Nation-wide wholesaler Redbridge Produce & Flowers is extending its Britfresh concept to cover European produce with the launch of Continental Fresh as a brand.
Britfresh celebrates its first anniversary this month and was introduced to provide top-quality UK fresh produce to independent retailers enabling them to compete with supermarkets on standards of availability, quality and traceability.
Continental Fresh will mirror this with product sourced from mainland Europe such as Spanish onions, Dutch mushrooms and Belgian strawberries.
"Britfresh enables the smaller players to compete with the bigger players on a level playing field," said Geoff Turner, Redbridge’s business development manager. "We’ve been able to generate more volumes for the growers who are our category partners which in turn secures better quality, better availability and total traceability for our customers."
The Britfresh brand was trialed last summer with potatoes but has since been extended to brassicas and salads. Top-fruit will be available under the brand this autumn.
Redbridge is in a strong position to offer economies of scale and cost savings under the brand as it agrees a supply programme at the outset of the season with its producers.
