Blakemore Retail & indie Spar stores celebrate Welsh Food Fortnight


Spar stores across Wales will be taking part in a Welsh Food Fortnight campaign for the next two weeks.

From today to 18 August, 230 Blakemore Retail and independent Spar stores across Wales will be joining with producers to celebrate and promote Welsh food and drink in-store and on social media.

Point-of-sale materials, as well as social media activity featuring the #CaruCymruCaruBlas #LoveWalesLoveTaste campaign, will enable shoppers to identify a host of Welsh food and drink products easily.

The #CaruCymruCaruBlas #LoveWalesLoveTaste campaign celebrates Welsh food and drink. It was initially launched last summer by the Welsh Government working in partnership with Menter a Busnes to support producers and retailers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The campaign has successfully captured the imagination of producers, retailers and consumers in-store and across social media, so much so that #CaruCymruCaruBlas has become an integral part of promoting Welsh food and drink all year round.

The campaign is also in tune with the ‘Value of Welshness’ research carried out for the Welsh Government, highlighting the growing importance of Welsh produce to consumers.

The Welsh Food Fortnight campaign has been arranged by the Food & Drink Wales Fine Food Cluster in conjunction with A.F. Blakemore. A total of 139 independently owned SPAR stores across Wales and 91 Blakemore Retail stores are taking part.

Funded by the Welsh Government, the Wales Fine Food Cluster is facilitated by the Cywain project. Delivered by Menter a Busnes, the Cywain project supports the development of growth-orientated businesses in the food and drink sector in Wales.

In order to prepare producers for the campaign, the Fine Food Cluster has supported the businesses in several ways, including with a social media webinar to show them how to maximise their presence during Welsh Food Fortnight using the #CaruCymruCaruBlas and #LoveWalesLoveTaste hashtags.

AF Blakemore Category Controller, Patrice Garrigues said, “As a business, AF Blakemore is pleased to be working in collaboration with many Welsh brands across various categories. Our partnership offers them a route to market for their products.

“Having quality Welsh products in our Spar stores is something that our customers enjoy as part of our range; it gives them choice and the opportunity to support, in many cases, a local business.

“We are delighted to continue to work closely with the Food & Drink Wales Fine Food Cluster. For this campaign we have worked with them to create bespoke point of sale material, which will be displayed in our stores to help showcase Welsh products to our customers.”

Fine Food Cluster Manager, Jayne Jones said, “Spar is a fantastic platform for Welsh food and drink products in Wales, and this campaign builds on activity undertaken in 2015.

“We looked at how we could work with them on a new campaign using the social media networks of the food and drink suppliers, as well as in-store point of sale materials. Collectively this will raise awareness during the fortnight and help increase footfall and sales.”