PROGRESS REPORT 2020 - Tyfu Cymru
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PROGRESS REPORT 2020
#PeasPlease
Foreword
2020: THE YEAR THAT NO ONE SAW COMING the specific actions and activities organisations are
Our third Peas Please report shows a steady increase taking to make it easier for everyone in the UK to eat
of 72.1 million additional portions of vegetables sold their veg. Where they were able to, our participating
across the UK between July 2019 and June 2020 as a organisations have reported back to us on their progress
result of the concerted efforts of Peas Please pledgers, for the 2019/20 reporting year, and the results are
taking our cumulative total to 162 million additional broadly encouraging in spite of this year’s challenges.
portions of veg served or sold over the past three years. Of note are the increasing numbers of pledgers having
already achieved all their original goals set in 2017/18.
Yet although this is an impressive achievement, the As such we are currently working to revise and
rate at which we are increasing our cumulative refresh commitments to ensure that Peas
portion total has slowed. 2019’s progress report Please continues to make a difference.
saw our annual portion total increase from 4.8
million in year one of Peas Please to 89.9 million THE NEED TO DOUBLE DOWN
additional portions of veg in year two, an increase of ON SUPPORTING ACCESS TO
S PLEA 85.1 million portions of veg. This year we’ve added VEGETABLES HAS NEVER BEEN SO
EA 72.1 million portions of veg to our cumulative total – IMPORTANT
SE
P
a move in the right direction but a smaller increase Given that our incremental rate of
than the year before. progress has slowed it is essential that
we do not take our foot off the pedal.
This is perhaps no surprise given the turmoil Although we’re making a difference,
COVID-19 has caused this year to society in our current portion total is a drop in
P S
LE general and the food sector in particular. The the ocean compared to where the UK
DGER impact of social distancing measures from needs to get to when it comes to eating
March 2020 onwards set in motion more veg. With much of the Out of Home
WE PLEDGE TO PLAY OUR PART TO HELP a chain of events that have seen sector continuing to be affected by lockdown
EVERYONE IN BRITAIN EAT MORE VEG some organisations benefit, while restrictions, more action urgently needs to be taken by
many others have been stymied by new COVID-19 the retail sector to support everyone in the UK to eat
restrictions. While many retailers have seen a more veg.
significant uplift in grocery sales, the Out of Home
sector has been significantly impacted by restaurant, COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing health and
school and workplace closures, with social distancing dietary inequalities, with levels of food poverty
measures profoundly affecting many of our pledgers. continuing to rise and the looming spectre of an
economic recession creating further pressure on
It is therefore deeply concerning that data from Kantar low income households. There are already striking
also shows a slowing of progress in the retail sector, inequalities in vegetable consumption (Food
with the percentage share of UK grocery retail sales Foundation 2020), and during lockdown poorer
that are veg down 0.1% on last year – despite the large children both snacked more and ate fewer fruit and
increase in overall sales volumes for food and drink vegetables than their wealthier peers (Defeyter and
in the retail sector following the closure of the Out of Mann 2020; National Food Strategy 2020). So it’s never
Home sector in March. been more important that the Peas Please community
continues to work together to bring everyone along
We are incredibly grateful for the support our pledgers with us on our journey – so that everyone is able to
have continued to provide, with this report setting out access and afford veg.
WANT TO MAKE A VEG PLEDGE?
Contact office@foodfoundation.org.uk for more information
2 3
#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
Acknowledgements
We are extremely grateful to all those who contributed to this report and Contents SUMMARY OF
all those who reported their progress in 2020. A huge thanks in particular
ACHIEVEMENTS
95
to our funder, The National Lottery Community Fund (UK Programme). Pledgers 2
Foreword 3
AND PLEDGERS
S
Acknowledgements 4
ER
Summary of
Since Peas Please was launched in 2017
PLE DG
achievements
162 MILLION
WITH THANKS TO OUR CASE STUDY CONTRIBUTORS
Jonny Agnew and Gareth Mcanlis (Henderson Group/SPAR NI), Peter
and pledgers 5
Cross (University of West London), Kim van Luijk (GroentenFruit The Commitments
Huis), Clyo Parecchini (Veg cities – Tower Hamlets), Amanda Whatley Framework 6 (broken down by sector)
(Hampshire County Council Catering Services – HC3S) and Sarah Gould
(Lantra). Our theory of change 7 cumulative additional portions of veg
THANK YOU TO THE PEAS PLEASE PROJECT AND STRATEGY BOARDS:
An update on the SECTOR PLEDGERS
Peas Please initiative 8
1
PROJECT BOARD THIS YEAR
46
Our approach to
Rebecca Tobi Food Foundation
Broadcaster
15
Indu Gurung Food Foundation monitoring 12
3
Amber Wheeler Food Foundation 2020
2019/20 progress 15
Anna Taylor Food Foundation Government organisations
4
Sophie Peters Food Foundation Peas Please Prize winners 18 MILLION have ALREADY
Jo Ralling Food Foundation
met their
Raf Bogan Food Foundation CASE STUDIES: Manufacturers pledge
Will Nicholson Food Foundation • SPAR NI 20
people watched the
15
Roz Salik Food Foundation • University of
Katie Palmer Food Sense Wales West London 21 Out of Home second Veg Power
Pearl Costello Food Sense Wales
Our impact 24
contract caterers Eat Them to Defeat
Bron Davies Food Sense Wales
Them advertising
11
Sian-Elin Davies Food Sense Wales CASE STUDIES:
Michele Shirlow Food NI • GroentenFruit Huis 27 Out of Home high campaign on ITV,
Lindsay Curran Food NI • Tower Hamlets Veg City 30 street chains Channel 4 and Sky
430
Pete Ritchie Nourish Scotland
• HC3S Catering 32
1
Simon Kenton-Lake Nourish Scotland
• Lantra 35
Public food
STRATEGY BOARD Key lessons and next steps 37 procurers
Kerry Melville Belfast Food Network
9
ORGANISATIONS
ARE
Mark Spires City University
Thank you 38
Alex McDonald Kantar Annex 1 – a detailed Retailers
Giles Quick Kantar breakdown of
14
Jack Hamilton Mash Direct pledger progress 39
Atul Patel PwC System
TAKING
PART
influencers
1,500
Juliane Caillouette Noble The Sustainable Restaurant Association
25
Ben Reynolds Sustain
Martin White CEDAR, University of Cambridge
Veg Cities
IN VEG
Richard Swanell WRAP
4
Joanna Trewarn WWF schools took part in
Wholesalers Veg Power’s schools’
activities work CITIES
Workplaces /
Event venues 8 92 Veg Advocates recruited to date
4 5
#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
UC
OD E
RS
Our theory of change
PR
THE VEG ON OFFER
➋ Retailers commit to increase sales of veg by adopting
new measures which drive increased consumption while
maintaining their existing commitments to reduce waste
OUR VEG (22 actions to help drive up sales can be found in our retailer
PRODUCTION toolkit).
