Tomorrow morning at 5:30am delivery vans will drive into SW19 – as they will do for the next 12 days – to drop off the daily batch of freshly picked grade 1 strawberries from select farms in Kent to help feed the half a million attendees of Wimbledon 2013.

Around 28,000kg of the fruit will be paired with 7,000 litres of fresh cream over the fortnight. Spectators will also find room for 200,000 glasses of Pimm’s, 32,000 portions of fish and chips, 25,000 bottles of Champagne and 12,000kg of poached and smoked salmon. Indeed, Wimbledon describes itself as the largest annual sporting catering operation in Europe; and bar the actual tennis, the food and drink is the abiding image of the tournament.

The other images synonymous with Wimbledon – the green and purple livery, glamorous attendees and the hopeless faith that a Brit might even win – are also potent, and highly marketable.

As the oldest and arguably the most prestigious tennis tournament around, it is no surprise to see that elite names such as Rolex, HSBC and Ralph Lauren have queued up to sponsor the tournament. FMCG megabrands such as Evian, Gillette and Nescafé, as well as the great and the good of UK grocery, have also launched campaigns targeted at capturing the centre-court buzz.

Asda, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have all promoted the tournament on their websites and social media offering deals on – you guessed it – strawberries and cream. Tesco and the Co-op are also offering deals on champagne, Pimm’s, and items for afternoon tea.

'Murrisons' Morrisons Wimbledon store

Elsewhere, Morrisons amusingly and temporarily changed the name of its Wimbledon store to ‘Murrisons’ – in honour of you-know-who.

Discounters Aldi and Lidl have also got in on the act, with Lidl offering a punnet of strawberries for £1.39 and Aldi promoting picnic items while asking its Facebook fans if Andy Murray has a chance of winning.

“As a two-week event Wimbledon per se presents a reasonably finite opportunity for the food and beverage sales,” says analyst Clive Black of Shore Capital. “However, alongside Royal Ascot and the Henley regatta traditional seasonal lines like strawberries & cream and Pimm’s can gain a meaningful shot in the arm; indeed it is their Christmas. That’s all if the weather is fine, but if it’s not, then the sport isn’t the only thing to be washed out.”

So retailers, as ever, will have to keep one eye on the skies – as well as on a particular corner of SW19.

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