Well I was reading an article on the BBC about “Breaking into Supermarkets“, and they mentioned the Waitrose meet the buyer process. So went and had a look at that details in Do you want to supply Waitrose..
One of the sections they mention on Waitrose, is has your labelling been legally approved by your local Council.
As I found out over a year ago in England this is a bit of “Hitchhikers Guide” process. (See Labelling? for more details) Because I live in the lovely borough of Camden. I call them up after looking up the number on the website. Initially I was told to ring Trading Standards, which I did. However they then said they can only give general advice and that I need to ring the Food Safety team of the Local Council. Sigh, so back to Camden again. The woman that I talk to then tells me that the process of any request, etc. will be fulfilled anytime between now and up to 8 working days. Yes 8 working days! So pretty much two weeks for a response that would probably take ten minutes or less to someone who knows what they are talking about.
I log my request and proceed to wait.. I wonder if anyone will get back to me. When I did this last year no one ever phoned me, and that was over a year ago..
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