More Than
Fresh Produce
During the last decade, we took the decision to invest in partners who we believe offer us the opportunity to make a real difference in the fresh produce and food industry of the future.
Our strategy has been to select the growers and regions where the potential exists to plant and grow a portfolio of fruit varieties that fits the bespoke year-round needs of our customers around the world.
We have also invested in and partnered with breeding programmes in the table grape and top-fruit sectors, which gives us the invaluable ability to use our unique understanding of customer requirements and consumer taste profiles to help shape the way our industry develops for decades to come.
Our world does not entirely revolve around fresh produce anymore. In the last few years, we have entered into partnerships that produce gin, rum and ice cream. We’re always on the lookout for suitable new partners. Get in touch to find out more.
We found a unique way to recycle our surplus table grapes – turning them into HYKE, a premium quality gin in a joint venture with West Sussex spirit maker Foxhole Spirits.
When packing our grapes into punnets for retail, customers, the bunches are cut and trimmed to the required weight, leaving loose grapes and tiny bunches that can’t be sold as fresh. Previously these lovely fresh grapes ended up as animal feed or in an anaerobic digester.
HYKE’s distinctive character from both the grape spirit and a blend of botanicals inspired by the grapes’ African and South American origins.
HYKE Gin
Scion Fruits is a joint venture between Richard Hochfeld Ltd and Frank P Matthews. The aim of the JV is to promote the growing, commercialisation and consumption of the next generation of British apples and pears through the careful selection of new varieties from its bespoke breeding programme.
Scion Fruits has so far bought the rights to varieties from breeders. Amongst the apples and pears in development already are strains that taste like candy floss, cherries and Fruit Salad sweets.
The focus is to develop varieties that growers will want to plant and grow, our customers will want to see on their shelves and consumers will love to eat.