It’s been quite a year. The first full year of the Labour government has provided plenty of headlines. Plus there have been cyberattacks, celebrity tie-ups galore, rogue appointments and departures that allowed a glimpse into the inner workings of fmcg giants.
2025’s Review of the Year dives into the biggest stories to splash across our pages. From PR shockers to villains, u-turns, scandals and more, stay tuned throughout December as we add more stories
Sugar crash of the year: Urban Legend doughnuts go under
It turns out that people don’t want healthy doughnuts. Well, not enough people, anyway. When Urban Legend went under in September it prompted a great deal of navel gazing – and it wasn’t to check whether said navel had shrunk after switching to the brand’s products.
So, what went wrong exactly? There are many answers to that – and The Grocer examined it at length in both long and shorter form pieces – but as ever when healthier takes on treat foods fail, it seems to have come down to taste.
The tech was ingenious, the mission was admirable, but as one consultant told The Grocer at the time, unlike with Krispy Kreme, shoppers rarely found themselves wanting to scoff the lot. Urban Legend ultimately fell into a snacking no-man’s land: not genuinely healthy, but not tasty enough to satisfy the craving for a treat. Its failure has shown once again that reformulation may end up playing a smaller part than expected in tackling the obesity crisis. Subsidised fruit & veg, anyone?
PR shocker of the year: Waitrose sack autistic shop worker (who was later employed by Asda)
“Being a partner means more than just having a job – it means having a voice, a stake, and a shared responsibility in how the business is run,” says the John Lewis Partnership on its website. That is, of course, until you don’t have a job any more because you’re autistic and ask to be paid for the work you do.
Tom Boyd, 28, had clocked up more than 600 hours as a “volunteer” at Waitrose’s Cheadle Hulme Store in Greater Manchester, but that arrangement was ended by the retailer in July when his mother, charity worker Frances Boyd, asked for him to be offered “just a few paid hours” of work.
Unfortunately for Tom, volunteers do not have the same rights as employees, but that didn’t stop the inevitable media storm that followed. And quite rightly. Whoever decided this was an acceptable way to treat a loyal worker would be advised to look up ‘compassion’ in the dictionary (and check out ‘optics’ while they’re there, too). Thankfully, the sorry saga did have a happy ending: a few days later, Boyd was offered a paid role by Asda. “When we heard about Tom and his desire to find meaningful work, we knew he’d be a fantastic fit and we are delighted to offer him a role at his local store,” said an Asda spokesperson.
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