Sales of jacket potatoes and butter soar as Waitrose costumers shun UPFs

Sales of jacket potatoes, butter and full-fat products have soared this year as consumers turn away from ultra-processed foods and seek out flavour, according to Waitrose.

The upmarket supermarket said it had seen a “fundamental change” in how customers shopped, influenced heavily by concerns over UPFs and the rise in weight-loss jabs.

Among this year’s “trends” have been what the supermarket describes as the “great carb comeback” with sales soaring for everything from beans to bread as an “obsession” with gut health and plant-based eating led consumers back to the importance of fibre.

Sales of large potatoes are up by a third at Waitrose on this time last year, while searches for “jacket potato” on Waitrose.com are up 178%.

Shoppers have also showed a renewed interest in pork – with a fillet costing around £20 a kilo compared with beef fillet now upwards of £80 – and some lesser-known types of fish such as ray wings, with sales up 21% on last year, as they sought out healthier forms of protein.

Customers are also increasingly turning to snacks, which Waitrose said was likely to be driven by reduced appetites due to use of weight-loss jabs, with a survey of almost 4,400 customers suggesting that 57% sometimes replaced a meal with “snacky foods”.

But alongside this, sales of full-fat milk, flavoured butter – real blocks instead of easy-to-spread alternatives – and premium olive oil all soared as customers focused on taste and texture when cooking.

Waitrose said sales of its No.1 Organic Ayrshire Unhomogenised Whole Milk were up 56% and sales of its Duchy Organic British Free Range Unhomogenised Whole Milk rose 25% on this time last year.

Premium salted butter had “never been more popular”, it said, with sales of its No.1 French Salted Butter up 13% on a year ago.

Among the trends falling out of fashion are so-called “mock meat” in favour of high-quality cuts, with other products seeing sales fall including Dubai chocolate and sliced bread.

Dr Joanne Lunn, head of health and nutrition at Waitrose, said: “The growing awareness of ultra-processed food is meaning customers are turning back to more natural full-fat foods.

“Beyond maximising taste and texture, these full-fat foods naturally avoid the excessive sugars, stabilisers and additives commonly used to replace fat in ‘diet’ or ‘0%’ alternatives.”