"My first decision at Carrefour: removing the strawberries from our shops in January." That is said by Yoann Alarcon, the new fresh produce manager at Carrefour. According to Yoann, the strawberries are not in season now and there's plenty of other products available: citrus fruits, kiwis and apples, for example. "And the strawberries lack taste," he adds.
Ma 1ère décision chez Carrefour: supprimer les fraises 🍓de nos magasins en janvier.
— Yoann Alarçon (@YoannAlarcon) January 6, 2021
➡️Ce n'est pas la saison
➡️Elles manquent terriblement de goût
➡️Nous avons à la place de délicieux agrumes, des kiwis 🇫🇷 et des pommes croquantes.
Retour des fraises dans quelques semaines 😉
Carrefour Group
Carrefour group is one of France's largest supermarket chains and at the moment there's many strawberries on the shelves. Yoann wants to put a hold to that. "Technically, strawberries can be found all year round. The French season is March-October. The choice of a break in January is motivated by the desire to serve our customers with better quality products. Season = quality," he explains. "I want to put taste and quality back at the heart of Carrefour's strategy," he adds.
In a LinkedIn message, the retailers adds that they want to make their customers aware of the importance of respecting the seasonality of products and give more importance to French seasonal fruits.
The strawberries will return in mid-February once the first Spanish strawberries are ripe, followed by French strawberries in the spring.
Will there also be no strawberry cakes? "We're thinking about it. We need to survey our clients. They will decide," he says.
Greenhouses in France
In France there's often attention for promoting locally grown vegetables of the season over imported or hothouse production.
Heating is allowed, but on a restricted schedule: there will be no marketing between 21 December and 30 April of organic fruit and vegetables produced in French heated greenhouses.