Asda Loyal to Local Region
By Laura Elliott.
Supermarket giant Asda may rank among the ‘Big Four’ supermarket chains in the UK, but the Leeds-based company has shown that it has not forgotten the virtues of buying from the local Yorkshire area. The chain already makes use of 40 suppliers all based in Yorkshire, and can trace its roots right back to the West riding Dairy Farmers, who formed under the Hindell’s Dairy farmers banner in the early 20th century.
The supermarket chain is currently supporting the Yorkshire Post’s ‘Buy Yorkshire’ campaign because, as Asda’s Rick Banks has said, local sourcing “is part of our community agenda”. The retailer is now putting this belief into practice.
Asda has pulled in £1bn in local and ethnic food sales since 2001. The chain has now announced plans to break the £500m barrier in annual local and ethnic sales by next year. As reported by the Yorkshire Post, Mr. Banks, Asda’s buying manager for local products in England, said that “It’s really important that customers are able to buy produce that is produced in their local region. The business owners are very passionate about their products. The stores are heavily involved in supporting them.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable has also shown support for the ‘Buy Yorkshire’ campaign.
In open support for the same campaign, Asda recently opened its first Yorkshire deli, providing customers in York with an opportunity to sample food from the region’s best suppliers. The initiative at the Monks Cross store in York has reportedly increased the number of local Yorkshire ranges at the store by more than 20%. The deli showcases a wide range of Yorkshire meats, pies and cheeses from across the region. The retail company has also introduced a pre-packed version of their Yorkshire Ryedale and Yorkshire Blue ranges, helping them to reach a wider retail market.
CJ Antal-Smith, Asda category director for emerging markets, said that “When we tested this concept out last year we immediately realised the only issue was ensuring we could meet demand, which was phenomenal for a local trial like this. We picked the York store as we know our customers there are passionate about local produce and the fact we’ve opened up the deli as a permanent fixture is testimony to this. We’ve wasted no expense in ensuring our colleagues can do the region proud.”
Asda works with local producers across Yorkshire, with Thirsk-based entrepreneur James Potter’s free range eggs ranking among the top-sellers. All this is on top of the hundreds of meat, vegetable, fish, milk and dairy producers in Yorkshire who supply Asda. Perhaps other supermarket chains could afford to take a leaf out of Asda’s book.
Short URL: http://www.internationalsupermarketnews.com/?p=6227
Posted by Laura Elliott
on Feb 21 2012. Filed under Fresh Produce, Product News, Retail News, Supermarkets.
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