17
V
ITACRESSHERBS
•
THECOMMERCIALGREENHOUSEGROWER • JANUARY 2017
H
ow
do you knowwhen
the time is right to buy
a business?Well at
least one personwith an
accurate view of the future
did at Vitacresswhen the
companymade the decision
to buy the VanHeyningen
Brothers (VHB) fresh herbs
business in 2010.
Back then the herb sector
was still verymuch in its
ascendancy but the order
bookswere already showing
impressive figures. In 2009,
the year before the takeover
by Vitacress, the VHB
businesswas supplyingmore
than 14million pots and 23
million packs of fresh cut and
bunched herbs a year with a
turnover of £26million. But
would the sector keep on
growing and hadVitacress
made the right move of
purchasingwhen it did? The
answer is a resounding ‘yes’
to both. And now the next
chapter of the story begins as
the business continues to
invest and develop its offering
inwhat has turned out to be
a vibrant and competitive
sector.
Earlier this year, Vitacress
took the decision to finally re-
brand the company as
VitacressHerbs as part of its
plans to consolidate the
whole of the business under
one name. This also came
after £6million of investment
over 18monthswhich
included a new £4.5million
state-of-the-art herb facility in
Chichester,West Sussex
which has enabled the
business to becomemore
efficient and increase
volumes to helpmeet the
growing demand for herbs.
Vitacress has nine acres of
glass on the sitewith another
three acreswhich it can
expand into as company
development continues.
But rather than build new
glass, the development of the
site inWest Sussex has
provided the chance tomake
best use of existing glass. In
the last sixmonths alone, the
company has installed the
latest model spacing robots
with automated bench
movement. This has been
alignedwith a high-pressure
benchwashing system that
presents the cleaned
benches for spacing using a
‘smart’ technology
programmewhich feeds the
lines as needed. There has
also been investment in
automated germination
irrigation rigs and thewhole
growing operation is now fully
integrated into a newERP
systemwhich gives improved
visibility of growing inputs and
stock, aswell as delivering
real time crop availability and
rapid traceability. Vitacress
now supplies 20million pots
and 60million packs of herbs
each year and the growth is
continuing. The company
offers a core range of nine
different herb varieties in
three different pot sizes: 8cm
round, 10½cm round and
13cm round pots. There are
16 varieties of
cut herbs available, ranging
from popular herbs used in
everyday cooking such as
coriander, basil, mint and
rosemary, through tomore
specialist herbs such as
lemon grass and lime leaves.
“It has been a very
interesting and productive 18
months that has taken the
business further forward,”
says VitacressHerbs’
ManagingDirector, Simon
Conway. “We have been
fortunate to be a part of a
herbs revolution over the past
five or six years andwe are
providing the companywith
the best possible facilities to
continue to deliver high-
quality fresh herbs tomeet
the expected 10-11% growth
over the next year and
beyond,” he tells The
Commercial Greenhouse
Grower. “The new facilities
not only enable us to bemore
aggressive inwhat is a
competitivemarketplace but
to also continue to search for
efficiencies and newways of
working,” he adds. “We have
a largemarket share and are
constantly striving to change
and develop, so really it is up
to us to drive themarket in as
manyways as possible.
The new technologywe have
introduced over the last year
will enable us to do somore
effectively,” saysMr Conway.
And that investment is set to
continue. “The demands on
labour that have been
brought about by recent
political changes and the
introduction of theNational
LivingWagemeans that we
must continue to invest in
automation,” saysMr
Conway. “There really is no
other way. To a certain
extent, the herb sector has
been pretty forward thinking
for some timewith regards to
automation but it is a real
challenge to continue to find
newways of taking that
technology forwardwith the
business. However Brexit and
the resultant Euro exchange
Vitacress Herbs has quickly become the largest producer and supplier of fresh
herbs in theUK. ItsManagingDirector, SimonConway, talks to Adrian Tatum about
how tomake a success out of growing herbs.
Making a success out of herbs
Vitacress now supplies 20millionpots and 60millionpacks
of herbs each year.