➊ Parliamentarians T&P ➌ Retailers and manufacturers commit to increase the
and government EN volume of veg in ready meals (whole-meal replacements) BETTER HEALTH
LA M
RO UC
commit to work with CE and meal ingredients.
FOR ALL
D
producers to develop
P T ➍ Quick service, food-on-the-go businesses, casual
and implement dining restaurants, workplace canteens and public sector
sector strategies to food settings commit to increase the volume of veg they
make domestic veg sell, aiming for two portions in every main meal while
production resilient, maintaining commitments to reduce waste (inspiration can
profitable and be found in our Food Service Compendium). MORE VEG VEG MORE
sustainable so it can ➎ Quick service and casual dining restaurants commit to OFFERED APPEALING
keep in step with offer two portions of veg inclusive in every kid’s meal. which is convenient OUR RESULTS
rising demand. and easy to eat
MORE ADVERTISING
THE CHANGES WE'LL DELIVER
OF VEG
by businesses
ICE ASUR
PR S
spending more on it
LE BUSINESSES TRY TO as well as investing
SELL MORE VEG
E
P
in Veg Power
Retailers, contract
PUSH
PEOPLE
PULL
caterers, high street EATING MORE
chains, wholesalers VEG
THE CHANGES WE’LL DELIVER
BETTER TASTING
manufacturers, Especially VEG
The
ACCESS TO VEG VEG APPEAL venues & those who eat Culinary colleges
➏ Department of ➐ Government, workplaces pledge the least improve training on
Commitments
with support from
Health, devolved broadcasters, businesses, veg cookery
system influencers
governments, local charities and celebrities
Framework
authorities and other commit to help transform
key stakeholders the image of veg including MORE POSITIVE PR
commit to explore with financial and pro- ON VEG
Giving confidence to
SCHOOLS SERVE
new ways for
securing preferential (2017-2022) bono support to the Veg
Power fund. 2 PORTIONS OF
VEG
businesses to change
access to vegetables ➑ Catering colleges,
for those on a low chefs, wholesalers, MORE VEG
income including and manufacturers of PURCHASING
modernising and ingredients commit to POWER
increasing the uptake support the creation BRITISH
of Healthy Start. FARMERS GROW 100 VEG
of dishes which are BETTER GOVT
MORE VEG ADVOCATES IN
dominated by veg, and COMMUNITIES SCHEMES FOR
to make veg delicious IMPROVING ACCESS
and normal. TO VEG
Healthy Start, Best
Start Foods, School
Fruit and Veg Scheme
CONCENTRATED
ACTION IN
22 CITIES INNOVATIVE PILOTS
VEG PLACES Testing new business
HE 5 P ➒ Towns, cities, and places commit to become Veg Cities, with place-based initiatives to help models for improving
children and adults eat more veg through skills, planning and/or procurement, campaigns affordability and
T
s
access to veg for those
and initiatives to drive up veg access and consumption and reduce waste. The Veg Cities
on a low income
handbook can help.
➓ Charities, community-based organisations, individuals, schools and nurseries commit to
help and inspire children and adults to eat more veg.
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#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
An update on the Peas Please initiative
Peas Please started work in 2016 with a clear Interestingly, we have seen a shift towards businesses HOW HAVE WE IMPACTED
mission: to make it easier for everyone in the UK including their Peas Please commitments in corporate ON VEGETABLE PORTIONS?
to eat more veg. Shifting dietary habits is not easy, responsibility and annual reporting over the past HIGHLIGHTS The first annual progress report,
but our trailblazing approach aims to change this by year (for example Greggs and Co-op), which is an FROM THE LAST YEAR covering the campaign’s first eight
tackling all parts of the food system simultaneously, encouraging step in the right direction for ensuring that We have continued to work to influence policy and business months and published in September
working with actors from across the food system to private sector commitments to support more veg play a practices in favour of greater UK vegetable production and 2018, aggregated the number of
do so. We are seeking to address the shortcomings key role in strategic objectives. Corporate sustainability consumption, making the case for change given the formidable additional portions served as a
of the many healthy eating campaigns that have and the transition towards more sustainable and health and environmental challenges we face at both a national result of Peas Please: it amounted
previously tried (unsuccessfully) to increase the UK’s healthy diets is increasingly on the agenda for many and global level. We were thrilled to see over 520 people join us to 4.8 million.
vegetable consumption, by focusing on both supply- of our retail and Out of Home pledgers, with more online over the course of a week in October as part of Veg Fest, our
and demand-side drivers of change rather than veg in place of meat and starchy staples a double duty e-conference celebrating all things veg and aiming to galvanise The second progress report,
education alone. action when it comes to improving both health and action and provide pledgers with food for thought on reorientating covering the year July 2018 to
environmental outcomes. the food system. June 2019 and published at the
Since the launch of Peas Please in 2017 we have start of 2020, saw the cumulative
successfully built momentum and engagement We published Veg Facts 2020: in brief in June (an update on portion total increase to 89.9
with the programme, establishing Peas Please as a 2016’s fact-file) to outline why vegetables matter – it showed million additional portions. This
model for multi-stakeholder food system initiatives. the potential for investment in the UK’s horticultural sector year’s report saw our cumulative
Three new places received funding for Veg Cities this and highlighted continued low levels of veg consumption. portion total increase to 162 million
year, with Exeter, Winchester and Tower Hamlets NEW PEAS PLEASE PLEDGERS Peas Please has also been part of research conducted by the portions, with an additional 72.1
joining as new Veg Cities. We now have 25 Veg ● Edinburgh School of Food & Wine Sustainable and Healthy Food million portions of veg sold or served
Cities and are on track to have recruited 100 Veg ● Twickenham Stadium Systems ( SHEFS) research by our pledgers during July 2019 to
Advocates from across the UK by the end of the year, ● Hampshire County Council Catering This year’s report saw consortium, finding that June 2020. This year, 25 pledgers
working at a community and local level to influence Services (HC3S) most vegetables on the UK were unable to report back to us
our aggregate portion
change. Meanwhile, a further seven organisations ● University of South Wales market are not produced in on their progress due to COVID-19,
have joined the Peas Please community since ● Community Supported Agriculture total increase to 162 this country, with the UK’s impacting our cumulative portion
2019’s progress report, taking our total number of ● A&J Catering million portions, with an supply of fruit and vegetables total. The vast majority of those
participating organisations to 95. A warm welcome ● Bags of Taste additional 72.1 million increasingly reliant on unable to report back were from the
to all pledgers who have joined the Peas Please imports – particularly from Out of Home sector, highlighting the
portions of veg sold or
community since last year. countries that are vulnerable scale of the challenge the hospitality
served by our pledgers to climate change and water sector has faced in 2020.
