Our Business
Overview
Lincolnshire Herbs is the largest UK specialist potted herb supplier, focusing only on producing top quality potted herbs and nothing else. We are the only UK herb grower with specifically purpose-built glass just for herbs and we are the only UK potted herb producer continuously investing, year after year, in upgrading and improving our facilities. We supply ASDA, The Co-Operative Food, Morrisons. and Ocado, as well as local specialist food and farm shops with British potted herbs all year round. We are part of the Swedish based group Swedeponic, the largest producer of potted herbs in the World with sites in Sweden, Poland, Portugal and Belgium as well as the UK. Each site supplies its own local market as we believe this is crucial for freshness and environmental reasons. So our herbs are grown in the UK for the UK market. In 2011 we won the IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) Morrisons 'Outstanding Small Business' Award.
Established
Lincolnshire Herbs (formerly Swedeponic UK) was established in 1998, on a 3 acre green-field site just outside the market town of Bourne in the county of Lincolnshire. ASDA was our first customer in 1998 followed by Morrisons in 2001. We have since gone from strength to strength. In 2007 we doubled in size. In 2011 we started building an additional 2 acres of glass, this time specifically for Coriander production, the UK's second most popular herb and the UK's first dedicated production facility just for Coriander. So by mid 2012 we will have 8 acres of state-of-the-art production facilities specifically built just for herb production. We have a further 4 acres of land already with planning permission awaiting development when required. In 2011 we opened the UK's only temperature controlled packing facility with the world's first fully automated herb packing line. We are extremely proud of our state-of-the-art production facilities at Lincolnshire Herbs and we believe we have the best herb production unit in the World.
Location
Based in the East Midlands, Lincolnshire Herbs is close to the central hub of fresh produce in the UK; Spalding. This means we can service retailers depots extremely efficiently making use of the local consolidation networks. We can also react very fast to customer demands because of our central location.
Staff
We currently employ over 30 staff. Our core management team have been working for the business for over 8 years and some have been with us since we first began production. This level of experience ensures we can confidently deliver top quality herbs all year round.
Range
Our best selling herbs are Basil, Coriander, and Parsley-in that order. Increasing in popularity are Flat Leaf Parsley, Mint and Chives. Thyme and Sage are useful winter additions. We have also recently added Thai Basil, Greek Basil, Sorrel and Oregano to our range, so we now offer the largest potted herb range in the UK.
Future Plans
Lincolnshire Herbs aim to continue to do what we do best, focusing on growing and supplying top quality British cut and potted herbs all year round. We are also continuing to trial interesting new varieties. We have plans for expansion and the space to develop the business when required. We are working on some ground-breaking, and in one case 'world leading', developments for 2013 - so watch this space. These are very exciting times here at Lincolnshire Herbs.
