Mezze mayhem: Bakkavor crisis spreads from soup to dips as strike action bites
Published on The Grocer

Own-label dips are disappearing from supermarket shelves amid the ongoing strike by workers at Bakkavor Spalding.

Around 450 of the factory’s 1,400-strong workforce walked out in September after rejecting a proposed pay increase of 7.8% for the lowest-paid colleagues and 6.4% across all other grades in May.

The ongoing strike action has already caused a shortage of chilled soup in the supermarkets, with 80% of Tesco’s portfolio unavailable as The Grocer went to press last week [Assosia].

The out-of-stock products included 13 Tesco private-label 600g soups, such as Carrot & Coriander, Cream of Tomato and Finest Keralan Inspired Chicken, along with lines from Bol, Cully & Sully, New Covent Garden, Yeo Valley and Yorkshire Provender.

Tesco has displayed “temporarily out-of-stock” notices in affected stores.

Dipping availability

But the crisis is spreading. Earlier this week, the FT reported that some UK supermarkets were grappling with a shortage of taramasalata due to disrupted production at the Spalding factory.

However, The Grocer understands the strike has also impacted supply of other chilled dips, with cheese & chive, houmous and labneh lines disappearing from supermarket chillers over recent days.

Again, Tesco appears to be the worst impacted of the supermarkets, with 14 out of 38 (36.8%) of its private-label dips missing from shelves as The Grocer went to press [Assosia 12 w/e 12 November 2024].

Products missing from the retailer included Cheddar Cheese & Chive Dip 200g, Houmous Selection 180g and Finest Creamy Labneh Dip – in addition to Taramasalata 200g.

The Grocer understands that Waitrose is also being impacted by reduced supply from Bakkavor. Its own-label Onion & Garlic Dip 200g, Cheese & Chive Dip 200g and Taramasalata 200g were unavailable online as The Grocer went to press.

Managing supply

A spokesman for Bakkavor played down the issue, stating: “There has been a short disruption to our supply of taramasalata, but drawing on the skills based across its 21 UK sites, production steps up again next week.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Opie, director of food & sustainability at the BRC, stressed that retailers were “adept at managing supply to ensure impact on customers is kept to a minimum and they can purchase goods as normal”.

However, one supplier said the shortages highlighted “the need to have more than one supplier of these dips”.

“We saw the same empty shelves in the past with salmonella scares,” they said. Bakkavor recalled several chilled guacamole products supplied to The Co-op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose in 2016 due to the possible presence of salmonella.

It comes after Bakkavor last week offered its Spalding workers a £350 bonus in an attempt to end the ongoing strike action.

Bakkavor CEO Mike Edwards stressed the bonus and rejected pay offer were “entirely fair based on the context in which we are operating”.

Edwards himself was awarded an annual bonus in the sum of £875k in the year ending 30 December 2023. His total remuneration over the period was £2.4m, according to the company’s accounts.

 

Published on The Grocer, 13th November 2024

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/mezze-mayhem-bakkavor-strike-triggers-chilled-dips-shortage/697823.article