All articles by Adam Leyland – Page 57
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Multiples damn the products on their own shelves
The supermarket price war that’s been threatened since the start of the year amounted, until this week, to localized skirmishes. Yes, there’s a lot of promotions (up 7% year-on-year). Yes, there have been 50p deals. But loss leaders on booze are...
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News
Walker planning Woolies carve up
No more than 50 of Woolworths’ stores would be converted to the Iceland fascia if Malcolm Walker is successful in buying the ailing retailer, a senior retail source has predicted. Woolworths was forced to go public last weekend on its rejection of...
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News
“If the new owners manage to put the sparkle back into Oddbins, I for one will be raising a glass”
I’ve always had a soft spot for Oddbins. Ever since I worked there as a student in its Wimbledon store, I’ve remained strangely, perversely loyal to the maverick retailer, even as I’ve watched the heart and soul, great staff, and most of the decent...
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News
Asda could be used as a pawn to get back at Tesco for daring to pitch up in Wal-Mart’s backyard
This week (20th July 2008) saw the first signs that crude oil and commodity prices – the conditions responsible for the rampant food price inflation we have – are abating. And not before time. As a number of expert commentators have observed, the balance between...
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News
Lion gets its teeth into frozen with Foodvest
The Foodvest Group is now “a scale player with a scale private equity house behind it”, according to Young’s Seafood MD Jim Cane. Lion Capital, which acquired Foodvest, the owner of Young’s Seafood and Findus, for £1.1bn on Tuesday, would use the...
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News
The Flying Dutchman
Morrisons caught its rivals off guard with its recovery. CEO Marc Bolland tells Adam Leyland how it was done Marc Bolland doesn’t want to be known as ‘a marketer’. He’s a retailer now, CEO of Morrisons, entrusted with the keys by Sir Ken and doing well by all accounts. But ...
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Comment & Opinion
Opinion: FSA's Smith will need a deft touch
Tim Smith, the new FSA chief executive offers hope of a less polarised, more collaborative approach to food regulation. Delicately and obliquely acknowledging some of its mistakes, he is keen to build consensus. He also promised to stick...
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News
Macca champions Meatfree Monday
Sir Paul McCartney has called on Britons to embrace 'Meat-Free Monday' to cut carbon emissions. The concept of cutting out meat one day a week has taken off in Australia as shoppers have become conscious of the environmental impact of...
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News
beauty in simplicity
Distribution is simple. But that doesn't make it easy. It's a truism with which Sainsbury's has been dealing ever since the Sir Peter Davis era, when the launch of two new 'fulfilment factories', at Hams Hall and Waltham Point, appeared to usher...
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Rankings
The Power List 2008
Economic upheaval, along with opportunism, has brought big changess in this year’s list. Ross Butler, Mark Choueke and Adam Leyland report.
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News
The Big Eat: digesting the new plans to tackle obesity
Alan Johnson summed it up: "The problem is simple: we eat too much and we do too little exercise," said the secretary of state at the Department of Health. "The solution is more complex. From the nature of the food we eat, to the way our...
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News
Asda tests brand equity
Asda is putting the brand equity of Britain's food and drink brands to the test in an attempt to weed out needless duplication and offer customers greater choice. Earlier this summer the UK's second-largest supermarket delisted Princes tuna...
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News
Smoke or mirrors in retrospective inquiry?
As the Competition Commission prepares to wade through an estimated 11 million emails, and thousands of phone calls, from Asda and Tesco and its suppliers, the inquiry appeared this week to have reached a pivotal moment. Has it found the smoking gun...
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News
"Tesco's announcement that it would pay farmers up to an extra 5p a litre was a PR masterstroke"
As our Weigh It Up! campaign hit a new high point this week, with a pledge by the Conservative Party to back our calls for a review of the Nutrient Profiling Model, I thought I ought to talk about something else for a change. So let's look at ...
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News
This week's hot topic by Adam Leyland
One of the enduring strengths of Tesco is its ability to adapt to the needs of its customers. Whether it's the clever use of the data in its Clubcards, entrance sensors that monitor shopper levels to ensure there's enough till staff, or more...
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News
Slay's Perfect Serve
The mantra for Diageo right now in both the on and off-trades is 'the perfect serve'. The trouble with perfection is it often takes longer to achieve than one might like. Take the fortunes of Guinness. A surger kit was launched exclusively...
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News
"The hazard warning system runs contrary to the data inside it. Confused? Imagine what it's like for Jo Public"
I bought a bar of chocolate from Sainsbury's this week. It is looking at me lovingly as I write this. But I resist. New Year's resolutions and all that. No, I wanted to find out just how dangerous a bar of chocolate is. I had bought a Kit Kat a...
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Comment & Opinion
"The deal is an exciting prospect - but Robert Schofield ain't going to have it all his own way"
If it goes ahead, Premier's acquisition of RHM is an exciting prospect. It brings together many of Britain's best-known food brands, and with his old alma mater, United Biscuits, reportedly still in his sights, you can expect lots of headlines...
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News
"The remarkable thing about this market is the resilience and optimism of wholesalers like Sir Anwar"
It's been a busy week for Sir Anwar Pervez. On Tuesday, the founder of the Bestway Group celebrated 30 years as a cash & carry wholesaler with a lavish bash for 1,000 guests at Grosvenor House in London. On Wednesday, he was treating journalists...