East Midlands
Did you know?
In the East Midlands, some 436 farmers supply us with meat, poultry and eggs.
Premier Vegetables
In 1962, Mick Baker quit his job as a lorry driver to grow vegetables. Today he and wife Edith are supplying us with 2.6 million trays of cauliflowers, cabbages & brussel sprouts a year.
Mick, of Boston, Lincolnshire, says: "Living in a caravan, wondering how to improve our lives, we decided to grow vegetables. Whilst I ran the business, Edith was in the fields in the morning and in the afternoon, driving the lorry delivering to customers.
"In 1983, we brought several local farmers together for a co-operative, Premier Vegetables Ltd. Our first order was to supply 60 trays of cauliflowers a day to Tesco's Corby depot. Since then, we have expanded with Tesco every year."
At peak times, more than 200 people are employed by the company, which has eight grower members farming some 2,500 acres around Lincolnshire. But it is still a family business, with son Ian doing most of the day to day management and three of the Baker's four daughters involved.
Kitchen Garden Produce
Chris and Ann Kitchen, from Kitchen Garden Produce offered to start growing shallots for local stores on a trial basis. The trial was so successful, they now supply all our shallots across the UK!
Not only do we no longer need to import, but 16 years later and their company, Kitchen Garden Produce, of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, is growing with us, now also supplying us with asparagus.
With 200 acres of asparagus and 220 acres of shallots, Chris said: "We have 15 full time staff and up to 70 seasonal workers. It is the security of working with a leading supermarket and the guarantee that there is demand for our produce that has enabled us to keep growing and create jobs locally."
We now sell organic produce, meat and bakery goods alongside conventional ranges. Not only can we offer an even wider selection, but also, we want to make shopping as easy as possible for you. We want all of the organic meat and milk we sell to be British and are working with suppliers to try to increase availability of British organic food.