PG tips is to be served in all McDonald’s restaurants – 1,200 across the UK. The move follows an announcement by Unilever that PG tips will now work with the Rainforest Alliance, the environmental and ecological certification authority which is better known in the coffee sector.
McDonald’s has now committed to sell the brand, which amounts to an estimated annual volume of approximately 20,000 cases, or 24 million cups of tea. Susan Gregory, the category director, Unilever Foodsolutions, said: “We are delighted that McDonald’s is listing PG tips tea and supporting our campaign to awareness of sustainability. We can now reassure customers that as many people as possible involved in the growing and harvesting process of their cup of tea have been working in conditions that benefit them, their communities and their environment.”
At least 50 per cent of PG tips tea comes from the Rainforest Alliance-certified farms and the intention is for all supplying farms to be certified by 2010.
McDonald’s also switched to RFA-certified coffee from Kenco last year, and suggests that the move contributed to an increase in the number of cups of coffee sold every day.
By Ian Boughton