Sainsbury's held its annual Regional Supplier Conference in Edinburgh yesterday for local businesses and confirmed that more food and drink sourced in Scotland would be on offer in the coming years.
Date:
Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Source:
J Sainsbury plc
Sainsbury's Group Commercial Director Mike Coupe spoke at the conference and said that working with Scottish suppliers was a key part of the retailer's '20 by 20' Sustainability Plan, which includes a target to double the amount of British food sold in Sainsbury's stores by 2020.
Sainsbury's has a team of regional buyers who scour the country for the best local products to suit local tastes - from haggis in Scotland to ice cream made in Northern Ireland. Seventy businesses from Scotland and Northern Ireland attended the conference which included an awards ceremony to celebrate success stories over the past year. Mackies at Taypack in Perthshire, Scotland who supply potato crisps won the top award of Scottish Supplier of the year.
Sainsbury's Group Commercial Director Mike Coupe, said: "We're proud to work with these fantastic Scottish suppliers to meet customer demand for unique local variations to reflect tastes and traditions. Identifying more local businesses to work with is a key part of our commitment to double the amount of British food we sell by 2020, which boosts investment and creates jobs. It's great to recognise the success stories today and share our plans about increasing the amount of Scottish products that we aim to sell in the future."
Rich Squire from Sainsbury's regional buying team said: "Our 'Meet the Buyer' days held across Scotland are always very successful and thanks to the good relationships we've established we can offer some truly local branded and own brand ranges. We've been building our local sourcing network for a number of years and have created a strong base in Scotland. 140 Scottish suppliers are currently working with us to source £600 million worth of local products. We look forward to expanding our Scottish range and establishing further partnerships."
Mackies at Taypack won the Scottish Supplier of the year for their range of crisps. Kirstin Mackie, Managing Director, said: "We are delighted to receive this award and are appreciative of the support that Sainsbury's has provided for Scottish companies like ourselves. We've had an excellent year and sales are up 60 per cent overall from last year. We're really looking forward to continue our partnership with Sainsbury's and we're already working on some new products to help grow the category."
Regional sourcing also means that many products go from field to store within 24 hours - sometimes as quickly as in eight to 10 hours.
Sainsbury's also launched a traditional Scottish bakery range into Scottish stores today. The range includes pineapple tarts and coffee buns supplied by Mathiesons Foods based in Larbert nearFalkirk.
Sainsbury's has 60 stores in Scotland, 26 of which are convenience stores. they employ around 8,000 colleagues and 800 colleagues have passed through their Food College at Murrayfield.
The retail giant currently has plans to create 800 new jobs in Scotland over the next 18 months, through new supermarkets in Montrose and Pitlochry as well as an extension to their East Kilbride store.
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