The Co-operative, the UK’s largest convenience store retailer, has won the New Product of the Year Award in the annual British Sandwich Awards for its Truly Irresistible Chicken and Bacon sandwich.
The retailer beat Marks & Spencer, who was also shortlisted.
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Winning sandwich |
The winning ‘sarnie’ contains British Freedom Food chicken and smoked sweetcure bacon made using pork from RSPCA-approved Freedom Food farms, topped with mayonnaise, sage and onion stuffing and lightly-fried onions. It retails at £2.70.
The Co-operative is claiming another first with the launch of a range of own-brand laundry gels, pioneered by detergents giant, Procter & Gamble.
The Co-operative range includes a two-in-one lavender scented Ultra Gel in biological and non-bio variants. According to the Co-operative, the gels can clean from temperatures as low as 15˚C. The range supports the retailer’s ethical credentials too – it is accredited by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, which means the products have not been tested on animals. The gels retail at £2.99, 25% below the leading brand.
The Co-operative claims to be bucking the trend in strawberry sales as well. It is recording the largest growth, according to retail analysts TNS despite a national downturn in sales as a result of a poor Spanish strawberry season.
From last month (June) all the Co-operative’s strawberries are now British and regional, where possible.
Strawberry buyer Catherine Bells reports consumers’ strawberry eating habits have altered.
“They are no longer limited to the dinner table topped with cream,” she said. “Consumers are buying them to eat fresh on the spot, or take to work as a healthy snack for their lunch break.”