scarcity (SHEFS 2020). In the
wake of COVID-19 we have This has particularly affected
also supported the Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, a consortium of our portion progress this year,
British fruit and veg growers of which Peas Please is a founding as our catering pledgers typically
member. The Alliance has been working hard to make sure that contribute a significant number
fruit and vegetable producers are joined up and knowledge- of portions to our cumulative
sharing throughout the pandemic. total, reporting back to us on their
veg progress across their entire
We have also worked closely with the Association of Convenience businesses. In comparison, while
Stores and our retailer pledgers to better understand how retailers many of our retail pledgers provide
can add value to and support the government’s Healthy Start and data on the amount of veg sold
Best Start Foods schemes. These schemes act as a nutritional through ready meal ranges, only
safety net for low income families with very young children, one (Henderson Group/SPAR NI)
providing vouchers to buy veg, fruit, vitamins and milk. To currently report back to us on sales
this end we have facilitated several conversations to make sure of vegetables across their business
the planned digitisation of the scheme in England, Wales and (this we monitor indirectly using
Northern Ireland can be smoothly rolled out in grocery stores, Kantar data for our other retailers).
as well as helping to coordinate a roundtable meeting between
retailers, the Public Health Minister, and the Department of We know that we need to eat over
Health and Social Care to explore how UK retailers can best 30 BILLION more portions per year
support the scheme following COVID-19. to meet public health targets, so our
work must continue. >>
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#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
WE HAVE THREE GOALS:
To see more veg eaten: we want more veg on offer in VEG ADVOCATES: A PEAS PLEASE INITIATIVE
convenient and easy-to-eat ways. We want veg to be
more appealing and desirable. And we want low income Veg Advocates help to drive They’ll work with us over and Advocates so that each
households to have greater veg purchasing power. change by challenging the food the next three years, acting can better understand the
WHAT’S NEXT? system to do better, and using as agents of change in their barriers to increasing vegetable
There is certainly more the Peas their own experience to give local communities to boost consumption within the UK.
Please partnership can do to To catalyse a permanent shift in the food system in favour advice about what needs to veg consumption, as well as These virtual meetings are
support our pledgers to reach our of higher veg consumption, reflected in both business happen to get the nation eating supporting us at a national level. planned for 2021, and we hope
overall targets, including obtaining practice and government policies. more veg. will provide an opportunity for
more ambitious pledges from As part of the next three years businesses to learn from the
businesses who have met their So far we’ve run 20 workshops of Veg Advocate activities, Peas lived experience of citizens as to
original targets, advocating for with citizens exploring the Please will be coordinating a what they find useful and what
the continued inclusion of veg on To establish a successful model for enabling people’s voices barriers to veg consumption, number of Veg Dialogues for they find challenging when it
menus to support the casual dining and lived experience to create food system change. with another 30 planned. Our Advocates to engage with our comes to accessing veg in their
and catering sectors as they rebuild target is to have recruited 100 business pledgers. The intention local areas and stores. Keep an
and regroup, and ensuring that Veg Advocates from across is to facilitate open discussion eye out for further information
commitments from larger food the UK by the end of 2020. between Peas Please businesses on this in 2021.
businesses cover their operations
across all four UK nations.
Given the influence of UK RENEWING AND REVIEWING PLEDGES TOM’S STORY: one of our veg advocates
retailers on the food we buy we Continuous improvement is a key tenet of the Peas Please initiative. The shares his experience of overcoming
are particularly keen to see our first few years of Peas Please helped to establish proof of concept, showing barriers to eating veg
retailer pledgers really step up everyone that it was in fact possible to increase the amount of veg being
and do more to increase sales of grown, sold and served. But given that many of our original pledgers joined My name is Tom and when it comes to food, I’ve had a mixed experience.
veg. We are also keen to build on the initiative in 2017, we are now looking to refresh and revise a large number
existing relationships within the of Peas Please pledges which were due to be completed by October 2020. Growing up in an impoverished household I spent most of my younger to
convenience store sector, given that early teens living on cheap, high-fat foods, which had made an impact on
many stores are located in areas Given the success of the initiative to date, and the evolving corporate both my physical and mental health. That’s not to say I didn’t have properly
of deprivation, where we know landscape in the face of tighter government regulation and growing citizen cooked foods, which I did, but often it was the portioning of food groups
veg consumption is likely to be demand for more sustainable and healthy food options, we hope to see that was off. Two years ago, my family and I set out to alter our lifestyle. Tom Mitchell, 18, lives in Scotland,
particularly low. more ambitious pledges made for the period up to 2023. Our aim is to see This entailed eating better quality foods, taking up exercise and a more and is a Veg Advocate.
renewed commitment that prioritises greater transparency in reporting the positive mindset by moving to a better area.
volumes of veg sold or served by businesses, as well as new pledges that are
SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound). Now, I could sit here and state the obvious: you should be eating at least seven fruit and veg a day, but during
these times that’s neither possible nor practical; for example, in my hometown of Kirkcaldy, we’ve seen a decline
Pledgers who have reviewed and updated their pledges in the past year of quality of fresh fruit and its shelf life at many of our local supermarkets.
This rapid change in accessibility, however, is also bringing about some positive changes, whether that’s coming up
with creative new recipes or having a radical overhaul of what we eat – introducing new foods and flavours to our
diet, which is enhancing our relationship with food.
During the lockdown my experience with fruit and veg has been a mixed bag. At no point could I not access any
of the fruit or veg I desired; however, more often than not after two weeks of the lockdown the quality of fruit
TRANSPARENT REPORTING declined, often going mouldy before its expiry date. One thing I noticed about this is that it depended on what
As increasing numbers of pledgers meet their initial commitments supermarket I shopped at so I assumed it must be down to their suppliers. One other key factor I noticed was that
to promote and mainstream veg, Peas Please would like to see more the later it got into the week, the more the fruit on the shelves went off. The price of everything during lockdown
transparent reporting of sales of vegetables as part of the monitoring never seemed to change so that was a plus.
process. This will take time, with technical challenges that require
some pledgers to invest resources into determining an effective method Now, if I was to offer a suggestion for people to increase their vegetable intake, it would probably target those with
and process for doing so, but it would be a powerful driver of change little-to-no kitchen skills. I feel vegetables could easily be incorporated into ready meals, or maybe a healthy fast
by increasing accountability among retailers, restaurants and food initiative could be started to offer healthily cooked, high-vitamin-packed meals for those who want them. It’s
manufacturers. For next year’s progress report, we hope to have not only about increasing our daily intake; it’s about accessing veg and being able to afford them.
finalised several new commitments with existing pledgers that
commit to more transparent reporting of vegetable sales.
