All comment & opinion articles
Most recent first...
-
Comment & OpinionHigh-protein Doritos: has functional food finally gone too far?
Do consumers actually want functional benefits in their snacks? Or should bags of crisps be left alone?
-
Comment & OpinionEvery extra cost makes affordable food harder to deliver
After 21 years at the BRC, Andrew Opie has one parting message for policymakers: every tax, charge and regulation added to the food chain comes at a cost to affordability and jobs.
-
Comment & OpinionHow the government keeps getting grocery wrong
Three recent headlines promised tough action on grocery pricing, but all three collapsed on contact with reality, says David Sables, CEO of Sentinel Management Consultants
-
Comment & OpinionWhy do supermarkets still sell ‘cancer-causing’ sandwiches?
Despite the efforts being made to move away from the additive in chilled meat ranges, prepared and ready meals remain a significant blind spot for the supermarkets
-
Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: supermarkets struggle for growth, Tesco supplier row, delivery robots
With the rumour mill in overdrive over consolidation in the grocery sector, we look at why they’re struggling for growth. Plus Tesco’s supplier row, Diageo’s innovation shake-up and delivery robots
-
Comment & OpinionOat Cult’s porridge orgy is amusing and disturbing
Oat Cult remains deeply distinctive in a category usually dominated by messaging about health, satiety and warmth
-
Comment & OpinionRetail media’s next growth area is brands that don’t even sell in store
As retail media investment keeps climbing, the real growth lies with non-endemic advertisers if retailers and brands can get relevance right, says Deni Petrova, VP of commerce at WPP Media
-
Comment & OpinionHow we prioritised purpose by becoming a social enterprise
When your purpose is built into your foundations and independently verified, it becomes much easier to focus on what really matters, says Jenny Costa of Rubies in the Rubble
-
Comment & OpinionTesco’s confidence rests on more than just market share
In a grocery market where growth is increasingly hard won, Tesco is demonstrating it has more tricks up its sleeve
-
Comment & OpinionPackaging must do more than stand out, it must help people buy
As growth gets harder grocery brands are under pressure to stand out, but the better starting point for packaging is simpler: what will help people buy, says Kathryn Jubrail, partner at Mother Design
-
Comment & OpinionIt’s not higher costs that sink a business, it’s unpredictable ones
Traditional commodity hedging suits big treasuries, not mid-sized manufacturers, but a newer breed of insurance could make volatile ingredient costs predictable instead of just painful, says Ian Wright, partner at Acuti Associates
-
Comment & OpinionWhy the ‘SME penalty’ in UK logistics is stifling food innovation
The UK has no shortage of warehouse space or freight capacity, what’s missing is the co-ordination that lets small food & drink brands access it, says Michael Ostroumov, chief executive at Value Chain Lab and Flox project lead
-
Comment & OpinionWhen salt becomes a statement worth paying for
Basic categories like salt and butter are being bought as identity signals, not staples, but most packaging is still briefed for the shelf, not what it says about the shopper, says Sarah Knox, senior strategist at Lewis Moberly
-
Comment & OpinionHealth or Hype: Joe Wicks podcast interrogates anxiety
Produced in partnership with private healthcare provider Bupa, it’s surprisingly thoughtful
-
Comment & OpinionCan Defra’s new ‘war room’ prevent the next food supply crisis?
The new Food Preparedness Group is designed to improve collaboration between industry and government in preparing for emergencies
-
Comment & OpinionIs tea about to have its RTD moment?
RTD tea looks set to overtake bagged tea formats in the next five years, but brands will need to work hard to win over Gen Z, says Heng Hong Tan, associate principal at Mintel Food & Drink
-
Comment & OpinionWhy the cocoa crisis is a warning for the whole food supply chain
Cocoa’s collapse shows hedging and substitution can no longer stand in for real resilience, says Tom Campbell-Smart, operations director at Brand Organic
-
Comment & OpinionPermacrisis has changed grocery planning. Has the industry caught up?
When pressures overlap, the ability to understand what has changed and adjust quickly becomes more important, says Laurence Brenig-Jones, vice-president of product strategy at Relex Solutions
-
Comment & OpinionSainsbury’s, Morrisons, Tesco & Majestic: inside grocery’s consolidation rush
Sainsbury’s explored a Morrisons merger before walking away and Tesco is circling Majestic Wine. What does it tell us about where the grocery sector is heading?
-
Comment & OpinionLoyalty schemes: Lidl is flying, but does Aldi boss have a good point?
In one corner, Aldi’s UK chief Giles Hurley has said loyaly schemes are ‘duping’ customers; in the other, Lidl is beating Aldi on every metric of sales growth, thanks partly to its loyalty scheme