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How a family run company supplies hundreds of schools in Blackpool with fresh fruit and vegetables.

About Ribble Farm Fare

We’re a family run company that is 60 years old, with 200 staff, and 70 refrigerated vehicles. We provide Blackpool with fresh vegetables and fruit, and supply before school clubs as well.

Most of the vegetables we supply are UK vegetables, although fruit is imported at this time of year (early spring). We have potatoes and carrots all year round locally within the county. During summer all the salad products, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, etc. are from the county.

How do you supply Blackpool council?

We supply approximately 600-700 local schools, some of these come through the Council procurement, some of them have opted to manage their own procurement with Foodservice Options. We were already supplying the area, when we were approached directly by the council, as they were having problems with previous incumbents. We were invited to tender and won the contract.

We distribute directly to the schools, but sometimes through Trevors, if this is what the council prefer. Blackpool Council are great to work with. There is good communication and we have built a close relationship with procurement.

What would you say to other suppliers interested in supplying schools?

My advice is that you need to have due diligence in place and the accreditation required to enter the tender process, such as BRC or SDS. If you have these, people will know you are reputable without the need for further checking, which takes time and effort on their part.