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Top grocer All-Greens reinvents business after market collapses
The leading wholesaler has moved fast to adapt to the changed market
April 22, 2020 10:43
The leading wholesaler has moved fast to adapt to the changed market
April 22, 2020 10:43Coronavirus has forced a major north London wholesale greengrocer, David Josephs, to reinvent his business.
Mr Josephs, the owner of Panzer’s and four other north London fruit and vegetable retailers, said: “With the lockdown measures, we lost 80 percent of our customers overnight. We were supplying 200 hotels, restaurants and caterers, including Tony Page.”
When the hospitality industry ground to a halt, so did his wholesale trade.
So Mr Josephs began selling fruit and vegetable boxes directly to customers online. “We got the All Greens website up and running in 48 hours.”
Within a couple of days, chef Yotam Ottolenghi had posted about the new delivery service on Instagram, saying: “My beloved local greengrocers Parkway Greens have just delivered this…They are brilliant.”
Orders increased by 500 per cent and they have already sent out 3,500 orders.
The website allows customers to give back to the NHS by adding fruit and vegetable donations to their orders, which All Greens matches.
Meanwhile, Bite Me Burgers, a Jewish-owned business in Camden, north London, has raised more than £18,000 of a £25,000 target fund to send their burgers to NHS staff, care workers and Salvation Army.
The campaign has seen celebrities including Vanessa Feltz back their Just Giving page, set up to fund deliveries of their burgers to NHS workers. Visit them to donate here.
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