No easy solutions in the land of opportunity

How do you see the market?

It’s a land of opportunity. Government sees the benefits of stimulating healthy eating and that trend is encouraging consumers to eat more. Hopefully that’s a big opportunity for us.

It will be interesting to see whether the FPC venture into generic promotion gets off the ground, I would like to think it does, but we’ll have to see. Another issue Product deflation as well as rising costs, are also making things interesting - we have to look for ways to be more efficient and more effective while continuing to make sure that growers are making adequate returns.

So what’s the answer?

There aren’t any easy solutions - there never are, whatever sector you’re in. You need to be much more closely aligned to customers and be far more aware of the cost structure and how the supply chain works and look for ways to improve it.

How can the industry up its game?

As an industry we’re still prone to lots of wastage, not just on the product, but costs - when delivering fresh produce you see times where supply and demand don’t match up - it’s about trying to find ways to deliver more efficiently to retailers.

What other opportunities are there for suppliers?

I think the non-multiple side offers huge amounts of opportunities still. Because what we’ve seen and what we are seeing is that those customers are increasingly looking for something different and that’s often about traceability, brand and accreditation and as a business, we’re able to provide that kind of product into customers’ outlets.

There’s a massive opportunity in the convenience store sector, but it is still in an evolutionary state. At the moment, fresh produce is quite low in that area, but potential for that produce is significant.

If you look at the trends with the multiples, people are getting away from doing one big shop a week and then doing a top up. They’re buying more frequently and using convenience stores.

Hithertoo product quality has been poor in the non-multiple sector and there’s a lot of work still to be done. We’re putting a lot of effort into that.

Are you taking up that challenge?

In the past, c-stores bought from the wholesale market or the local cash and carry, and that still works for some, but if you’re a chain you’ve got to have consistency of brand and food safety and we believe as a business, with our skills, we can deliver that across the country.

Although the multiples have around 83 per cent of the market, there’s still a lot of product not going through the sector and I think the independent trader will survive if he’s sharp at what he does.

I’ve always thought that it was nuts that greengrocers open up at 8am and close at 4pm and don’t open on Sundays, particularly when the competition is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How do you see the foodservice sector?

It is another good opportunity, particularly on a local scale. The growth in things like gourmet pubs is significant and they form a massive part of foodservice and that’s a huge opportunity. They also want safe product, great product and good accreditation.

You recently sold a part of your foodservice operations - why?

Caterfresh for us was a business that we decided wasn’t right. We did a review and while we’d seen some substantial growth it was becoming less about fresh produce and more about distribution. We consider our core skills to be in fresh produce, not distribution.

I knew the Harris’ very well [Fresh Direct] and thought the best solution would be to bring together the skills of both businesses.

There are two things that matter, one is getting the product and the other is that it’s the right product and its safe. We’ve got a better, clearer focus and we think for us, it was the right move and the right move for Nigel. It will give him critical mass.

We’ve set up a joint venture to do sourcing for Fresh Direct so we’re still heavily involved with Nigel and his business. We see it as our route to that marketplace.

Caterfresh was a relatively small part in terms of our core business. We’ve had Redbridge Foodservice alongside Caterfresh for seven to eight years, and that is a business that’s growing rapidly. It looks after the schools and canteens side.

How do you see Redbridge developing?

For us, we see lots of opportunity with the major retailers and it’s growing rapidly. We believe we offer great service and we’re very focused on working in partnership with the retailers.

We’re also beginning to expand into the EU marketplace, establishing offices overseas - to migrate further up the supply chain to give our customers better value and enhance our influence. We’ve started up a business in New Zealand and we already have offices in Spain and the Netherlands.

What areas are interesting you?

Soft fruit is now rivalling grapes. The growth in blueberries has been outstanding and there will be other blueberries. The amount people spend on fresh produce is a finite amount - if I can get people to eat more soft fruit and the impact of that is that they eat less bananas, so be it.

What do you think of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme?

I’m a fan of it and I think the government have done a very good job and should be applauded. I just hope it continues to fund it. We’ve found that in areas where kids have moved out of free supply, we’ve introduced a commercial version, where parents can pay around £3 a week for their kids to carry on getting pieces of fruit. It’s very rewarding when you get letters from headmasters who thank us for the work we’re doing.

It’s amazing how consumers got cut off and disconnected from food - we’ve seen kids try and eat bananas with the skin on - there’s something definitely wrong.

Are we tackling the issues of healthy eating effectively?

The health of the nation is dependent on what we eat in the next five years We need kids to start changing their eating habits otherwise the costs to the NHS will be unbelievable.

We should not be putting off until tomorrow what we can do today.

It’s a long-term process and needs long term support - if we can get 10 to 15 per cent movement then it will make a difference over time.

With the Olympics coming to the country, people are going to be thinking about getting fitter, if you want to be fit to compete.

I think the FPC campaign is a great idea but time will tell.

The sector needs to be much more positive about itself. I find so many people in the fresh produce industry are so negative, they carp and moan first.