Foodservice wholesaler Brakes has committed to freezing prices on more than 400 baked goods until October.
A total of 7,000 product lines are to have their prices held as part of a programme to drive value to customers. The company said this would provide stability to independent foodservice operators and help them to plan with certainty over the next six months.
A similar initiative was conducted last year when Brakes froze prices on more than 1,800 products. Widespread positive feedback received from customers gave rise to a return of the campaign, which had its influence expanded by almost four-fold.
The majority of bakery items involved in the price hold this year come under Brakes’ La Boulangerie range. These include breads such as the Artisan Plain Sourdough Loaf, which was developed and launched last year in collaboration with specialist bakery Nicholas & Harris, as well as Par-Baked White Sandwich Baguette, Pre-Marked Panini, White Floured Bap, Extra Thick Slice White Bloomer, and XThick Grain Farmhouse Tin Loaf and many more. There are also the likes of tortillas, croissants, bagels, burger buns, cookie pucks, teacakes, pastries, brownies, and muffins.
“From energy to staff costs, there is still a great deal of uncertainty around the costs that the industry is facing,” commented Paul Nieduszynski, CEO of Sysco GB, which acquired Brakes in 2016.
“These price holds provide some longer-term reassurance that will help our independent customers plan with a greater level of certainty. At the same time, we want to ensure that we offer our customers the best value, so we’ve looked at the products they buy most often and reduced the prices of many of the most popular products in the range.”
At an average price reduction of 6%, these bestselling products include bacon, chicken, eggs, baked beans and crisps, among others.
Two months ago, Sysco unveiled a $100m (£80m) investment in a new 475,000 sq ft super depot in Hemel Hempstead to service its business across London and the Southeast. The next 18 months will be spent adapting the former Amazon site into the largest depot in Europe.
The depot will also be the first in the UK to benefit from Sysco’s complete suite of technology and proprietary software currently in use at its wholesale distribution operations in the US. This will allow Sysco to store a more comprehensive range of fresh, frozen, and ambient products locally, and help provide a faster response to customer demand, said the company.
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