Amid growing awareness about ultra processed food (UPF), Waitrose is seeing many of its customers turning away from low-fat, highly processed products in favour of less-processed, whole food ingredients.
The supermarket noted that compared to this time last year, sales for whole milk are up 11% more compared to skimmed milk, whilst demand for block butter has jumped 20% more compared to dairy spreads. Other items selling well include Brown rice (+7% more compared to white rice), sourdough bread (+20% more compared to white bread), and full-fat Greek yoghurt (+21% more than Greek-style yoghurt).
Whole food searches on its website are also soaring, with ‘full fat milk’ and ‘full fat yoghurt’ up 417% and 233% in the last 30 days.
Maddy Wilson, Director of Own Brand at Waitrose, commented: “There’s been a lot of bad press around so-called ‘healthy’ products which aren’t nutritious and don’t taste great. However, the growing awareness of ultra processed food in our diets has seen many customers seeking the basics and embracing a much simpler approach to their diet.”
A customer survey last year for the Waitrose annual food & drink report found that 54% were proactively avoiding processed foods, with 61% of respondents cooking from scratch more to reduce the amount of UPF food they eat.
NAM Implications:
- i.e. back to how food used to be…
- …with consumers relying more on ‘gut-feeling’ re what is best for them.
