Three months in, how is the pilot scheme to increase the availability of fruit and veg in deprived areas shaping up, asks Noli Dinkovski
It's a weekday morning and, tucked away on a housing estate on the outskirts of Gateshead, a Londis store is heaving with children eager to grab a snack on their way to school.
A typical scene replicated in c-stores up and down the country, but with one noticeable difference. Rather than rushing to the confectionery counter or the fizzy drink cabinet , many of the kids head for a well-lit, colourful chiller stuffed full of fresh fruit and vegetables.
"The children especially like the tangerines, but they are also keen on the bananas and apples," says store owner Johnny Singh. "We are the only small store in the area selling fresh fruit and veg, and since we started doing so, it's gone well."
Singh's Londis is one of a dozen c-stores chosen by the Department of Health for a pilot scheme to improve availability of fresh fruit and veg in deprived communities. As part of the Government's Change4Life obesity campaign, the participating stores were given match-funded grants for chillers, as well as marketing materials and merchandising advice.
To choose the retailers, the DH worked with the Association of Convenience Stores, which coordinated with Spar, Costcutter, Musgrave, Londis and Nisa Local.
The pilot scheme kicked off in November and the DH plans to launch it in a further 108 stores in May. It's an ambitious goal. Not only is it notoriously hard for c-stores to sell fresh produce successfully, but these c-stores are situated in some of the UK's poorest locations - areas strongly associated with poor-quality diets.
So, three months down the line, how has the scheme fared? And with a three-year DH funding commitment behind it, just how big can it become?
The scheme's success will be measured by two criteria: sales, and how it's valued by customers, says ACS chief executive James Lowman. "We don't have any official figures yet, but in some stores sales of fresh fruit and veg are up around 200%," he claims, although from a low base.
For now, an easier benchmark of the scheme's success is how well the store owners and managers have responded.
Christine Dobson, store manager at the Spar in North Seaton, Ashington, initially had reservations about taking on extra fresh produce, but has since embraced the idea. "We now sell unpacked fruit and veg, which means customers can buy two or three items rather than a pack of six. We have retirement flats right next to us full of couples or pensioners living on their own. They have really benefited from being able to buy loose produce."
Dobson says the DH has been extremely supportive, enabling her to attend a workshop on promoting healthy eating and host an in-store cooking demonstration showing customers quick and easy ways to prepare healthy meals.
However, feedback from some other stores has not been as positive. Mick Shuib at the Costcutter in Cornforth, County Durham, says he heard little from the project co-ordinators in the first two months following the scheme's launch and claims to have only recently had his chiller cabinet fully installed and paid for. Back at the Londis store, Singh also waited a long time to hear from the DH.
Other stores, meanwhile, have expressed doubts over the sustainability of the scheme. Sam Robinson, assistant manager at the Mills Group store in North Shields, says the scheme has been well promoted in her area but hasn't caught the imagination of her customers. "We're fully behind the principle, but at the moment we are losing more money than we are making on fruit and veg. There is too much produce going to waste at the moment."
These concerns were raised at a meeting between the DH and the symbol groups at the start of the month. Singh says he is encouraged by feedback from the meeting and remains committed to the scheme. "We invested £12,000 in the project and are fully behind it. We do already get a lot of help with in-store merchandising from Londis, but I'd like to remind the Government not to forget us if it comes up with more ideas and initiatives."
Lowman concedes that the November launch of the scheme was brought forward to coincide with other health initiatives taking place in the north-east, which was an added challenge. "It's very hard for me to respond to the store owners directly, but the reality is that the things that need to happen are now happening, and these are short-term problems rather than anything systemic," he says.
With £200,000 allocated for the first year, Lowman stresses that funding is limited. However, he says: "We take the view that once stores realise selling fruit and veg is beneficial to their business, they will continue to invest more time and energy in doing so. We are still in the process of finding out how sustainable it is for them, and to what extent the retailers have the skills and the incentive over the long term."
Should symbol groups be doing more to help their stores then? Despite admitting that increasing sales of fresh and chilled in some of his stores has been a "struggle", Mills Group MD Nigel Mills says he remains committed.
"As a demonstration of this, we don't just invest in store equipment, we also have two fresh and chilled trainers who visit stores to give advice on growing the categories," Mills explains.
His biggest challenge is to change people's perception of what they can buy from his stores. "To do that you've got to meet expectations of quality, availability and price - in that order. We initially had quality issues with our supplier, Nisa, but it has since upped its game enormously."
Mills has submitted a list of another 20 or so stores he would like to be included in the next stage of the Change4Life project.
Until now, the scheme has been exclusive to affiliated stores, but Lowman is adamant non-affiliated retailers will be included in the next wave. "We aim to make this as wide a project as possible," he says.
Challenged by high wastage and less buying power than the multiples, selling fresh produce has never been easy for
c-stores. And judging by the mixed feedback from the initial 12 stores, so it remains. But with the Government seemingly unrelenting in its drive to tackle obesity, the scheme may just have enough momentum behind it to prove successful.
