Tesco has declined to confirm reports that the UK retailer is planning to use two UK suppliers when it opens stores in the US, bringing Natures Way Foods and 2 Sisters Food Group to the American market for the first time.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Natures Way Foods, which produces salads and lettuce for Tesco, and 2 Sisters Food Group, one of the UK’s largest poultry suppliers, plan to establish sites adjacent to Tesco’s planned distribution centre in southern California.
Tesco, who has remained guarded about its plans to enter the US market, told just-food that it intended to offer US consumers a unique offering of good quality products, but declined to comment on the specifics of what its specially developed US chain would carry.
Natures Way, which has not previously worked outside the UK, has reportedly established a US subsidiary called Wild Rocket Foods. Two Sisters, who have manufacturing plants in the UK and Netherlands, currently supply Buxted and Hermanns branded poultry goods, as well as own label products, to various supermarkets.
It has been speculated that Tesco may have decided to use familiar and trusted suppliers to avoid supply chain problems. The decision may also reflect a belief that UK and European prepared meals are of a higher quality than those currently supplied in the US, the Financial Times suggested.
However, the suppliers are reportedly facing a legal challenge calling for additional environmental reviews of Tesco’s planned distribution centre, which would be located in a business park in a former US Air Force base.
