Industry has a huge opportunity to influence the government’s food strategy through its position on the Food Strategy Advisory Board. The outsized weight of industry voices around the table has been noted with both applause and concern.
For those in the grocery sector, concern may be puzzling given the success of industry innovation in overcoming unprecedented challenges such as Covid.
However, there is a trust gap – words said in private about the need for “level playing fields” and “government intervention” are not clearly articulated to politicians. Whistleblowers have also highlighted that the industry, perhaps unknowingly, is misleading its investors with ‘wishful thinking’ about climate risks.
There is an opportunity for industry to give an honest reflection of what the barriers truly are to a healthier, fairer and more sustainable food environment, instead of rehashing the ‘go to’ blockers of competition, customer demand and food prices. Now is the time for the best minds in the business to make a smart move into solutions.
Mandatory targets
‘First mover disadvantage and competition’ is a textbook area where businesses could advise the government to step in and level the playing field.
We know mandatory action is one of the best routes to change, evidenced through previous mandates on caged eggs, plastic bags, and sugar in soft drinks. Where it has stalled on deforestation, peat, health targets and food waste, voluntary action has not kept pace with its mandatory equivalents.
Rather than suggesting voluntary action is sufficient, businesses could prioritise the areas in which they would most benefit from a level playing field – if you don’t know these areas, your sustainability teams will.
‘We only sell what the customers buy’ ignores a chance to evolve the conversation on what shapes food choices. It undermines the talented individuals who work within the sector (including buyers, marketers, developers and merchandisers) who know how to sell products.
Yes, there is received wisdom about what brings customers into stores and how to increase their basket spend, but what if some of these ideas were unpicked and evolved? How honest are businesses being about their reasons for focus and targets in specific categories?
Rather than patronising customers, the newly established citizens’ panel is a huge opportunity to listen and understand why the gap between demand and desire is happening, rather than being a ‘talking shop’ as some have suggested. Hopefully it will build on the excellent work of FFCC’s Food Conversations, which showed that citizens are fully capable of understanding nuance about the complexities in food. It could unlock new ideas for the sector.
The pricing gauntlet
Finally, ‘increasing food prices’ – the ultimate gauntlet. What if there was a swear jar for this phrase, which required greater specificity for the scale of the impact and why this would be the case?
The complexity of running a grocery business lies in the thousands of different factors which make up the cost base and how these influence the prices of products. It’s not as simple as ‘if X then Y’, because there are so many other factors in food prices such as decisions on marketing, costs and margins.
The UK already has some of the cheapest groceries in the world – 7% below the EU average – with no player in the sector making massive margins. Businesses could move the conversation forward by giving clarity on where supportive government intervention could ensure healthy and sustainable food remains affordable, rather than using prices as a threat.
This is the time for the grocery sector to go beyond its normal script and step up for a better food future for us all.
Sarah Wakefield, executive director at Eating Better
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