10 11
#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
Our approach to monitoring
The success of Peas Please rests provide a justification for the of COVID-19, we assigned them a COVID-19 ‘score’ ADDITIONAL CHANGES MADE TO THIS
on the quality of the monitoring rating given which we then used to rather than a black traffic light rating. This is intended YEAR’S MONITORING PROCESS
process and the extent to which it confirm or adjust the self-rating to take into account this year’s unprecedented events Pledgers are now assigned two traffic light ratings to
holds pledgers accountable to their score. We publish a traffic light but is not expected to be extended beyond 2020. assess progress, rather than one. One traffic light assesses
commitments. The primary purpose colour-code for pledgers based on Organisations who did not respond to any of this overall progress against all pledge commitments as
of publishing our progress reports this numerical score when they year’s communication around reporting and were not before, and one assesses progress specifically against our
is to assess each pledger’s fidelity are reporting their second year of able to confirm that their lack of reporting was due to core metric of increasing the number of vegetable portions
to their pledge. Monitoring is done data. Because we recruited a large COVID-19 were assigned a black rating. sold or served by pledgers. For those organisations who
through a combination of pledger number of new pledgers in 2019, the do not currently have a specific pledge around portions
self-reporting, use of aggregate, first-year traffic light ratings for of veg, we have marked this as ‘does not currently
independently sourced metrics and, 22 pledgers has not been publicly report’ in the report (Annex 1). Those pledgers with a
where applicable, visits to retail reported here as a part of this year’s business model that means they do not directly serve or
stores and restaurant chains by the report. These first-year results sell vegetables have been marked as ‘N/A’.
monitoring team. are instead shared with pledgers
privately. All pledgers in their We also now ask for a second signature when pledgers
The self-reported data for the second year of reporting have their submit their reporting data to the Peas Please monitoring
period of July 2019 to June 2020 traffic light scores published as a team. Securing a counter signature was introduced to
were this year collected through part of the annual progress report. increase the reliability and accuracy of reporting.
an online data collection system, Contributions to our annual and
accessed via the Peas Please cumulative portion totals, however,
microsite. Pledgers who have are included from year one of TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF MONITORING CHANGES BETWEEN YEARS 1 AND 3
previously reported back to us on pledger reporting.
their progress reported updated YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3
figures for their most recent year
of progress. For new pledgers, The colour-code is defined as: 70 pledgers + 25 cities (including 22
we asked for baseline data – ● BLACK: No report from pledger reporting back for the first time this
41 Pledgers 63 pledgers + 22 cities
comparison point data before they ● GREY: First year of reporting (score will be reported next year) year, and 25 who did not report back
started working on Peas Please – COVID-19: Unable to report back this year due to capacity issues due to COVID-19)
and their first year of progress. caused by COVID-19
● RED: Limited progress Set questions per commitment type,
Pledgers were asked to self-assess ● ORANGE: A good start
grouped into categories depending
their progress with a numerical ● YELLOW: On the road to success
rating on a scale of 1–3, and to ● GREEN: Fully implemented all commitments. Specific, individual questions Set questions per commitment type on whether they related to portions,
marketing, policy or new product
development (NPD) veg pledges
CHANGES TO THE MONITORING EXERCISE AS A RESULT OF COVID-19
The majority of our pledgers within the catering and We hoped that this would more fairly reflect the fact Portions only (number of people Portions only (number of people
casual dining sectors were forced to close their sites from that different sectors have experienced COVID-19 Portions and number
has moved over to Veg Cities for has moved over to Veg Cities for
March onwards in accordance with lockdown rules. As a very differently. For those pledgers forced to close of people reached
monitoring) monitoring)
result, progress for many towards meeting Peas Please from March onwards, progress for this year was then
targets came to a halt for four months (one third) of this assessed for the first 8 months of the year only, with
Gave each pledger two traffic light
2019/20 Peas Please reporting year. Other pledgers found progress for any targets on percentage increases in
their capacity was severely stretched by operational veg sold or served then compared against 66% of a
ratings; one for overall progress and
Gave each pledger a traffic light rating
challenges – needing to meet increased demand and pledger’s pre-COVID-19 baseline report. To calculate Gave each pledger a traffic one specifically relating to progress
(published for 26 pledgers in their
responding to the rapidly changing environment. our aggregate total, however, we compared 12 months light rating (not published) in serving or selling more portions of
second year of reporting)
of actual veg sales/servings against 100% of the veg (published for pledgers in their
As a result, we made the decision to offer all pledgers original baseline year as in previous years, in order to second or third year of reporting)
the option to split their reporting for this year into two more accurately estimate the impact of COVID-19 on
time periods: additional portions of veg being sold to citizens. Veg Cities collecting their own
Individual Veg Cities included Veg Cities collecting their own data
data via their Veg City reporting
1. July 2019 – February 2020 Where organisations were completely unable to within the monitoring and providing them to us
2. March – June 2020. report back due to capacity issues as a direct result dashboards and providing them to us
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#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
2019/20 progress
STORE AND RESTAURANT TABLE 2: PEAS PLEASE REPORTING PROGRESS
VISITS
The retail pledgers in Peas Please 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
collectively make up more than
80% of the retail grocery market Sales data and more detailed results for Veg Power’s program of work Number of pledgers due for reporting this year 41 49 70
in the UK (Kantar 2020), making are analysed separately as part of the annual campaign evaluation
their pledges potentially very exercise undertaken by Veg Power. We have included a brief Number of pledgers providing self-reported data 35 41 38*
influential for population-level summary of the 2020 Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign and other
veg consumption. To see our activities within this report. Number of pledgers' data provided by the PP team 3 5 3
retailer pledges in action we have
historically conducted annual store 4 (2 of which
visits to each pledging retailer.
have now been
These site visits are intended to Number of pledgers who didn’t provide data 3 3
identify cross-retailer opportunities removed from the
for making veg more accessible and programme)*
easier to buy, and act as a balance
to reduce any self-reporting bias. Number of Veg Cities ** 22 25
This year, we also had 10 pledgers
in the casual dining sector due to * An additional 25 pledgers did not provide data due to capacity issues caused by COVID-19. Goals Soccer Centre did not submit data for this or the previous
report back to us for the first time, year and will thus be removed from the initiative. Chefs@School have come to the end of their funding and so have also been removed from the list of
participating Peas Please pledgers.
and were planning on visiting their
** Three initial Veg Cities participated in the monitoring process as pledgers in 2017/18 and are counted above in the number of pledgers due for reporting.
restaurants to monitor any changes
to menus made as a result of Peas
Please pledges.
PLEDGERS WITH
A GREEN TRAFFIC
Due to social distancing NATIONAL TRENDS IN LIGHT FOR OVERALL
measures and restaurant DIETARY INTAKE PROGRESS 2019/20
Lastly, we keep track of annual
closures in place due to data from national dietary surveys ITV
COVID-19 it was not possible to see if and how our pledgers’
Birds Eye
to conduct these visits this year progress is reflected in population
dietary intake data. However, Nestle UK
there is a considerable time Interserve (Autograph
These visits are usually made lag before the national data is Education)
by the monitoring team during available and so it will be several
the summer months. Where it years before we are able to see any Bartlett Mitchell
was possible for the monitoring impact at a population level. Havering Catering Services
team to objectively check the AGGREGATE METRICS
Henderson Group/SPAR NI
accuracy of pledger reporting – for We track our impact through two This year, we are also able to
example through monitoring social aggregate metrics: include analysis from the latest Sainsbury’s PLEDGER PROGRESS
media accounts – reviews were National Diet and Nutrition Tesco The majority of pledgers who submitted data have made progress on their
undertaken. With support from our 1. Additional portions of veg sold/ Survey, waves 5–9, on vegetable pledges. Thirty-four of the seventy received a yellow or green traffic light
Veg Advocates we intend to conduct served by pledgers through consumption for the years Lantra score and are thus on track to fulfil their commitments or have already done
site visits for both our retailer and meals or products. 2012–2017. As this data predates Social Farms and Gardens so (see Annex 1).
