Aldi has announced plans to recruit over 100 additional British suppliers in 2022, in a bid to accelerate its commitment to increase its spend with British suppliers by £3.5bn a year by the end of 2025.
This forms part of the supermarket’s push to further increase the number of products it sources from the UK across all product categories, including food, drink and Specialbuys.
Aldi’s entire core range of fresh meat, eggs, milk, butter and cream is already sourced from British suppliers, while more than 40% of fresh produce sold is also British.
The supermarket spent a total of £9 billion with UK companies last year and is opening on average one new store a week, increasing the number of opportunities for suppliers to provide products for its seasonal product ranges and Specialbuys, as well as permanent listings.
This latest commitment will help hundreds of small British businesses continue to grow with the supermarket and invest for the future.
One of the businesses who have benefitted from Aldi’s investment in British suppliers is Cuoco, a family-owned biscuit maker in Somerset.
Located in Yeovil, Cuoco has supplied the supermarket with Florentines and chocolate biscuits as part of its Exquisite Specially Selected Christmas range for the past three years. This year it is adding to the luxury selection with the launch of its decadent Chocolate Caramel Thins – officially named as The Quality Food Award’s 2021 Christmas product of the year!
Husband and wife Liam and Penny Pithers launched the Cuoco brand after running their own bakery for eight years prior to that.
Its partnership with Aldi has helped its business really take off, allowing it to employ even more local staff to meet the huge demand for its biscuits over the festive period and supporting local suppliers, through increased orders.
Liam Pithers, MD & Creative Director at Cuoco, said: “Our partnership with Aldi keeps us very busy in the run up to Christmas, with our speciality biscuits always proving incredibly popular. The growing partnership is allowing us to bring even more local staff on board and the majority of our ingredients are sourced via local suppliers.
“We’re working hard to develop even more exciting new flavours, sustainable packaging formats and products, and hope to extend our Exquisite Specially Selected range with Aldi even further in the years to come.”
Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer at Aldi UK, said: “We are incredibly proud of our support for British suppliers, and excited for our supply chain partners to grow with us. That’s why we’re now on the lookout for even more British suppliers to add to our current partnerships, helping to create even more jobs as well as new opportunities for these businesses.”
To find out more about becoming a supplier with Aldi visit: aldi.co.uk/suppliers/becoming-a-supplier
