Dragged myself over to Stockley Park last Friday as Heinz opened its doors to us press types to give us the lowdown on what its plans are for its newly acquired frozen food division. But what transpired over lunch was most interesting. A Heinz executive who has recently been transferred from Pittsburgh to deepest Berkshire confessed over the lunch table that he has experienced some difficulties adjusting to the British and Irish versions of the English language. He has had particular problems with references to "having a fag" and said hearing a colleague admit to enjoying "good craic" over the weekend nearly had him on the first plane back to the Moral Majority. Talking of planes, now that Safeway's Carlos Criado-Perez has flown back from a break in Patagonia, the delayed Safeway summer party finally took place this week. There's nothing like a glass of champagne and a new Conran restaurant to lure the industry's top bods out on an August evening. Roger Ramsden had taken time out from running his store to join the festivities in the super stylish surroundings of the Great Eastern Hotel in Liverpool Street. No sign of FD Simon Laftin though ­ still jetlagged from a recent US trip. And before the rumour mill starts again, he wasn't visiting Safeway Inc. We are reliably informed he was only there on holiday. Oh, and on the availability bee in Safeway's bonnet, the chain is still posting the names of its supplier heroes and villains and threatening to go public naming and shaming the ones letting them down. Manufacturers you have been warned. {{COUNTERPOINT }}

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