Ask anyone at WholeFoods Market, the Texas-based grocer with 350 stores in North America, Canada and London, where and when it is opening its second Scottish store, and you will get the same answer: we're always looking for new sites and we'll know when the right one comes up.
So whether it's Glasgow West End or Edinburgh – where they'd be up against direct rivals Waitrose– is, for the moment, a matter of pure speculation.
When I heard that it was looking for new Scottish suppliers for the first time since opening its debut first Scottish store in Giffnock on Glasgow's South Side two years ago, it was tempting to infer that it was indeed close to expansion in Scotland. After all, its target is 1000 stores within nine years. At the same time, I was intrigued to learn how on earth a supplier and a buyer go about meeting each other. It's notoriously difficult for small independents to get access to key people if they want to grow sales and gain more exposure for their products. In fact, it's the single most difficult thing they face, especially given Scotland's unique geographical landscape. Equally, buyers tell me they're inundated with individual emails and calls from producers and suppliers, and the "bitty" approach can be as tiresome as it's tiring.
Yet demand for Scottish produce from both domestic and UK consumers is at an all-time high, so competition between the big four supermarket chains is as keen as it is between the two high-end retailers.
Scotland Food & Drink, the Government supported not-for-profit organisation tasked with growing the value of Scotland's food and drink sector to a value of £12.5bn by 2017, has come up with a programme of Meet The Buyer (MTB) events that, organised through its Access to UK Markets programme, are unique in the UK and operate in a not dissimilar way to speed-dating. It's the foodie equivalent of matchmaking – except that the hopeful candidates are coached beforehand and pay for the privilege.
I attended such an event organised on behalf of WholeFoods Market (WFM) in central Glasgow. Some 25 producers applied for the opportunity, and 20 were selected on the grounds that they best met WFM's specific brief: that is, that food is "clean" (free from chemicals, and as natural, tasty and high quality as it can be). It was fascinating to be a fly on the wall at some of the private half-hour meetings. Candidates are given feedback and it's up to them to follow through on advice given. This can range from putting the retailer's logo on packaging to highlighting health elements more prominently.
From the experience I learned that the "free from" market has grown from niche to mainstream in five years. The Pulsetta range of gluten-free vegan bread rolls from Plenta Foods in Aberdeen, and the Inverness-made Supernatural health drink with fruit juice and natural caffeine from green coffee beans, and a rapeseed oil from Midlothian, were among those put forward to WFM and, I hear, did very well. Ready meals are also hot.
Next up is a Waitrose MTB. It will be fascinating to find out which Scottish products it buys for its new Helensburgh store – and how they'll differ from WholeFood Market's. I just hope there's enough to go round.
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