Tesco is to sell local strawberries in its stores in 10 more English counties this summer, following a successful trial with Kentish strawberries last season.
Local strawberries will be available in 300 stores across the 11 counties, grown by around 20 suppliers based in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Avon, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire and Berkshire, as well as Kent.
The fruit will be highlighted in-store with local labelling, and producers will visit stores for meet-the-grower days.
The aim is to offer consumers 10 million punnets of strawberries grown within their county during the domestic season, which is roughly a third of overall UK sales during the season. The scheme will reduce Tesco’s reliance on imported strawberries when domestic fruit is available to less than five per cent, the chain said.
Andrew Gaunt, Tesco strawberry buyer, said: “The response to last year’s local strawberries trial in Kent proved how much shoppers liked the idea of a local version of this favourite summer fruit.
“Customers tell us they want to be able to support their local economy and their local growers - and we are delighted to give them the chance to do this.
“This is also a great opportunity for British strawberry growers across the regions to grow their business and raise their profile in their local area,” he added.
• Tesco also re-launched its ‘fruit and veg pledge’ promotion this week, which offers a variety of produce lines at discounted prices. Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director, said: “This is us cutting prices on the nation’s fruit and vegetables, to help [people] spend less. This promotion is totally funded by Tesco and will help ensure produce remains as affordable as possible.”
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