Organic Food, Organic Food Consultant

Simon Wright OF+ Consulting

Sainsbury’s and the road to SO organic

March 2018

The eight years I spent working on organics with Sainsbury’s coincided with a dramatic rise in organic sales, peaking in 2008 at £2.1 billion per annum. I was brought into the company by Technical Manager Robert Duxbury, and like him I reported to Alison Austin and ultimately Judith Batchelar. As a consultant I was able to work in a wide variety of roles including writing briefing papers and magazine articles, providing technical backup, training new graduates and organising conferences. I co-ordinated The Organic Partnership (TOP), a best-practice club for organic suppliers, and I was involved in the launch of the sub-brand SO organic. A fascinating and productive time.

 

After the success of organics in the “More Choice Because Its Your Choice” campaign, Sainsbury’s realised there was something going on.

 

Robert Duxbury was the first person at Sainsbury’s to ‘get’ organics and he rapidly became a firm friend to the organic sector. Here he explains organic certification to a baffled public, this taken from one of the many consumer-facing leaflets issued by Sainsbury’s.

 

Peter Morrison and Melissa Addey receive the Supermarket OfThe Year Award 2002 from Craig Sams, then Chair of the Soil Association. Peter and Melissa were tireless ambassadors for organics within Sainsbury’s.

 

Sainsbury’s regular Organic Newsletter. Bottom left –
News of The Organic Partnership (TOP), which I co-ordinated.

 

Sainsbury’s helping the delegates at the January 2000 Organic Farming Conference to unwind…
The bar staff at the Sainsbury’s Organic Cocktail Bar, Cirencester, January 2000. SW, Robert Duxbury, Pippa Sterry

 

We did such a good job on the SO organic sub-brand that it is still in use today!