Lincolnshire-based Swedeponic UK has blossomed into Britain's largest supplier of living herbs after only 10 years in business.
Swedeponic UK now supplies more than 65 per cent of all the potted herbs sold in the UK, and to mark its remarkable rate of growth, the company celebrated its 10th anniversary with cake and non-alcoholic champagne for the staff, and a presentation to four employees, who have been with the business since day one.
Swedeponic UK, whose first customer was Asda in September 1998, is the UK nursery of the Swedish-owned Swedeponic Group, which also has production facilities in Sweden, Belgium and Poland.
On its 1998 launch, the company employed only 20 staff and produced 50,000 potted herbs a week. Now, 10 years on, it employs more than 40 employees and production levels have leapt to around 300,000 pots a week, following a doubling of its glasshouses from the original three acres in 2007.
As well as Asda, which it now supplies direct, the current customer base also includes Morrisons, The Co-op, Somerfield and Budgens.
According to Mats Mattson, ceo of Swedeponic Group, the company has plans to expand the business even further in 2009. He says that the success of the business is down to “a constant focus on quality and efficiency, and a drive to deliver value to the customer”.
Mattson added that the potted herbs are particularly appealing to the growing band of consumers who want buy British-grown produce.
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