Times may be troubling, but nothing is as horrendous as what transpired in July of 1994 here in the UK: baked beans price wars. My… God. Have mercy!

The Legendary Baked Beans Price Wars of the Nineties

Sunday 24th July of 1994. Just another normal day in the lives of everyone.

And then the news from The Independent newspaper hit the world: Beans means price war as Kwik Save cuts cost of no frills tin to 7p:

“A FIERCE price war has erupted in the tranquil world of baked beans, with supermarket groups selling a standard size 425g tin for as little as 7p – a price last seen in 1971, writes Patrick Hosking.”

Indeed. The tranquil world of baked beans would never be the same again.

England’s leading supermarkets went all out for the ultimate no frills own-label baked beans.

Tesco, Kwik Save, Netto, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, and more began slashing the prices of beans in utter desperation.

However, it was Kwik Save that emerged victorious from the gruesome battle. At 7p, a 425g tin of baked beans was too much for the others to match.

The might of the 7p (about 20 cents in non-English money) was too much.

It was dastardly. It was a rotten manoeuvre. But it out-psyched the others, whose price range was pathetic in comparison:

• Aldi: 9p
• Netto: 9p

In desperation, Netto then slashed its baked beans down to 8p to try and fend off the onslaught of the 7p baked beans from Kwik Save.

Baked bean enthusiasts flocked to stores in a desperate bid to see what all the beany fuss was about. As The Independent reported:

“Independent on Sunday tester Jack Wellborn, 21, ate a whole tin of the Kwik Save beans: ‘They’re nice,’ he said.”

Indeed they are, young Jack Wellborn, spokesman of the people on the subject of baked beans.

Kwik Save’s Derek Pretty (an absolute beauty, we’re sure) said:

“Selling beans at 7p isn’t of course what we would naturally choose to do.”

The supermarket soon limited shoppers to a mere 10 tins per shop to ensure everyone could get access to the tomato sauce-based excellence of the beets.

The Independent did note the 7p baked beans were “low-quality” and imported from Italy.

A grocery analyst, Tony MacNeary, estimated Kwik Save was losing around 8p a tin with that deal. Mr. MacNeary told the paper:

“It’s become a feature of the discount sector to focus on a core 10 or so products and cut the hell out of the price.”

Kwik Save later suffered financial difficulties and went into administration in 2007. Probably due to the 7p baked beans tins.

However, the shops were resurrected in 2012 and are available for discount hunters looking for discounts.

We contacted Mr. Bean for a quote about this (very genuine, FYI) news story from 1994. But Rowan Atkinson wasn’t available.

The Casualties of Baked Beans Price Wars

Sadly, due to the extreme budget cuts on no frills brand-own beans, many other low price products suffered.

Spaghetti hoops, for example, were battered in the baked beans price war.

It’s estimated by Professional Moron that at least 100 tins of spaghetti hoops were never used. They merely sat on the shelves of Aldi, Netto, and Shoprite… and slowly eroded.

We also believe kidney and butter beans sales plunged disastrously, almost wiping out the market as demand plummeted.

However, and happily, lentils survived the turmoil unscathed, rising above the wars with its head held high.

Unlike baked beans. The scourge of bargain bin supermarkets, where the drive for profits meant taking a loss in the name of beans on toast.

Addendum: The End of the Baked Beans Price War

Astonishingly, the war on beans became so fierce the price dropped further still.

Yes. Lower even than 7p! Kwik Save dropped its price down to 5p, but then Tesco went and did a proper one with a slash down TO JUST 3P A TIN!

Thank you to the good folks of Reddit for highlighting this dramatic development (Sainsbury’s Apocalypse).

The most notable Coultons Bread Limited was flagged up with these issues in That time a price war meant beans on toast cost negative money:

“By 1996, this price had reduced to 5p across the board for the lowest priced tins of beans, until Tesco proudly announced that they were pricing their baked beans at 3p a tin, declaring victory in the price war.

However, almost immediately afterwards, Chris Sanders, owner of Sanders Superstore in Avon, sold beans for -2p, literally paying customers to take the beans off their hands and ending the price war once and for all.

This, alongside loaves of bread for less than 10p, meant that discounting the energy needed to cook everything, a breakfast of beans on toast could cost negative money to make.

Whilst it looked truly ridiculous to onlookers, the pricing strategy took advantage of the beans as a loss leader; they would make a loss on every tin they sold, but because they got people in the store, they would generally buy the rest of their shopping too.”

Whilst it’s tragic to think of the legendary baked beans as a “loss leader”, we must note that times have changed since 1994.

These days a tin of Heinz Baked Beans costs around £1.40.

That’s quite a lot more than -2p. It’s quite a lot more than 5p, 3p, 2p, 1p, and 0p.

The cheapest baked beans we discovered (as a search on 06/09/23) were the Stamford Street Co. baked beans at a magnificent 27p. Can you find cheaper beans!? Let us know in the comments if you can.

This is a life or death situation! Be a hero. Dish the cheap beans dirt.