Fruitbox

David Hughes, known to many as Dr Food, has just been handed a hypothetical shopping trolley stuffed with several billion dollars, then asked where in the food industry he wants to invest the money.

“Where would I put it? High-value horticulture,” he replies. “I would pick the highest value crop that I can find, and one that is coming over the horizon now at pace.”

Listeners to this week’s episode of Fruitbox can discover the single horticultural product that Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London and a renowned food business expert, regards as the most promising.

That revelation comes at the end of a fascinating discussion about the way we eat and drink, focusing on areas relevant to the fresh fruit and vegetable business like health, sustainability, commoditisation, pricing, and the recent dramatic rise in the number of different retail and distribution models.

“The big change, which is not Covid-19 related, is the increasing number of routes to the consumer,” Hughes comments. “In a relatively short period of time, we’ve seen those proliferate. Yes, there’s a supermarket. Yes, you can get it online. You can be a pure-play Ocado, or a multichannel Tesco or Walmart. And then there are meal boxes, for example.”

Companies that would have been beyond our imagination ten years ago – the likes of HelloFresh, DoorDash, or Deliveroo – are rerouting the supply chain, he adds.

“Suddenly that’s another route to the consumer that’s taking market share from traditional retailers. I think that’s the big struggle and the challenge for traditional supermarkets. If they’re not on these new routes, including online, then it’s bye-bye for them I think."

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even in Asia, a market with a deserved reputation for being at the cutting edge of grocery ecommerce, the past year has seen major advances in the development of this new retail arena.

That’s the view of Ruth McLennan, commercial director for south-east Asia at Dairy Farm, one of Asia’s largest food retailers with annual sales of more than US$12bn.

“Like all markets, the pandemic has brought online to the forefront for both customers and retailers alike,” she tells Chris White in the latest episode of Fruitnet’s weekly conversation series Fruitbox.

“In Asia, the progress is mixed. Some markets have established online businesses and some others are quite new to the arena. Online is very progressed in Hong Kong, China and Singapore, so in some of our other markets, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia, this channel has seen a meteoric rise as customers shift their shopping habits.”

With growth in online grocery shopping as high as 20 per cent in some of those countries, there have been rapid changes to the food retail landscape, McLennan says.

“What’s also interesting is the move from the wet markets to online, as they were closed during the height of the pandemic.”

The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of supply chains, and maintaining supply of the freshest products for customers, she adds.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shopping for fruit and veg may soon be a whole lot easier if Amazon’s much-heralded ‘just walk out’ technology becomes a common feature of grocery retailing.

The ecommerce giant opened its first (and indeed second) Amazon Fresh store outside North America in London earlier this month. But what are the implications of this new venture for the way we will shop for food in future?

Retail journalist Miya Knights says the difference is primarily about the shoppers themselves. “It takes the labour away from the customer in terms of having to queue, pick your own goods, bag your own goods, scan them in some cases, then pay for them yourself.”

What’s even more revolutionary, she argues, is the technological barrier to entry. “Amazon has kind of said it will pick and choose who it allows into the store, because you have to download the Amazon Fresh app and download a barcode to gain entry. I don’t there are that many retailers who would open a store and then say it’s not open to everybody.”

Knights is director and publisher of Retail Technology magazine, as well as the co-author of Amazon: How the World’s Most Relentless Retailer will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce.

Speaking during the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox, she explains how Amazon will disrupt grocery shopping in the years ahead, forcing existing market players to catch up – either by making real-world retailing a more enjoyable experience, or by further blurring the lines between physical stores and e-commerce.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite its name, InFarm’s roots are very much in the market. In February 2021, the Berlin-based urban farming startup announced the creation of new growing centres to supply fresh produce to the likes of Edeka, Lidl and Kaufland.

Starting in Germany and extending very soon to the UK, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, US and Canada, the move represents a step change in its operations, scaling up a business model that until now has focused on smaller, plug-and-grow units within retail stores themselves.

Now, as demand for locally grown produce continues to rise, the company is preparing go beyond the 1,500 in-store farms already installed and ramp up production wherever the market demands it.

And with total venture capital funding of more than US$400m to date, it’s certainly shaping up to be one of the world’s most hotly tipped vertical growing startups.

“We are not building farms,” explains InFarm’s vice-president of corporate sales Daniel Kats, speaking on the latest episode of Fruitbox. “We’re taking facilities and deploying models inside. Those automated towers can then grow by demand. If the retailer has more demand, we just add one or two or ten more towers.”

Why now? “The population is growing, the demand keeps growing, and a lot of food production is needed in many large cities,” says Katz. “Therefore we are pushing the button now and starting to grow.”

Now operating in ten countries, and set to launch in Japan this year, the company is also venturing into new products. As a result, it’s ready to become a major supplier in its own right, rather than simply enabling retailers to grow a limited number of items in stores.

“We are growing much more variety and assortment,” Kats adds. “We started with a lot of leafy greens, herbs, lettuces, mixed salads, microgreens, and now we’re doing the first steps into tomatoes, mushrooms, chillies, strawberries in the future, which require naturally much bigger spaces to grow centrally and distribute to the supermarkets.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anyone familiar with upmarket British supermarket chain Marks & Spencer might not expect one of its star fruit and veg performers over the past year to be a two-kilo bag of potatoes.

