Waitrose shoppers are divided after discovering the supermarket has stopped selling Warburtons products – including their beloved crumpets.
It’s revealed that the store dropped the bakery brand a year ago due to “performance” concerns, and as a result, some customers have vowed to shop elsewhere.
UK crumple sales are up 10% year-on-year, but at the time Waitrose axed Warburtons it said its own crumple sales were down 15%.
Jonathan Warburton, 65, has been president of the company since 2006 and has publicly supported it Brexit in the past.
Now some people say Warburtons losing Waitrose as a customer is a form of reward.
A Twitter user named Matt wrote, “This is totally deserved. Warburtons supported Brexit, made this country suffer.
“It’s only fair that they’re suffering as much or more than the rest of us right now. Their customers have spoken. #WeerinEU.’
Tobi Frenzen said, ‘Well done Waitrose. I like my bread with some flavor, a satisfying and crunchy crust, and free of toxic politics. That said, Warburtons fail in all three categories, so tidy is tidy!’
Conrad Longmore sarcastically said, “Could those be the same Warburtons who support Brexit?” What a pity.’
Sinclair J Third tweeted: ‘I am delighted to read that Waitrose has pulled all Warburtons products from its shelves for being “below expectations”.
“Mind you, I’d rather they were out of stock at all, as Warburtons were Brexit supporters.”
David Reynolds added: “There MUST be a Brexit angle here, right?”
Another user named Paul wrote: ‘They would rather remove Warburtons products in response to them supporting Brexit.’
Jenks Coffeebreak said, ‘Waitrose doesn’t sell Warburtons bread…wrong. If they don’t sell the crumpets, we’ll have to shop elsewhere.’
Bolton-based bakery Warburtons, which sells 124 million crumpets in the UK annually, donated £25,000 to the Conservative Party in 2010.
Waitrose still stocks products from Hovis, which is based in Buckinghamshire and is Warburton’s biggest competitor.
The story is reminiscent a price dispute between Tesco and Heinzwho saw ketchup and baked beans temporarily disappear from store shelves last year.
Waitrose did not say his decision to stop selling Warburtons products had anything to do with Brexit.
A spokesperson told Mail Online: ‘We stopped selling Warburtons products a year ago after their performance did not meet our expectations.
“We are focused on great value products that our customers love and we remain open to working with Warburtons in the future.”
A spokesman for Warburtons said: ‘At Warburtons, quality is paramount. We take incredible care of the 2 million products we bake and deliver every day to more than 19,000 stores across the country.
‘We know that consumers recognize the quality and value of our products which is why we are the number one bakery brand in the UK.
“It’s a shame that Waitrose chose to remove us from the list last year and we would of course like to be back on their shelves in the future.”
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