UK retailer The Co-operative has launched a new range of vegan food items under the brand GRO.
The range offers more than 35 meat-free SKUs, which will be available 300 Co-op stores in the UK from 8 January.
Selected items from the range will also be stocked in almost 2,000 Co-op stores and 4,000 independent retailers through Co-op’s wholesale operation, NISA, the retailer added.
'Largest Ever' Product Rollout
Co-op claims that it is the 'largest ever' product rollout in private-label vegan food items by a supermarket.
With the addition of GRO, Co-op now offers a total of more than 1000 food and wine SKUs in the vegan category.
The food items have been designed to cater to busy and on-the-go shoppers and include meal solutions for breakfast to dinner.
It includes, among others, a vegan steak bake, a Kashmiri pizza with cauliflower and a mozzarella-like vegan cheese.
'Focus On Convenience'
Jo Whitfield, CEO Co-op Food, said, "We have to provide fantastic products and services with strong ethics and a purposeful focus on convenience. Our new vegan range taps into the latest consumer trends and our online services meet the growing appetite for fast home deliveries."
In 2020, the retailer also plans to roll out same-day delivery services for online orders in almost 100 towns and cities from 650 stores.
It will also expand its partnership with Deliveroo, which provides on-demand delivery of convenience grocery essentials in under 30 minutes, the retailer said.
Recently, Co-op released its Ethical Consumerism report, which revealed that ethical spending in the UK has now surpassed £40 billion (€46.9 billion).
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
