Heston Blumenthal's Christmas puddings, which caused a sensation when they were first released in the UK last year, will be the first tangible sign of a new partnership between Nosh Food Market and UK supermarket company Waitrose.
Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas puddings, which caused a sensation when they were first released in the UK last year, will be the first tangible sign of a new partnership between Nosh Food Market and UK supermarket company Waitrose.
FIW reported last week that Blumenthal’s Christmas creation this year will be pine-floured mine pies.
The Waitrose Hidden Orange and Hidden Clementine Christmas puddings are made with English cider and Spanish sherry. They have whole candied oranges and clementines embedded in the centre.
“Waitrose represents everything we would like to be,” says Nosh co-founder Clinton Beuvnik. The exclusive country “strategic partnership,” which Waitrose has made as an international test case, follows relationships it has to supply retailers in 22 countries.
These are mainly former British colonies or territories in the West Indies and the Middle East.
Apart from 264 stores in the UK, it has two stores in Dubai and a jointly owned one in Bahrain. The agreement gives Nosh access to the greater buying power of Waitrose, particularly in areas where it specialises such as cheese.
Beuvnik says the price of imported cheeses from Europe will drop sharply as a result. Other lines will follow and Beuvnik also sees opportunities for Nosh to advise Waitrose on improving, for example, its New Zealand wine, lamb and cheese offerings.
Up to 100 Waitrose-branded products, including the organic Duchy Originals From Waitrose and Heston from Waitrose, will start appearing in Nosh’s six outlets in Auckland, Hamilton and Matakana before Christmas.
This will build to around 100 SKUs over time.
Beuvnik says the deal does not involve any corporate or ownership change, though Nosh is looking at expanding through both its own stores and franchised owner-operator ones.
Waitraose has a 5% share of the UK supermarket trade and Beuvnik has ambitions to equal that here by expanding to 40 outlets over the next five years. This would be worth around $800 million. Current sales are only a fraction of that, though Beuvnik estimates Nosh has a 1% share of “certain lines” in the Auckland market.
