Beginning as a humble meat processor in 1955, Farmfoods opened its first experimental shop in Aberdeen in the early 1970s. It did not step outside its Scottish birthplace until the 1990s, but has gradually crept as far south as Plymouth in Devon. Today it has more than 320 stores. The latest research suggests Farmfoods sales were nearly 44% higher in the 12 weeks to 2 February compared with the same period last year. In the same 12 weeks, Morrisons and Tesco saw sales fall, Aldi and Lidl a growth of 32% and 17% respectively. All the frozen food retailers have been enjoying strong growth throughout the UK’s economic downturn. Apart from the inherently lower cost of frozen food, which is cheaper to transport and store than fresh, Farmfoods keeps prices low by offering own-label alternatives such as Betty Smith’s. As shoppers’ budgets remain under pressure, experts predict Farmfoods will see sales rise by 9% in the year ahead, well beyond the 2% expected for the grocery market as a whole. And the majority of that growth is coming from underlying sales growth, not new stores.
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