The Story Of How Hunter & Gather Finally Got Listed In Tesco

It’s the news that Hunter & Gather fans have been waiting for – you can now pick up a jar of their tasty mayonnaise with your weekly shop at Tesco. Seeing the words Hunter & Gather and Tesco together like that is something that co-founders Amy and Jeff always dreamed of. And after years of work that dream has finally come true for them.

It’s not been an easy journey though. It’s taken 4 years, over 100 emails, a whole load of meetings, prep work, and samples, and several buyers to finally get Hunter & Gather on the shelves of Tesco.

Amy and Jeff have broken the whole process down in a recent video on LinkedIn, and it’s an interesting watch for anyone who’s ever wondered what it takes to get a product into one of the big supermarkets.

The story begins back in 2019, with the pair doing some serious detective work in their mission to get a conversation going with Tesco, chasing down their buyers on LinkedIn and trying to find their contact details. They had some success in 2020 when they nailed down their first call with a Tesco buyer, only to be told that they’d just missed the window to get their products reviewed.

Fast-forward to 2022, when Amy and Jeff spoke to a second buyer to try their luck again. This time they stepped things up a gear, borrowing a friend’s truck, pimping it out with Hunter & Gather branding and using it to hand-deliver some of their samples to the buyer.

@hunterandgatheruk
READ THE CAPTION 👇 You have been asking us for years to get our products into supermarkets and we’ve finally gone and done it. You can now pick up our Avocado Oil Mayonnaise range in over 260 Tesco stores across the UK which we think marks a landmark day in our battle against seed oils in food products. It’s been a journey of over 5 years to get our products on a supermarket shelf and as you can see from the video, it’s taken a huge amount of hard work and effort to get there. We wanted to be super transparent with you guys about how difficult it is for a smaller brand like us to be considered when we’re up against some of the biggest brands in the world. We hope it gives some context and clarity around what this process looks like for a brand, as it certainly isn’t easy! It’s fair to say that we absolutely couldn’t have done it without our amazing tribe who have supported us over the years and shouted about Hunter & Gather from the rooftops. We can’t thank you enough. ATTENTION, TRIBE: WE NEED YOU! 📣 We need to prove to these big supermarkets that we deserve to be there alongside all of the big brands, so every jar of mayonnaise sold makes a huge difference. If you love our mayonnaise then please do comment below and we can let you know where your nearest store is so you can pick up a jar 🙌 One final thing – don’t forget your Clubcard 💳! You can buy our 175g jar at a special introductory price of £3, so don’t miss out on that 🙌. Offer ends 8th May so be quick. Thanks so much again Tribe & happy shopping, Amy & Jeff and the entire H&G Team x
♬ original sound – Hunter & Gather

And they weren’t stopping there. They shared a video on all their social media channels of Jeff dressed up as a caveman going into a Tesco store to draw attention to the lack of good alternative mayos on the shelves. Even that wasn’t enough though, and the pair were told that they’d have to try again in 2023.

By the time 2023 rolled around Amy and Jeff were on to Tesco buyer number 4 who, as it turned out, was also heading up Tesco’s Accelerator Programme. They all met up at Tesco Head Office in the September, and by October they were actually having serious talks about Hunter & Gather getting a listing for their mayo in Tesco stores.

Then in February 2024, 4 years after they started trying to make it happen, Hunter & Gather were finally officially announced as part of the Tesco Accelerator Programme and 3 of their mayos hit the shelves.

After all that hard work to get there, Amy and Jeff obviously want to keep their products in Tesco stores. So they’re now asking that all the Hunter & Gather lovers out there head to Tesco and buy their mayo, to prove to the retailers that they deserve to be there and that there’s a growing demand for seed oil and refined sugar free mayo.

You can choose from Hunter & Gather’s classic avocado oil mayo, garlic avocado oil mayo, and chipotle and lime avocado oil mayo. Better yet, give the brand a real boost and pick up all 3. Who knows, maybe it’ll help get even more Hunter & Gather products into Tesco stores in the future!

If you can’t pop in to Tesco to check out thier products, visit the website here. You should also use our Hunter & Gather discount code GYMFLUENCERS for off.