This week, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, billionaire founder of European discount airliner Easy Jet, launched his “easyFoodstore” concept in northwest London. The discount, “no frills” pilot store opened with a well-publicized hook: a 36 cent (25 pence) maximum on groceries like tomato soup, spaghetti hoops, cakes and pizza for the month of February.
A CNBC report mentions that Haji-loannou identified a gap in the market—pricing below that of popular multi-national budget food retailers like Aldi. In 2013, he revealed his hope of offering affordable food through no-brand-name packaging and budget prices. This vision is reflected in easyFoodstore’s slogan: “No expensive brands. Just food honestly priced.”
The new grocery store is not Haji-loannou’s first foray into the food space. It is preceded by the launch of “easyPizza,” another easyGroup brand aimed at providing affordable products to the public.
While some Londoners are undoubtedly enjoying the budget relief, others—like Guardian journalist Joanna Blythman—are raising serious concerns. In her editorial entitled “Cheap and easy food? Think about the true cost,” she questions the motivations of supporters of the cheap food movement along with the notion that the only way to feed the booming world population is through a full-blown industrial food model.
Without mincing words, Blythman goes on to say: “…we’ve aided and abetted a food system that wrecks the environment, treats animals inhumanely, makes serfs of workers, undermines the genuine artisan, seriously threatens our nation’s food security, diverts money from local businesses to distant shareholders’ dividends and cooks up public health problems.”
Our food system is undoubtably tied to a number of social issues. Alleviating food poverty is certainly one. And don’t we owe it to ourselves to ask, “Isn’t there a better way to solve these social issues without creating so many new ones?”