Careful sourcing of our ingredients

It is such a joy to work with likeminded businesses as they share our principles and care passionately about people and the environment like we do. These are some of the policies we employ to find the right suppliers:

• Green credentials
  We like to have a meeting of the minds on this issue! This has the added bonus of encouraging less environmentally friendly businesses to change their ways as it hits them where it hurts: losing business. 
   
• Local produce
  We champion local produce and try to source locally as much as possible to support local communities and reduce food miles (along with our carbon footprint). Sometimes, buying locally can be less environmentally friendly e.g. the energy to grow fruit in British greenhouses could contribute more heavily to our carbon footprint than the food miles to ship the fruit grown naturally outdoors in a warmer country. It is a careful balancing act that needs to be taken on a case by case basis. 
   
• Supporting organic farming
  We strongly believe in organic farming and source all our fresh ingredients from an organic supplier certified by the Soil Association. There are so many benefits to organic farming to read more, please see www.whyorganic.org - despite this belief we have consciously chosen not to pursue organic certification to have the freedom to make our own sourcing decisions rather than being forced to always go for certified organics over other ethical produce. 
   
• Being fair
  Everyone in the supply chain should be paid a fair price and be treated with respect. Whilst we acknowledge that the fair trade symbol is a useful guide, we have found that there are many uncertified businesses doing excellent work so we prefer to do our own homework on each of our suppliers. We believe our suppliers are quietly doing the right thing across the ethical spectrum, not following fairtrade principles alone. 
   
• Preserving the seasons
  By buying seasonal ingredients we are more likely to avoid unnecessary food miles. We also think they are tastier having not been transported half way across the world. We use old fashioned preservation methods to naturally preserve these ingredients for modern products with flavours that you can enjoy throughout the year. Hence, you can indulge in strawberry flavoured vinegar and tomato ketchup in winter when strawberries and tomatoes are long out of season in the UK.