Transfresh

Flying the flag for East Midlands food and drink

"It’s often very difficult for small, specialist producers to get their products to retailers, but we have developed a system that overcomes this hurdle. The producers will be making just one weekly trip to our base, and then we will be distributing the products to local supermarkets in the region – making it simpler for both supplier and retailer."

Clive Hallam, Director

Clive Hallam and Nick Davies set up Transfresh in February 2006 to act as a central point of contact for local food suppliers in the East Midlands. Both had experience of the food industry, and they identified an opportunity in the recent and growing interest in local foods. One of the company’s earliest successes was to get local products into 10 Budgens stores in the region. The initiative, which was set up in conjunction with East Midlands Fine Foods (EMFF), began in August 2006 and ensures that products from local suppliers around the East Midlands – from bacon to ice cream – are
retailed under the EMFF banner. The scheme has been a huge success, and Budgens now stock over 200 product lines from 60 suppliers, compared to 80 products from 20 suppliers when the scheme began. The company has recently won a contract with Center Parcs to supply fresh meat and desserts to its shops and restaurants, and another with Asda, who will initially stock local products supplied by Transfresh in 16 stores in Nottingham. For companies and retailers like Center Parcs and Asda, this means the convenience of one delivery rather than many small ones and a more environmentally friendly service, with reduced food miles – an area of growing importance to the supermarkets. Transfresh moved to Southglade Food Park at the beginning of 2006 and into 2000sq ft hatchery unit in December 2006. Southglade Food Park, a development of 10 food manufacturing units and an associated business centre in Nottingham, funded by emda and managed by European funds and Nottingham City Council. Many products that come to Transfresh are not shelf-ready and Transfresh offers a bar coding service to help with this. They also work closely with the Food and Drink Forum to ensure products are ready for retail.

Sector: Food & Drink

Company name: Transfresh

What we do:
Distribution of frozen, chilled or ambient temperature foods throughout the East Midlands.

Location: Nottingham

Area of innovation: Process

Overview:
Transfresh operates as a local sourcing initiative for local food
suppliers and producers, helping them to distribute their products to
local retailers and build relationships with supermarkets and other outlets.

Contact:
For further information, please contact Clive Hallam or Nick Davies on or email clivehallam@transfresh.co.uk or nickdavies@transfresh.co.uk