Iceland Foods

Founded in 1970, Iceland Foods is headquartered in Deeside, Wales, United Kingdom. The founder started by selling frozen products solely but it was further developed with both food and non-food products.

Nowadays, Iceland Foods operates a total of 977 stores in the UK.

The enterprise owns Iceland International which is present in 65 countries, found mostly in Europe, The Middle East, Asia Pacific and North America. Furthermore, Iceland Foods also operates an online shopping platform. 

In 2018, the company partnered with The Range, where Iceland Food’s products are displayed in 47 outlets. Furthermore, 10 of these stores are equipped with Iceland café serving the supermarket’s products.

Iceland Foods reached a turnover of €4.8 billion in 2021 and employed 30 256 people. The firm controls 2.5% of the UK’s grocery market share, up by 2.1% compared to the year before.

Iceland Foods received various accreditations from Good Housekeeping Taste Approved and Grocer Great Food. The firm won the Best Retailer Initiative award by Grocer Great Food in 2019.

Iceland Foods offers products in the following categories:

• Dairy: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs, etc
• Sweet Grocery: chocolates, sweets, jams,etc
• Savory Grocery: rice, pasta, noodles, crackers, canned foods, etc
• Frozen Foods: ready meals, seafood, meat, poultry, desserts, etc
• Drinks: flavoured water, still water, wine, fruit juices, fizzy drinks, etc
• Chilled & Fresh Foods: seafood, poultry, meat, ready meals, etc
• Personal care: fragrances, oral care, hair care, body care, etc
• Household: air fresheners, dishwasher tablets, washing liquids, etc

Brands such as Surf, Finish, Weetabix, Nestle, Quality Street and many others are available in all Iceland Foods stores. 

Iceland supermarkets were the first to eliminate artificial colourings, flavourings, non-essential preservatives and monosodium glutamate from its own brand products, Iceland Foods 

Also, it is the first supermarket that guarantees that its own label range is free of GM ingredients. Iceland Foods accounts for 30% of frozen ready meal sales in the United King`dom.

The firm expanded its business by entering food production thus, acquiring its supplier, Loxton Foods, which was later renamed to Iceland Manufacturing Ltd. By entering into partnership with the South African investment holding company, Brait, the firm increased its shareholding in the business to 57%.

In 2016, the retailer partnered with Slimming world, Millie’s cookies and Greggs to launch an exclusive new range of  frozen pizzas, prepared meals and desserts.

As of 2018, the company became the first major retailer in the world to remove plastic packaging from its own brand products. Also, it has committed to stop using palm oil as an ingredient in all its own label food products.

In January 2019, the supermarket chain launched a range of vegan pizzas hence expanding its plant based assortment.

In 2020, Iceland Foods reported a 29% reduction in its own label plastic packaging usage since January 2018 and 74% reduction in its carbon emissions since 2011 and aiming for zero carbon by 2042.

Pertaining to the supply chain, the firm owns about 121 warehouses.

Iceland Foods’ online shop can be accessed on www.iceland.co.uk