Kingsmill bread has secured a shock comeback on the shelves at Tesco, less than nine months after it became a victim of the retailer’s Project Reset SKU cull.
The move is a huge result for owner Allied Bakeries, which this year completed a £210m investment in new plants and had been left reeling by Tesco’s decision.
All Kingsmill branded bread lines were delisted by Tesco in March, although Allied continued to supply Tesco with own-label lines, Allinson and Burgen bread, and other Kingsmill morning goods including rolls, thins, wraps, crumpets, muffins, pancakes, waffles, and potato scones in Scotland.
In July Tesco relisted two of the Kingsmill loaves it dropped from its fixtures earlier this year, with Kingsmill 50/50 and No Crusts going back on sale in most stores.
However, this week a “delighted” Allied spokeswoman said: “Tesco has chosen to relist core Kingsmill bread products nationally and we continue to support them with building plans for the long term. Customers and consumers are seeing the benefits of our £210m five-year capital investment programme - market-leading innovation and one of the most varied UK bakery product portfolios.”
The u-turn means Kingsmill now has nine lines in Tesco stores.
In October Tesco CEO Dave Lewis stressed the retailer was prepared to make changes to its plans if they proved unpopular with consumers, though he claimed Tesco had had “next to no customer complaints”.
Project Reset, which is now 80% complete, has been frozen by Lewis over Christmas to allow stores to concentrate on the vital festive trading period.
In recent weeks other SKUs to be delisted have included Walkers Deep Ridged crisps, the entire Slimfast range, as well as a raft of Tesco Value own-label products including bourbons and custard creams. Tesco has also slashed up to a third of its wine and beer SKUs.After the Christmas hiatus Lewis faces possibly his biggest challenge of all with the process as Reset is due to be rolled out across Tesco’s entire fresh foods range.
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