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McDonald's is switching from Tetley tea to an environmentally friendly product from PG Tips in the fast food chain's latest effort to transform itself into the high street's champion for social responsibility.

The food retailer will switch tea supply in its 1,200 UK outlets to Rainforest Alliance-certified PG Tips, a fair-trade brand owned by Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever. Tata Tea, which owns Tetley, has lost the contract.

The change comes after McDonald's switched its supply of coffee to Rainforest Alliance products in January last year, since when sales have risen 22%. Nick Hindle, vice president of corporate affairs at McDonald's, said: "Wherever possible we are working to make sustainable products the only option.''

McDonald's, which expects to sell 24m cups of tea in the UK over the next 12 months, will continue to charge from 80p a cup for the drink.

Unilever, which has trumpeted its 'green' credentials with products such as Ben & Jerry's fairtrade ice cream, claims to have swallowed the cost of supplying more expensive environmentally friendly products itself.

McDonald's has made efforts to shed its reputation as an environmentally unfriendly retailer. In a poll conducted by Populus last year, 84% of the British public said burger chains were not doing enough to tackle environmental issues.

The latest change comes after the fast food chain said last July that it would run its fleet of 155 delivery vehicles on cooking oil recycled from its fast-food stores.

The company has also fought to shift its reputation as a retailer of unhealthy products, switching to free range eggs, organic milk, and reducing salt in its food.

Source: Daily Telegraph
 

Unilever has axed its soya drink brand AdeZ in the UK just two years after it was launched because the range failed to make an impact with consumers.

The fruit and soya milk smoothie range was the first new brand launch from Unilever for 12 years but it is understood that the "super healthy" product failed to convince consumers.

It is understood the brand initially performed well due to "buy one get one free" offers in supermarkets, which were supported by sampling campaigns.

AdeZ was positioned as a convenient way for consumers to get their five portions of fruit and vegetables a day as well as gaining extra vitamins and nutrients from the soya. It was also intended to target the lactose intolerant by excluding dairy products.

Unilever also has a range of "healthy" food products under its Flora Pro.Activ range. In 2005 it launched a fruit and vegetable single-shot drink called Knorr Vie shots.

AdeZ's launch was one of the first for Unilever, which had focused on disposing of brands under its Path to Growth strategy. The strategy meant the company reducing its brands from 1,700 to fewer than 500. The company moved away from reducing its brands to focusing on advertising and promoting its star brands under chief executive Patrick Cescau, who was appointed in February 2005.

A Unilever spokeswoman says British consumers were not convinced by the benefits of the soya. The brand will continue to be available in Ireland and the Netherlands.

Organic Monitor Comment
Although the soya drinks market remains crowded, the withdrawal of the AdeZ brand comes as a surprise. The multinational was quoted as 'throwing the kitchen sink' into the AdeZ brand; indeed, initial high sales have been marketing-driven. However, consumer acceptance is believed to have been low due to product positioning. AdeZ was launched to capitalise on high growth in the dairy alternative and functional beverage market, however it was not successfully positioned in either market. Whilst established brands like Alpro and Innocent have gone from strength to strength, AdeZ struggled to find its identity in a sophisticated market. Indeed, will AdeZ be remembered as a failure of a soya drink or juice smoothie?

For more details on our research & consulting capabilities in the functional beverages market, please visit the web page

Previous Article: UK: New Functional Beverages Look to Emulate Success of Soya Drinks

Source: The Grocer / Organic Monitor
 

Tate and Lyle, the biggest sugar cane refiner in Europe, has announced that it would switch to Fairtrade sugar supplies in Britain to guarantee producers in poor countries a fair price.

The company sells one fifth of sugar sold in British retail stores and aims to convert this to Fairtrade by the end of 2009, it said in a statement.

"Tate and Lyle announces its ambition to move its entire retail cane sugars range to Fairtrade, marking the largest ever switch to the ethical labelling scheme by any major UK food or drink brand," the group said.

Ethical-minded British consumers are increasingly turning to products backed by the Fairtrade label, despite the often higher prices.

The Tate and Lyle announcement was timed to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight, which ran from February 25 to March 11. It aims to develop awareness of Fairtrade across Britain via events organised by development agencies, trade unions and religious groups.

A rising number of British companies are producing Fairtrade products, while Britain's biggest retailer Tesco, along with rivals Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer, are stocking their shelves with Fairtrade products, ranging from bananas, coffee and cotton, to flowers, honey and wine.

Tate and Lyle has said that it wants to dramatically increase the amount of certified sugar sold in its home market. Last year, between 6,000-7,000 tonnes of Fairtrade sugar was sold in Britain, according to the company's own estimates.

In 2008, Tate and Lyle hopes to sell about 70,000 tonnes of Fairtrade sugar, adding 60 million pounds (79 million euros) in value to the British retail sugar market.

"In terms of size and scale, this is the biggest ever Fairtrade switch by a UK company and it's tremendous this iconic UK brand is backing Fairtrade," said Fairtrade Foundation executive director Harriet Lamb in the statement.

"The more we can make Fairtrade the norm, the more its positive impact can be felt by farmers and their communities across the developing world."

The first certified Tate and Lyle product will be granulated white cane sugar from Belize and will go on sale in the coming weeks. The group has purchased supplies from the central American country for the past 35 years.

"Our commitment will help ensure a livelihood for farmers and the Fairtrade premium will be invested to improve their long-term prospects," added group sales and marketing director Steven Hermiston.

The company gave no plans to convert cane sugar that is supplied to manufacturers as an ingredient. However, a spokesperson confirmed that there were longer term ambitions to switch industrial supplies, adding that such a move would need to be in partnership with its customers.

To learn more about our capabilities in the fairtrade products industry, please visit the web page

Source: AFP