Speciality Food January 2024

akan-moringa.com 4 @specialityfood Throughout last year, the problem of retail crime has hit the headlines. The 2023 Crime Survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found incidents had cost businesses £1.76bn during the 12-month period to April. According to professor Adrian Beck, who has led research on shoplifting for ECR Retail Loss, retailers have seen a “significant” uptick in the levels of loss they’re experiencing, with between a quarter and a third increase in the past year. Although his research focuses on larger retailers, Andrew Goodacre, CEO of the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), says all corners of the retail industry have been affected. A survey of the group’s members has shown the level of crime they’re experiencing has doubled. WHAT’S BEHIND THE RISE IN SHOPLIFTING IN THE UK? While retail crime has long been an issue, Adrian said a “perfect storm” of several factors have come together this year to drive up figures. Perhaps most concerning for retailers is the rise in incidents of “out and out looting of stores,” Adrian said. “It’s not new, but what is different is we’re more likely to see it on social media than we’ve ever seen it before.” When incidents go viral, it can both give the impression that this is happeningmore than it actually is, and can also show others shoplifting is easy, with little consequence. Very rarely do you see anybody getting arrested when these incidents happen,” Adrian continued. Another part of the problem could be down to business decisions larger retailers have themselves made; namely operating self-service tills. “There is always a price to pay for this sort of thing,” Adrian said. “As you reduce the controls you have in place, you inevitably increase the opportunities [for shoplifting] and the risks associated with that.” WHAT’S BEING DONE ABOUT RETAIL CRIME? Groups including the BRC, Bira and the retail trade union Usdaw have been among those calling for urgent action from the government. “Retailer workers are suffering while government dithers,” Helen Dickinson, CEO of the BRC, said. “We need a new statutory offence of assaulting, threatening, or abusing a retail worker. This would act as a deterrent and provide a clear message that government will not tolerate this behaviour. "It would also require police forces to record all incidents of retail crime, allowing for better allocation of resources to the issue.” Last October, the government Why are retail crime and shoplifting on the rise? announced an action plan to tackle shoplifting, which includes a police commitment to prioritise urgently attending the scene of shoplifting instances involving violence against a shopworker, where security guards have detained an offender, or where attendance is needed to secure evidence. A specialist new police team called Pegasus is also being created to build a “comprehensive intelligence picture of the organised crime gangs that fuel many shoplifting incidents across the country, to help target and dismantle them,” the Home Office said. While recognising that any extra help is welcomed by the retail community, Adrian says focusing on prevention could be more effective than trying to “arrest your way out of a loss problem”. “Retailers have to think ultimately how they're going to protect their own environment, think through the consequences of the business choices that they've made, and work out what is the best way in which to protect it.” For independent retailers, Andrew says it is important that they and other local businesses work together to deal with the problem. He suggests, for instance, setting upWhatsApp groups so they can warn each other if criminals are active on their street. In a recent open letter, Nisa managing director Peter Batt, and head of retail Victoria Lockie, urged the government to make sure independent retailers weren’t 'left behind in the race to tackle retail crime'. “Independent retailers are the beating hearts of high streets across the country, and if we want to ensure they are still there for the communities they serve, then action needs to be taken now,” they wrote. W e are just about to complete our 52nd year of trading at Partridges and a few grey hairs have been appearing in the modus operandi of our dear shop. Retailing over the last few years has seemed to be a bit like facing a commercial firing squad. A late reprieve has always arrived so far. Yet does that mean a return to the ‘freedoms’ to run a business independently of previous years, or a return to the commercial equivalent of death row waiting for the next bad thing to happen? And for how long does the proprietor of an independent food shop want to endure the trials and tribulations of the daily grind of rising costs in the face of such risks? I was intrigued by a newspaper article that recently caught my eye, or rather stopped me in my tracks. It was entitled ‘The entrepreneurs over 70 taking the business world by storm’. According to the article, the most popular decade to start a business is in your 40s, but in recent times there are an increasing number of businesses being started by those in their 60s, 70s and even 80s. These are not necessarily speciality food shops where a lot of the work can be physically demanding of course. However, on a recent visit to a local Christmas fayre I was reminded yet again of how many impressive new ‘kitchen table start-up’ products are out there and how maturer entrepreneurs are leading the way. JOHN SHEPHERD PARTRIDGES ‘Is the future of fine foodgrey?’ A ‘perfect storm’ of factors have led to an increase in crimes such as shoplifting and abuse of retail staff. Speciality Food finds out what’s behind the rise and what is being done to help store owners In the main, the food and drink items were beautifully designed, with interesting stories, and would make really original gifts. They were very much reflections of the personal qualities of the proprietor - distilled and created by the combined gifts of experience, perseverance and optimism. And they will never probably reach the shelves of any of the major supermarkets - nor would they want to. It is a story repeated at our fine food market every Saturday. Over the past few years, quietly and silently, there has been an artisanal revolution in the availability of exquisite food products that were never around before - undoubtedly accelerated by the Covid years and communication advances. According to most of the proprietors (and despite the sometimes eye watering price tags) the prospects for the future seem bright. No doubt a positive gloss adorns the individual stories of each entrepreneur, but the pride and pleasure they take in their individual products is uplifting to behold. They have decided to twist rather than to stick in commercial life, and very good luck to them all. As on so many occasions in speciality food retailing, it is not necessarily where you end up on the journey, it is more about the quality of the journey itself. So in 2024 at Partridges, we will try to blank out the constant negative mood music and focus on what is actually within our control. It is not always easy to embrace new products or ideas. It can be a costly, time- consuming and difficult process, but the future could rest in the quality of grey sky thinking. Happy New Year to all. JUSTGOURMETFOODS.CO.UK INFO@JUSTGOURMETFOODS.CO.UK Home to the finest Italian food brands