Aldi Reducing Online Services

Aldi has announced it is making a huge change to its website which will leave some customers disappointed. The supermarket giant is cutting its online operations and stopping deliveries from its website. This means customers will no longer be able to order Specialbuys to their door, among other items. Aldi will be reducing some of its online operations later this year, as it instead focuses on opening new stores. The move comes as Aldi hopes to hit its target of 1,000 stores across the country, up from its current 990 branches. An Aldi spokesman said: “Aldi now has around 1,000 stores across the country and we’re building even more to bring our great quality, low priced products closer to more people. "Aldi is more popular than ever, and we are prioritising making our Wine and Specialbuy products available in our stores. “We keep our prices low by being the most efficient retailer in Britain and we have therefore taken the decision to stop selling wine and spirits online for home delivery from later this month. "We will also stop selling our Specialbuys online for home delivery later this year. Our grocery Click & Collect service will continue, and we would like to thank every customer that has bought Aldi products online. "Aldi will continue to consider new digital services in the future.”

Aldi

Byron Burger Shuts Sites

 

The owner of the Byron Burger chain has said it will close nine restaurants and cut 218 jobs in another restructure of the business. Famously Proper Ltd, which also controls the Mother Clucker fried chicken brand, blamed rising costs and lower consumer spending for the move. It is the third time since 2018 that the company has been significantly downsized. A deal has been struck to save 12 sites and around 365 jobs. The remaining restaurants and staff will be transferred to a new company called Tristar Foods, operated by the existing owner Calverton, through what is known as a pre-pack administration. A BBC analysis of corporate insolvency notices found that 320 businesses in the food service industry - restaurants, pubs, cafés and catering firms - were forced to initiate insolvency procedures in December. This was an increase of 41% compared to the same month in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. In total, 6,613 hospitality firms have started insolvency proceedings since 2020.

Byron Burger

Business on the Box

The Apprentice and Dragons Den have both returned for brand new series from Thursday 5 January, on BBC One and iPlayer. This year eighteen ambitious candidates will battle it out over for a staggering quarter-of-a-million-pound investment with billionaire boss, Lord Alan Sugar. Previously, it was revealed that the contestant’s first task in the new series will be to head to the Caribbean island of Antigua, where they’ll be creating and selling excursions to tourists. Back in the UK, a series of challenges await them, including creating cartoons, hosting immersive events, entering the world of male beauty products, and getting to grips with the street food industry. Also Dragons Den is back with its 20th series of entrepreneur pitching their ideas to grab potential investment from the Dragons. Which one will you be watching? 

Business TV

Single Use Plastic Ban

Single-use items like plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene trays will be banned in England, the government has confirmed. It is not clear when the ban will come into effect but it follows similar moves by Scotland and Wales. Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said the move would help protect the environment for future generations. Campaigners welcomed the ban, but called for a wider-ranging plastic reduction strategy. Government figures suggest that 1.1 billion single-use plates and more than four billion pieces of plastic cutlery are used in England every year.  Plastic waste often does not decompose and can last in landfill for many years.  Although it might be useful in terms of food hygiene, it can also end up as litter, in turn polluting soil and water. Each person in England uses an average of 18 single-use plastic plates and 37 items of plastic cutlery every year, according to Defra, while just 10% of those are recycled.

Single Use Plastic Ban

Donki Saved

Japan's largest discount chain has reversed a decision to replace its mascot after outrage from fans online. Don Quijote, called Donki in Japan, has over 600 stores in the country and is known for selling a huge range of products at cheap prices. Its mascot Donpen, a blue penguin which wears a Santa hat, has become synonymous with the store. So an announcement that Donpen would be replaced sparked widespread shock on Japanese social media last week. The company announced on Twitter it had decided to replace the penguin with "Dojo-chan" - an anthropomorphic representation of the Japanese katakana character "do". That prompted an outpouring of dismayed reactions online. Some fans posted photos of themselves in Donpen onesies, while others threatened to boycott Donki stores.  Another user launched a poll asking which mascot Donki fans preferred. That attracted more than 33,000 clicks with Donpen winning 93% of the vote. A few hours later, Mr Yoshida announced that Donpen would remain as the company's mascot.

Donki Mascot 

Tesco Workers Trapped in Forced Labour

 

In a factory at the Myanmar border in Thailand, hundreds of Burmese workers made F&F jeans for Tesco. They describe sweatshop conditions, with 99-hour weeks, one day off a month and illegally low pay. Now Tesco is facing a landmark British lawsuit for alleged negligence, having used the VK Garment (VKG) factory in Mae Sot as a supplier to its Thai business from 2017 until the supermarket sold its operations in Asia in December 2020. The case is being brought by 130 former garment workers at the factory. Tesco said protecting the rights of everyone in its supply chain was absolutely essential and that had it known of the serious allegations it would have stopped using VKG immediately. It is believed to be the first time a UK company has been threatened with litigation in the English courts over a foreign garment factory in its supply chain that it does not own. Tesco was not involved in the day-to-day running of the factory beyond setting and checking standards and placing orders. Tesco made £2.2bn profits in 2020, the last year that its Thai business used VKG. Labour experts say large clothing brands such as F&F deliberately outsource the production of clothes and the auditing of factories to avoid liability and reputational damage while keeping prices cheap and protecting profits.

Tesco Labour Investigation

JD Sells 15 Brands

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has snapped up a basket of 15 brands including former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green and 1980s brand Tessuti in a £47.5m cash deal with JD Sports. JD, which owns Size?, Finish Line in the US and Spain’s Sprinter as well as its main retail chain, said the sale of the “non-core” brands would allow it to focus on other priorities, particularly the “international and digital expansion of the group’s core premium sports fashion” retail brands. Ashley’s retail empire has a long history of buying up fashion brands to help bolster profits in its retail empire. Frasers already owns dozens of brands including Everlast, Lonsdale, Karrimor, Agent Provocateur and Firetrap and recently acquired tailoring brand Gieves & Hawkes and online fast fashion specialists Missguided and I Saw it First. It also has large stakes in listed luxury brands Hugo Boss and Mulberry.

JD Sells Brands