As food prices surge 17.5%, Waitrose just needs to be better at retail

I’ve only been offered a cup of tea at one supermarket

Supermarket struggler: But are there signs of life at Waitrose? (PA )

Signs of life from Waitrose? That was one of the takeaways from the trove of data released in Kantar’s monthly grocery market survey. (The biggest, inevitably, was food price inflation at an eye-popping 17.5 per cent, adding £837 to the average household’s annual bill assuming no change in shopping behaviour such as buying more cheaper own-label produce.)

John Lewis Partnership’s struggling grocer turned in 2.1 per cent sales growth, which Kantar noted was its “best performance since September 2021”.

Waitrose has found its business model buffeted by the cost of living crisis. Put simply, it’s too pricey.