Tesco CEO - Comments on food waste!

[delilah]

All of the stories on here about supermarkets have one thing in common: In a properly functioning marketplace they wouldn't be stories.
Bradford grocery store changes hands. Welwyn Garden City grocer rants about food waste. Yawn.
They are only news because of the power they hold in the marketplace. Power that affects every single business on here. Rather than continually whingeing about that power, how about you do something about it ?

 

[Hindsight]

Playing devil's advocate - the reason that supermarkets want "perfect" veg is because customers want that. Some supermarkets have made a big thing of having wonky/imperfect veg at a lower price & yet a large majority of customers will still only buy the in grade stuff, watch how folk root through the loose veg to get at the best looking bits, watch folk selecting bananas - they want them all the same size & without a blemish. The same goes for cuts of meat - watch how folk paw through the available joints or bits of steak for the lowest fat content & pinkest look, ironically the most tasteless pieces, but at least it looks good. If they can't find the quality they want in Tesco, they'll go down the road to the competition.

Obviously a lot of blame falls at the feet of the supermarkets for how they operated in the past, particularly in the 80s & 90s, but at least Tesco are trying to do something about it & have been doing so for some time now.

Cobblers.

 

[Hindsight]

Well boys you can see where Red Tractor is off too next when TESCO and the others need to show they are doing something about it.

 

[betweenthelines]

Playing devil's advocate - the reason that supermarkets want "perfect" veg is because customers want that. Some supermarkets have made a big thing of having wonky/imperfect veg at a lower price & yet a large majority of customers will still only buy the in grade stuff, watch how folk root through the loose veg to get at the best looking bits, watch folk selecting bananas - they want them all the same size & without a blemish. The same goes for cuts of meat - watch how folk paw through the available joints or bits of steak for the lowest fat content & pinkest look, ironically the most tasteless pieces, but at least it looks good. If they can't find the quality they want in Tesco, they'll go down the road to the competition.

Obviously a lot of blame falls at the feet of the supermarkets for how they operated in the past, particularly in the 80s & 90s, but at least Tesco are trying to do something about it & have been doing so for some time now.

I think you are wrong to say the demand for "perfect" food was initially consumer led. A generation ago, the public was used to buying "as grown" veg etc but the supermarkets want a "standard" product so they can negotiate down the price they pay against their "standard" The trouble is that now the customer think "perfect" is normal and anything less should be rejected

Take fresh milk for example. Does anyone really believe that shoppers suddenly decided they wanted "whole" milk to be 3.5% fat (I doubt if any milk was at or below this before) with no cream line? The reality was that, if all supermarkets sold the "same" milk then shoppers couldn't buy Supermarket X milk because it tasted creamier than Supermarket Y, and on top of that, supermarket milk contracts include price reductions if the value of the "extra" cream goes up. It's the same with veg-if every contract for say carrots, is an identical spec for appearance, waste etc. then the shopper in reality has bugger all choice in what they buy.

 

[TheTallGuy]

It's disingenuous to say the customer wants perfect produce. It's the supermarkets themselves who have "trained" the customer to that view. They have created the issue themselves.

They love to use the line "we only sell what the customer wants" but, in reality, they offer a very carefully restricted range of produce quality and then make out that must be what the customer demands.

For them to then decry the waste caused by them refusing "out of spec" produce and to put clauses in their contracts preventing that out of spec food being competetively retailed is a hypocritical abuse of their market power.

Market share has alot to answer for in current food waste.

I don't deny that the supermarkets have played a big part in creating the situation, but I know from experience that given a pile of fruit or veg, the customer will search for the "perfect" specimens & will often walk away rather than take something off-spec. I've even known people refuse free fruit & veg that was out of spec. The reason that the supermarkets prefer not to stock off-spec is because experience has taught them that it doesn't pay to do so when there is plenty of in spec to go around. If the farmers didn't over-produce then the supermarkets and their customers wouldn't have a choice, likewise if the farmers refused to accept the contracts then the supermarkets wouldn't have a choice, but the reality is that there's always someone else down the road who will accept the contract, so it is with the supermarkets... if Tesco won't supply nice looking carrots then the customer will go down the road to the competition.

Nowhere did he actually say that it was anyone's fault - the article was actually looking at what can be done to improve the situation, e.g. use the out of spec from their whole crop contracts for their own ready meals.

