Waitrose introduces hanging gardens

Are pre-packaged salads about to become a thing of the past? Under Waitrose‘s leadership, British supermarkets want to have their own gardens and vertical farms by the end of this year.

Lettuce in an old railway tunnel

Bio-engineers have revealed plans to set up hanging gardens in supermarkets. Not that Waitrose is going back to the Ancient Wonders of the World: their plans are a lot more modern. The new systems do not use soil, are portable and can be placed in urban environments such as stores and supermarkets. Crops are grown vertically, suspended by their roots in a cylinder, where they are nourished by a nutritious spray. 

Premium supermarket chain Waitrose is a division of retail group John Lewis, which has recently confirmed in The Telegraph to be in talks with bio-engineer firm LettUs Grow, which grows various sorts of vegetables in an abandoned railway tunnel in Bristol. 

“No option but to inspire and delight customers”

John Lewis wants to use the cylinders to grow lettuce within the store, so that customers can select their own fresh salads. Whether the concept can be launched in 2019 remains to be seen: if not, it should be in 2020. “You really re-engage with the food system and the provenance of our food,” as the aptly named co-founder Jack Farmer explains.

“I think it really stems from the way people see the retail experience going in the future, with the rise of Amazon and other online retailers, the retail experience has to become much more experiential,” he said on the BBC programme Farming Today. Peter Cross, Customer Experience Director at John Lewis, concurs: “Recent years have seen seismic changes in our sector, with a new benchmark in customer expectation every time they shop. Shops simply have no option but to inspire and delight customers – offering both fantastic products and personalised seamless experiences.”