Meet the Multiples
The Select Lincolnshire team recognise that consumer awareness resulting in brand loyalty is an integral part to making the project a success for the industry in the county.
To ensure Lincolnshire is synonymous with quality food and drink throughout the UK, it is essential that Select Lincolnshire works with the major multiple operators to increase brand awareness and heighten the profile for all Lincolnshire producers.
Select Lincolnshire is working towards becoming a recognised brand with progress being made with the major multiples over the last 6 months.
Tesco
www.tesco.com/regionalsourcing
In 2006 Tesco established 6 regional buying offices. Teams at the buying offices consist of Buying, Marketing and Technical Managers. Lincolnshire falls under the jurisdiction of the ‘East’ regional office.
Buying Offices are supported by regional roadshows where local suppliers are invited to bring products along and explore the possibility of gaining listings in local stores.
More information on all of the above, including dates of roadshows, can be found at www.tesco.com/regionalsourcing.
Select Lincolnshire have involved Tesco from the very early stages of the initiative, and were very pleased to support them at their recent roadshow in the county at Horncastle.
Select Lincolnshire continues to work closely with the UK’s largest grocery retailer.
Sainsbury’s
www.supplysomethingnew.com
Sainsbury’s have revealed plans to put in place twelve regional food champions – responsible for developing their regional sourcing programme.
In conjunction with these champions the www.supplysomethingnew.com website has been launched – which provides an online function for potential suppliers to submit product details to JS.
Select Lincolnshire have been in discussion with Sainsbury regarding their regional sourcing programme. We were pleased to welcome their Regional Product Manager to the county for a visit and were able to showcase many of the region's fantastic food products.
Discussions with the retailer continue, and we were delighted that representatives from their Central London head office were able to join us on stand at IFE 2007.
ASDA
www.ideal-lincs.co.uk
ASDA have a dedicated local sourcing team and all of their 306 stores stock locally sourced items – which equates to over 2,400 product lines.
Over a third of ASDA’s regional lines are distributed through their 10 local sourcing hubs. The hub for Lincolnshire is managed by Ideal Lincs of Market Rasen. Ideal Lincs source, consolidate and deliver a multitude of regional product lines; and supply direct to ASDA stores in Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. For more information
please visit www.ideal-lincs.co.uk
Select Lincolnshire has previously achieved instore presence in local ASDA stores with promotional activity by E H Park & Son, a regional loose potato supplier and member of Select Lincolnshire.
We were pleased to welcome ASDA on stand at IFE earlier this year and Select Lincolnshire are currently in ongoing discussions with members of ASDA’s buying teams to potentially develop further Lincolnshire products instore.
Waitrose
www.waitrose.com
Waitrose has a team of buyers in its local and regional sourcing department. They source farmers, growers and suppliers, many of them small, familyrun businesses, who may want to supply only a handful of Waitrose branches.
A product is defined as 'local'if it is made within a 30-mile radius of the Waitrose branch where it is sold. Local products in Waitrose shops include fruit and vegetables, sausages, bacon, ice cream, wines, cheeses, sauces, and honey. At present more than 909 local products from 278 local suppliers are available in nearby branches. Currently Lincolnshire has one Waitrose store.
Waitrose were keen to support Select Lincolnshire at our 2006 Showcase event, and the deputy store manager from Lincoln gave a very informative presentation to delegates on Waitrose’s regional sourcing policy.
The Lincoln store lists products from a Select brand user, Mount Pleasant Windmill, who are suppliers of artisan, organic breads to Waitrose.
Co-op
www.lincolnshire.coop
The Co-op’s vision is to be the UK's preferred community food retailer, and they are currently working through action plans to increase local and regional sourcing.
Within the county there are many Lincolnshire Co-operative food stores. The Butchery Depot provides a large range of meat products which are sold throughout the food stores. Much of the meat is sourced from within Lincolnshire, and is packaged at the Lincoln depot.
The Select Team decided to progress discussions with the Co-op on a regional level and have been in discussion with representatives from Lincolnshire Co-op. They have been very keen to support the brand, and a spokesperson delivered a presentation at our 2006 Select Lincolnshire Showcase event.