A man who visited 1,000 supermarkets across 150 countries has disclosed that he discovered a couple of British products that appeared in nearly every single shop worldwide.
Dan Kelly, 38, started his global supermarket odyssey in 2014 while searching for employment. A languages and humanities graduate, Dan secured a position with a firm where his responsibility was to gather cost of living data for companies specialising in business relocations.
Dan's task involved establishing the price of products in supermarkets across different countries, with that information then sent to a London office for processing.
For Dan, this meant arriving in a new major city every two days. In each location he would arrive with a list of approximately 164 items, with his primary responsibility being to determine the cost of each item in that particular city.
Consequently, Dan has gained extensive familiarity with supermarkets and shopping centres around the globe, as well as the interiors of passenger aircraft.
Over 11 years in the role, Dan has travelled to 1,000 supermarkets spanning 150 countries, predominantly journeying solo on a daily accommodation budget of £70.
Speaking to the i newspaper regarding this position, Dan discussed some of the unexpected discoveries he made in numerous supermarkets, including two everyday items that enjoy considerable popularity in the UK.
Certain products were surprisingly prevalent, including coffee, tea, and particular varieties of biscuit. He said: "You'd always be able to find them, even at the back of a dusty shelf. Tea and coffee as well. I would see the 100g red box of Twining's English Breakfast Tea everywhere. And 100g jars of Nescafé Gold."
Though Dan has now moved on from the position, one he acknowledges most people don't remain in for as long as he did, he remembers it with affection. He has subsequently written a comedy show about the experience.
Looking back on his feelings about the work, he said: "One fun thing about the job was that you always had to talk to people, even if just to say 'hi' or ask for a price.
"Walking in with a big smile and saying hello would open everything up. That bit of human connection will go a long way. It's hard not to be cheesy, but that would be my grand learning."
While Dan is well-versed in the cost of products in supermarkets across the globe, UK consumers have recently been told which is the most affordable supermarket in Britain.
According to Which? the most economical supermarket in the UK during May was ALDI. Evaluating the cost of 95 products, ALDI recorded the lowest overall price at £168.30.
In a statement explaining their methodology for determining the most affordable supermarket, Which? said: "We check the prices of hundreds of grocery items at eight major supermarkets, using an independent price comparison website. For each supermarket, we calculate the average price of each item across the month, then add those up to get each supermarket's average total price."