That’s not to say it has stopped innovating at the premium end of the market – something proven by the launch of an easy-peeler grapefruit, or the three million home delivery fruit and veg boxes it sold during the UK’s first lockdown.

but with the pandemic turning received wisdom on its head in the last 12 months, the impressive growth achieved by every single item of fresh produce in the retailer’s value range Remarksable does seem to make sense.

As Lisa Raschia, head of trading in fresh produce, horticulture and frozen at M&S, explains, interest in those value lines and, crucially, demand for simpler products that can be used in home-cooked dishes is notably higher than it was this time last year.

As a result, the company is managing to change perceptions about the kind of service it offers its customers.

“The upside [of the pandemic] is that, in less than 12 months, we’ve achieved some of the hardest bits we were going after, which is really around attracting family shoppers, and attracting more of a large basket shop,” she tells Chris White in the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox.

“We’ve always been known more as a prepared and convenience produce retailer,” she says. “But for us, Remarksable has been really strong. It performed brilliantly through lockdown one and we added lines to the range for the September launch. It’s doing fantastically.”

While the Remarksable 2kg potato line may be the biggest success story, with sales up almost 200 per cent on the year, the whole range is performing strongly, says Raschia, with even the worst performer up 25 per cent.

“Clearly there is this trend towards value, towards great quality at a great price,” she adds, “but also clearly scratch cooking, because these are all whole-head produce that people have to do something with. We’ve seen more lunch occasions coming through too – so salads really buoyant, peppers 50 per cent up, salad onions nearly 40 per cent up.”

M&S shoppers are also looking more and more for products thought to help their immunity. “Ginger’s up 100 per cent, we’ve tripled our sales on turmeric, citrus is up 15 per cent on the year but actually in lockdown one the sales level was so extreme that we launched a nutrition campaign called Eat in Colour where we tried to highlight other products on the shelf that were high in Vitamin C or any immunity benefits.”

Raschia goes on to consider other recent trends affecting fresh produce, including the rise of the online retail channel (in which M&S is now heavily involved in partnership with Ocado) and the challenge of having so many of its convenience stores closed.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During what has been a tumultuous and unpredictable four years for the US politically and socially, it’s fair to say that life in the country’s fresh fruit and vegetable business has been a little less uncertain.

However, as in most parts of the world, the impact of Covid-19 has been considerable. In particular, the closure of foodservice outlets has had a dramatic effect on a market where previously around 35 per cent of the fruit and veg eaten, and about half of all the food, would have been consumed outside of the home.

But with a new president in the White House, and crucially with a new administration in place, it seems an air of renewed optimism could help shape the US produce market to keep growing over the coming years,

For Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive of the Washington DC-based United Fresh Produce Association, recent political events in the city were a watershed for the country’s democracy and also its fresh produce industry.

Witnessed by millions around the world, the Capitol riot on 6 January and Joe Biden’s inauguration exactly two weeks later represented a real turning point in the state of affairs, he suggests.

“It was a momentous event in the history of this country and there is obviously going to be a change,” he tells Chris White in the latest episode of Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s weekly series of fresh produce conversations. “President Biden has come in and set a different tone from the very beginning. It was inclusive, reaching out to people who disagree.

The art of disagreement, rather than the art of the deal, has always been more the fresh produce industry’s style, Stenzel suggests. “I think about us in the produce industry. Oh my gosh, buyers and sellers are negotiating, buying and selling every single day. For some reason, our politicians in the United States and many other countries sadly don’t seem to have that skill set that we in the fresh produce industry have.”

He adds: “But I do have that little bit of optimism. I believe President Biden will be reaching out, changing that mood, and re-establishing America’s connections around the world.”

That optimism will be much needed of course as the US produce industry continues to grapple with the pandemic. According to Stenzel, the trade is “functioning pretty well” despite having to contend with a major shift in its supply chains to retail. Spending power is certain to be an issue for more consumers in the near future, but he believes the big lesson of the pandemic for many will be that eating fruit and veg is critical for short and long-term health.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covid continues to cast a long shadow over the European fresh produce business.

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, trade association Freshfel Europe set about assessing the impact of the crisis on Europe’s fruit and vegetable trade.

Now, after nearly a year of unprecedented disruption to several parts of the produce supply network – from production all the way through to wholesale, retail and foodservice – the financial impact of the crisis is becoming more clear.

Despite strong demand especially through the supermarkets, costs have increased significantly. Freshfel’s early estimate put additional operating costs for the European fresh produce chain at roughly €500m per month, as companies did everything they could to keep fruit and veg growing and flowing through the market.

But now, almost 12 months on, the organisation is looking further ahead, to gauge the pandemic’s longer-term effects. “I think Covid has also started to change consumer behaviour and the sector needs to adapt to that,” says Freshfel’s general delegate Philippe Binard.

