Budgens has moved into ripe and ready following pioneers such as Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury which have had such ranges on their shelves for more than five years. Dip Chotal, produce marketing manager, said the 19 own label range would also contain information on preparation to help consumers understand usage of many of the tropical fruits which have been targeted. These include mangoes, avocados, kiwifruit, papaya, passion fruit, kumquats and physalis. Traditional products such as pears, currently sourced from the southern hemisphere, would switch to British suppliers in the autumn. Other basic fruit lines include plums and peaches. Prices range from 99p for 50g of physalis, to £1.29 and £1.49, respectively, for a twin pack of avocados or mangoes. There is guaranteed daily distribution into 40 to 50 of the chain's largest stores and a selection offered in some 70 others. The remaining smaller branches will be able to order according to demand. Chotal revealed the fine tuning of maturity was being carried out in the UK by its two distributors, Gerber Produce and the Mack Group. {{FRESH PRODUCE }}

Topics