Fresh Awards Winner Aldi Unveils Record £900m UK Expansion Plan

Aldi is set to invest a record £900 million in Britain next year as it accelerates its UK expansion, strengthens supplier relationships and continues to grow its fresh food offer.

The announcement comes just days after the supermarket was crowned Multiple Fruit & Veg Retailer of the Year at the FPC Fresh Awards 2026, held at JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London on Friday 25 September.

The prestigious award was decided by a public vote, with Aldi emerging as the clear consumer favourite, recognising its performance and appeal to shoppers within the fresh fruit and vegetable category.

Aldi has now announced that its £900 million investment programme for 2027 will include 40 new stores, alongside further investment in its distribution network. The retailer currently operates 1,092 stores and has a long-term ambition to reach 1,500 locations across the UK.

The investment follows another year of growth for the discounter, with Aldi UK and Ireland reporting turnover of a record £19 billion in 2025, an increase of 5% on the previous year. Operating profit remained broadly flat at £432.9 million.

A significant element of Aldi’s latest strategy is its commitment to longer-term relationships with suppliers.

The supermarket wants at least 50% of the products it sells to be sourced through long-term supplier agreements by 2027, arguing that multi-year contracts can give producers and manufacturers greater confidence to invest in additional production capacity.

Aldi said it spent around £14 billion with British suppliers during 2025**, with approximately 80% of its sales coming from British suppliers.

Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said recent droughts in Britain and events overseas had demonstrated the fragility of the food system and reinforced the importance of food security as a long-term national priority.

He said Aldi was working to make food more affordable by cutting prices, agreeing longer-term deals with suppliers to support increased home-grown production and expanding its store network to reach more communities.

The latest expansion also comes as Aldi increases its fresh produce distribution capacity.

Earlier this month, the retailer began handling fruit and vegetables at its £500 million Bardon Distribution Centre in Leicestershire, the UK’s largest automated supermarket warehouse.

Once fully operational in 2027, the 1.3 million sq ft facility is expected to handle more than 1.5 million kilograms of fruit and vegetables a day during peak periods, with more than 6,000 pallets of fresh produce leaving the site daily for Aldi stores around the country.

Aldi has also invested £340 million in reducing prices across more than 1,000 products so far during 2026, including a number of everyday food lines.

For the fresh produce sector, the combination of new stores, increased distribution capacity and longer-term supplier agreements points to further opportunities as Aldi continues to increase its UK footprint.

And following its public-voted Fresh Awards victory, the expansion comes at a time when the retailer is also enjoying strong recognition from consumers for its fruit and vegetable offer.