During a time when it is harder to succeed as a supplier than ever before, one Derbyshire-based fresh produce firm is continuing to reach milestone after milestone.
Based just outside of Chesterfield, GW Price – which will celebrate its 112-year anniversary this year – has developed from humble beginnings into the largest family-run supplier of fruit and vegetables to the NHS, and current chairman John Plant is optimistic that 2013 will be another vintage year.
The history of the business is hard to escape when visiting Plant’s office with a painting of founder, and John’s great grandfather, George William Price sternly watching over proceedings. However, despite Price’s intense stare, you get the feeling he’d be impressed with how things have worked out with sales up 10 per cent and turnover hitting £12 million in 2012.
“I guess you could say we feed them when they’re at school, we feed them when they go out to work, we feed them when they go out to eat and we feed them when they die,” says Plant with a wry smile.
As well as being a supplier to schools, universities and restaurants across the country (as well as the two major Sheffield football clubs), GW Price is best known for supplying fresh produce to hospitals and Plant has strong views on the subject at a time when the quality of hospital food has come under fire.
“We only supply hospitals which go for bronze, silver or gold food standards, and we make sure we take the hospitals we supply into the fields and farms so they can see what they are getting,” says Plant.
The firm, which has contracts with 65 hospitals, says that 70 per cent of the produce it currently supplies to hospitals is locally sourced and Plant insists that sourcing locally grown fruit and veg is the only way the government can reverse the nationwide decline of hospital food standards. He explains: “The consumption of locally sourced produce is imperative. If we are supplying carrots to Nottingham General Hospital, you can rest assured that those carrots were grown in Nottingham. A patient wants a potato that is grown down the road, not in another country.”
The Eckington-based HQ of GW Price sends out 23 vehicles per day and moves six million pieces of fruit a week, with an investment in technology remaining at the core of the business.
“We have always been ahead of the curve, whether that’s through temperature-efficient vans or our logistics operation. I would never invest less than £50,000 a year in new technology and I’m sure my great granddad would be checking orders on his iPad like me if he was around today.”
Plant says that the business is a place where people enjoy working, with several staff associated with the company for over 20 years, and he insists that stability and family values help customers to feel at ease.
Having developed into a catering-orientated supplier – Plant estimates that the business is split 95 per cent catering and just five per cent into retail – the firm seems to have found a winning formula. “Our customers know our drivers by their names and I always make sure I am accessible, unlike the managing directors at a lot of the big national suppliers. There is a reason our catering customers keep contracts with us for long periods.”
Ahead of a 112-year anniversary this year, Plant admits that he has received and rejected several high-profile bids for the business in recent years. However, he insists that there is no intention of selling. “I may be approaching 65 but I love this trade and I can’t imagine a day where I won’t be selling fruit and vegetables. We feel we have a responsibility to keep our customers happy and long may that continue.”
And with Plant’s two children Richard and Stella both in senior positions at the firm, it looks set to stay in the family for a while yet.
