Priced at £2.50, the obligatory cup of strawberries and cream at Wimbledon is heavily marked up. Yet no one would dream of going without it because, much like Wimbledon itself, it’s not just a quintessentially British summer tradition - it’s a national institution.
Then there are the spin-offs, like the strawberries and cream sandwich. The novelty creation, which combined juicy berries, Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam on white poppy-seed bread, was dreamed up by Tesco and launched last year in time for the Wimbledon championships. Other tennis-themed products include Starbucks’ strawberries and cream frappuccino, a calorific drink expected to sell well during the summer months.
Clearly the industry does it best to cash in on the huge marketing opportunity Wimbledon presents. But to what extent does the tournament actually boost strawberry sales? “You would expect an uplift in sales during the period - I would imagine 10 to 15 per cent,” says Dave Ashton, procurement director at BerryWorld. Although there aren’t any new varieties bred especially for the Wimbledon tournament, larger volumes of Sweet Eve will be available over the fortnight. “It is now seen as the best UK variety,” he says.
The last week in June and first week of July is the time when the UK strawberry production used to peak, before modern techniques extended the season and allowed growers to produce good volumes for much longer, explains Nicholas Marston, managing director of Berry Gardens. “This historic link is used by retailers to promote sales over this period - especially the first week - and we probably see an uplift of around 25 per cent on the week before,” he says.
Marston thinks the multiples excel at promoting their berries to tie in with the event. Large blocks of front-of-store footage, extra footage and ‘Wimbledon’ point of sale, teamed with TV and press adverts for free cream offers are all helpful, and extra points go to the more eye-catching campaigns. “There have been some very imaginative marketing ploys in the past such as Asda ‘dressing up’ Southfields tube station at Wimbledon to promote their strawberries in 2010. I don’t think they could do more.”
Production of a range of flavoured varieties are grown specifically to meet demand during the six-month English strawberry season, explains Anthony Snell of AJ & CI Snell. Driscoll Jubilee and Diamond in the premium range; Sonata and Elsanta as main Junebearers; and Camarillo, Amesti and others as everbearers to continue to the end of the season. “Demand is good for strawberries with the Jubilee, and will increase as good weather returns and Wimbledon promotions kick in,” he says. “Wimbledon and strawberries go together like strawberries and cream!” -
WIMBLEDON’S OFFICIAL SUPPLIER
Hugh Lowe Farms has been the sole strawberry supplier to FMC, Wimbledon’s official caterer, for more than 20 years. During the tournament, spectators will munch through just over a million strawberries - about 28 tonnes - with 7,000 litres of cream. Every day at 5.30am, a team of workers heads out to pick enough fruit for the day. Then, within a few hours of leaving the farm in Kent, the strawberries are distributed around the courts at SW19.
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