casual dining pledgers for next the start of the Peas Please
Soil Association
year’s reporting process (assuming 2. The percentage of the retail programme in 2016/7 we intend A huge congratulations to those who have already met their pledge (green
the environment permits). shopping basket which is veg. to use this as our own baseline Sustainable Food Places traffic light), including four of our catering pledgers: Interserve (Autograph
This metric, prepared by Kantar, data to compare with vegetable PwC/BaxterStorey Education, Bartlett Mitchell, Havering Catering and Caterlink. Each has
is tracked for all our pledging consumption data over the coming already exceeded their targets for increasing the amount of veg they
retailers. It covers fresh, frozen, years to see if there have been any Caterlink procure/serve despite having to close a great number of their sites between
chilled, prepared and tinned veg. changes at a population level. March and June following COVID-19.
14 15
#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
SOME EXAMPLES OF PEAS PLEASE PLEDGER ACTIVITIES
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
Table 3 demonstrates the significant
impact of COVID-19 on many
of our pledgers, with all of the PRODUCT MARKETING AND MENU VEGETABLE VEG-FOCUSED
organisations who chose to split DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT PLACEMENT POLICY
their portion data into two time
periods – before and after COVID-19 ● Our retailer pledgers continue ● A number of innovative ● Those pledgers in the casual ● Aldi have boosted sales of fresh ● Among our ‘system influencer’
– on track to increase the amount to make great strides in campaigns have seen veg take dining sector are making produce by redesigning and pledgers, the Association of
of veg they sold or served this increasing the veg content on a more prominent role in good progress in redesigning refreshing store formats. One Convenience Stores committed
reporting year before lockdown of ready meals, helping to marketing campaigns, with the their children’s menus to key change has been to promote to supporting the uptake of
in March. The majority, however, make more convenient meal introduction of new product offer more veg. The Brewers fresh produce to their customers Healthy Start vouchers across
were (unsurprisingly) unable to options healthier. Tesco lines that aim to make veg Fayre chain of family friendly at the very start of their their member stores in this
exceed the amount of veg they significantly increased the more appealing. Over the last restaurants redesigned their shopping journey, on the first year’s ‘National Food Strategy:
sold or served in 2020 compared percentage of own-brand 12 months Lidl have continued children’s menus so that aisle, as well as giving special Part One’ recommendations,
to their original baseline year of ready meals that have at least to successfully promote a veg are now centre stage. prominence to their ‘Super 6’ while Lantra (Tyfu Cymru) have
reporting. As Table 3 shows, the Out one of your 5-a-day from wide-selection of veg through Zizzi, who launched their price promotion for fruit and updated their Wales industry
of Home sector has been particularly 26% to 50%, and the Co-op’s their ‘Pick of the Week’ redesigned children’s menus veg. Those stores where these action plan for horticulture,
affected by the effects of COVID-19, ‘Classic Menu’ ready meals (PoTW) selection, calculating before COVID-19, have already changes have been implemented with ambitious targets and
changing how people obtain food range now contains over 150g that almost 70% of the PoTW seen a 167% increase in sales have seen an increase in sales for a collaborative approach
and potentially affecting how much of extra veg across the range’s promotions have been veg of vegetables as a result of fresh products compared to older supporting their ambition of
veg individuals have been able to four main meals thanks to products over the last year. including more veg. store formats. Aldi are working growing more veg in Wales.
access. Of those pledgers who split a concerted effort by their to transform all stores to the
their reporting into two periods, product development team to ● Recipe development has also ● Meanwhile, Mars revamped new format.
only three were able to increase the ramp up veg content. seen Nestle UK increase the their menus in staff canteens
amount of vegetables they served/ amount of veg included in so that rather than offering ● Incentivising purchases of veg
sold over the course of the entire 12 ● Lidl have worked closely with their recipes by 51%, with all a single ‘healthy option’, online is an area ripe for focus
months compared to pre-COVID-19. their growers to introduce new of their Maggi dry recipe meal menus now focus on ‘healthy and investment, particularly
and innovative produce – for mixes now recommending as standard’. The new menus given the significant increase in
example in January smaller- two portions of vegetables per include veg as part of the meal market share for online shopping
TABLE 3 than-average avocados were serving with every meal on pack rather than as a paid extra and since the start of the pandemic.
introduced into their ‘fun size and online. across three workplace canteens Waitrose continue to run trials
8 months
pre- 2020 range’ and named ‘Avodillos’ they have seen a 19%, 44% and to increase the prominence
Type of COVID-19 vs full to capture the imagination ● Many pledgers, including most 7% average monthly increase of vegetable promotions and
pledger vs 8 months baseline of children. The introduction retailers and caterers, paired in veg portions being sold since suggestions as part of the
of baseline year of a larger ‘family size’ bag their Peas Please pledge with they implemented this change. online customer journey, with
year of spinach resulted in an active participation in this Sainsbury’s recently launching
Caterer ✚ additional 1 metric tonne of year’s Veg Power Eat Them to ‘The Great Big Fruit and Veg
spinach being sold. Defeat Them (ETTDT) campaign, Challenge’, gamifying vegetable
Caterer ✚ ✚ including running Veg Power purchases to encourage their
Caterer ✚ ● Compass Group launched a themed activities in school customers with Nectar cards to
new plant-forward range, canteens and placing ETTDT try more and different veg.
Caterer ✚ ‘Plantilicous’, into their signage in store vegetable
Retailer ✚ ✚ business and industry, aisles. The Co-op, for example,
college, university and invested money to support Where pledgers have struggled to make progress on as Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day. A number
Caterer ✚ healthcare business contracts getting the Veg Power activity their pledges, they have highlighted the challenges of pledgers have also struggled with internal systems
Workplace/ in January 2020. The new book into schools in lower in moving people beyond their ‘usual choices’ and for obtaining data and metrics on vegetable sales
✚ ✚ plant-based range ensures demographic areas as well
event space towards new veg offerings. Increasing space to as part of the reporting process. Engaging multiple
the vegetable content of as providing copies to their promote vegetables in marketing materials such as teams in the monitoring progress and embedding the
Caterer ✚ meals makes up at least two Member Pioneer (MP) network magazines can be tricky given the pressure to follow ‘more veg’ message into buying, development and
portions of veg, and proved (650 MPs in communities food trends, with more indulgent recipes that are light monitoring processes have proved challenging for a
a hit with customers when it around the UK) to share with on veg often in vogue during seasonal milestones such number of our larger pledging organisations.
launched during Veganuary. their local communities.
16 17
#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
Peas Please Prize winners – 2018/19
The first ever Peas Please Prizes were awarded this year as part of Veg Fest, celebrating
the achievements and progress made by pledgers for the reporting year 2018-19.
