Local produce: Warburtons Bread Board

First up is the very topical subject of local produce: does local produce mean ‘quality’ to consumers, how important is local to today’s shoppers and will it become increasingly relevant?

Guy Warner, who operates five stores in the Cotswolds area of between 1,500 and 3,000sq ft, won the Warburtons Quality Award for Local Sourcing.

“Now that everyone is questioning where food comes from there has inevitably been more widespread interest in local produce, with consumers particularly attracted to its provenance and quality.

“However, there will always be a socio-economic factor with local products, as they tend to be more expensive due to more intensive production methods.

“In my Cotswolds’ stores people tend to be more affluent, and I’ve found local produce has been popular in both my city outlets and in the forecourt locations, where the ambient selection of local foods has really exceeded all my expectations.

“Of course, this doesn’t mean you can treat local foods as a roofless opportunity, as consumers aren’t stupid. We’re quite open with our suppliers and ask them what price they want, which is often quite low. This helps us to create sensible pricing – it works to be fair, not greedy.

“We have fantastic working relationships with our suppliers which is one of the pleasures of stocking local produce. I think they are pleased to have such a strong and consistent route to market, instead of relying on weather threatened events like farmer markets.

“We go through a real journey with new suppliers, and sit down with them to talk about what we need and what will work for them with matters like labelling or logistics.

“In fact, we have so many requests from suppliers now that we’ve had to take a decision to work with a limited number. Dealing with multiple suppliers can be logistically demanding, and you can also risk diluting down the sales of other suppliers if you take on too many of the same products.

“I would also advise retailers keen to stock local produce, that this shouldn’t become their only focus. If you just sell local foods, then you become a niche store and would lose out on customers on their weekly shop, which would be commercially fatal. We need people to come and do the family shop in our store, so we make sure local produce sits alongside everyday products.”

Tony Howard has two stores – one of 1,000sq ft ad one of 6,000sq ft, in North Yorkshire. He won the Warburtons Quality Award for Merchandising

“Our 6,000sq ft store is a specialist food shop and we have thrived on local produce and have always supported local farmers. This is a key identity for us, and products like the local beef and hams we buy in and roast ourselves are very popular with shoppers – they know it’s real quality. This means they don’t mind paying a bit more too.

“It has become more difficult to use local as a point of difference with the multiples now taking local too, but products like our cooked meats could never be produced in the same quality by the multiples. You always have to be prepared to go one step further.

“Also, I think it has become more difficult for local producers once they are in the multiples to keep up the quality and really churn it out quickly.

“Whereas it’s a two-way street with independents and local producers – we try to help producers and they deliver us quality goods, often the next day. However, we have found the service from some producers dwindles when they start being stocked by the multiples though – sometimes we have to start going through the wholesalers.

“Although local has had a lot of publicity recently which has driven sales, things are going to be tight this year, and my gut feeling is people could start cutting back on more pricey items like fresh local produce and organics.”

Sukhwinder Kaur’s 1,000sq ft village store in Forest Green, Gloucestershire, won the Warburtons Quality Award for Community Retailer

“Our village shop mostly attracts passing trade and this type of customer does not seem to be interested in local produce.

“Our customers are mostly interested in picking up fruit and veg, or confectionery or other products for their children’s packed lunches. We also have a lot of trade from local people who are popping in to buy something specific which they have forgotten in their weekly shop.

“With our customers pricing is the primary issue and this is why I don’t think local produce will be an important matter for our customer base.”