UK retailer Tesco grabbed the headlines last week as the horsemeat saga rumbled on. CEO Philip Clarke announced a raft of changes to its supply chain, including a promise to source all fresh chicken from within the UK. Elsewhere, just-food spoke with Genius CEO Roz Cuschieri about its plans for the Finsbury free-from brand it is set to acquire, and the CEO of Hostess Brands announced the successful sale of the majority of its bread units to Flowers Foods.
“Events over the past six weeks have been a wake-up call for the whole industry. Over many years, the way retailers source food has been allowed to become too complex” – Tesco CEO Philip Clarke announces changes to its supply chain in the shadow of the horsemeat scandal.
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“These last few days have seen a lot of questions asked and, not to put it more strongly, fraud, because there was no labelling” – French President François Hollande demands EU labelling requirements for meat in ready meals.
“The proposed sales will result in significant proceeds for the benefit of the company’s stakeholders and ensure the beloved bread brands can continue to be enjoyed for years to come” – Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn on the sales of the majority of its bread units to Flowers Foods.
“All the things that can and should be done to keep businesses alive, healthy, profitable, dynamic, shouldn’t be done at the cost of exploiting workers and ignoring their rights” – Peter McAllister, director of UK-based multi-stakeholder organisation the Ethical Trading Initiative, says concerns over workers’ rights are paramount when restructuring, rationalisation or disinvestment are taking place.
“Heinz has a few long-standing ambitions that probably it could do with a significant scale. Either through bolt-on acquisitions on top of what they already have, or to push into new categories and markets through significant scale acquisitions” – Euromonitor senior food analyst Ildiko Szalai believes Heinz is positioning itself to further expand in the market, with the possibility of further M&A on the horizon.
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By GlobalData“We see huge potential both in the UK and also internationally. We think, in the shape of the Genius brand, we’re best placed to deliver against that and to drive that” – Genius’ CEO Roz Cuschieri talks to just-food about the company’s long-term ambitions.
“We’ve been sorting out the balance sheet to allow us to invest harder and so we will do some M&A activity” – Finsbury Foods CEO John Duffy talks to just-food about what it will do with the money from the sale of its free-from business to Genius Foods.
“You can maintain healthy weight by reducing energy in or increasing energy out and there’s a role for both” – Dr Geoffrey Annison, deputy chief executive of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), says the AFGC is “extremely supportive” of the emphasis placed on physical activity which “makes a lot of sense”.
“The new brand identity you can start to see… but more importantly than that we are undertaking a comprehensive review of all our ranges creating clear platforms” – Thorntons CEO Jonathan Hart talks about he new brand identity Thorntons is developing.
“The proposed changes are designed to make our manufacturing operations more efficient and flexible to help better meet the ever changing demands of our customers and consumers across the UK” – Warburtons CEO Jonathan Warburton on its decision to cut jobs at its Variety bakery in Bolton.
