Tesco has announced a major change to the way it categorises grapes, moving beyond the traditional sectioning of colour. The new labelling system will divide the fruit into three categories: crunchiness, candy flavour and tropical flavour.
The supermarket giant will trial the new labelling system in 220 of its UK stores to gain insight into customer preferences.
The innovative move away from green, red, and black will see grapes grouped like other fruits, such as apples, which are sold by names rather than just colour.
Tesco also said the trial will mirror wine marketed by grape variety, flavour, and style, rather than being categorised just by colour.
The new labelling systems will be placed alongside the traditional grouping of grapes during the trial. Early feedback has already shown clear preferences among UK shoppers.
Brits are shown to prefer grapes with a crunchy texture, while tropical flavour ranked second. Candy-flavoured grapes came in third place for consumer preference as the supermarket hopes the insight will lead to a greater expansion of its grape range based on what customers like.
James Cackett, Tesco’s fruit technical manager, said that most people only recognise the red, green and black varieties.
“And that was pretty much the case until the turn of the century when fruit breeders began looking at how to naturally improve flavour, crunchiness and sweetness, which is a wholly natural process to deliver better quality grapes all-round,” he said.
Mr Cackett adds how the trial will help Tesco to “better gauge and understand the attributes our shoppers prefer”.
Head of commercial at ATM Fresh, a Tesco supplier, Rachel Botha, explained how the trial is “the most far-reaching research ever undertaken in the UK to understand British consumers’ table grape-eating preferences”.
“We are working with the world’s foremost fruit breeding companies to supply the grapes that British shoppers want to consistently see on supermarket shelves,” she said.
Ms Botha added how the trial “reflects the strengths of our breeding programmes, the commitment of growers eager to explore new possibilities and Tesco’s openness to pioneering shopper-focused initiatives”.
