Fresh herbs are enjoying a boom, and there is every indication that the momentum is going to continue.
The category’s staggering growth is reflected in statistics published by analysts Mintel, which estimated the market grew between 1996 and 2001 from £6.8 million to £23m. Its projection this year was that the figure would reach £38.3m.
This is in line with the current estimates of the British Herb Trade Association which represents a large proportion of specialist growers in the sector.
President Warren Prestwich explains production can be both large scale and minute. “Additionally, apart from edible herbs the BHTA covers herbs grown for medicinal purposes, toiletries, garden plants and essential oils,” he says.
“It all adds up to some 50,000 tonnes, grown on 7,800 hectares. Official statistics put the value at around £160 million at farm gate, with the fresh sector accounting for around one third.”
Warren is senior partner in the family firm of R&G Fresh Herb Solutions, which can trace its history back 40 years, when the late founder Richard and Gloria Stevens modestly began growing a small selection at their home in Ottershaw, Surrey to sell between March and September in the old Covent Garden wholesale market.
Their enthusiasm and knowledge is acknowledged as being one of the catalysts which drove the industry on, as more English fresh cut herbs began to appear on retailer shelves.
At the same time, Richard began building links overseas, particularly in Israel, to maintain year round continuity. Now the country is a major supplier, as is Spain.
R&G has maintained strong links with its overseas suppliers for many years, believing that relationship management and ethical trading are of paramount importance.
The founders retired in 1990 and the business was continued by their daughter Jennie Prestwich and her husband Warren.
In 1997 their son Mathew joined, becoming the third partner in 2000. Currently chairman of the technical committee of the BHTA, most recently he was elected vice chairman of the association.
The company’s original six acre Surrey Nursery, at West End near Woking, now extends over 13 acres, concentrating on more than a dozen specialist varieties grown in the open and under protection. Additional high volume lines, such as parsley and coriander, are supplied by another local grower Steve Morris, with whom R&G has had a long association.
Last year saw the completion of a £1m refurbishment of its packhouse, including cold stores and offices, which operates year round with a locally recruited full and part time staff of around 100. This year it will produce some 15m retail units.
While it serves several of the major multiples, a link with the past also remains. Richard Stevens first sold his herbs in old Covent Garden on a site known by generations for its lavender and thyme. When the market moved to Nine Elms, R&G again put down roots in the Growers' Pavilion where it remains today. Its customers now include not just London based retailers such as Harrods, but the foodservice industry, which has added a further dimension to sales within the industry.
Listening to Mathew Prestwich there is no doubt that growing fresh cut herbs today is far from a cottage industry.
“To keep pace with the amazing growth, which has impacted on both cut and pot herbs, the industry has become highly professional,” he says.
While there are still several specialist pockets of production though the UK, Tim Mudge, secretary to the BHTA, estimates that the backbone of supply is less than a dozen large scale operations producing both cut and growing herbs.
But what has prompted the surge in sales?
“There is no denying that the interest in cooking reflected by all the media has brought fresh herbs into the public psyche,” says Mathew.
“Modern usage is now light years away from the time when housewives would probably only have bought parsley or mint. This awareness has also been helped by the popularity of ethnic dishes, where fresh herbs play a major part; and their use in fast food such as pizzas and ready meals.”
Evidence of this is the fact that coriander has now become the biggest seller, with basil coming a close second. At the same time, traditional herbs such as sage, dill, tarragon and chives are just as popular as they ever were, and sales of these are following the same trends as the larger volume sellers.
“The result is that an increasingly wider range has to be on the supermarket shelf every trading day of the year,” he says,“while demand in broad terms is unaffected by price, which tends to remain constant, quality is paramount as is freshness, aroma and the right balance between leaf and stem to maximise the above.”
Nevertheless, cut fresh herbs are fragile with a short shelf life, although in some cases packaging can help to extend the shelf life. “We are dealing with an ingredient that needs to be treated with care, right from the start of its life. Think of it as freshly ground pepper with a three day shelf-life.”
Crop programming is vitally important so that quality standards are maintained, and, by working with its suppliers, R&G aims to provide the highest quality.
Mathew says: “As fresh produce suppliers, we are aware of the factors that will affect quality, and sometimes these are unavoidable, such as extremes in weather conditions.
“But predicting when quality will start to fall, and switching suppliers or changing from UK to imports is an important decision to make.”
So the growers in Israel, Spain, Tenerife and Morocco which provide R&G's winter sourcing are an integral part of the annual cycle and must meet the same high standards.
R&G holds EFSIS higher level accreditation, is a member of the Soil Association, the Assured Produce Scheme and supports the British Farm Standard. Environmentally conscious, it has recently become LEAF accredited and has written an environmental plan in association with the Farming and Wildlife Action group.
Looking forward, the partnership is supporting the BHTA and playing a significant part in keeping the sector’s momentum going.
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