There needs to be greater communication throughout the supply chain when it comes to marketing asparagus to avoid consumer disappointment, British suppliers claim.
Off the back of an exceptionally good season, which saw household penetration double, producers and packers involved in the PR campaign to support the English crop said the publicity generated by the supermarket race to be first in the season caught them off guard.
Chris Kitchen, from Kitchen Garden Produce and campaign spokesman, said at a meeting to review the season: “The retailer-race story caught us on the backfoot, but we managed to react and get some comment in.
“That helped us to combat the problem of any consumers going out and being disappointed because it was only in a couple of stores.”
To avoid this happening next season, the growers are keen to encourage a greater level of communication with the retailers to ensure any campaign to promote UK asparagus is co-ordinated.
Sainsbury’s Jamie Oliver promotion also took them by surprise and had a major impact on the season, said Kitchen: “We couldn’t review the season without talking about Jamie Oliver. No doubt he had an effect, but to say it was all down to him would be wrong, we had achieved a significant increase in volume and penetration before the ads went out.
“Again, it would have been nice if we’d known about the Jamie Oliver campaign. Working together can only be a good thing.”
The issue is something the industry is addressing, said Kitchen, pointing to the fact Tesco representatives had attended the review to hear how the season went.
