Availability, consistency and creativity are the key to succeeding in fresh produce, according to MBL’s fresh produce store of the year award winner.
Jonathan James, md at Budgens in Soham told FPJ he was delighted to have been recognised for his attention to fresh in the second edition of MBL’s annual awards ceremony last month.
“We were picked because of our availability and the freshness of our produce. If anything is past its sell-by-date we don’t reduce it we just take it off the shelf,” he said.
Having worked in the sector for a number of years, fresh produce is of particular importance to James and this is reflected in his store.
“It sets the score for the rest of the shop. It is the first thing people see when they walk through the door, so you have got to get it right,” he claimed.
And thanks to his customer feedback channel, James knew he was doing well with fresh produce: “We have a customer panel in-store and we knew we were going to do alright from the feedback because our customers have all been telling us what a good job we have been doing.”
James was full of praise for the way Budgens manages its supply of produce and encourages innovation.
Local sourcing is also of great importance, he claimed: “I have got a superb fresh produce team and we are well set up with local accounts. We are virtually next door to G’s Marketing and very close to them and if we do run out of anything we make every effort to source local product.”
James plans to take the concept further by installing a wheel-barrow in-store to present all produce sourced within a 30 mile radius.
In addition he said the Soham store would continue to throw its weight behind the NFU and support events like the Little Red Tractor day.
In addition to the prestige of being MBL’s number one fresh produce store, James was presented with £500 worth of holiday vouchers.