Looks like he's only been CEO a few months
so probably trying to make his mark.
Why do farmers supply this supermarket they sound
like an arrogant and pedantic business ?
Thank goodness other supermarkets are thriving
and seem to respect UK farming a liittle more.

The origins of the report used for the predate his taking up of the role & the article mentions that they actually started reporting their own waste figures as early as 2013.

As to why folk supply Tesco... folk seem to think that it's better to have a bad contract than no contract.

 

[betweenthelines]

The Tesco guy is clearly using "deflection" here. Rather than tackle questions about Tesco wasting food with pointless "best before" dates which mean nothing, he's getting his first kick in at farmers-and having a dig about farming's carbon footprint at the same time.

 

[neilo]

Looks like he's only been CEO a few months
so probably trying to make his mark.
Why do farmers supply this supermarket they sound
like an arrogant and pedantic business ?
Thank goodness other supermarkets are thriving
and seem to respect UK farming a liittle more.

You're kidding yourself. They are ALL ruthless retailing operations, nothing more. NONE of them look after their farmer producers any more than they feel they need to.

Tesco are just the biggest in the sector, and the one that everyone loves to hate because of it.

 

[wanton dwarf]

Nowhere did he actually say that it was anyone's fault - the article was actually looking at what can be done to improve the situation, e.g. use the out of spec from their whole crop contracts for their own ready meals.

No admission that Tesco was at fault and IS at fault. Their stupid generic brand farm names is ALL about hiding produce from real farmers so Tesco gets the reward of hard work and the real farmers get nothing.

The same goes for cuts of meat - watch how folk paw through the available joints or bits of steak for the lowest fat content & pinkest look, ironically the most tasteless pieces, but at least it looks good.

The reason people paw through the meat is because there's a lot of rough meat being sold.

We've jsut been through an exercise to try and find good meat - lamb specifically - all the local butchers have been okay but not good. Tesco & Co-op were awful. The only place selling good lamb was CostCo.

 

[lloyd]

You're kidding yourself. They are ALL ruthless retailing operations, nothing more. NONE of them look after their farmer producers any more than they feel they need to.

Tesco are just the biggest in the sector, and the one that everyone loves to hate because of it.

No Neilo I'm not, I remember WELL the amount of NZ lamb flooding
into the UK and going into my local store to find hardly any UK stocked.
Some supermarkets fly the flag for british better than others even if
they are foreign owned.

 

[neilo]

It's disingenuous to say the customer wants perfect produce. It's the supermarkets themselves who have "trained" the customer to that view. They have created the issue themselves.

They love to use the line "we only sell what the customer wants" but, in reality, they offer a very carefully restricted range of produce quality and then make out that must be what the customer demands.

For them to then decry the waste caused by them refusing "out of spec" produce and to put clauses in their contracts preventing that out of spec food being competetively retailed is a hypocritical abuse of their market power.

Market share has alot to answer for in current food waste.

I wouldn't disagree, but market share has only come about because Tesco et al have been so successful in providing the customer with what they want, even if it entailed convincing them of what they wanted. Consumers voting with their purses/wallets have given them that market share, nothing else. The only way it would be curtailed is if government legislated against free market economics, which would be good for us farmers, but highly unlikely.

If the majority of consumers really wanted to buy bread from the local bakery, meat from a local butcher, etc, then the supermarkets would never have grown to dominate retailing. Likewise the crazy food miles situation, driven by consumers wanting to buy fresh strawberries in December, and have access to products that can't be grown here.

 

[neilo]

No Neilo I'm not, I remember WELL the amount of NZ lamb flooding
into the UK and going into my local store to find hardly any UK stocked.
Some supermarkets fly the flag for british better than others even if
they are foreign owned.

With carefully worded statements like 'all our fresh meat is British'? No mention of the frozen or chilled products they offer, or what's used in their ready meals, or pre-packs?

Those foreign supermarkets that supposedly fly the flag for British farmers also don't pay premiums to dedicated supplier groups, they just buy at the cheapest price they can get in the market.

They are spinning a PR story, the same as the rest of the sharks.

 

[lloyd]

I wouldn't disagree, but market share has only come about because Tesco et al have been so successful in providing the customer with what they want, even if it entailed convincing them of what they wanted. Consumers voting with their purses/wallets have given them that market share, nothing else. The only way it would be curtailed is if government legislated against free market economics, which would be good for us farmers, but highly unlikely.

