VEG NEWS 14th Feb

News stories reporting the increased cost of living have been hard to avoid recently, with the rising price of food being mentioned nearly as frequently as the rising cost of energy. Our veg buyers are only too aware of the issue – growers are witnessing hikes in seed, packaging and labour costs while the financial impact of Brexit administration and paperwork continues to cast a long shadow on our margins. And we know we’re not alone in feeling the pinch. At times like this it’s important that we return to the foundations of our business model and assess what is fundamental to us and our customers: well-priced, fresh, organic produce. We’re very careful to check the price of fruit and veg in supermarkets on a weekly basis and we always try to remain competitive with the multiples, particularly when it comes to ‘staple’ ingredients for cooking. There’s a balance to be found of course, too often we hear horror stories of supermarkets not paying their growers enough, not paying invoices on time and selling fresh produce as a loss leader to encourage sales of less essential items.So rather than trying to pay less for our produce we look for efficiencies we can make in the running of our business that we can use to pass on great value to our customers. Because everything we sell is organic, we do away with the need for packaging and labels; our market hall approach to the display is about more than creating a nice environment – minimal handling and buying produce in bulk is another means to keeping our prices down. We also sell everything we can loose, allowing people to buy in the quantities they actually need. And that’s how we make it work: Affordable, quality, organic food for all