Fruit importer announces plans to become 90 per cent employee-owned, with no change to senior leadership and Group CEO Alan Guindi retaining a 10 per cent share
Major UK grape and topfruit importer RH Group will become the latest fresh produce business to transition to employee ownership with plans to transfer 90 per cent of their shares into an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT).
The trust will hold the shares for the benefit of the employees, with one of the current owners, Alan Guindi, retaining a 10 per cent share.
The day-to-day dealings with the group will carry on as usual. Chris Guindi will continue in his role as MD of Richard Hochfeld and Martin O’Sullivan will maintain his position as MD of Hochfeld International. Meanwhile, Sean Hetterley will remain group finance director, and Alan Guindi will carry on as the group’s CEO.
The announcement follows similar moves from Riverford Organic Growers, which has been 100 per cent employee-owned since 2023, and more recently organic apple and pear grower Mole End Farms in 2025.
The supplier said the decision reflects its owners’ wishes to preserve the company’s culture and reward the employees’ contribution, while maintaining the relationships RH Group has built with its customers and suppliers.
Commenting on the switch, Alan Guindi said: “The RH Group has been built by its workforce. Their hard work, our hard work, have made the business and relationships what they are today.
“When my brother Chris and I considered the future, we wanted to protect that. Employee ownership means we can keep RH independent and give the people who have helped build it a genuinely meaningful place in the years to come.”
He added: “Our valued customers and suppliers can rest assured that we will continue working together as we do now, with the same people running the business and looking after those relationships, with a robust succession plan in place.”
A Trustee Board, including independent chairperson Francie Healey and two employee trustees, Guy Coulthard and Jon Preston, will oversee the trust and ensure the employees’ interests, and the culture of the group continue, RH Group said.
An Employee Forum is also being assembled to give all staff a way to contribute ideas and navigate the direction of the business.
Richard Hochfeld Group has been a major independent fruit importer since the 1930s and today supplies leading supermarkets and wholesalers in the UK as well as Eastern Europe and Asia.
Based in Kent, the business started life as a fruit importer, packer and service provider, however over the years it has diversified and invested in its grower base to shore up supply and build a more vertically integrated supply chain.
The Richard Hochfeld Group comprises Richard Hochfeld Ltd, Richard Hochfeld Farming, Richard Hochfeld International Ltd, Fruit Cover Ltd and Top Fruit Ltd.
Additionally, Richard Hochfeld’s joint ventures, Hiya Fruit and Scion Fruits, comprise farms and breeding operations in Chile, China, Greece, India, Italy and the UK, positioning RH as a vertically integrated group that is able to bring new fruit varieties to market.
Back in 2019 Richard Hochfeld Group also set up a JV with Foxhole Spirits called Hyke Gin, which uses the importer’s surplus grapes to distil premium craft gin.