"The Government is committed to this for three years and the will to make the scheme sustainable is there," says Lowman. "One thing is for certain: this isn't going to go away in a hurry."
It's a weekday morning and, tucked away on a housing estate on the outskirts of Gateshead, a Londis store is heaving with children eager to grab a snack on their way to school.
A typical scene replicated in c-stores up and down the country, but with one noticeable difference. Rather than rushing to the confectionery counter or the fizzy drink cabinet , many of the kids head for a well-lit, colourful chiller stuffed full of fresh fruit and vegetables.
"The children especially like the tangerines, but they are also keen on the bananas and apples," says store owner Johnny Singh. "We are the only small store in the area selling fresh fruit and veg, and since we started doing so, it's gone well."
Singh's Londis is one of a dozen c-stores chosen by the Department of Health for a pilot scheme to improve availability of fresh fruit and veg in deprived communities. As part of the Government's Change4Life obesity campaign, the participating stores were given match-funded grants for chillers, as well as marketing materials and merchandising advice.
To choose the retailers, the DH worked with the Association of Convenience Stores, which coordinated with Spar, Costcutter, Musgrave, Londis and Nisa Local.
The pilot scheme kicked off in November and the DH plans to launch it in a further 108 stores in May. It's an ambitious goal. Not only is it notoriously hard for c-stores to sell fresh produce successfully, but these c-stores are situated in some of the UK's poorest locations - areas strongly associated with poor-quality diets.
So, three months down the line, how has the scheme fared? And with a three-year DH funding commitment behind it, just how big can it become?
The scheme's success will be measured by two criteria: sales, and how it's valued by customers, says ACS chief executive James Lowman. "We don't have any official figures yet, but in some stores sales of fresh fruit and veg are up around 200%," he claims, although from a low base.
For now, an easier benchmark of the scheme's success is how well the store owners and managers have responded.
Christine Dobson, store manager at the Spar in North Seaton, Ashington, initially had reservations about taking on extra fresh produce, but has since embraced the idea. "We now sell unpacked fruit and veg, which means customers can buy two or three items rather than a pack of six. We have retirement flats right next to us full of couples or pensioners living on their own. They have really benefited from being able to buy loose produce."
Dobson says the DH has been extremely supportive, enabling her to attend a workshop on promoting healthy eating and host an in-store cooking demonstration showing customers quick and easy ways to prepare healthy meals.
However, feedback from some other stores has not been as positive. Mick Shuib at the Costcutter in Cornforth, County Durham, says he heard little from the project co-ordinators in the first two months following the scheme's launch and claims to have only recently had his chiller cabinet fully installed and paid for. Back at the Londis store, Singh also waited a long time to hear from the DH.
Other stores, meanwhile, have expressed doubts over the sustainability of the scheme. Sam Robinson, assistant manager at the Mills Group store in North Shields, says the scheme has been well promoted in her area but hasn't caught the imagination of her customers. "We're fully behind the principle, but at the moment we are losing more money than we are making on fruit and veg. There is too much produce going to waste at the moment."
These concerns were raised at a meeting between the DH and the symbol groups at the start of the month. Singh says he is encouraged by feedback from the meeting and remains committed to the scheme. "We invested £12,000 in the project and are fully behind it. We do already get a lot of help with in-store merchandising from Londis, but I'd like to remind the Government not to forget us if it comes up with more ideas and initiatives."
Lowman concedes that the November launch of the scheme was brought forward to coincide with other health initiatives taking place in the north-east, which was an added challenge. "It's very hard for me to respond to the store owners directly, but the reality is that the things that need to happen are now happening, and these are short-term problems rather than anything systemic," he says.
With £200,000 allocated for the first year, Lowman stresses that funding is limited. However, he says: "We take the view that once stores realise selling fruit and veg is beneficial to their business, they will continue to invest more time and energy in doing so. We are still in the process of finding out how sustainable it is for them, and to what extent the retailers have the skills and the incentive over the long term."
Should symbol groups be doing more to help their stores then? Despite admitting that increasing sales of fresh and chilled in some of his stores has been a "struggle", Mills Group MD Nigel Mills says he remains committed.
"As a demonstration of this, we don't just invest in store equipment, we also have two fresh and chilled trainers who visit stores to give advice on growing the categories," Mills explains.
His biggest challenge is to change people's perception of what they can buy from his stores. "To do that you've got to meet expectations of quality, availability and price - in that order. We initially had quality issues with our supplier, Nisa, but it has since upped its game enormously."
Mills has submitted a list of another 20 or so stores he would like to be included in the next stage of the Change4Life project.
Until now, the scheme has been exclusive to affiliated stores, but Lowman is adamant non-affiliated retailers will be included in the next wave. "We aim to make this as wide a project as possible," he says.
Challenged by high wastage and less buying power than the multiples, selling fresh produce has never been easy for
c-stores. And judging by the mixed feedback from the initial 12 stores, so it remains. But with the Government seemingly unrelenting in its drive to tackle obesity, the scheme may just have enough momentum behind it to prove successful.
"The Government is committed to this for three years and the will to make the scheme sustainable is there," says Lowman. "One thing is for certain: this isn't going to go away in a hurry."
