After a lot of hard work – and nerves to boot – Fresh Direct (UK) Ltd were proud to take the “2011 National Foodservice Supplier of The Year” accolade and then swept the board to win the “Re:fresh Overall Produce Trader of the Year.”
“Fresh Direct impressed the judges with a superb range of new initiatives in the past year. Fresh Direct is a torchbearer for the modern business model, focusing on long-term relationships, adding value, and innovating in both new products and facilities. It is a worthy winner of the Re:fresh Overall Produce Trader of the Year,”
Nigel Jenney, Chief Executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium.
One of Fresh Directs most impressive innovations has been ‘Fresh Kitchen’ – a £1.3 million investment food production facility that provides high quality, chargrilled fruit and vegetables alongside sauces, marinades, soups and stews to its wide range of foodservice customers.
In addition to putting electric vehicles into service and the introduction of a Roots Local line for independent customers, the company also invested in local farmers to grow forgotten varieties under their own brand FreshGro.
Fresh Direct’s significant news in the last year was the opening of new depots in Covent Garden and merging two smaller depots together in Wigan to give them ‘Fresh Direct – The North’. As if that wasn’t enough, they also made improvements to the website, integrated new IT systems, grew the NPD team and most recently moved the Scottish Fresh Direct Local arm into new premises…!
Managing Director, David Burns commented: “We entered with great hopes that we could satisfy the judges in respect of our credentials in relation to foodservice and so the foodservice supplier of the year award was everything we had hoped for. However it was beyond our dreams to be recognised as overall trader of the year and for the second time!
I think not only is this a magnificent achievement for us as a business but equally it’s an outstanding recognition for Foodservice in general, and the ever increasing part we play in developing produce as a whole.
For any business to succeed there are some vital ingredients, none more important than great people and superb clients, I am privileged to have both at Fresh Direct. It was a pleasure to receive the award on their behalf.”