If the majority of consumers really wanted to buy bread from the local bakery, meat from a local butcher, etc, then the supermarkets would never have grown to dominate retailing. Likewise the crazy food miles situation, driven by consumers wanting to buy fresh strawberries in December, and have access to products that can't be grown here.

So Tesco's success was nothing to do with being one
of the first at developing green field sites with free parking
that probably put the butcher's in town out of business.
Nice of them to offer lamb contracts shortly before the price exploded.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I wouldn't disagree, but market share has only come about because Tesco et al have been so successful in providing the customer with what they want, even if it entailed convincing them of what they wanted. Consumers voting with their purses/wallets have given them that market share, nothing else. The only way it would be curtailed is if government legislated against free market economics, which would be good for us farmers, but highly unlikely.

If the majority of consumers really wanted to buy bread from the local bakery, meat from a local butcher, etc, then the supermarkets would never have grown to dominate retailing. Likewise the crazy food miles situation, driven by consumers wanting to buy fresh strawberries in December, and have access to products that can't be grown here.

Tesco et al have dominated the sector by shutting down the competition, aided and abetted by the planning system. Out of town superstores with free parking being the main factor.

 

[neilo]

So Tesco's success was nothing to do with being one
of the first at developing green field sites with free parking
that put the towns butchers out of business.
Nice of them to offer lamb contracts shortly before the price exploded.

Providing them with what they wanted you mean? Do you German friends charge for parking either? The consumers chose to support those shops, rather than the high street.

Tesco were offering lamb contracts for years before the price 'exploded', at a healthy premium, and were years behind the other supermarkets jumping on that one. There's hardly a sizable sheep farmer round here that's not been on a Waitrose contract for years, for example.

 

[Dog Bowl]

Clearly a very proactive PR team behind them spinning out all this guff to put themselves ahead before anything unsavory and derogatory is spouted about them. Why haven't haven't the NFU jumped on this food waste thing in the past and blown it far and wide into the mass media?? To really highlight the utter madness of how these supermarkets operate? Oh yes, that's right. The NFU are useless.

 

[neilo]

Tesco et al have dominated the sector by shutting down the competition, aided and abetted by the planning system. Our of town superstores with free parking being the main factor.

Of course, it's called capitalism and is championed by our 'free market' politicians. If the consumers had supported the high street shops then the big retailers wouldn't have been able to expand like they have.

 

[vantage]

The man isn’t a c*u**n*t, after all they’re useful.

 

[lloyd]

Providing them with what they wanted you mean? Do you German friends charge for parking either? The consumers chose to support those shops, rather than the high street.

Tesco were offering lamb contracts for years before the price 'exploded', at a healthy premium, and were years behind the other supermarkets jumping on that one. There's hardly a sizable sheep farmer round here that's not been on a Waitrose contract for years, for example.

I think we will have to return to this thread when we see which
is the first major supermarket to import sizeable shipments
of lamb when the price is favourable to them.
Of course they are looking after you because your
useful to them .......at the moment!

 

[neilo]

I think we will have to return to this thread when we see which
is the first major supermarket to import sizeable shipments
of lamb when the price is favourable to them.
Of course they are looking after you because your
useful to them .......at the moment!

They will all source from elsewhere, when the price works for them, they are ALL ruthless retailing corporations. None of them are any friends to us producers, however they like to spin their PR.

They're not 'looking after us' currently, which is why they have lost a lot of producers, that's the choice we have with 12 month supplier contracts. They certainly were a few years ago though, when prices weren't as good and they could have bought lamb & beef at substantially lower prices outwith their producer groups, as your German friends were.

They are all ruthless sharks in a cutthroat business operating on slim margins. I agree that's it's not a healthy way to feed a country, but unless the government legislates against the choice of the voting electorate, increasing food prices as they do, then nothing is going to change for the better.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Of course, it's called capitalism and is championed by our 'free market' politicians. If the consumers had supported the high street shops then the big retailers wouldn't have been able to expand like they have.

It's not a free market when different planning rules apply to different shops though is it?

Why? Because section 106 agreements allow the big operators to bribe cash strapped local councils.

Oh and don't expect the non farmers union to say anything against any of their big retailer members.