We’ll use hotel delivery firms to bring you shopping during coronavirus lockdown, says Ocado boss
Supermarkets are in urgent talks with delivery firms that usually supply restaurants and hotels to massively ramp up the number of vans available for home food deliveries.
Retailers such as Ocado, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have been overwhelmed with demand for slots over the past week leaving thousands of vulnerable people, or shoppers in self-isolation, unable to secure home deliveries.
However, today Ocado chairman Sir Stuart Rose said that discussions with distribution companies which have spare capacity could soon lead to fleets of extra vehicles being made available.
Sir Stuart, 71, said he ventured out to the supermarket for the first time after two weeks of self-isolation yesterday.
He has likened symptoms of suspected coronavirus, which appeared shortly after he returned from a Middle East trip, to being “run over by a bus”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are some opportunities. Many of the companies that supply restaurants and hotels and other venues have currently got no business.
"There are specialist people like Bidvest and [drinks wholesaler] Matthew Clark that have now effectively got no demand so there is capacity. People are coming together to try to shift that capacity to get the food to the people who need it most.”
He was speaking after one listener Norman Phillips, 68, who is a carer for his wife and mother, complained that he had to queue around the block to get into his local Sainsbury’s, exposing himself to potential infection.
Sir Stuart added: “There is no shortage of food. Nobody will starve. What we need to do is make sure the Normans of this world are given priority.
“Whether that is through the 400,000 volunteers, whether that is through the Army, whether that is through the extra capacity we need to make sure we find routes to get food to these people who I understand are in need.”
Sir Stuart, a former chief executive and chairman of Marks & Spencer, also called on shoppers to show restraint.
He said: “We must ask people to restrain themselves. There is £1 billion more food in people’s larders than there was a couple of weeks ago.
"If you buy a chicken, roast the chicken and have a roast chicken dinner. Then the following day have a stir fry and the next day turn it into soup.
"You can make a relatively small amount of food go a long way. We live in a very profligate society. We buy too much, we eat too much and we have to learn new ways.”
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said: “There has been a surge in demand for online deliveries as many more people self-isolate.
“Retailers are working incredibly hard to expand capacity but as this accounts for around seven per cent of total food sales, physical stores will remain the most important way of getting food.
"Everyone must come together in this crisis and we encourage everyone to consider, if they can, picking up food for vulnerable or self-isolating neighbours.”