THE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION PRIZE THE INNOVATION PRIZE THE RISING STAR PRIZE THE VEG CITY PRIZE
Recognising an outstanding contribution made Recognising inspiring and innovative activities Recognising new Peas Please pledgers who have Recognising impactful and integrated place-based
by an individual working within one of our to support Peas Please pledges and our overall made particularly impactful and ambitious pledges approaches to increasing veg uptake at a local level
participating pledger organisations. mission of boosting veg consumption. for helping us all to eat more veg. for cities participating in the Veg Cities campaign.
INNER INNER INNER INNER
W W W W
2020 2020 2020 2020
WINNER: EDWARD MORGAN, WINNER: SAINSBURY’S WINNER: HENDERSON GROUP WINNER
CASTELL HOWELL The Sainsbury’s Little Ones Range provides /SPAR NI BRIGHTON AND HOVE FOOD
infants up to 3-year-olds with all the nutrients PARTNERSHIP
For his championing of Castell Howell’s pledge they need for the vital first 1,000 days of their The first retailer in the UK to pledge a percentage
and support of Veg Power, distributing 47,000 development, with all tray meals containing 2 increase in veg sold, demonstrating a true For their pioneering work in supporting their local
Eat Them to Defeat Them packs to schools of the recommended 5-a-day. commitment to helping Peas Please significantly community to grow, source and eat more veg.
across Wales. boost the amount of veg eaten in the UK.
RUNNER-UP: Cardiff and Vale University RUNNER-UP: Hull Food Partnership
RUNNER-UP: Linda Cregan, ISS Health Board
THE PLEDGER CHAMPION PRIZE THE GOOD SOCIETY PRIZE THE VEG-O-METER PRIZE
Recognising pledger organisations who have Recognising pledger efforts to support Recognising the biggest percentage increase in
effectively championed and implemented their Peas equitable access to veg. vegetable portions sold or served by our pledgers.
Please pledge/s across their organisation
as a core part of their business proposition.
INNER INNER INNER
W W W
2020 2020 2020
WINNER: BIRDS EYE WINNER: LIDL WINNER: INTERSERVE
(AUTOGRAPH EDUCATION)
For their ambitious pledge incorporating For their continued support and commitment Their focus on changing veg behaviours among
commitments to increase advertising spend to the Healthy Start voucher scheme which both staff and children led to this caterer
on veg, introducing new products and running supports low income groups to buy fruit and veg. increasing the portions of vegetable served in
promotions in stores. 2018/19 by 244% compared to the year before.
RUNNER-UP: The Scottish Government
RUNNER-UP: Greggs RUNNER-UP: Tesco
18 19CASE STUDY CASE STUDY
SPAR NI University of
West London
EN
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CASE STUDY LE
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SPAR NI UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON
BOOSTING VEG SALES THROUGH JOINED-UP MARKETING HOW ONE UNIVERSITY IS FUTURE-PROOFING MEALS BY TRAINING UP
P T
STUDENT CHEFS
In September 2019, SPAR, EUROSPAR,
ViVO and ViVOXTRA stores and
supermarkets in Northern Ireland began
an integrated campaign to encourage
shoppers to eat healthier and fill their
baskets with quality, home-grown fruit and
veg with the savings available in-store.
Coinciding with the return of school for
thousands of young people in Northern
Ireland, the retailer launched its year-long
integrated campaign with a half price
fruit and veg sale across its network of
stores, situated in every community in
the country.
The initiative was supported by out-of-
home messaging, complemented by
in-store point of sale and radio, plus an
engaging digital strategy which aimed to
promote value through tactical price and
This was a campaign that
The need for a more resilient, integrate into existing culinary and food and years, it can be downloaded for free from
reached the shopper at every sustainable food industry is clearer than hospitality courses. the Forum’s website.
stage of their journey ever, and to achieve this we need the
talent and expertise of chefs. But how The key lessons are incorporated into The eight lessons focus on themes and
can we better equip future chefs to the ‘Future Plates Handbook’ which also issues that caterers are set to face in the
product content across the period, backed play their part in a sustainable world? includes ready-to-use teaching principles, near future – from finding a new protein
up by fun veggie facts using the back to Culinary professionals have a real tips and resources to be incorporated balance, to wider food sustainability areas
school messaging to highlight the best opportunity to create a change in how into culinary skills education courses. such as food waste, biodiversity, livelihoods
fruit and veg for brain power, encouraging everybody eats for the better, and so it’s This free-to-use content is designed to and seasonality. The lessons include both
healthy eating among young people. critical to prepare them with the skills be adaptable and easily integrated into an introduction to key issues – such as the
and knowledge they need to create almost any mainstream culinary arts environmental impact of animal protein –
Renowned for its support of local farmers great-tasting, sustainable, healthy and curriculum, as well as on-the-job training. and practical activities focused on traditional,
and growers, the retailer highlighted nutritious products. Together with an insights report collating widely taught recipes. With protein, UWL’s
various suppliers to its fruit and veg range, learnings and recommendations gleaned focus is not on vegan or plant-only culinary
from Orr’s Potatoes to Fresh Fields carrots As part of the Protein Challenge 2040, the from the pilot, as well as stakeholder and skills, but rather on rebalancing protein in
through dedicated interviews in the SPAR University of West London (UWL) have expert engagement over the past three dishes. By rebalancing, UWL mean that
and EUROSPAR InSPARation consumer creative plates full of fruit and veg, while veg products in the average basket shop, created and piloted a series of sustainability- they are teaching students to reduce the use
magazine, web articles and interesting a competition was held to win £50 worth year on year, to millions of impressions for led lessons that can unlock young chefs’ of animal protein dishes (while improving
facts across its digital channels. of The Greengrocer’s products, further the digital campaign. This was a campaign potential to shape the future of food. From the quality), and increasing the use of
highlighting the fantastic range available that reached the shopper at every stage September 2019 to May 2020, together vegetables, fruits and plant proteins, to
To further engage shoppers and their in-store. of their journey, and immersed them in with Forum for the Future and the Future achieve better outcomes for health, nutrition
children with healthy eating, a series of all aspects of the initiative, from quality Plates initiative, UWL developed and piloted and sustainability.
social media short videos were produced Excellent results were witnessed across product and value pricing, to easy recipe eight new forward thinking, sustainability-
which showed viewers how to make the board, from an increase of fruit and ideas and health benefits. led lessons for schools and colleges to Find out more about this initiative.
