“Real” plants offered for sale on supermarket shelves
After the calibrated, smooth and sometimes tasteless diet of recent decades, naturalness is making a strong comeback. These are the signs of the Monoprix, Auchan and Intermarché stores which are participating in a new operation called “Quoi ma gueule? ” and which highlights, on the shelves of these supermarkets, naturally deformed fruits sold at 30% less than those usually offered.
An original marketing initiative
Intermarché, Monoprix and Auchan are joining forces for this operation, in order to offer consumers uncalibrated vegetables and fruits that do not meet the standard norms and pre-established criteria as before.
For the buyer it is various fruits, such as apples, carrots, apricots, pears, cherries which have a somewhat misshapen appearance but which, in taste, are just as pleasant as other fruits and vegetables. Indeed, these products are, qualitatively and sanitaryly, perfectly intact. Sometimes marked by bad weather, sometimes deformed but never damaged, these plants are sold at 30% less than our usual products. Previously, these foods were rather recycled in the manufacture of compotes, fruit jams, vegetable purees and this for about 15 to 20% of them.
These three brands are therefore experimenting with the sale of “real” fruit, deformed, formerly discarded … by offering them cheaper for sale. These plants are called by the three hypermarkets “ugly fruits and vegetables” and they are distributed under the “Quoi ma gueule?” operation. “. This initiative is supported by a group of producers called “the broken mouths”.
This collective created by the company “Sols et Fruits” has the idea of revaluing products that fully deserve to be distributed even if they are “less perfect”. These vegetables and fruits are not, however, organic and they will help to promote a renewal in the communication and advertising campaigns of supermarkets. For the three food chains, it is a question of creating a strong traffic in store by playing on competitive prices with products carrying meaning and values: in this case the natural ! Brands and consumers work hand in hand.
Chronology
Intermarché was the pioneer in this area. In Provins in March 2013, this sign went through a test phase. In 2 days, 1,200 kg of oranges, apples and unsized carrots were sold . After Provins, the brand’s management extended the operation to the Paris region in ten points of sale. Subsequently, more than one hundred supermarkets embarked on this operation on the occasion of the “Day against waste” on October 16 of the same year.
Similarly, Monoprix offered “broken mouths” in 17 of its stores throughout France. Since May 26, some Monoprix stores in Ile-de-France, that of the Rond-Point du Prado in Marseille, those of Croix-Rousse in Lyon and the Monoprix du Croisé Laroche in Marcq-en-Baroeul have made available their customers various “deformed” fruits and vegetables. On the shelves of these supermarkets, the consumer finds bags of apples, Wonder Cot apricots and cherries in trays.
Auchan, meanwhile, is conducting a test in Vélizy, west of Paris. This test phase started a few days ago and will continue throughout the following week. These dates are not set haphazardly. The brands are in a hurry to fight against food waste by selling a volume of more than 500,000 tonnes of products that are generally discarded. Their civic image is at stake!
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.