Ripe Now
A fruitful existence
One of the leading UK based tropical fruit suppliers and packers, Ripe Now pursues the not inconsiderable goal of ensuring the products it supplies are fresh and in season all year round
O
ver the last two decades the UK has become increasingly reliant on imports of fruit and vegetables, with growth driven, in part, by large increases in the importing of non-native foods such as mangos, pineapples, melons and avocados. Although imports from EU countries such as Spain continue to dominate the marketplace, consumer trends have opened up considerable opportunities for growers and suppliers in regions including South America, the Caribbean and Africa. Two men who have witnessed these trends taking effect during their respective careers in the fresh produce industry are Julian Wright and Lewey Hook, owners and directors of Ripe Now. During their time working together, the pair met Neil Gott, now Operations Director of Ripe Now, and the three would join forces in forming
the aforementioned company in 2006. “The opportunity to create Ripe Now came about on the back of a change in the market where the demand for prepared fruit, as opposed to whole fruit, increased with the product becoming more of an enticing prospect for our customers,” Julian begins. Beginning life humbly, with its first pallets packed by Julian, Lewey and Neil themselves, Ripe Now is today home to more than 90 full time employees and up to 40 seasonal employees. The company’s focus is the importing of tropical fruit, with as many as 665 containers of mango, kiwi, pomegranate seeds and coconut chunks from 14 different countries brought into the UK in a single year. From this massive volume of goods, circa 13,000 pallets of high quality product were subsequently dispatched. Ripe Now currently operates from two
sites, one in Coates, near Peterborough, where it carries out the handling, packing and labelling of its mango and kiwi products, and the other in Kirton, near Boston, which is focused on providing the highest quality of third party packing and storage services. Across both sites the company has cool storage space to accommodate over 400 pallets, as well as multiple conditioning rooms for mango, kiwi and other climacteric fruits. By forging close relationships with growers around the world, Julian and his team have managed to create a seamless supply calendar of smooth fleshed mango arrivals 52 weeks of the year. “In the case of mango, it is far from being a manufactured product, in that it comes in all manner of varieties, shapes and sizes,” Julian explains. “Mango is also not like an apple or pear, in that it has a shorter shelf life. This
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