Some 56% of people are reducing their efforts at ‘going green’, with one in two admitting that price is now significantly more important than health, sustainability and quality when it comes to the weekly food shop.

This news comes as COP27 takes place in Egypt, with more than 120 world leaders attending the summit.

COP27 president, Sameh Shoukry urged leaders to not let food and energy crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine get in the way of action on climate change.

While many shoppers want to enjoy foods that are better for them and the environment, they are making changes to the way they shop to save money, irrespective of the environmental impact.

Due to the rising cost of living, shoppers are being forced to turn to high emission foods, with a quarter (24%) now buying cheaper cuts of meat and lower-quality food. In fact, 41% plan to buy more frozen and non-organic meat, whilst almost a third of shoppers are switching to cheaper processed meat.

According to research from Meatless Farms, two in five shoppers also say organic and fair trade food are now bottom of their shopping lists, despite previously being ‘must-have’ items.

Morten Toft Bech, founder of Meatless Farms, said the cost-of-living crisis was “derailing sustainability efforts”.

“We need government action to drive forward a food system that actively encourages a reduction in the consumption of carbon emissions without pinching at purse strings,” he said.

The post Shoppers ditch ‘going green’ due to cost-of-living crisis first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Restaurant owner, Luthfur Ahmed, said helping those less fortunate in the community was always something the Bengal Brasserie did during the festive season.

As well as confirming Christmas dinners, the restaurant is marking its birthday with a half-price offer all this week. All food items will be slashed by half until Saturday 29^th October.

Luthfur said: “We were unable to do our traditional Christmas dinners over the past two years because of the Covid pandemic but we did deliver to organisations looking after those most in need. We managed to get through that really difficult time only to be hit with this awful cost-of-living crisis.

“People are really struggling to make ends meet and my heart goes out to them. If we can help to ease the burden and bring some relief for them, then it will be all worthwhile.

“The Bengal Brasserie is part of the life and soul of the Ormeau Road and we’re looking forward to our birthday party when we will showcase some of the wonderful dishes our chefs will create for the occasion.

“Monday evening promises to be a great occasion when we can reflect on difficult times past and look forward to a brighter future for all our loyal customers.”

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Located at the busy junction of Dromore Road and James Street, the new-look Lidl Northern Ireland store will create 15 new retail positions and has supported a further 200 jobs during the construction and development phase. Plans to modernize and extend the store were granted approval last October by Fermanagh & Omagh District Council following an extensive community consultation.

Occupying a site of 8,029 sq. metres – including an expansive sales floor of 1,420 sq. metres – the new store will be more than twice the size of the existing James Street site, and will incorporate a 95-space car park with two electric vehicle charging points, complementary landscaping and a large warehouse.

Omagh local, country music artist and Lidl Northern Ireland team member Barry Kirwan, and Ballinderry-born singer Cliona Hagan, who made it to the final of RTE reality talent competition The All Ireland Talent Show, will officially cut the ribbon to unveil the new look Lidl Northern Ireland store and participate in a meet-and-greet with shoppers from 8am – 9am.

Speaking ahead of the new Lidl Northern Ireland store launch in Omagh, Barry said: “The opening of the new Omagh store is particularly poignant for me as Lidl Northern Ireland has been a great support for my family during the last few years, when the music and entertainment scene took a hit as a result of the pandemic and my gigs dried up.

“I took on a day job with Lidl Northern Ireland in the current Omagh store and thoroughly enjoyed the work, so am looking forward to getting back to officially open the new and improved site on James Street, and, alongside Cliona Hagan, to meet with customers on the morning.

“The store truly is a great addition to the local area, with a fantastic range of high-quality products at great value, and a real focus on supporting local, Northern Irish suppliers. There are always great opening day deals to be had as well, so I’m looking forward to getting in myself for the weekly shop on Thursday 13 October.”

Built to the retailer’s pioneering and award-winning ‘concept’ design, which prioritises sustainability, spacious, wide aisles, long tills, restrooms, employee and baby-changing facilities, customers can look forward to a modern shopping experience with an expanded product range.

The new store opening is part of Lidl Northern Ireland’s long-term plan to grow its store network to 50 by 2030 – including three new stores in Derry-Londonderry and Strabane as part of a wider £26m investment into the Northwest region – and bring its ‘Big on Quality, Lidl on Price’ proposition to more shoppers across the region.

Sales Operations Director for Lidl Northern Ireland, Gordon Cruikshanks said: “As Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing supermarket, we’re thrilled to continue moving forward confidently with our long-established plans to rejuvenate and breathe new life into our site at Omagh, where we first opened a Lidl Northern Ireland store in 2003.

“We’re delighted to confirm the new James Street opening date for Thursday 13 October, and to have Barry Kirwan and Cliona Hagan officially open the doors to our new-look store. I look forward to welcoming the 15 new members to our team and to bringing fresh, high-quality products and market-leading value to local shoppers.”

The new Lidl Northern Ireland store on James Street will open on Thursday 13^th October 2022 at 8am.

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It was vital for retailers and suppliers to meet up face to face at Food Force Ireland’s Trade Day following a two year break, according to chairman Jonathan Crawford.

For the past two years, the key industry event has had to migrate online and the event at the Culloden Hotel and Spa on September 12 was the first time it has taken place in person since 2019.

“Last Tuesday was really important in terms of getting a chance to finally meet with our local suppliers again face to face after two years of not. These are the key account managers and shareholders within suppliers that wwe get to meet face to face once a year,” FFI chairman Jonathan Crawford said.

