news
6 | The Grocer | 17 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
news
6 | The Grocer | 17 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
news
Local farm-to-consumer
food delivery service
Farmdrop has launched
its own range of ready
meals, which it describes
as “an industry first”.
The fresh, seasonal
Made by Farmdrop ready-
to-go dishes are made by
hand in a kitchen near
Farmdrop’s Shoreditch,
East London HQ, with
fully traceable “farm
fresh” ingredients and
plastic-free packaging.
The company lamented
“a major lack of trans-
parency” in the sourcing
of ingredients for ready
meals and claimed there
Farmdrop claims industry first
with ‘farm fresh’ ready meals
was a supermarket “dou-
ble standard” between
the welfare of fresh meat
compared with meat
used as an ingredient.
Fresh ingredients are
delivered to the kitchen
straight from the farm
and once the meals areprepared, they’re packed
up with the rest of the
customer’s order.
Farmdrop said Made
by Farmdrop recognised
the gap on Londoners’
dinner tables for conveni-
ent, prepared food and
ready meals with fully
traceable ingredients.
Every decision had
been designed to maxim-
ise freshness and flavour
and eliminate waste, it
said. “Around 70% of
Farmdrop’s fresh fruit
& veg are sourced from
the UK,” said Made by
Farmdrop project man-
ager Grace Niblock.Waitrose Wine Tasting
at Home has followed up
the success of its ‘Gin ‘O
Clock’ experience with
Discover Whisky.
The new guided mas-
terclass, launched yes-
terday, sees a Waitrose
whisky specialist bring a
selection of whiskies and
pairings straight to cus-
tomers’ doors.
The tasting show-
cases five whiskies:
Maker’s Mark, The Chita,
Highland Park 12, Jim
Beam Double Oak and
Laphroaig.
“We’re thrilled to
be bringing a trulyWhisky experience
for Waitrose Tasting
memorable experience to
people’s homes. Whisky
is a drink that is often
enjoyed with a fizzy
accompaniment, with
some finding the drink
overpowering,” said
Andrew Riding, drinks
experience manager at
Waitrose Wine Tasting at
Home.
“This tasting shows
just how versatile whisky
can be by showing guests
simple and delicious
cocktails and delicious
food pairings.”
The tasting is for at
least six people. Prices
start at £30 a head.Aldi in self-checkout
trial in London Locals
Aldi has launched the trial at three Local stores in LondonSteve Farrell
Aldi has rolled out self-
checkouts to three of its
Local branded stores in
London.
The London stores join
only one other UK Aldi
to feature self-checkouts- in Tamworth, near the
discounter’s Atherstone
head office, where the
machines were intro-
duced as a trial in April
this year.
The Aldi Local fas-
cia made its debut on a
new branch in Balham,
also in April, as way to
distinguish between
smaller stores in London
from full-sized ones.
In June, seven more
London branches either
converted to or opened
under the new banner.
The stores are around
6,000 sq ft, less than
half the size of a typi-
cal Aldi. Bigger pack
sizes have been sacri-
ficed to make a slimmed-
down range, better
suited to the absence
of a car park, consist-
ing of about 1,500 prod-
ucts. Aldi’s usual centre
aisle of general merchan-
dise ‘Specialbuys’ is also
absent.Three Aldi Locals,
including the first, in
Balham, a second newly
opened store in a for-
mer Waitrose in Camden,
and a converted one in
Archway, now also have
self-checkouts. Archway
is Aldi’s smallest UK store
at around 5,000 sq ft.
Aldi maintains Local is
not a convenience formatbut simply a vehicle for
growing overall grocery
market share in London,
where sites of the pre-
ferred size of 65,000 sq
ft including a car park
are in short supply. It’s
understood there are
no plans to use the sub-
brand outside London,
where larger sites are
more readily available.
An Aldi spokesman
said the self-checkouts
were “very much about
freeing up our people
to spend more time on
the shop floor with our
customers”.
“I would re-emphasise
that this remains a trial
and there are no plans
for further rollout [of self-
checkouts] at this stage
until we fully understand
the performance,” he
added.Fresh, seasonal dishes are
made in East LondonAmazon opened its first
Clicks and Mortar shop in
Scotland, the third in the
UK, last weekend.
Two other Amazon
pop-ups have opened, in
Manchester and Cardiff,
since June. The third is in
Edinburgh.
The shops offer prod-
ucts from third-party
Amazon sellers, includ-
ing electronics, fashion,
homewares and food.
Another seven are still
to come in a year-long
trial in partnership with
small business network
Enterprise Nation.
“From giving up-and-
coming online busi-
nesses the chance to
experience physical retail
to funding the training of
apprenticeships, Amazon
is committed to support-
ing the growth of small
businesses in Scotland,”
said Amazon UK country
manager Doug Gurr.
Edinburgh
hosts Amazon
Clicks and
Mortar store