Category Archives: Waitrose

Tesco’s £25 champagne beats Moët & Chandon in festive taste test

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Supermarket fizz bursts the prestigious French label’s bubble in blind tastings by consumer group Which?

Champagne at prosecco prices? Every little helps. Tesco’s Finest champagne has triumphed over the prestigious French label Moët & Chandon in a festive quaff test.

The Tesco Finest premier cru brut champagne received the top score of 82% in a blind taste test conducted by the consumer group Which?. The £25-a-bottle bubbly was hailed by judges for its “nutty aroma and fresh, fruity flavours”. The supermarket fizz beat Moët & Chandon, which scored 77% and at £44 is almost twice as expensive.

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‘On the front foot’: Waitrose boss confident chain is getting its mojo back

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James Bailey is confident the market has swung in its favour, with more customers and plans to open new stores

Waitrose is getting its mojo back, according to the boss of the upmarket supermarket chain, with shoppers treating themselves more often to pricier items such as green harissa paste and organic beef fillet steak as the cost of living crisis subsides for them.

James Bailey says Waitrose is selling nearly double the amount expected of its range of branded ingredients for recipes by the celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi, which launched in April, while sales of its Duchy Organic range are up more than 10%, as are those for its premium No 1 own label range, while sales of its budget Essentials range are falling back.

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John Lewis is ‘back on track’, says outgoing chair Sharon White

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Return to profit will enable ‘significant investment’, including Waitrose refurbs and more convenience stores

The outgoing chair of John Lewis has insisted that the retail group is “back on track” and “more fit for the future” with an improving financial position enabling it to spend money refurbishing Waitrose supermarkets and opening convenience stores.

Sharon White, who will retire as chair of the John Lewis Partnership in September, said the upmarket Waitrose brand was “underrepresented in convenience” as it sought new avenues of growth.

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John Lewis owner cut 3,500 jobs last year yet hired chief on £1.2m pay deal

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Further job cuts likely as JLP says it is investing in automation as part of ‘simplifying the way we work’

The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose cut 3,500 jobs last year amid efforts to save costs in a tough market – but employed its first group chief executive on a more than £1m pay deal.

The staff-owned group, which has 34 John Lewis department stores and 329 Waitrose supermarkets, said it employed 72,900 people in its annual report published on Thursday, down from 76,400 a year before, helping to reduce its pay bill to £1.79bn from £1.82bn.

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Premature death of 80m chickens raises concerns over UK’s fast-growing breeds

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Animal welfare groups urge retailers to switch to slow-growing birds in face of record deaths last year

More than 80 million chickens died before reaching slaughter weight in the UK last year, with mortality rates the highest for at least a decade, reveal official figures.

Animal welfare organisations say the fast-growing chicken breeds that dominate production have higher mortality rates, lameness and muscle disease than slower-growing breeds. They are calling on retailers to switch to slower-growing breeds and provide more space for the birds.

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‘Organised gangs’ are shoplifting to order in UK, John Lewis boss says

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Groups of thieves are targeting high-value items such as bottles of spirits, warns the retail group chair Sharon White

John Lewis chair Sharon White has raised fears for the safety of its store workers amid a rise of “organised gangs” of shoplifters who are targeting high-value items such as bottles of spirits.

White, the head of the department store group which also owns Waitrose supermarkets, said it was “not an exaggeration” to describe the change as an epidemic.

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Waitrose in talks with Amazon over online grocery deal, says report

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Supermarket said to be considering third-party deal after share of UK market falls

Waitrose is reportedly in talks with Amazon to sell groceries via the internet marketplace, in an attempt to lure in more shoppers and claw back market share.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the upmarket supermarket, part of the John Lewis Partnership, and Amazon were discussing a third-party deal, after the world’s biggest online retailer struck a similar agreement with the supermarket Iceland recently.

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John Lewis boss faces confidence vote as business considers ways to seek new funds

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Sharon White wants to bring in investors to build flats above stores, potentially leading to the sale of stake in the business

The boss of John Lewis will face a confidence vote by staff members on Wednesday as the business considers the option of bringing in outside investment in a change that could threaten the decades-old employee-owned model.

