Florette is planning to transform British lettuce supply into a 12-month-a-year operation with the launch of an ambitious new growing operation.
The bagged-salad leader has joined up with supplier Jepco Marketing to make a multi-million pound investment on the Anglia Salads site in Frating, Essex.
A new business known as Angflor Ltd has been created, with an initial 10 hectares of state-of-the-art multispan polytunnels being laid this year for the cultivation of baby leaf lettuce, a product that currently has limited UK supply.
Angflor predicts that the facility will grow to 40 hectares within the next three years, with the company stressing the move would help Florette broaden supply channels, increase UK sourcing and facilitate product development. Patrick Bastow will join Angflor as managing director, it has also been revealed.
Florette MD Neil Sanderson told FPJ that an initial investment of £2 million has been made, but that the cash has not come directly from Florette. Instead he said a supply agreement has been drawn up that enables Angflor to get investment for itself, in a model he said other British growers could look to replicate.
“The vision that drives our category-leading business forward is to be the hallmark of the freshest and finest-quality products, so it is vital that our grower network is as efficient and sustainable as possible to ensure that we can deliver this superior freshness and quality 100 per cent of the time,” Sanderson continued.
“This development of protected cropping will allow all-year-round cultivation of materials we presently have to import, so not only meeting our commitment to reduce our environmental impact by reducing the distance that leaf has to travel, but also increasing the freshness and security of our supplies.”
Jepco Marketing managing director Stuart Piccaver added: “We are delighted to be entering into this new partnership with Florette; we have been a longstanding supplier to the brand and look forward to working with them in this development.”
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