The Local Food Alliance used Fruit Focus to officially launch itself, offering Kentish strawberries and cream. The cream was especially local, coming as it did from the Sainsbury’s round the corner, as the chefs on-hand noted.

LFA executive Josh Kann explained that the company had spent the past couple of months setting-up and perfecting their systems, but were now ready to offer a comprehensive roll-out.

“We aim to offer a one-stop local-sourcing shop, offering customers a whole spread from fruit and veg through to meat, eggs and so on.”

‘Local’, he added, was a term that would be flexibly defined, depending on the pragmatism of sourcing suppliers, but that for the most part would be county-specific.

The company will be starting by targetting the independents: low-run, small producers, who don’t necessarily sell into the big multiples.

The LFA’s Maidstone-based distribution hub will supply both conventional and organic produce to customers within a 60-mile radius.

The site features a 20,000 sqm warehouse, ful packing lines for strawberries and apples, grading equipment for top fruit and flow-wrappping machines, as well as facilities for distribution.

In the longer-term, the company intends to extend its footprint cross the whole of the Southeast, but in the mean-time, will be focusing its efforts on Kent.

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