https://corporate.asda.com/newsroom/2022/10/06/asda-launches-1-cafe-meal-deal-for-over-60s-to-help-with-cost-of-living
(Meal deal = a soup, a bread roll, and unlimited tea/coffee for £1)
**Update/edit**: Some very good points made in the comments. Some angles I hadn’t even considered. Things put into perspective. Thanks all for commenting and sharing these opinions. All the best to everyone. Hope you keep well.
Before I start: Am I absolutely wrong about this? If I am, please set me straight. I have a tendency to go overboard, be crazy opinionated, and be totally wrong about everything. (As evidenced – I’m posting an unwarranted essay about the ethics surrounding an ASDA meal deal. On the internet. After no sleep at all). Think I’ve gone insane(er) writing this…
So, when I first saw this tweeted out I thought, ‘wow, good on ASDA! What a wonderful idea’. And everyone was just gushing with praise in the replies, of course.
Then, I thought, “how horrifying, that society has come to this. Why are old people having to be protected from actual DEATH, by bloody ASDA? What kind of hell are we living in? Well, at least *someone’s* helping them through this crisis, I suppose.”
Then I thought, “wait hang on…”
This is worth sooooo much in good PR for ASDA. Which is **absolutely** fair enough. People like brands who display good/similar ethics and morals, etc.(as confirmed by the reaction to the Twitter post).
But, it’s also going to be profitable overall, isn’t it? The PR alone. That’s not truly ethical/charitable, given the situation and how this ‘lifeline for those who are struggling’ is being presented.
Will this offer actually be useful to anyone in real trouble? Is it more likely a novelty/nonsense offer (to look good), but will actually only be taken up by people who were already there, doing their shopping in ASDA, as usual, and just fancied it? (i.e, not those in dire straits).
My arguments:
Buying a tin of soup (24p), 6 bread rolls (54p) and 40 teabags (31p) would be £1.09 – slightly over £1 – from their actual shop. (Think I’ve remembered the prices right, after switching between apps).
That’s their ‘basics’ range online, to be fair. Not the branded things like they might have in the café. And I didn’t check the coffee/milk/sugar, that would cost more, I admit. But still.
Okay, I get the idea that this is for vulnerable people – according to ASDA – so that they’ll have somewhere safe to go, to keep warm(ish)/get a meal/hot drinks/be with others. And, they won’t have to use their electricity/gas to heat up all the stuff at home, etc. That’s a great idea (despite the unbelievable horror of it having to be a ‘thing’ in the first place).
But, even with those added positives, the price of the £1 café offer still doesn’t seem right, to me. Specifically, when presented “to help with the cost of living”…
Fair enough, ASDA wouldn’t be using their own ‘basics’ stock off the shelves, I’m sure. Too much trouble, in loads of ways, especially for staff (opening tins and heating individual soup portions and things). And, if they did do this, £1 per meal deal seems unfair/a rip off (especially considering the store prices on these items, and in the context of offering some kind of ‘charity’/community support).
Still, I’d *imagine* (I really have no idea) that it’ll all be bought in, through a catering company type operation, or maybe just from their own ‘basics’ factories. Or, maybe it’ll be donated or something from Heinz, or whatever? In any case, I could see it might even work out cheaper/more profitable for ASDA, overall (again, I DO NOOOT know, I’m guessing. I’m likely waaay off here, and ASDA is making a loss/being kind).
But, say they’d buy the soup in vats, rolls in bulk, etc. I suppose drinks are just hot water with a teabag, or black coffee, and then there’s those little milks and sugar packets (which are free to customers already anyway, I think).
Now, onto aaaaalllll my questions/concerns:
Is this going to be a bowl of soup, or a cup? Does the café offer a choice of flavours, or is it just one? If customers want to buy *more* soups/rolls (but already have unlimited drinks included from their first deal purchase), do they still have to pay another £1 each time? Or do they get a discount? Otherwise, it’ll add up over the day/meals. Or, are they not allowed to buy another ‘deal’ soup at all?
People can’t just have one soup and a roll, or pay £1 every time, if they’re there all day (for the warmth/savings). Plus, the deal in itself is pretty basic/insulting. Yeah, soup’s great, but, I mean…
I get ‘beggars can’t be choosers’… But, ah, I dunno man. Seems bad. Maybe add some other cheap options as well, for variation? If you’re starving and have your soup and roll, but some guy next to you is eating a burger and chips? Would make me sad.
Can customers who take up this deal also bring in food/snacks that they’ve bought from the supermarket section, or even from home, to have with their unlimited drinks? Or can they only eat food purchased from the café? That’s not cool really, especially if they can see the 51p bread rolls x 6 from where they’re sitting.
I’m just thinking [typing] out loud at this point… Another question to ask: What would this meal (sans deal) cost usually?