“So we were looking forward to getting back to that – we had a range of deals that Trading Controller Debra Johnston set up for the day and we went around placing orders for those deals with each of the suppliers, trying to pick up value that we could pass through to our own consumers.

“We’ve had two years there of not getting a day out of the business to lift our heads to see what else is available and there are lots of suppliers who had new ranges and exciting new products to show us. 

“That wee gap of a couple of years maybe gave us a wee bit more hunger to go and see that so that’s all a good thing.”

Fourth generation

Jonathan himself is a fourth-generation independent retailer, taking over Crawford’s of Maghera from his parents.

“We have been involved in Food Force Ireland since its inception really in the late ‘80s and I took over the treasurer role in 1999,” he says.

“My family supermarket has always been independent and Food Force Ireland was started as a group of independents which together formed a limited company called Food Force Ireland Ltd in the 1980s.

“Alastair Smyth from Limavady was one of the driving forces in it, along with Henry Emerson from Armagh, and they created the buying group to help negotiate with Northern Irish suppliers for independent retailers. So we were all owner managed and then pooled a central resource together that Alastair would have run.

“Then Alastair retired in 2000 and we employed a Trading Controller in Belfast to look after the role that he did and there was a board of directors around that.”

Growing movement

Since the year 2000, the group has gone from strength to strength, growing in terms of membership and revenue, Jonathan says.

“We tried to pool together on central deals with mainly Northern Ireland based suppliers – your household brands, the likes of Tayto, Ormo, Mother’s Pride and Punjana tea bags have all been central to what we do, what people buy in their shops in the province.

“The people in Food Force Ireland have evolved but the general memorandums and articles, and the core principles of Food Force are the same – it’s a group of independent retailers who pull together in order to share benefit among themselves. Nothing is kept by Food Force itself and any benefits that come through are passed through to the membership on an equal basis so that core belief has stayed there. It’s like everything, some of the people have come and gone but the principles are still there.”

Back in person

Over the last five or six years before Covid, the event has been held in the Culloden Hotel in Co Down.

“It’s great to get back to doing that again and actually having a place we can go to, rather than trying to do these things online,” Jonathan says.

“The other thing we do with this show that is quite unique – this is a free day we give to all members and all suppliers and that encourages them to bring their best deals with them.

“We’re not charging suppliers that turn up – there’s no tax through Food Force, if you like, so this is a day where they can bring their best deals and they will be passed through to the membership and that makes us unique as well.”

Supply chain

The unique approach of Food Force Ireland really paid dividends for members when the arrival of the pandemic disrupted supply chains, Jonathan says.

“A lot of us would have been buying from UK-wide wholesalers and when Covid came, they came under so much demand that their supply network just crumpled and didn’t work.  We were placing orders for 5,000 cases and getting 200 delivered – it was horrendous,” he says.

“But that local supply base that is operated in Northern Ireland with the likes of Punjana tea bags and the PRMs of this world and Tayto and everything… we couldn’t get Walkers crisps in from England but Tayto were on our doorstep every week, with whatever we wanted.

“So it was great to have those direct links – they were direct to store, they weren’t going through a warehouse somewhere. It was direct from the supplier to our back door in each of our shops and that really made a difference during the dark days of Covid.

Direct links

“The suppliers would come very early in the morning and leave off deliveries to our back door. We trusted them that they would leave off what was right, they trusted us that we wouldn’t have shortages.

“Our supply chains did work during that time which was great – we had toilet rolls when nobody else had. And that was really due to the way that we make our supply chain. If anything it’s a bit old fashioned and that worked during times of crisis.”

Many retailers have been experiencing a period of labour shortages but the pressure appears to be lifting somewhat, Jonathan says.

“That was tough – they couldn’t get drivers, they were having difficulties getting products picked in warehouses and that sort of thing.

“And of course we’ve got roaring inflation – the price thing is something that has always been an issue but the supply seems to have now seems to be sorted. We’re now getting the products we want from all of our supply base now. The cold chain, like meat suppliers, were having difficulty in their factories but I’m hearing less issues of that in the last few months.

“And maybe if we are entering recession and there are layoffs in other industries, the food industry tends to be bolstered at that time, because I can’t get a job in a hotel, but I can get a job in a meat factory or a processing plant. So labour shortages in our industry hopefully are easing.”

Energy costs

However energy costs have become a huge problem for everyone, he says.

“You just have to go into your local convenience store or your big supermarket and have a look at the fridges that they operate. Those fridges are operating 24/7 and they can’t be turned off, they can’t be turned down, they can’t be turned up. They’re a constant cost,” he says.

“We were paying 11p-12p a unit for electricity 12 -14 months ago and now we’re looking at 30p-35p going into the winter. It’s a threefold increase or more and there’s going to be more come January. That’s a set cost for all these stores and there’s really very little they can do about it.

“And of course people with oil heating or any form of heating in their stores are going to face a really bleak winter – I think we all know that.”

While many retailers have been turning to alternative options such as solar or to making efficiencies with measures such as installing fridges with doors, that can mean a sizable capital investment, Jonathan says.

“The ones who can afford to make those changes will do it, the ones who  can’t, I don’t know. It’s going to be tough,” he says.

“It’s not an optimistic time for any energy-heavy business, which we are. We’re energy heavy and we’re labour heavy. There isn’t a member of staff that doesn’t need an increase in their wages to cover inflation and we tend not to have too many members of staff that we don’t need.

“So again we’re facing increased operating costs and we’ve got a new Prime Minister who will have a lot of problems ahead of her and we’re all hoping there’s some sort of relief system to be announced.”

To read the full 25-page Special Feature on Food Force Ireland’s Trade Day, click HERE.

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