Devon-based veg box company chose to absorb costs rather than passing on, while sharing £1.1mn of profit equally with its 1,000 co-owners in the last financial year
Organic veg box company Riverford saw its sales increase by six per cent to a record £117 million for the 52 weeks to May 2025, while operating profits fell from £4.7mn to £3.4mn.
The lower profit was a result of choosing to shoulder rising costs rather than passing on to customers, the Devon-based company said.
Growth during the most recent financial year was driven primarily by existing customers shopping more frequently, while the increase in revenue would have seen Riverford jump three places in this year’s FPJ Big 50 Companies ranking to become the 15th biggest fresh produce company in the country.
The employee-owned organic veg box company shared £1.1mn of profit equally with its 1,000 co-owners, with the remainder re-invested back into the business.
Some of this funding was directed into R&D in peat-free growing media on salad crops, with trials successfully producing a peat-free recipe.
“This was a year where we chose to shoulder as much of the rising cost pressure as we could while remaining profitable,” said CEO Rob Haward.
“We tried to protect customers from the worst of this, while staying true to our values, paying people fairly and farming in the right way. That inevitably meant tighter margins, but we continued to pay the Real Living Wage and ensured all co-owners shared equally in the profits.”
This year’s results follow a strong prior year for Riverford, which was founded by farmer Guy Singh-Watson, when profits rose and £1.3m was shared with employees. In contrast, the 2025 financial performance reflected a tougher backdrop, according to Haward, with inflation remaining high and employment costs continuing to rise.
“Last year showed what our model can deliver in favourable conditions,” he continued. “This year shows what employee ownership looks like when times are harder, that fairness remains even when margins are under pressure and we stay uncompromising on our values and doing the right thing.”
In more recent trading, Haward said the Christmas period was “encouraging”, with the strongest Christmas to date in December 2025 reflecting continued customer demand for organic food.
Alongside its commercial performance, Riverford continued to invest in environmental and social initiatives during the year, including campaigning to raise awareness of so-called retailer ’farmwashing’, where supermarkets use the made up names of farms to indicate small family-farm origin.
Riverford became 100 per cent employee-owned in June 2023, with co-owners (previously known as staff) having a direct say in the future of the business and an equal share of profits.
Alongside its core organic veg boxes, Riverford has continued to expand its range with organic meat now accounting for around 10 per cent of sales.
The company, which marks its 40th anniversary in 2026, prides itself on maintaining free delivery and not raising its minimum order value of £15 in over 15 years. It keeps pricing under review in order to do that alongside a commitment to paying the Real Living Wage.
“As we move into 2026, trading conditions remain challenging,” Haward added. “But we continue to see that customers care deeply about where their food comes from, how it’s produced and who benefits. Our values of trust and fairness are what underpin our resilience as a business, and we’re determined to keep doing things the right way, with good food, good farming and good business.”
