Tesco dines out on customers staying in to cook its Finest range

The finals of the World Steak Challenge in Amsterdam didn’t escape the eye of Cantillon in recent weeks. Two Irish entries made it into the winners’ enclosure, with cuts from the country taking home the prizes for world’s best grass-fed ribeye and sirloin.The winners were Lidl Ireland and Tesco Ireland. Tesco followed up the steak win by going on to claim 86 prizes at the Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards. The UK supermarket chain, led by Irish man Ken Murphy, has sought out these industry awards as seals of approval for its Finest range as it bids to push premium.READ MOREConsumer sentiment and spending data would imply it’s a curious time for the supermarket to be pushing its premium own-label range.Irish shoppers are well aware they have been forced to suck up sustained increases to their weekly shop in recent years, with their annual bill up about €3,000 since 2021. Last month, when polling showed cost-of-living pressures dominated voters’ priorities ahead of Budget 2027, the latest figures from Worldpanel by Numerator showed grocery inflation was up 4.3 per cent. If a household was spending €200 a week on groceries, that would add close to €450 to their annual bill. More recent data this week from the Central Statistics Office showed Irish consumer prices were up 4.1 per cent year on year in September, which was the fastest annual rate of increase since January 2024.Amid these cost pressures, Tesco has focused on upselling premium. Or downselling dining out, depending on how you look at it.The company’s recent annual report said the rising cost of dining out has “resulted in a shift towards eating in and a higher demand for restaurant-quality food at home”.If would-be diners are thinking twice about going out for their steak, they will want something to fill that void. Tesco thinks, why not our steak?Results by the company this week suggest its bet on premium is paying off. After launching 750 new Finest products in the past year, sales of its premium range were up 12.8 per cent in Ireland.Tesco chief financial officer Imran Nawaz was buoyed by the Irish numbers. In a call with investors, he singled out the growth in Ireland as an “exceptional performance”. A result to dine out on.