… a Rabble.ca post from Wayne Roberts on food waste and accountability, blemishes and all…
‘Ugly fruit’ finally breaks through to supermarket shelves
March 18, 2015
There’s a lot to learn from Loblaws decision to sell less attractively shaped fruit and vegetables for 30 per cent less than their more stylish counterparts on the other side of the produce runway.
Loblaws is not only the leading supermarket in Canada. It’s also a retailing pioneer that draws on the marketing knowhow of a multi-billion dollar global empire of trend-setting products in parent company Weston’s stable of brands, retailers and processors — one of which is French Intermarché, who successfully launched the whole trend of selling disfigured food a year ago.
Some of what’s revealed by the sale of what Loblaws now packages as “naturally imperfect” produce is a lot uglier than the bumpy potatoes, apples and carrots that have heretofore suffered exclusion from the food supply.