I know this thing’s only just been announced, so all the facts aren’t known yet. And, will people *reeeeally* need to be staying there all day, every day to keep warm? I wouldn’t think it would be that many (hopefully, hopefully!). I pray it’s not going to be that bad, but who knows. Maybe I’m naive, and people are going to be desperate. But thinking about it, how much warmer **is** it in a supermarket café? Again, I don’t know, can’t remember when I’ve last been in one.
Also, the people who’ll have been forced to take up ASDA’s soup/warm-bank offer would now be **in** the store, when they wouldn’t normally be. A captured audience. I mean, is it a good idea to be in a massive bright shop, surrounded by advertising, laid out and literally designed to make you buy stuff. All when you’re desperately trying to save money? It’d get me. I fall for it every time, but I’m impulsive…
It’s not hard to imagine that people might spend on something else while they’re there, when they wouldn’t have otherwise. Could be tempted by a cake in the café, or might have a nose around the isles for some entertainment… Defeats the purpose.
This is literally what businesses do sometimes anyway, isn’t it? Like, it’s a known marketing tactic? Tempting people in with an offer and then hoping they’ll buy other things too.
Thinking about it, I’ve never known a supermarket café to ever be packed out, they could have done with a marketing offer like this, regardless. But now, there’s the added bonus of amazing PR of course (I sound soo cynical, how terrible! Haha. I don’t *really* accept this is the actual case).
Another thing – the offer is only on November/December – they’re not even the coldest months, are they??
Althooough, they *are* when all the Xmas stuff is in the shop. Don’t forget to buy your lunch/treats/glittering decorations for the big day, and the presents for your grandkids’ Christmas box…
(Okay, that might be going too far. Would any corporation really be *this* this sneaky/opportunistic?… Hope not! But, I did used to work in marketing, and some places are totally like this. However, in the reality we seem to be living in, it would be a terrrrrible strategy to suggest – let alone implement! I don’t think that’s what they’re doing. That’s be like evil people in a film. Again, I’m super overthinking this, as you can obviously tell by the length of this post, omg).
Anyway, If ASDA *does* profit from the £1 soups (I have no actual idea if that’d be the case, likely not! I’m just too far in now to dig myself out of ranting about this hypothetical scenario…), where does the money go? Charity?
If so, then why not just announce the soup offer as a charitable act in itself, and just give it away for free?
(Look, if any mentalist *does* go in there to specifically ‘scam’ free soup and stay there all day drinking tea, when they’re not ‘entitled’ to it, then just give them the bloody soup, who cares? You have to be 60+ anyway, and show some photo ID, I suspect? Won’t be many who try it on.)
I saw that ASDA have put a chunk of money into a charity pot to help communities. Maybe any profits go towards growing that? But, then it’d not be *ASDA’s* own heartfelt ‘donation’, from their usual profits. It’d be from the customers they were supposed to be helping in the first place, funded by extra money bought in from the soup deal itself (possibly).
FURTHERMORE (here we go, I thought I was finishing up, haha), the staff don’t get paid enough as it is. Can’t see ASDA passing any potential soup/impulse purchase profits they make onto the actual workers.
Also, will ASDA be hiring more staff to serve all the extra customers this looks like it might bring in? Or, are they just expecting the current café staff to deal with the increased workload, for no extra pay?
Tbh, £1 for a simple soup, a plain roll and a cuppa seems like it should just be the fair price anyway, even in non-crisis times. (I know this offer includes ‘unlimited’ tea or coffee, but how much will customers realistically drink, and what will that actually set ASDA back?)
My husband was saying “soup’s usually like, £5+ at a restaurant, so £1 is good”… Yeeeeah, I get it, but the point is this appeal is supposed to be aimed at people who can’t afford to LIVE/pay bills, and so wouldn’t be paying to go out to eat anyway. They can’t even afford the bus fare TO an ASDA. So, the usual sit-down-soup costs, in relation to this scheme, are irrelevant. That’s my opinion, anyway.
Sure, I know it’s mainly about being warm/comfortable in this case, there’s more to it than the cost/value of the meal deal, and there’s ASDA’s logistical costs to consider… Okay okay okay. But, this is supposed to be charitable, right? I can’t help but think it’s not *really*. I hope I’m wrong, and it does help the people it should.
Right. My brain’s not working now. But, I would be happy to hear why I’m a twat for going mad about all this, haha.
It really shouldn’t be up to ASDA, or any other company, to try and find solutions to problems that have been caused by this government/the years of awful shitness. They are probably just trying to help and I’m just angry, tired and jaded.
Disregard my post. Thank you for your patience and apologies for my insanity. Goodnight (morning).
