The only thing that is certain is uncertainty. Speaking at the National Convenience Show, Waitrose director Tina Mitchell believes retailers, suppliers and manufacturers will have to get used to operating in the “new normal”.

Waitrose doesn’t export to the US, so isn’t exposed to any headwinds of Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs. However, like all businesses, it’s not exempt from inflationary costs across its operations as it looks to build 100 new stores over the next five years.

While there will be challenges, it is businesses like Waitrose, with its unique partner ownership model, and the thousands of other family businesses across the UK food and drink scene who are best placed to make the most of the opportunities that remain.

“We are able to take a long-term view, which means we can be measured in our response and how we deal with these challenges,” Mitchell said, highlighting Waitrose’s recent unveiling of ‘better’ chickenwelfare standards.

“We will lead the market in how we show up in this space at a time when the world is pivoting on its axis in so many different ways. It is so important for us and our values to do the right thing, by producer, by customers but also by partners as well.”

Mitchell also highlighted plans to invest £1bn into extending Little Waitrose stores as the retailer takes a ”bottom-up approach” to developing its convenience offer. The timing, she said, is now right for the ambitious plans. 

The convenience challenge

With the cost of crime against convenience retailers jumping by 29% to £316m over the past year, store safety was never far from the conversation, as c-stores continue to hold strong in their fight against crime with AI now forming a key part of their defence.

Also speaking at the show, Tenby Stores owner Vince Malone said theft from his store costs the business £26,000 a year. To try and mitigate these costs, he has installed X-Hoppers, a system which identifies suspicious behaviour, sending real-time audio alerts straight to staff headsets.

“Post-Covid, crime exploded,” he said. “We had to take action, because it should never be dangerous to sell a tin of beans. Now, our staff are much happier, and you can’t put a price on that.”

Benedict Selvaratnam, director of convenience store Freshfields Market, is also tapping into AI solutions to keep staff safe as retail crime continues to rise. 

“Incidents of crime have quadrupled in the past six years. We’ve had staff spat on and bottled, which makes retention very difficult,” he said. “The police response is not where it needs to be, so we need to be the ones who are proactive.”

Elsewhere on the show floor, the question was whether the meat-free bubble has burst. The so-called plant-based  zone at this year’s Food & Drink Shows suggests if it hasn’t burst yet, businesses are definitely being more cautious, with a notable absence of some core brands.

One of the only plant-based brands at the show, The Tofoo Co was also one of the few in the category to report growth last year according to The Grocer’s Top Products data. It had a significant stand and was offering three types of cooked tofu to passers-by, as it hopes to rid them of their tofu-phobia. 

MD David Knibbs said during a panel discussion at the show on Monday the brand was still investing, and has £1m in its marketing budget for this year. But having a cool £1m to spend on advertising is not something within the grasp of may other plant-based brands, as one audience member pointed out. 

The panel discussion, which also included the Vegan Society’s Karen Spinner, was generally optimistic about the performance of the category, with both parties eager to demonstrate that growth was still possible.

So was the weak show from the plant-based community just an anomaly, or is it an accurate representation of how the category is faring? Both Strong Roots (which was bought by McCain last year) and Tofoo reported strong shows, with the latter having spoken to some major restaurant brands while continuing on its mission to convert. 

Sampling the products on offer is one of the highlights of the show, allowing brands to showcase new foodie trends, such as taking home-cooked pizza to new heights.

Launched to take advantage of the ever-growing trend of ‘eating out at home’, two of these brands – We Dough It 4 U and Brick – were also pushing their non-UPF credentials, with a completely clean ingredients list for the former, and 48-hour slow-fermented dough and premium artisan ingredients for the latter. 

“We’re mainly in small, high-end grocers, farm shops and similar,” said Brick head of operations Bill Colley. “If shoppers want a certain shopping experience, they will go to these types of shop that sell better-quality food.”

Apparently, it’s as simple as that. 

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