Sales of non-red and vine tomatoes surge in Britain as classic round variety declines

British consumers are increasingly buying coloured and cherry-on-the-vine tomatoes, with sales of non-red varieties up 21% in the past year.

• Sales of non-red tomatoes have doubled over two years to £50m, according to data from Worldpanel by Numerator.
• Paul Faulkner of Evesham Vale Growers said the company has diverted 20% of its growing area to an orange cherry-on-the-vine variety.
• Simon Conway, chair of the British Tomato Growers’ Association, said premium cherry-on-the-vine sales are on track to overtake classic round tomatoes this year.
• Waitrose reported a 22.5% year-on-year increase in sales of its £5 heritage tomato collection box.