Returning to Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s series of fresh produce industry conversations, for his second appearance on the show, Binard discusses how not just Covid but also Brexit. the EU’s Green Deal policy, online retailing, and the buying attitudes of younger consumers are all affecting the fresh produce business in Europe.

He also explains how longer-term concerns over the economy are going to play a far larger role in consumer behaviour in the coming months and years – something which will make consumer marketing campaigns like Freshfel’s own SpeakUp4FruitVeg promotion all the more crucial in building and sustaining demand.

“In the first wave of the pandemic, I think consumers have been keen to look for healthier products,” he recalls. “They were in an environment where they wanted to be reassured, so they were looking for more natural products, more local products, more pre-packed products. And there has been shift in the attitudes of consumers, moving to online shopping also.”

While all of these factors have certainly changed the way consumers shop and the way retailers service that demand, Binard believes the coming months could bring more new trends.

“As we move to the second and third waves, there is another important element which is growing uncertainty about the economic situation,” he says. “People are losing their jobs, and that could have an impact on consumer attitudes. Remember in the first wave everyone was looking for premium, organic products. I think this is over and consumers are looking out much more for [lower] prices.”

He adds: “We will have to see which of these changes will be the short-term reaction, and which will be more permanent in the attitudes of consumers in the longer term.”

Earlier this week, Freshfel Europe and the OECD published the first ever extensive study of fresh produce sold through online vendors, an area of the market that it said had seen considerable growth but also huge variety in terms of methods of distribution, marketing and so on.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How has Covid-19 changed our attitudes as consumers? And what will happen next as a result?

Two hugely important questions for any company, but especially so for those involved in the fruit and vegetables business, which has seen massive spikes in demands as well as severe shocks to some of its supply chains as a result of the pandemic.

Ben Page, chief executive of leading consumer research firm Ipsos Mori, says he believes the pandemic has massively changed behaviour all over the world, although it remains to be seen how consumer values will be altered in the longer term.

"I think you've got that greater interest in health, which is not surprising in a global pandemic," he tells Fruitnet's Chris White during the latest episode of Fruitnet's conversation series Fruitbox.

"And I think the big thing for many of the brands we work with in the FMCG space is a consumer need for reassurance, familiarity, and security."

In addition, Page explains, there has been a massive rise in the number of people wanting to buy local.

"By which I mean their country market for goods, and certainly rise in national pride in many markets," he comments. "Wanting to know a bit more about provenance – it was a trend that was there before; it seems to have been accelerated."

And finally, largely out of necessity, people are eating at home far more. "Out-of-home eating will be under pressure for some time, to be quite honest," he adds. "And even after we're freed from government lockdowns, a lot of people will still have their income squeezed."

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To say that Christmas means a great deal for dried fruit and nut suppliers is like saying chocolate companies quite enjoy Easter.

In fact, for Europe’s largest dried fruit and nut company, Importaco, the festive period usually contributes around 40 per cent of its total annual sales.

But as the group’s chief executive Toño Pons explains in the latest edition of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox, the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have sparked even greater demand for these products.

“During the last lockdown, we had some examples of sales increasing 50 per cent, and what we discovered was that customers are much more health-conscious,” he notes. “In 2021, there is an expectation for growth of around 5 per cent in the market for nuts worldwide.”

The fact that nuts and dried fruit are now seen as good alternatives to other less healthy snacks is a very positive thing for Importaco and companies like it.

“Consumers now recognise that nuts are a source of minerals, vitamins, proteins and healthy fats,” Pons adds. “They’re starting to think more and more that nuts are an essential part of a healthy diet. Equally, dried fruit are a very popular choice among kids and sports people.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raffaele Benedetti thinks grading technology could soon be able to pick out the best fruit according to its nutritional qualities, a development that could open the door to products being marketed on the basis of specific health benefits.

“I think the next step will be in this direction,” he explains in the latest episode of Fruitbox. “The first step was to select for size and colour, then for defects and soft fruit, and now [sugar] and acidity. So why not, nutritional content could be something that the market asks for soon."

Benedetti knows better than most the role that technology has played in boosting fruit sales, and especially for example in the recent phenomenal growth in blueberry sales around the world.

Thanks to hi-tech camera systems like the ones developed by his company Unitec, suppliers are now able to pick out the best fruit according to a range of different considerations, helping them achieve more consistent quality and grow their business as a result.

For now, says Benedetti, the machinery is going a step further and enabling suppliers to grade their fruit according to taste. For the blueberry business, that could be another game-changer. “What this means is they will not find a bad one in with the good ones, or a super-sweet one in with [more] acidic ones,” he explains.

Benedetti suggests that a recent drive towards automation in the field will mean greater demand for technology that can offer better product consistency, “Today, harvesting of blueberries is becoming an issue,” he comments. “In the US, they are focused mainly on mechanical harvesting, so today it’s very difficult to do different harvests on the same plant. Most of the time, they do one harvest with a machine. So it’s very important to differentiate the different sizes and internal quality.”

Benedetti was taking part in this year’s Global Berry Congress, which took place as a virtual event on 10 December. The event attracted more than 550 people from around 45 different countries.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.