BBQ season officially starts this weekend

With BBQ-friendly weather finally here, Tesco says it is gearing up for strong sales of food and drink suitable for outside dining this weekend.

The supermarket chain predicts that demand for its BBQ meat this weekend is set to double, with fresh fruit such as strawberries, as well as ice cream and ice lollies, also set to be high on customers’ shopping lists.

Tesco BBQ meat range buyer Suzanne Eldridge said: “With temperatures set to hit 25deg C this weekend, it’s the first real opportunity Brits have had this year to get out into the garden and enjoy a BBQ with family and friends.

“Shoppers are wasting no time in stocking up for what is set to be a great weekend of garden fun. In the past, UK BBQs have mainly featured burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks but Brits are now becoming real BBQ connoisseurs.

“To cater for this we’re offering adventurous garden cooks a fantastic range of BBQ-friendly food, including pulled pork, Beer Can Chicken and Teriyaki kebabs.”

Based on growing early demand Tesco expects, over the course of the weekend, to sell more than 1.5 million packs of sausages, more than 250,000 packs of burgers, 300,000 salmon fillets, 600,000 packs of BBQ meat including chicken wings, slow cooked ribs and pulled pork, and more than 350,000 steaks

The grocery multiple forecasts sales of BBQ rolls will top nearly 1.5 million packs, and shoppers will stock up on more than 1 million punnets of strawberries, more than 60,000 packs of Halloumi cheese, more than 7 million ice lollies and more than 1 million packs of ice cream.

Also in the nation’s shopping baskets will be nearly 90,000 bags of BBQ charcoal, 28 million bottles/cans of beer and nearly 3 million bottles of wine.

Tesco is bracing itself for demand to continue next week and has allocated extra shelf space for BBQ foods, beer and wine.