The Iceland chairman, Malcolm Walker, has assumed the unofficial title of Britain's green grocer and signalled his supermarket group, specialising in frozen food, is aiming for the big league.
He has grown with the company at every turn since starting out with a fruit stall on a Welsh roadside in 1970. But the use of aggressive and often bold marketing in more recent years has brought an unspectacular chain much closer to the forefront of British retailing.
It is easy to dismiss the Iceland phenomenon as the product of well-honed sales hype, and to be cynical when its philosophy is "a breath of fresh air in the stuffy world of British food retailing" not to mention commitment to "protect the environment and preserve quality of life". Equally, there are few companies that can rest easy with the claim: "We care about the planet, natural resources, family life, fair practices and community issues, and in all company business give them due consideration." But then again, with the help of the National Missing Persons Helpline in Britain, Iceland does carry photographs of missing persons on its milk cartons.
Being the first supermarket group in Britain or Ireland to remove GM ingredients from its products (in 1998) was a perfect response to consumer attitudes. It has seen a sharp rise in pre-tax profits from £50 million in 1998 to £65 million last year based on a £1.9 billion turnover.
Previous initiatives by the group, which has 760 stores in the UK, 30 in the North and five in the Republic, were widely welcomed by environmental campaigners. Its introduction of a range of environmentally-friendly fridges and freezers led to an endorsement from Greenpeace - of which Mr Walker is a member.
Aggressive marketing of Iceland as an organic and anti-GM food retailer coincides with strategic expansion. Last month it merged with cash & carry company Booker. Iceland plans to use Booker's distribution centres to help support its home shopping service (it also claims to provide the world's first nationwide Internet shopping service) and in the process save much more than the £8 million a year it will have to factor in to compensate for this week's "philanthropy".
Iceland's frozen vegetable range - 15 per cent of the total UK frozen vegetable market - will be the first to go organic. It is committed to the organic crusade for at least three years. Iceland would need only a 2 per cent sales lift to offset the investment, which could be generated by the initial publicity. "There is a lot of PR in here. Will the PR give the sales uplift to make it pay? Historically, Iceland has won those bets," one analyst told the Financial Times.
The feigned indifference of Mr Walker's rivals hides a realisation that they had to respond.
