What are AGMs and why are they important?

What happens behind closed boardroom doors matters to all of us.

Every year, the UK's biggest supermarkets gather shareholders, executives and investors to discuss the future of their businesses.

It's called an Annual General Meeting (AGM).

This is one of the few opportunities where young people can ask supermarket leaders direct questions about how they market food, promote unhealthy products and shape the choices millions of families make every day.

At Bite Back, we believe those most affected deserve a seat at the table.

Front view of a Tesco entrance with a glass facade and rainbow window graphics. A woman stands in the foreground while security staff and other people move near the revolving doors. Bold partial text "WHAT IS AN AGM?" appears at the bottom.

An AGM is a company's annual meeting with its shareholders.

At an AGM, company leaders explain how the business has performed, discuss future plans and answer questions from shareholders.

While these meetings often focus on profits and business performance, they also provide an opportunity to ask questions about issues that affect the public—including children's health.

For organisations like Bite Back, AGMs are one of the few places where we can challenge the UK's biggest food companies directly and ask how they're helping create healthier food environments.

Why does Bite Back attend?

Young people shop in supermarkets every week.

They buy meal deals.

They use Clubcard and Nectar apps.

They walk through promotional aisles.

They see offers, discounts and marketing designed to influence what ends up in their basket.

When supermarket decisions shape what young people eat every day, young people deserve the chance to question those making those decisions.

That's why Bite Back attends AGMs—to bring young people's voices directly into the boardroom.

Our Questions

This year we attended the AGMs of Tesco and Sainsbury's.

Our youth activists challenged senior leaders on issues including:

  • Why unhealthy products dominate reward app offers
  • Why healthy food is often less affordable than treats and snacks
  • How supermarket layouts encourage impulse purchases
  • Why meal deals continue to promote unhealthy options
  • Whether supermarkets are doing enough to support children's health

What Young People Told Us

Young people consistently told us that supermarkets have a huge influence over what they eat.

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Most of our family's food comes from Tesco or Sainsbury's. That means they influence what we eat day in, day out.

They also highlighted:

Loyalty apps

Clubcard and Nectar offers often appeared to prioritise chocolate, sweets and snacks over healthier food.

Meal Deals

Students rely on meal deals because they're affordable—but healthier options often feel limited, while energy drinks and sugary snacks appear heavily promoted.

Cost of Living

Young people felt that discounts are often concentrated on unhealthy food, making healthier choices harder to afford.

Store Layouts

Promotions at store entrances and checkout areas encourage impulse purchases of less healthy products.

Young woman with reddish hair and a blue top looks directly at the camera while standing outside a Sainsbury’s storefront. Blurred commuters and stone columns fill the background; she has a brown shoulder bag.

Looking at the Evidence

To better understand what young people were experiencing, our activists monitored offers available through supermarket reward apps.

One example showed:

Category & Items on Offer

Treats & Snacks - 761

Fresh Fruit - 49

Fresh Vegetables - 132

While individual offers change over time, the findings reflected what many young people were already telling us—that unhealthy promotions appear far more common than healthier ones.

VIDEO COMING SOON

Meet the Activists

Estel

"I'm attending Tesco's AGM to be the voice of young people and challenge the way unhealthy food is promoted to us every day. Young people deserve environments that support healthier choices, not ones that constantly push junk food. It's time for us to Bite Back."

Clemmie

"I'm attending Sainsbury's AGM to challenge a food system rigged against our health. Young people deserve healthy options that are affordable, accessible and impossible to ignore—not choices drowned out by relentless junk food marketing."

Why This Matters

Supermarkets don't just sell food.

They influence:

  • what we buy
  • what's affordable
  • what's promoted
  • what's normalised

When unhealthy products are consistently easier to find, cheaper to buy and more heavily promoted, it becomes much harder for young people to make healthier choices.

We believe supermarkets can be part of the solution.

Keep an Eye on Big Food

The food system doesn't change overnight.

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