// Waitrose announces plans to increase its focus on food service counters
// It will relaunch its fish and meat counter ranges online at the beginning of next year
// Waitrose said it wanted to “reassure” suppliers and customers about its fresh food counters
Waitrose is set to increase its focus on food service counters just days after Big 4 grocer Sainsbury’s closed its equivalent meat, fish and deli areas.
The upmarket grocer will relaunch its fish and meat counter ranges online at the beginning of next year.
Waitrose said that it wanted to “reassure” its suppliers and customers about its own fresh food counters, following Sainsbury’s closures last week.
READ MORE: Waitrose to hire over 1800 new staff in preparation for Christmas
Waitrose has already launched 30 new lines across its counters since April and a number of other products and promotions are due to be launched ahead of Christmas.
The grocer said its counters allow it to bring “skills, knowledge and expertise” into its supermarkets to “improve customer experience”.
“Waitrose is renowned for its service counters and they remain a key reason why many people shop with us,” Waitrose category proposition director Jackie Wharton said.
“Having tripled our slot capacity to over 200,000 orders a week, and in light of increased demand for online this year, there is now a huge opportunity for us to offer our counter range on Waitrose.com and we’re excited to relaunch it at the beginning of next year.”
Waitrose said it kept the majority of its counters open during the pandemic, which helped to “sustain many of our smallest British suppliers, who otherwise would not have had a route to market this year”.
Last week, Sainsbury’s warned that 3500 jobs would go across the group amid plans to shutter all of its meat, fish and deli counters, as well as 420 standalone Argos stores.
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