Kent-based soft-fruit marketing specialist Berry Gardens was given an outstanding achievement award at last week’s Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Food, Drink and Agricultural Group (FDA of the CIM) annual president’s dinner at the House of Commons.
Paul Foley, managing director of Aldi in the UK & Ireland, presented Berry Gardens md Nick Marston with the award, for outstanding marketing of agricultural, food and drink products,,judged against a range of criteria, including the ability to operate in an effective and innovative manner, across a number of different supply chains and in the face of strong international competition.
Foley was also guest speaker at the event, which was attended by 90 members and guests of the FDA of the CIM, and said: “I was particularly impressed to see how well the winning organisations also demonstrated a strong understanding of environmental good practice and issues.”
In his speech, Foley gave some insight as to the future plans of Aldi in the UK. “We intend to have some 1,500 stores in the future and will base the management of these on three key principles which have sustained Aldi's growth in other parts of the world - simplicity, fairness and consistency,” he said.
The current economic downturn, he added, is an ill wind that actually benefits no one in the retail sector. Foley believes that UK industry and consumers have often misunderstood the term discounter as representing low quality, when in fact the discount model is based on sourcing high quality products in the most efficient manner. The success of Aldi to date, he said, has been based on massive attention to detail.
He also commented that Aldi will pay more attention to issues such as reducing its carbon footprint in the future as part of its Corporate Responsibility agenda.
Receiving his award, Marston said the award is "recognition of the hard work we have put in to changing the nature of Berry Gardens from a trading-based organisation to a marketing-oriented business over the last 20 years".
