MP to back Early Day Motion 1885
Between moat cleaning services, dodgy mortgage claims and duck house constructions, the MPs' expenses scandal has created the sense that government is utterly unaccountable.
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News
"For the sake of the grocery industry - and democracy for that matter - please ask your local MP to sign up in support of Early Day Motion 1885"
Between moat cleaning services, dodgy mortgage claims and duck house constructions, the MPs' expenses scandal has created the sense that government is utterly unaccountable. It's not, of course. The ballot box, freedom of speech, and the...
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NewsEsom resurfaces at Tyrells owner Langholm
Steven Esom will join private equity firm Langholm Capital as a partner this week, The Grocer can reveal.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Don't jeopardise a recovering economy for the sake of one month
The secret of comedy, it has oft been observed, is timing. But why stick with just comedy? Politics, business, sport, murder - the effectiveness of almost every decision relies to a greater or lesser extent on its timing.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: 'We need your help to fight looming calendar crunch'
It’s a very midsummer madness. Right now all thoughts are with sun, sand, picnics, holidays, and the welcome impact of a heatwave. But in retail, July also means Christmas – the golden quarter – is just around the corner.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Diverse offer, not size, is key to beating recession
A remarkable feature of the recession has been the resilience of the supermarkets (as well as many grocery retailers), says Adam Leyland
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Good store managers are entrepreneurs, not caretakers
To the losers, awards are always cruel, and never more so than when individuals are singled out. If a company misses out, a collective sense of injustice — sometimes supplemented by alcohol — can unite a team.
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News
Editor's Comment: Is the discounter boom over?
Sustaining the discounters' godlike levels of growth - which saw Aldi's sales up 25% in 2008, while Lidl, Iceland, Farmfoods and others also enjoyed double-digit gains - was never going to happen.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Big four's resilience is extraordinary, but Foley is the prime mover
Our annual exercise in quantifying power (see Power List 2009, p42) isn’t easy. And this year’s Top 10 list of multiples was particularly challenging. One might expect the recession to act as a Darwinian exercise in natural selection. Yet the...
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News
Editor's Comment: Pringles are no more cakes than Mr Kipling French Fancies are crisps
So the Pringle is a crisp after all. And not a cake, as the P&G's lawyers had argued (see p5). Quite right, too, I say. Pringles can be described as many things - a tasty snack, a clever gimmick, an early example of premiumisation, a party...
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Supermarket clout will make even the mafiosi nervous
Supermarkets are currently fighting tooth and nail to avoid the interference of an Ombudsman. And they regularly baulk at the heavy-handed approach of the Office of Fair Trading.
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: If you give someone a bigger portion than they need, they will eat it
I've read my share of self-serving surveys, and may I be at least the second to commend the Food Standards Agency on its latest contribution to the genre. This one found - quel surprise - that eight out of 10 cats prefer the FSA's traffic lights....
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News
Editor's Comment: A blanket 3% cut in cost price seems crude but it's an opening gambit, right?
Tesco is not the only multiple playing hardball with its suppliers right now, says Adam Leyland