CHESHIRE CHEESE PRODUCER SET TO BENEFIT FROM ALDI’S ADDITIONAL £3.5BN SPEND WITH BRITISH SUPPLIERS

Aldi has announced plans to increase the amount of food and drink it buys from British suppliers over the next five years by £3.5bn as it continues its rapid expansion across the UK.

The company is investing £500m in new and upgraded stores, distribution centres and its supply chain in 2021, which will create over 4,000 jobs as well as new opportunities for British food and drink producers.

The pledge from Aldi will help hundreds of British businesses continue to grow with the supermarket and invest for the future.

One example is Cheshire-based cheese producer Joseph Heler, whose ongoing partnership with Aldi began in 2013 to supply the supermarket with more than 4,000 tonnes of cheese per year.

The partnership has enjoyed significant growth over the years, leading to investment in new facilities for the Cheshire business, alongside new technologies and equipment to meet the growing demand from Aldi.

George Heler, Managing Director at Joseph Heler, said: “We have a relationship with Aldi built on trust and honest dialogue. The partnership gives us the confidence to keep investing in our growing business which will allow us to keep making cheese for British consumers for years to come.”

Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer at Aldi UK, said: “We are expecting significant sales growth in 2021 as we open new stores and bring Aldi to more locations across the UK. With the vast majority of our grocery products now coming from British suppliers, our growth will lead to additional jobs and investment in our UK supply chain.”

Aldi has also confirmed that the immediate payment terms for small suppliers it introduced at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic will be extended until the end of 2021.

The commitment means that the supermarket will continue to process payments for suppliers with an annual turnover of less than £1m with Aldi as soon as they are submitted.

The move will benefit more than 1,000 small British businesses in the supermarket’s supply chain.

Aldi is Britain’s fifth largest supermarket with 900 stores and more than 36,000 employees.

Aldi is attracting hundreds of thousands of new customers every year with its range of exclusive brands, passing low operating costs on to customers in the form of low prices.

The supermarket believes in making every day amazing and that’s why every single day Aldi delivers on the best possible value for millions of families throughout the UK and Ireland across everything from award-winning fresh produce to world class gin.

Aldi won’t be beaten on price; consistently racks up award after award for quality; treats its suppliers with fairness and respect and recognises the responsibility of supporting valued institutions such as Team GB to demonstrate the importance of health and wellness. That’s Aldi. That’s everyday amazing. The reason they do this? Because Aldi believes that everyone should have access to fresh, healthy, affordable food…it’s a right, not a privilege.

The company’s current achievements and initiatives include:

1. Aldi is the UK’s lowest priced supermarket. Research released by Which? in September showed doing a full shop at Aldi was 23% cheaper than the same shop at Tesco and 22% cheaper than the same shop at The Big Four. It tracked the price of 70 essential items at the UK’s eight biggest supermarkets throughout September 2020.
2. According to The Grocer magazine, a basket of 33 everyday items at Aldi is on average 14% cheaper than the Big 4 supermarkets.
3. Aldi has a ten-year partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust – Aldi recently achieved its fundraising milestone of £5m ahead of its five-year target, which will go towards helping the trust to reach out to every young person with cancer in the UK. Aldi has also now committed to extending the TCT partnership for a further five years with a commitment to donate an additional £5m over this period.
4. Aldi’s rates of pay are significantly higher than the Government’s National Living Wage and also above the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended national rates. Store Assistants receive a minimum hourly rate of £9.40 nationally and £10.90 in London.
5. Aldi is the official supermarket partner of Team GB and ensures every member of the team has access to fresh healthy Aldi food via monthly shopping vouchers, and that 1.2 million 5-14-year-olds will learn about the benefits of cooking fresh, healthy food via its Get Set to Eat Fresh education initiative. Aldi has been a partner since 2015 and has extended its commitment to the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.
6. In May 2020, for the seventh consecutive year, Aldi was ranked the best-performing supermarket for compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, underlining its commitment to maintaining fair, predictable and sustainable prices within its supply chain.

Full details of Aldi’s awards and achievements are detailed at www.aldi.co.uk/awards

Pictured - Cheshire-based cheese producer Joseph Heler.