Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected sales and profit figures in the last few days as the partial reopening of entertainment venues and the hospitality sector boosted demand for its drinks. However, the global beverage giant sounded a cautious note over new coronavirus-related restrictions and again declined to provide a financial outlook.

The Coca-Cola Company’s total revenue during its third quarter ending 25 September fell 9% to $8.7bn. However, this was a significant improvement on the 28% decline in the previous quarter which led the group to announce a major restructuring plan and accelerate moves to ditch underperforming brands. Meanwhile, operating income declined 8% in the quarter, against a 34% fall in the prior period. The group said margin expansion was primarily driven by cost management, partially offset by top-line pressures and currency headwinds.

Coca-Cola stated that the pandemic had continued to impact its away-from-home channels, although this was partially offset by raised growth in at-home channels. North America was the best-performing region with organic revenues down only 3%, compared to a 6% decline in its Europe, Middle East & Africa unit, and 8% fall in the Asia Pacific. Not quite Red Alert level yet, but still a concern for the multinational conglomerate. 

Waitrose has announced that it is expanding its on-demand grocery trial with Deliveroo to 25 more locations, taking the total to 30 and growing its reach to 3.1 million households. The retailer has also added 100 products to the range, meaning Deliveroo customers can now choose from more than 650 items.

The original trial launched in September with Waitrose saying it had seen strong demand for the service with half of the orders being made by repeat customers. The extended trial is set to continue until the end of November when a decision will be taken on whether to roll-out the service further.

The retailer also has its own two-hour home delivery service, Waitrose Rapid, which now has over 37,000 customers. Its full-shop online grocery service now offers over 190,000 weekly slots, compared to 55,000 before the pandemic, with plans underway to increase capacity to 250,000 weekly slots.

Kellogg’s has marked World Sight Day by launching Coco Pops boxes for blind and partially sighted people as a trial in almost 60 Co-op stores. The new boxes have been created in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). They feature UK-first technology that allows a smartphone to detect an on-pack code which triggers the playback of labelling and allergen information to the user. The trial comes after research from RNIB revealed that nine in ten blind and partially sighted people feel that information on food packaging is difficult or impossible to read.

The technology, called NaviLens, is currently used across Barcelona, Madrid, and other Spanish city’s transport systems, making the cities easier to navigate for visually impaired people. It has now been introduced in the UK for the first time as part of the Kellogg’s trial. It is also the first time NaviLens has been used on food packaging. If successful, the business hopes to adapt more of its cereal boxes to include the technology.

Aldi is claiming it will save more than 100 tonnes of plastic a year by scrapping single-use bags for loose fruit and veg across all its stores. The bags will be removed from all its nearly 900 stores by the end of the year. Instead, shoppers will be encouraged to bring their own containers or buy reusable drawstring produce bags, which are made from recycled bottles and cost 25p each. The move follows a trial in 100 stores across the Midlands earlier this year.

In July, Aldi announced a new commitment to halve the volume of plastic packaging it used by 2025. The supermarket is also on track to have all its own label products as recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022, and branded products sold at Aldi by 2025.