20 21#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
National dietary trends
TABLE 4: PERCENTAGE CONSUMING ‘5-A-DAY’ FROM NATIONAL DIETARY INTAKE DATA
ENGLAND (NATIONAL DIET AND NUTRITION SURVEY – NDNS)
2012/13-2013/14 2014/15-2015/2016 *2016/17 – 2017/18
Adults 27% 31% Not yet published
Children 8% 8% Not yet published
WALES (NATIONAL SURVEY FOR WALES)
2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 TABLE 5a: Secondary Primary
PORTIONS OF Adults school school
Adults 24% 23% 24% 25% VEG PER DAY
BY AGE GROUP (>16yrs) children children
SCOTLAND (SCOTTISH HEALTH SURVEY) (11-16 yrs) (5-10yrs)
2016 2017 2018 2019 Mean number FIGURE1 : THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF
of veg portions 2.6 1.6 1.7 PORTIONS OF VEG EATEN PER NATION
Adults 20% 24% 22% 22% FOR THOSE 11 YEARS + (MEAN)
eaten per day
Source: NDNS, waves 5-9 (2012-2017)
Children (2-15) 13% 15% 15% 14%
The % eating less
NORTHERN IRELAND (HEALTH SURVEY NORTHERN IRELAND) than 1 portion of 11% 25% 33%
veg a day
2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Note: One adult portion is 80g based on the recommended 400g a day of fruit and veg.
Adults 37% 43% 38% Peas Please uses a portion size of 50g for primary school-aged children. This is the midpoint OTLA
N
SC
value of the 40–60g recommended for children aged 4–10 years old in the School Food Plan.
2.3
D
* NDNS has not yet released an individual data point for the percentage achieving 5-a-day for Year 9 (2016/17), but trend analysis released in January 2019 shows Source: Food Foundation analysis of NDNS data, 2020.
that over nine years (from 2008/09 to 2016/17) changes to the percentage achieving 5-a-day ‘were very small or close to zero’. (Bates et al. 2019)
TABLE 5b:
PORTIONS OF Poorest Richest
VEG PER DAY 20% 20%
BASELINE DATA FROM THE NATIONAL BY INCOME
DIET AND NUTRITION SURVEY IR
ELA
N
N.
Mean number
1.7
D
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) of veg portions 2.6 2.9
provides nationally representative data on the types eaten per day
and quantities of foods consumed by individuals across GLAN
N
the UK. Peas Please ran secondary data analysis on the
2.5
D
E
The % eating less
NDNS, waves 5–9, raw dataset (2012–2017) for Veg
than 1 portion of 16% 5.5%
Facts 2020: in brief, looking specifically at vegetable A LES
consumption.
veg a day W
Across the four UK nations, 1.9
These NDNS data show that vegetable consumption Note: One adult portion is 80g based on the the amount of veg eaten is
is low across all age groups. Moreover, vegetable recommended 400g a day of fruit and veg. Peas Please below government dietary
uses a portion size of 50g for primary school-aged
consumption follows a strong social gradient with the recommendations, with
children. This is the midpoint value of the 40–60g
richest 20% eating over half a portion of veg more a day recommended for children aged 4–10 years old in the vegetable consumption
than the poorest 20%. The richest 20% were also much School Food Plan. in Wales and Northern
less likely to be eating no veg at all. Source: Food Foundation analysis of NDNS data, 2020. Ireland particularly low.
22 23#PeasPlease #PeasPlease
162
Our impact MILLION
additional
portions
ADDITIONAL PORTIONS OF VEG SOLD PERCENTAGE OF THE SHOPPING BASKET THAT IS VEG
OR SERVED When Peas Please was launched, Compared to 2018-2019, the overall shopping baskets that is veg has
Building on the initial success of our first two years, 7.2% of the weight of the average percentage of veg in shopping actually fallen slightly over the
our pledgers have cumulatively sold or served an shopping basket was composed baskets has fallen slightly for past year. It is important to note,
additional 162 million portions in the three years we of vegetables (Kantar). We know, the market as a whole, despite however, that these figures only
have been monitoring Peas Please pledger progress. however, that in order to be in line grocery sales increasing 13.7% in capture fresh, frozen, chilled,
Although this demonstrates remarkable progress, the and with many more unable to trade as normal with the government’s Eatwell the 12 weeks leading up to mid- prepared and canned vegetables,
rate at which we are increasing our cumulative portion following the closure and only partial reopening of Guide, 20% of the shopping basket June following the closure of and therefore do not capture some
total has slowed, with around 13 million fewer portions the hospitality sector (see Figure 2 for how COVID-19 should be made up of veg. If we the Out of Home sector (Ingram of the progress being made by
of veg sold or served reported by our pledgers for our has impacted on different sectors). Moreover, retail look only at those UK retailers that 2020). Although there was a small our retail pledgers in their ready
third year of reporting (2019/20) compared to the sales data kindly provided by Kantar to Peas Please have made a Peas Please pledge, increase in the volume of veg meals and other composite and
second year (2018/19). also show that the proportion of shopping baskets that the percentage of veg in shopping purchased, this increase was not a packaged products. Kantar data
is veg remains low, despite grocery sales increasing baskets was 7.9% at the start large one relative to the sales uplift captures retail grocery sales only
COVID-19 has undoubtedly played a role here, with following the closure of the Out of Home sector of Peas Please and is now 7.4%. seen for other food categories, and does not include veg served by
27% of our pledgers unable to report back to us at all (typically, 25–30% of calories consumed are eaten out Although this is higher than the and so the percentage share of caterers and casual dining chains
this year due to capacity issues caused by COVID-19, of the home (Public Health England 2018)). average percentage for the market in the Out of Home sector, nor
overall, and for retailers who are vegetables sold directly to citizens,
not pledgers (5.4%), it is deeply for example veg box schemes. The
concerning that both figures data also only covers a 12 month
FIGURE 2: PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION TO OUR TOTAL CUMLATIVE PORTION TOTAL BROKEN DOWN BY SECTOR
■ 2018/19 VS ■ 2019/20 appear to be on a gradual period to the end of June and so
downward trend. The fall in is an incomplete picture of life
50 percentage share among following COVID-19.
retailers who are pledgers
45
was driven mostly by two Of additional concern, are the
40
retailers whose individual stark inequalities in the vegetable
35
% CONTRIBUTION
performance dragged down the purchase data visible in the Kantar
30 average. data (Table 7). The amount of
25 vegetables purchased increases in
20 step with income. Interestingly,
15 regional inequalities can also be
TABLE 7: PERCENTAGE OF THE SHOPPING BASKET THAT IS MADE UP OF seen from the Kantar basket data,
10 VEGETABLES BY INCOME (KANTAR) with those in London purchasing
5 more vegetables than those in the
0 Per annum 52 w/e 17 Jun 52 w/e 16 Jun 52 w/e 14 Jun North of England; 7.7% of baskets
MANUFACTURERS CONTRACT HIGH STREET PUBLIC PROCURERS & RETAILERS SYSTEM
& WHOLESALERS CATERERS CHAINS WORKPLACE/EVENT INFLUENCERS 18 19 2020 in London are veg compared to
6.6% in the North.
