The recent warm weather has led to Waitrose seeing an increase in demand for Spanish dining.
On the retailer’s website, searches for Mediterranean-style dishes such ‘Spanish tortilla’, ‘patatas bravas’, and ‘manchego’ are up 82%, 20% and 50% respectively.
Jane Whitehead, Waitrose deli buyer, said: “As soon as the temperature starts to rise, we see lots of our customers heading straight to our deli section to create the perfect tapas style dinner, or ‘picky tea’ as some like to call it. 95% of the range on our deli counters are exclusive to us, with flavoured hams and olives proving particularly popular at the moment as our customers create tapas boards for their alfresco dining.”
Sales of gazpacho also increased by 146% last week as people opted for light and refreshing lunches. Meanwhile, searches on the Waitrose website for a Chicken & Chorizo Paella recipe were up 89% in the last month, and sales of paella rice increased by 16% compared to last year.
NAM Implications:
- This has to represent an opportunity for suppliers in appropriate categories…
- (also worth searching for other ‘ethnic’ opportunities)
- As we hopefully emerge from ‘survival’ mode?