14 comments
Why don’t you do the maths on this to see how much soup, bread, tea and coffee you can make for £1, including the cost of actually making it
Where are you getting your food shopping? I wish things were that cheap where I live. Haven’t seen those prices since the financial crash.
I do think they’ll profit, it is good PR. But it’ll be useful for some as long as they’re allowed to stay for a couple of hours. It’s basically a warm bank with soup and bread. Dire tbh
It’s charitable in the sense someone pissed on you and a stranger happened to have a towel and thankfully decided to give it you to dry off.
It’s like being thankful for the absolutes bare basics – most people take it for granted until they lose it, and anyone who doesn’t have it put themselves in that position on purpose because so few people actually believe we should go without bare basics and yet people still do… you can justify destitution in that sense with enough mental gymnastics and if they dont really deserve to suffer well then be thankful for the charity you ungrateful cretin
I think everything about this shit is wrong. We’re in a situation at the minute where fossil fuel companies are telling the government that taxing them more is a good idea and yet the government aren’t ok with taxing them.
ASDA are clearly riding the PR train on this amd I can’t blame them as its good for their image. However, like you said the entire situation is fucked. I think what makes it worse for me is that young families continue to struggle while these boomers keep voting for the people making them suffer while society holds these very people up as the victims.
I mean obviously it’s a bit cynical. Like if you went in for this, you might well do some shopping while you’re at it.
Having managed a cafe in the past, of course you’re expecting staff to just serve any extra customers. That’s what it means to be paid by the hour, if no customers come in you hardly have any work and can mess around. If a load come in, that’s an hour of hard work. If it reaches a point where the queue is growing and you can’t serve everyone, then there’s only so much you can do right then. That’s when you rearrange the rotas for the future and get some more staff in or you don’t and inevitably you put off potential customers who see the huge queue and decide to give it a miss.
I can’t say I’ve really read through everything you wrote there but also who said it was supposed to be charitable. They are a supermarket. This must be reasonably close to cost price really though once you allocate a share of overheads. You also have to remember that it might actually damage their existing sales – current users of the cafe probably spend a lot more than a quid.
Lpt: corporations dont do anything that doesnt make profit.
My thought is that over 60s is an odd group to target it at. A lot of people in that age bracket are pretty comfortably off and a lot of people under it are not. I guess we can’t exactly expect Asda to means test their meal deal, though.
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Rather a long essay!
It’s a desperate situation when people are relying on corporate charity to survive.
It’s also pretty desperate for the corporations themselves. Frankly, ASDA’s interests are served by having as many customers as possible with money – the rich only have one mouth!
It’s brilliant, your sixty year old high level management bod, who’ll be working for another six years or more can grab the £1 deal after leaving his mortgage free house on the way to the office and their £100,00+ job
Should be for those who are retired or open to everyone. But it’s not designed to help it’s designed to promote.
Well, your right that a tin of soup and a bread roll and t-bags can be had cheaper if you eat at home – or even (if you have energy) cook from scratch. But Asda; its warm, you can meet up with friends and feel like you are ‘going out’ even though it’s modest.
I think it’s good, honest, well-intentioned PR. They are not making a killing on this when you consider staffing, heat and light.
But your also right – what is it coming to when companies are actually taking the mantle of social aid?
The cost of the soup isn’t really the point.
The point is that they can go somewhere warm and stay for as long as they need to. And because they’re paying for a (very cheap) meal, they don’t need feel like they don’t belong there or that they’re overstaying their welcome.
Is it a national embarrassment that our country is being run so badly that this is welcome and needed? Yes. Are Asda a profit making business who would only do this if it somehow meant that they made more money in the long run? Yes.
But given the situation we’re in, this initiative seems to be a pretty good one.
Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
No, but seriously. Like many charitable endeavours, there is a measure of self interest involved. It might also be a help to some people.
Most likely, it’ll get a few oldies in Asda, where they can relax with their cheap hot drinks and soup for an afternoon, and keep them out of Aldi and Lidl et al.
Kwasi Kwarteng got pissed with bankers and rich people who are profiting massively off us, they call him a useful idiot and then try and say the bankers didn’t have insider access to information.
Liz Truss has absolutely destroyed the economy already and about to kill our environment.
Shopping markets have treated us like idiots for decades. Two for 3 quid, and you know for a fact two days ago the product was only 1 quid. Buy one get one free but still costs 50p more than the last time you bought it.
Of course it’s going to be a PR stunt. That’s what pr does. You know provides a mutually beneficial relationship between them and the customer. You get the benefit of cheap meal and unlimited hot drinks and they get benefit of you shopping there.
Come on FFS. You’re doing the right thing by asking questions but look at the bigger picture…
Please focus on the fact our current prime minister is literally socially murdering the UK and not Asda offering soup…