Change4Life: how it works
l Stores stock 1m-2.5m of chilled fruit and veg, plus a metre of ambient
l Each store gets a Change4Life ambient stand, shelf-edge labels, posters, external signage and chiller headers, as well as an insert in an NHS Healthy Start mailer
l The scheme part-funds chillers and stores fund advertising leaflets
l A DH project team offers advice on handling fruit and veg, display, local marketing and links to stakeholders such as Primary Care Trusts
l Participating stores are invited to link to other local initiatives such as cooking clubs
l Fruit and veg are sourced through existing supply chains. The DH has not yet looked at local sourcing but hasn't ruled this out in the future
l A further 108 stores are now being recruited to phase two of the programme, which is launched in May, extending to it unaffiliated as well as affiliated retailers
l A similar scheme is operating in Scotland, where 600 stores are taking part
Source: DH
l Stores stock 1m-2.5m of chilled fruit and veg, plus a metre of ambient
l Each store gets a Change4Life ambient stand, shelf-edge labels, posters, external signage and chiller headers, as well as an insert in an NHS Healthy Start mailer
l The scheme part-funds chillers and stores fund advertising leaflets
l A DH project team offers advice on handling fruit and veg, display, local marketing and links to stakeholders such as Primary Care Trusts
l Participating stores are invited to link to other local initiatives such as cooking clubs
l Fruit and veg are sourced through existing supply chains. The DH has not yet looked at local sourcing but hasn't ruled this out in the future
l A further 108 stores are now being recruited to phase two of the programme, which is launched in May, extending to it unaffiliated as well as affiliated retailers
l A similar scheme is operating in Scotland, where 600 stores are taking part
Source: DH
Case study: Khaira's commitment to the change4life cause
Before his Londis store in Silksworth, Sunderland, became part of the Change4Life pilot scheme, the only veg Ken Khaira sold were potatoes and mushrooms. One shop refit and £25,000 later, he now stocks a range almost as diverse as the Sainsbury's store half a mile up the road.
"We have carrots, turnips, cauliflowers, lettuce, cucumbers, oranges, apples, bananas - you name it, we're likely to sell it," Khaira boasts. "It's early days, but sales have been pretty impressive. They dipped slightly in the recent cold spell, but have started to pick up again. We now sell roughly £100 of fresh produce per week, when before we were lucky to sell £20."
Khaira, who has owned the store for 22 years, is happy with the support provided by the DH. However, he believes that to make it work, c-stores need to be prepared to commit their own time and resources to promoting the scheme.
"On 23 March we are starting a voucher scheme at a local primary school. I've paid for flyers, produced by the DH, that will entitle children to a free item of fruit each, with no purchase necessary," says Khaira, who is a governor at the school.
He has also taken the initiative in sourcing a suitable fresh supplier. "Initially I feared I would have to buy in whole boxes, but I have found a local supplier, GJS, which can deliver what I want when I want."
It's a flexible arrangement that, according to Khaira, helps keep down wastage - a vital factor, given the margins he makes are not significant.
However, he believes the value that selling fresh produce adds to the store is of greater significance. "Now customers know we provide a substantial fresh offer, they are more likely to visit us and in doing so pick up other items along the way."
As for the future, Khaira remains confident. "I think that as we move into warmer weather, sales will grow - as long as we continue to promote what we've got."
Sound advice indeed for any c-store wishing to up their fresh fruit and veg offer.
Before his Londis store in Silksworth, Sunderland, became part of the Change4Life pilot scheme, the only veg Ken Khaira sold were potatoes and mushrooms. One shop refit and £25,000 later, he now stocks a range almost as diverse as the Sainsbury's store half a mile up the road.
"We have carrots, turnips, cauliflowers, lettuce, cucumbers, oranges, apples, bananas - you name it, we're likely to sell it," Khaira boasts. "It's early days, but sales have been pretty impressive. They dipped slightly in the recent cold spell, but have started to pick up again. We now sell roughly £100 of fresh produce per week, when before we were lucky to sell £20."
Khaira, who has owned the store for 22 years, is happy with the support provided by the DH. However, he believes that to make it work, c-stores need to be prepared to commit their own time and resources to promoting the scheme.
"On 23 March we are starting a voucher scheme at a local primary school. I've paid for flyers, produced by the DH, that will entitle children to a free item of fruit each, with no purchase necessary," says Khaira, who is a governor at the school.
He has also taken the initiative in sourcing a suitable fresh supplier. "Initially I feared I would have to buy in whole boxes, but I have found a local supplier, GJS, which can deliver what I want when I want."
It's a flexible arrangement that, according to Khaira, helps keep down wastage - a vital factor, given the margins he makes are not significant.
However, he believes the value that selling fresh produce adds to the store is of greater significance. "Now customers know we provide a substantial fresh offer, they are more likely to visit us and in doing so pick up other items along the way."
As for the future, Khaira remains confident. "I think that as we move into warmer weather, sales will grow - as long as we continue to promote what we've got."
Sound advice indeed for any c-store wishing to up their fresh fruit and veg offer.
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