A senior Lidl boss was left embarrassed today as MPs immediately disproved a major claim about the supermarket chain’s branding.
Rhian Bartlett, Lidl’s Chief Commercial Officer, appeared before an MP select committee currently probing fairness in the food supply chain.
Mr Bartlett was probed by Labour MP Rosie Duffield about recent headlines suggesting the supermarket is hoodwinking customers by inventing fictitious farm names to suggest meat products come from traditional UK suppliers.
The Lidl chief emphatically claimed this was not the case, however was left humiliated when the MPs disproved him in real-time using a simple Google search.
Mr Bartlett claimed: “We don’t use farm brands, just to be absolutely clear about that. We do not”.
Ms Duffield read out examples from a recent Daily Mail article citing branding of “Oaklands, Birchwood and Strathvale Farms” on Lidl packaging.
Mr Bartlett doubled down, repeating: “Birchwood is a brand, it’s not Birchwood Farm”.
“Oaklands is a brand, it’s not Oaklands Farm. We do not use farm brands, we don’t use Strathvale Farms, we use Strathvale”.
Mr Bartlett almost got away with accusing the Mail of publishing false information, however the quick-witted chairman of the Select Committee pulled the rug from under his feet when pointing out that the farm brands are still plastered all over Lidl’s website.
Sir Robert Goodwill interrupted proceedings to point out: “Wait a minute, we have here a ‘Strathvale Farm Scottish Large Chicken, £3.85”.
“So there is on the website at least a reference to Strathvale Farm.”
The Lidl boss quickly replied that if there is a reference to Strathvale Farm on our website I’ll want to take that away and correct it, claiming “it could be the case our website is not up to date”.
However it was again pointed out that there are multiple farm-branded items on the Lidl website.
He was further embarrassed when Sir Robert pointed out that not only are the online products still labelled with the farm branding, the pictures show the products also have “farm” branded on the packaging.
“It actually has, on this picture of the chicken packaging itself as well there’s a picture of a farm, the word Strathvale and then ‘Farm’ written underneath – quite small, to be fair, but it’s certainly there.”
Mr Bartlett conceded: “That’s a point that we need to update”.
In January this year campaigners called on supermarkets to ban the practice, warning it risks misleading customers about where their food is coming from.
Guy Singh-Watson told the Mail: “This is clearly misleading the consumer”.
“Whoever buys the food needs to be properly informed about where it is coming from and how it is produced, and not lied to. The British public do want to know where their food comes from, they do care.
“My business is based on that, and they are willing to pay more when they know where it comes from. If they are being hoodwinked the whole time, they will go for whatever is cheapest, which drives the price down and down.
“My plea is to make that practice of a fictitious farm illegal.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
