First Choice
Established in 2001 by Dan McCullough, First Choice quickly grew into a business synonymous with quality, reliability and the ability to keep ahead of food trends in the capital. Building a team of leading food and production experts around him, Dan’s business is networked throughout Europe’s produce markets, forging exclusive, exciting and direct supply agreements with leading producers.
Engagement with global food trends, driving the excitement of the London fine dining scene, remains key to the success of the First Choice team. Currently working with numerous Michelin-starred restaurants Dan and the team are delivering quality produce from sustainable organisations to all of their customers, big and small.
Sustainability is at the heart of the First Choice commitment – sustainable sourcing; especially in foraged and rare lines, sustainable relationships for the team looking to build a network of long term partners and sustainable returns for growers and prices for restaurateurs.First Choice work closely with the SRA, they are a Food Made Good supplier and actively seek relationships with British growers who are part of the Red Tractor and Leaf assurance schemes.
A new company website explains the ethics, direction and specialist products held dear by the business, it also showcases the quality of suppliers. First Choice has many premier partnerships including Tiptree, Tythe barn farm, Cacklebean eggs and Bord au Bord seaweeds – always offering something different, and better, than the competition.
George Perry
George Perry Ltd is the oldest tradingfresh produce wholesaler in the UK, est.1870. Mark Tate and my brother Paul are 4th generation of the `Tate family` to have worked on Birmingham market.
We opened a high-end salad company (GP salads) five years ago, which has been a major success story for us, and last year following the death of Joe Richards, we tooka leap of faith and acquired hisgreengrocery shops. After trading for 12 months now, we have seen a rise in profit andturnover (remarkable the way the high street had demised).
The reasons for taking on the shops was to protect both of our own companies (Joe used to spend over £1m a year with us) and to protect the rest of the market (again £4m a year was spent with other wholesalers). With my position as chairman of the BWFPA and as main negotiator with the council, I could see how important it was to carry on with the shops for the future of the new market.
We have also opened the George Perry e-commerce site this year (www.georgeperry.co.uk), to get ourselves into the catering and foodservice sector, and even though we haven't advertised as yet we have been getting quite a few orders through it.
We see the wholesale markets having a resurgence in the near future but changing more into a foodservice provider. We aim to be at the very front of that resurgence.
Mash Purveyors
For over 150 years, the Mash family has hand-selected the finest fruits and vegetables for the most prestigious kitchens. From the traditional to the exotic, our produce is perfectly picked and expertly packed for freshness and optimum flavour. Working in partnership with specialist growers here and abroad, we are a key supplier to some of the world’s finest restaurants.
This year we organised ‘Mashup festival’. An event designed to gather our growers, suppliers and chefs together in one place to celebrate our shared passion for fresh produce and fine food. The event featured a farmers’ market, street food, craft beer, a live band and produce tours around our new premises, which many had not seen since our move from New Covent Garden Market in 2015. An event of this nature has never been attempted before, so we were incredibly pleased with how well the event went. Trying to get chefs to take time off at the same time is very tricky, but we had a great turnout. Everybody had an amazing time. The suppliers loved the opportunity to meet the chefs first hand and vice versa, and we’re now very much looking forward to Mashup 2017.
Growers and suppliers on the day included:
Pariani – (Nuts)
Weiss Chocolat
Isle of Wight Tomatoes (The Tomato Stall)
O-Med Oils and Vinegars
Secrett’s Farm
Butter Vikings
TRUEfoods
Nurtured in Norfolk
Oakleaf
Tokimeite (Japanese produce)
Khan Caviar
Reynolds
Every day at Reynolds we buy the very best fresh produce for our 4,000 customers; a list which reads like the Who’s Who? of the eating-out market, from hotel and restaurant groups, to caterers, schools and universities.
We aim to buy UK produce, preferring to use Red Tractor-approved suppliers. Our commitment to working with only the best farmers helps us ensure both consistent availability and quality for our customers
The team work hard to ensure food miles are kept to a minimum and our product fresh. We work with several local suppliers, particularly for salads and leaf, just a few miles from our National Distribution Centre.
With a fleet of over 200 vehicles, a large amount of focus is given to reducing our carbon emissions. Consequently, we collect one third of our products direct from suppliers via backhaul, utilising empty vehicles to help us save an estimated 500,000 food miles each year. Elsewhere, our most recent environmental innovation was the launch of our two urban prototype vehicles, designed to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety in London and other city centres.
Reynolds and its 900 staff work together to support various charities, including Futurechef, Springboard, Action against Hunger, Cancer Research UK and Crisis. Our most recent partnership is with Food for All, who collect waste produce to feed homeless people across London.
In February this year, the team at Reynolds were able to showcase their passion and teamwork, appearing in the first series of ‘Who’s the Boss?’ on BBC2.
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