Driscoll’s has laid out plans to grow the UK berry category in 2023, following its takeover of Berry Gardens late last year.
The global fruit giant already boasted a 20-year relationship with Berry Gardens – which grew, distributed and marketed Driscoll’s varieties on an exclusive basis in the UK – before it completed its acquisition of the business in November.
The deal sees Driscoll’s take over the running of the sales, packaging and distribution entity of the Berry Gardens Growers farming co-operative (known as Berry Gardens). The co-operative itself will continue to operate independently and focus on growing.
Establishing its own operation in the UK was described as a “great opportunity” by Russell Allwell, MD of Driscoll’s EMEA, who told The Grocer the US-based supplier’s strategy was to “extend and execute on our category building programmes that we [already] have in Europe”.
There was still “plenty of room for growth” in the berries category, particularly in blueberries, he said. Driscoll’s was keen to help both retailers and growers drive that growth, he added.
“We bring a lot of experience in terms of category building, we bring a lot of experience in terms of how to innovate in the category, we have had long experience in working with growers and how to optimise grower returns, so we think that there is a lot that we can certainly bring to the category,” Allwell said.
Part of this expansion is through the introduction of new “more flavourful” varieties, which according to Allwell was even more important as consumer purses became more squeezed.
“Price is an important consideration but flavour is by far the greatest, so the watchout is that we have got to be lean and efficient in what we do and we have got to continue to be respectful of the purse in these inflationary times, but you can’t compromise on flavour,” he said. “You can’t compromise on quality during these times because that’s why the [consumers] buy into the category and that’s where the loyalty comes from.”
He said cost pressures were the “greatest challenge” facing UK growers now, beyond labour and weather.
He explained that the presence of Driscoll’s would be beneficial to growers as the company “can draw on the strength of growing in all parts of the world” and help introduce more operational efficiencies through the likes of integrated planning.
Integrated planning was about balancing demand and supply planning, Allwell said. “We want to be demand-driven as a business so we want to get close to our customers in developing our category plans and understanding their needs, and then that goes back and drives what the growers produce to fulfil those needs rather than saying well we are just going to plant randomly, produce a whole bunch of fruit and hope someone takes it.”
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He also hoped that the company would be able to introduce some of its innovations which had seen success in Europe, such as its paper packaging, reducing plastic by 98%.
However, he was clear that Driscoll’s was there to “listen”.
“We certainly don’t come in with an arrogance that we know it all, we have got a lot to learn about the UK market, we want to listen, we want to learn, we see it very much as a collaboration with our growers and with our customers about how we tackle the marketplace.”
Allwell confirmed that Driscoll’s was currently working its way through meeting all the UK retailers to demonstrate what it could offer. “Our first priority is to service the British retailer and to offer the best service and the best quality that we can,” he said.
This means in part that Driscoll’s will ensure that when British fruit was not in season, consumers could still get “the same great quality in taste and flavour from Driscoll’s in other parts of the world”.
During the British season, however, exports could become more of an opportunity he said, following more production and “adjustments” to transport.
“The UK fruit its extraordinary, the British-grown berries are as good as anywhere in the world and I think the time for you guys keeping those to yourself has come to an end,” he said. “We need to start exporting them because they are world class.”
Looking ahead, Allwell was “excited” about the opportunities on offer in the UK berry market.
“We think we can accelerate the growth of the category and we think we can do it a way that will benefit both the grower and the retailer in the process.”
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