Arla Foods, the farmer-owned dairy company, has been awarded the 2014 Supplier Award for Collaborative Working by food retailer Waitrose.
The company which supplies Waitrose with own-label as well as branded cheese, butter and fresh milk products has been lauded for adding value to the retailer’s dairy category.
Selected examples include improving in-store navigation and customer engagement, tailored customer activation through Waitrose’s media channels, and taking the lead in format planning such as Little Waitrose (Convenience).
A close working partnership with Waitrose’s internal team, improving working practices, fostering a strong innovation pipeline (leveraging ASIC), and supplying products of market-leading quality helped Arla to support Waitrose’s overall market performance.
Arla’s farmer-owned status complements Waitrose’s principles and long-term dairy ambition for all products to come from sources with market-leading practices.
These principles include that suppliers should have the highest level of animal welfare, are strong and well invested, add value at every level and have a clear innovation strategy as well as effective operations.
The global dairy company and co-operative is owned by 13,500 dairy farmers circa 3,000 of whom are British.
