In the close-knit fresh produce trade, where family succession is still prevalent and new faces somewhat rare, it is unusual to see an “outsider” land one of the top jobs in the industry.

Yet at Langmead Farms, the highly regarded Chichester salad producer, family owners David and Robert Langmead took a step outside the box in January and appointed former meat and bakery specialist Bill Thurston as their new chief executive. In recent years, Thurston has headed the pork business unit at Dutch giant Vion, and set up Bakemark and Dawn Foods in the UK. He has a long history of orchestrating M&As, and having bought all of Unilever’s European bakery supplies and yellow and white fats businesses for Bakemark, for instance, he is used to dealing with the big guns.

And crucially, he points out, he understands the supermarkets. “That is important because that’s the future of trading,” he explains. “If you’re not in with the major retailers, you don’t really have a business.”

The appointment of Thurston gave a strong hint that Langmead is about to hit the acquisition trail. And the 51-year-old wasted no time in living up to the billing with the purchase in February of neighbour Golden Plain. So is that just the start of a period of growth-through-acquisition for the business? “I wouldn’t be so brazen as to say we will keep going out and buying,” he cautions. “What I want to do is grow our business as profitably as possible -whether that’s through acquisition, partnerships or organically will depend very much on the opportunity at the time. We have a number of very good partnerships and I’m talking with a number of people who would be very good to partner with. It’s a bit arrogant to say you are just going to go out and buy.”

He might be keeping his cards close to his chest, but Thurston is in little doubt that the industry is on the cusp of a period of immense change. “Whether we like it or not, the sustainability of small farming in the UK is going to continue to be difficult,” he says. “Commodity and fuel prices will continue to rise, and there’s going to be continued activity of consolidation. If you don’t manage the cash in your company it’s going to be very tough for a lot of people.”

Indeed, the salad industry has found it as challenging as any other, with no business immune from the tough trading environment. Langmead itself made a pre-tax profit of £184,590 on a turnover of £42.8 million in 2009, its most recently filed accounts reveal, which represented a slight dip in both sales and profits on the previous year. The company has been in steady growth since 2005, when turnover was £33.5m, but Thurston is unwilling to make any predictions as to how big the business can become, stressing instead that profitability will be the key marker of success.

Thurston believes innovation and NPD are crucial elements to achieving that objective, and has already put the wheels in motion to “bring something new and exciting” to the salad aisle. “I think it would be fair to say a number of elements of the fresh food category have been a bit tired and you’ll be seeing several new product ideas - we had five presentations last week [March] - that we would be looking to take to the retail trade in the coming weeks,” he reveals.

And having come from a business whose product portfolio includes such premium brands as Debbie & Andrew’s sausages and Case & Sons bacon and ham, it would seem a natural assumption that an expanded branded offer would be on the table. Thurston remains coy, saying that branding is a definite possibility, but prefers to speak more generally about the opportunities to add value and taking a more premium return, thus distancing the products from a commodity price.

Adding value also comes through being able to supply customers with product year round and while Langmead’s roots are firmly planted as a quintessentially British operator, Thurston is realistic enough to know that strengthening the company’s operations and relationships abroad is also going to be important. Langmead already has an extensive operation in Spain and Thurston indicates the company is looking at further opportunities in the wider European market. “Our customers are looking to source the best possible products worldwide,” he says. “And if we’re not careful, we’ll end up with a very limited supply for a limited period of time. We will absolutely continue to push the English element of produce to this market, but you can only grow certain products at certain times of year. If we’re not growing it, we’ve got to get it from somewhere else.”

With retailers looking more and more towards direct sourcing, that service provision element takes on even greater significance, even for a company firmly established as a grower. “There is a drive to look more internationally for produce and there are a number of teams at retailers looking at worldwide product sourcing. That’s not a threat, you should see it as an opportunity to say ‘how can we work with you to make that work?’”

There’s no question the current environment is a challenge for fresh food production and Thurston acknowledges that cost price increases may have to be passed on to customers. Numerous consumer polls show that shoppers are already braced for food price rises, he points out, and that therefore it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock when these finally filter through.

Some fresh food producers are under so much pressure that they have even resorted to public protests to get their point across, and Thurston is full of praise for British pig industry body Bpex’s recent demonstration outside Downing Street. “We [the fresh produce industry] could and probably need to do more of that ourselves,” he opines, “and I would welcome the opportunity of airing that with the appropriate industry bodies. It’s not about trying to make massive margins, it’s about making a sustainable income. That’s what Bpex is doing - it’s about a fair return for the investments that are being made.”

For now though, the father of four’s focus is firmly on Langmead, and achieving the family’s objective of “taking the business into the next league”. With the support of the owners behind him - Thurston professes to being bowled over by the enthusiasm and entrepreneurship of David and Robert Langmead - the company looks well set to enhance its reputation as one of the most impressive outfits in the business.