£0 – 9,999 6.3% 5.8% 5.7%
TABLE 6: ADDITIONAL PORTIONS OF VEG, PEAS
2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 £10,000 – 19,999 6.9% 6.2% 6.2% WHAT DOES OUR DATA
PLEASE AND KANTAR DATA TELL US ABOUT WHETHER
£20,000 – 29,999 6.8% 6.6% 6.6% WE’VE EATEN MORE OR
Additional portions of veg (Peas Please 85.1 73.3 LESS VEG THIS YEAR?
n/a 4.8 million
pledger total) million million £30,000 – 39,000 7.3% 7.1% 6.9% Despite overall retail sales of food
and drink increasing this year
% shopping basket that is veg (Kantar WorldPanel) 7.2% 7.3% 7.1% 7.0% £40,000 – 49,000 7.7% 7.5% 7.3% following the closure of the Out of
Home sector in March, vegetable
% shopping basket that is veg for pledger retailers £50,000 – 59,000 8.1% 7.8% 7.6% sales have not increased as a
7.9% 7.7%* 7.6%* 7.4%
only (Kantar WorldPanel) proportion of the typical shopping
£60,000 – 69,000 8.6% 8.3% 8.0% basket relative to last year’s figures.
*Please note that the % shopping basket that is veg for pledger retailers recorded for 2017/8 and 2018/9 This year’s percentage of veg in
has been updated using a consistent methodology in line with 2019/20 and to reflect Kantar’s continual £70,000 + 9.1% 8.7% 8.5% the shopping basket for the retail
updating of data, and the figures are therefore different to those recorded in 2019’s progress report. market as a whole fell again by >>
Source: Kantar
24 25CASE STUDY
GroentenFruit
#PeasPlease Huis
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GROENTENFRUIT HUIS
PROMOTING VEGETABLES DURING THE EUROPEAN LOCKDOWN
P T
0.1% to 7.0%. However, it is possible that consumption During the first lockdown in the
might have increased given that levels of household THE PERCENTAGE OF UK FOOD AND Netherlands in the spring of 2020, it soon
food waste fell during the first few months of the SOFT DRINK ADVERTISING SPENT became clear that the importance of a
pandemic, from 24.1% in November 2019 to 17.9% in ON VEG healthy lifestyle could not be overstated as
June 2020 (WRAP 2020). While this data is not specific Using data kindly provided by Nielsen we people were confined to their homes, with
to vegetables it may be indicative of a higher ratio of analysed data on advertising spend in the UK many struggling to access food and fresh
consumption to purchase for veg. Nevertheless, despite for food and soft drinks, covering advertising in fruit and veg. The role healthy lifestyles can
the ongoing efforts of our pledgers in the retail sector cinema, direct mail, door drops, outdoor, press, play in supporting the normal functioning of
we have barely moved the needle. Only two of our seven radio and TV. We calculated the percentage the immune system also came to the fore.
retailer pledgers increased the percentage of veg sold of advertising spend on five different food Healthy eating with plenty of fresh fruit and
this year compared to 2019 according to the Kantar and drink categories – vegetables, fruit, vegetables is a vital part of that lifestyle.
data, with most remaining flat year on year. When we confectionary, sweet and savoury snacks, and
looked at vegetable retail sales for the 52 weeks ending soft drinks – comparing ad spend in 2017 to The Fresh Produce Centre (GroentenFruit GroentenFruit Huis launched a campaign
February 2020 the numbers hardly changed, suggesting spend in 2019. Huis) is an association of trading A campaign was set up that in cooperation with the National Action
that even before COVID-19 the retail sector was not on companies and growers’ associations could be seen throughout Plan for Fruit and Vegetables, using
track to significantly increase the amount of veg being Although there has been a small but in the Netherlands, representing the the Netherlands, resulting the slogan: ‘Take care of each other
sold. Much more needs to be done – and quickly - if we encouraging increase in the proportion spent interests of companies that are active in and let us take care of your fruit and
are to improve veg consumption in the UK. on vegetables, the overall percentage spend the sale of fruit and vegetables. It aims to
in a 40% increase in veg’ to inspire consumers to eat more
on vegetables as a proportion of all food and be a source of knowledge and inspiration. visitors searching for more fruits and vegetables. The first phase
Moreover, although we know that meals eaten out soft drink advertising remains negligible. It is The GroentenFruit Huis Association information about fruit and of the campaign focused on spreading
of the home generally contain not enough veg (Food possible that Veg Power and ITV’s Eat Them to has over 320 members, who specialise veg and how to use them the main message: ‘Take care of each
Foundation 2016), data reported to Peas Please shows Defeat Them campaign (which launched in 2019) in domestic wholesale, import, export, other. We will take care of your fruit and
that many of our pledgers in the catering sector were has contributed to the upward trend in ad spend treatment and processing, packaging, during lockdown vegetables’. The campaign video
actually on track to meet their targets to serve more veg seen since 2017 (Figure 1), but there is certainly storage and shipment of fruit and aimed to reassure consumers that
this year before they were impacted by COVID-19 (Table a great deal left to do in ensuring a level playing vegetables. They were therefore uniquely they would not have to worry about
3). COVID-19 has therefore derailed progress towards field when it comes to food marketing. placed to work together to promote the availability of enough fruits and
more veg for many organisations in the Out of Home vegetables during the pandemic. vegetables during lockdown.
sector while not delivering a concurrent boost to veg as a
percentage share of total sales in the grocery retail sector As a follow-up to spreading the main
FIGURE3 : ADVERTISING SPEND ON VEGETABLES AS
– a blow for the health of the population at a time when it A PROPORTION OF TOTAL AD SPEND ON FOOD AND message, GroentenFruit Huis also wanted
has never been so important. SOFT DRINKS to inspire consumers to take good care
of themselves, especially in these times,
This supports research suggesting that, for many by eating enough fruit and vegetables.
sections of the population, diet quality worsened With a second video, they made the
during lockdown, with some struggling to access fresh link between the main message and
fruit and veg, while others turned to foods high in salt,
2017 2019 healthy eating. GroentenFruit Huis
fat and sugar in response to increased psycho-social also developed four weekly menus
stress and anxiety (BNF 2020). Kantar data shows
that those categories that saw the largest increase in
SPEND
(£)
£10,971,598 £12,188,275 together with culinary bloggers, inspiring
people to eat more fruit and vegetables.
sales following lockdown included alcohol and lunch
options such as spreads and cold meats. Overall, it is % In no time a campaign was set up
not therefore possible to judge whether the Kantar SHARE 1.67% 1.98% that could be seen throughout the
data show a net increase in consumption of veg this Netherlands: on TV, radio, highway signs,
year or not, as we don't have a comparison aggregate Source: Nielsen AdDynamix, trucks on the road, in the newspaper
figure combining veg eaten out of the home and veg 2017; Nielsen AdDynamix, 2019 and via social media. They received free
purchased through grocery retail to compare over airtime on national TV and radio with an
time. While there is evidence that people have been audience reach of more than 4.5 million
doing more cooking from scratch since lockdown, people. On their platform Veggipedia.
this might not necessarily have equated to more veg, nl, they saw a 40% increase in visitors
and there have also been significant increases in the during lockdown researching for more
amount of snacks purchased, which may have provided information about fruit and veg and how
a counterbalance. to use them.
26 27You can also read
