Nobody Will Starve In Coronavirus Crisis, Says Ocado

There is no shortage of food in Britain and nobody will starve during the coronavirus emergency, said the chairman of online supermarket Ocado who believes he himself has been infected.

“The first thing is ‘don’t panic’. There isn’t going to be no food tomorrow,” Stuart Rose told BBC radio on Thursday. “Nobody will starve.”

Britain’s supermarket sector is dealing with unprecedented demand during the outbreak as consumers stock-up, fearing a prolonged period of isolation, while schools, pubs, cafes and restaurants have been forced to close.

Ocado has been operating at full capacity during the crisis. It said on Tuesday it had around ten times more demand for its services than it did before the outbreak began.

“You can make a relatively small amount of food go a long way and I think we live in a very profligate society today – we buy too much, we eat too much, we consume too much and we have to learn new ways.”

ESM