Walking round Hammond Produce and Bakkavor’s Garden of Innovation is like being in a vegetable sweet shop.
Strange-coloured carrots, chard, rainbow beets, sweet cabbage and melon-flavoured kohlrabi are just some of the crops being tried and tested here in what is being touted as the UK’s first commercial-scale vegetable trial plot.
The 15-acre site surrounds a white marquee, equipped with dining space, presentation screens and a fully-operational kitchen, where Michelin-starred chefs work alongside Bakkavor’s development team on retail visit days to create meals from vegetables harvested straight from the Garden.
The idea is that retailers, chefs, seed firms and crop production managers from Hammond can tour the field, and then come together to watch meal development in action, before eating the fruits of their labour.
According to Hammond managing director Jon Hammond, these retailer visit days have been “off the scale in terms of passion and interest”, unsurprisingly as the field of new products is any veg buyer’s dream, but the concept also creates a rare atmosphere of “camaraderie” and positivity.
“The way it came about is we were being constantly challenged as a grower about where we were going to deliver innovation,” explains Hammond, as he expertly slices a rare Chinese red cabbage in half and offers us a slice. “Retailers were always asking, what’s new? But we couldn’t cope with growing something if we didn’t know it would work. Growing speculatively doesn’t work.”
And it wasn’t just in response to retailers – Hammond believes innovation has a much bigger role to play in stimulating the wider vegetable category, citing as an example the high level of NPD in salads that is driving vibrancy and sales across the total salads sector. Vegetables on the other hand are traditionally behind the curve on innovation, primarily down to longer growing times, which is why a trial site of this size and investment has got everyone talking.
As a result of the Bakkavor partnership, all vegetables from the trials will be used in prepared produce lines, but Hammond believes putting novel produce into meal solutions also helps boost the wholehead category. “Half the reason there is no innovation in ready meals is because, traditionally, fresh prepared has taken product off the wholehead shelf, diced it and put it back on the shelf,” he explains.
“Our view is that to put new raw material on the shelf, it has to be introduced as a meal solution. The desire is there on a Saturday afternoon, after watching James Martin on Saturday Kitchen, but then the average consumer isn’t brave enough to try anything without a bit of help.”
The initial idea was hatched by a former commercial manager at Hammond, who imagined an allotment-style garden where the company could test unusual vegetable varieties. That turned into an acre of land before quickly expanding to cover 15 acres, 168 plots and around 60 different vegetable types.
Two years into a three-year project and Hammond says it has exceeded expectations, with plans for five commercial launches before Christmas and huge interest from the industry. Although it was a “substantial investment” for Hammond, even when partnered by Bakkavor, Hammond expects the concept to be self-funded by next year and “fully intends” it to make a profit.
Even though by their very nature most products will remain premium and niche lines, Hammond says some will make it into mainstream commercial production “without a shadow ofa doubt”.
With some retail partnerships in the pipeline, Hammond is currently working with local foodservice outlet Fruit Basket, which has links with a wholesaler in New Covent Garden Market, and is selling into local top-end restaurants.
Aside from the novelty in the crops themselves, the Garden of Innovation and its accompanying kitchen-marquee was designed specifically to be a non-confrontational collaborative space for all involved in the supply chain to help plan, and eat, vegetable innovation for the future.
“The question was how to deliver it, and that’s when the marquee idea came to fruition, as we needed a cooking demo area,” continues Hammond, who is now showing us some beautiful rainbow beets and the colourful chard variety Lipstick. “Visitors are often like a kid in a sweet shop when they come to our trial site, but you then have to do something with it. It’s about making retailers understand what’s possible.
'For a crop production director to talk directly to the commercial person at a major retailer is rare at best. The only thing missing is a seed company representative on a retail day, and we’re thinking about doing that.”
Coincidentally, there is a seed house visit in progress on the day we visit, and Elsoms Seeds managing director Robin Wood explains how the project encourages collaboration. “It’s a great example of shortening the communication chain between innovation, marketing, production and consumption,” he says.
“One of the key challenges is lots of supermarkets don’t realise how long it takes to develop something new. If we understand what they want more quickly, then we can produce seed more quickly.”
Hammond picks up the story: “Perceived engagement between retailer and grower is usually all about commercials, but this is a different environment. To have an environment where you bring chefs, commercial, technical, procurement from retailers and processors, bring them all into one place to think about the possibilitites – that’s the nub of the uniqueness of this project.
“The facility we’ve created is relaxed. It creates a togetherness and a camaraderie. Participation is critical to the success of the days – on some visits we’ve had ‘ready, steady, veg’ day – so we say, we’re going to innovate right here right now.”
Innovation is so often used as a worn-out buzzword it has begun to lose all meaning – but a tour round the Garden of Innovation is a reminder that the industry can find new opportunities, and Hammond Produce and Bakkavor are doing just that.
From the field
What is it? Kohlrabi
Unique characteristics: White flesh, tastes like a sweet, crisp melon
Jon Hammond (JH): “It’s basically a swollen cabbage stem, but we had it prepped like a slaw and mixed with shredded fennel, celeriac, and a light dressing flavoured with oil or yoghurt. We’re growers but this project has turned us into foodies.”
What is it? Little-known pointed cabbage variety Orion from Spain
Unique characteristics: Sweet and succulent
JH: “If we want kids to eat more vegetables, why not make it as sweet as possible?”
What is it? White carrots
Unique characteristics: Sweet
JH: “We’ve managed to get white carrots to store from November until April when they’re still perfectly good and edible. Was it a one-off? We need to know if it’s replicable before we go to launch, but some people said we wouldn’t be able to store past January.'
What is it?Multi-coloured cauliflower
Unique characteristics:Crumbly head
JH: “Another one we’ve developed is multi-coloured cauliflower with good crumbly florets that can make cauliflower rice or cous cous.”
No comments yet