Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has angered customers by ditching Classic Coke from its £3 meal deals, blaming price rises in the wake of the new sugar tax.
It has dropped 500-mililitre bottles of the cola from the lunchtime promotion, altering shoppers with shelf stickers.
Supermarket bosses said 500ml bottles of Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar would still be included in meal deals.
Sainsbury’s has dropped regular Coke from its £3 meal deal as a result of the sugar tax
The supermarket offered shoppers a sandwich, packet of crisps and a drink for £3
A spokesman for the retailer twweted that, following the introduction of the sugar tax, the price of Coca-Cola had risen.
The spokesman told The Grocer magazine it was ‘unable to offer it as part of our meal deal.’
She said customers could still buy a 250ml can of Classic Coke, sandwich and snack for under £3, less than the price of a meal deal.
However, the move has prompted criticism on social media from shoppers, who argued Sainsbury’s should have put the price of meal deals up.
Some said it inconvenienced shoppers who did not want to drink Coke made with sweeteners instead of sugar.
Some customers have expressed disappointment that their favourite drink has been replaced because of the sugar tax
On Twitter, Gary Waites said: ‘The issue is that I don’t want Coke Zero not diet, due to the chemical artificial sweeteners, there is no freedom of choice because of the #sugartax which means lost revenue to @sainsburys as I will got elsewhere for my lunch.’
Customer Nynaeve2k tweeted: ‘I’m allergic to sweeteners. They cause me horrendous, debilitating migraines. I wouldn’t mind paying 50p more for the meal deal for a full fat Coke but as it stands, the same food costs around £2 more.’
And davegilbert27 said: ‘Are you not going to offer smaller bottles of regular coke as other retailers have done? I think you’ll agree that sugar free drinks taste disgusting and don’t help with weight loss at all.’
Another customer devantekid added: ‘I don’t want to be FORCED to drink #cokezero because you have excluded original #cocacola from your #mealdeal. It’s a struggle to pick a decent sandwich and now COKE? That’s the #laststraw #mealdealgate
Similar anger was aimed at Tesco’s move to offer 375ml bottles of Classic Coke with its £3 meal deals earlier this month.
It downsized from the 500ml bottles it had previously offered without changing the promotion price.
Tesco warned the tax meant branded drinks may be more expensive or come in smaller sizes.
It said it’s own-label drinks had been reformulated in line with the tax.
Classic Coke has become 10 per cent more expensive on average. It has replaced 1.75 litre and 1.25 litre bottles with 1.5 litre and one litre versions.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola Enterprises would not comment on Sainsbury’s move, but said pricing was at the discretion of retailers.
He said: ‘The government, policymakers and health experts have made it clear that they expect to see a price difference between products that contain sugar and those that have a low or zero sugar content.’