I was interested to read that the British Potato Council is offering growers guidance on how best to supply the foodservice and catering industries, and in fact any customer that falls outside the established retail channels.

The requirements of this sector are not often placed in the spotlight like those of the supermarkets, although sales volumes across the entire produce spectrum is substantial. This is something that the Fresh Produce Consortium quantified a few years back, when sizing up the potential non-retail market for its members as a counterbalance to the over-riding obsession with supermarket customer base.

The foodservice customer base has of course been around for a long time, longer than the supermarkets in fact. But the move to convenience at all levels of 21st century society has given it an added value over and above its intrinsic characteristics.

It seems a far cry from when I was a cub reporter on the Fruit Trades Journal, when a major job each week was to collect the market prices that formed - as they do now - a mutually accepted basis for contracts between wholesalers and schools, prisons, hospitals and other institutions, mainly with roots and green vegetables. The institutional catering sector was never as easy to operate in as it looked. Based on a maximum/minimum pricing structure, there were all manner of variables. For example, while potatoes were sold in half hundredweight sacks - and later in smaller kraft outers - the green vegetable offer was far more inconsistent on weights, let alone acceptable quality.

I remember the different varieties of cabbage in particular, arriving in nets, bags and even old Jaffa boxes, varying according to season. There was regular correspondence from our editorial desk confirming that this was the way the market operated and no-one was trying to pull a fast one!

At least pack weights seem to have been standardised and trade is now less of a hit-and-miss affair. The main question now is whether the distribution chain can bear its considerable cost burden. What is still hard to assess is if 40-plus years down the line these customers are yet getting what they expect. The BPC certainly believes there is untapped potential even after all these years.

Having attended numerous recent conferences where leaders in the fresh food sector have had a place on the platform, the message hasn’t changed. They still want greater clarity of description and products of a similar standard to the multiples. Foodservice companies of all types have openly said they would like to deal more with producers. A combination of the two would inevitably heap more pressure on the traditional chain of supply.

What I would ask is, can potato growers, or for that matter their UK counterparts in other categories, provide any better service on margins which by the nature of their loose contractual arrangement are being even more finely shaven?

Topics