Chairman Sharon White is considering radical ways to bring in up to £2bn to help secure the future of the John Lewis Partnership, including diversifying into building flats for rent above shops, after reporting hefty losses from its chain of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets.

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Strawberries instead of bin liners: poll reveals strange supermarket delivery substitutions

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Shoppers reported replacement items in 47% of UK deliveries, including 62% from Asda, in Which? survey

Dog chews instead of chicken breasts? Strawberries in place of bin liners? These are just some of the strangest supermarket substitutions, according to a poll.

Almost half of supermarket deliveries (47%) included a substitute item over the past 12 months, the survey for the consumer group Which? found.

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Aldi’s 29p mince pie a close second to Waitrose’s winner in blind taste test

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Waitrose’s No 1 Brown Butter pies wowed with their ‘buttery aroma’, while Aldi’s, at half the price, scored just one point less

Tucking into a mince pie is usually the first sign Christmas is on the way and with budgets under pressure this year getting your fix doesn’t have to break the bank, with a 29p pie from Aldi coming a close second to Waitrose’s brown butter pastry in a taste test.

The upmarket supermarket’s No 1 Brown Butter Mince Pies came top in a “rigorous” blind taste test conducted by Which?. They wowed the panel of baking experts with their “buttery aroma” and “citrussy aftertaste” to achieve the top score of 74%, earning the consumer group’s coveted “best buy” badge of approval.

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John Lewis boss calls for Covid-style cost of living aid package

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Dame Sharon White follows Tesco chief in urging UK government to help with rising energy and grocery bills

The boss of John Lewis has urged the governmentto intervene with a financial package of support to protect families from the cost of living crisis on the same scale as it did to help the nation deal with the Covid pandemic.

Dame Sharon White, a former second permanent secretary at the Treasury, said the government needed to act urgently as families struggle to pay utility and food costs as energy bills and inflation soars.

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Skinny spud latte to go? Potato milk hits UK supermarket shelves

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Dairy alternative goes on sale at Waitrose this week, the latest offering in a booming alt-milk market worth £400m a year

First came soya, nut and then oat but the new challenger to the plant milk crown is the humble spud as potato milk arrives on UK supermarket shelves.

Described as “deliciously creamy” and capable of producing the “perfect foam” for a homemade latte or cappuccino, the Swedish potato milk brand Dug goes on sale in 220 Waitrose stores this week.

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Workers paid less than minimum wage to pick berries destined for UK supermarkets

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Exclusive: Workers in Portugal picking berries ending up on the shelves of Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Tesco allege exploitative conditions

  • Photographs by Francesco Brembati for the Guardian

Farm workers in Portugal appear to have been working illegally long hours picking berries destined for Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Waitrose for less than the minimum wage, according to a Guardian investigation.

Speaking anonymously, for fear of retribution from their employers, workers claimed the hours listed on their payslips were often fewer than the hours they had actually worked.

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Stop overfishing or we’ll buy elsewhere, top UK fish firm warns European states

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Young’s Seafood joins calls for sustainable quotas of mackerel, herring and blue whiting to be agreed in line with scientific advice

The UK’s largest seafood processor is threatening to stop sourcing fish from the north-east Atlantic unless coastal states, including the UK and countries in the EU, reach a suitable agreement on managing populations this month.

Young’s Seafood has joined Tesco, Co-op, Princes, Aldi, Asda, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and other retailers and suppliers in calling for urgent action from ministers to manage populations of mackerel, herring and blue whiting more sustainably.

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UK supermarkets unite after Sainsbury’s advert prompts racist backlash

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Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose run ads back-to-back on Channel 4

A group of leading UK supermarkets have joined together to take a stand against a racist online backlash that followed Sainsbury’s Christmas advertisement featuring a black family.

Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose ran their adverts back-to-back during two primetime slots on Channel 4 on Friday evening, with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism. Normally, competitors actively avoid airing their ads close together.

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