Plastic’s off the menu at Tugo

An award-winning business to business foodservice company based at Adderbury in Oxfordshire is introducing totally plastic-free pots for its 4ork range.

Tugo produces food concepts for the catering and hospitality industry, helping them compete with high street brands. The company’s 4ork range, inspired by street food dishes from around the world, is cooked from scratch using locally-sourced ingredients without any genetically modified or artificial additives.

The company said: “As we move towards a future without waste, we want to do everything we can to limit our use of plastic and non-recyclable packaging. That’s why we’ve created these new pots, made using 100 per cent sustainable resources.”

The pots are also Forest Stewardship Council certified, fully biodegradable and compostable.

The company has already significantly reduced packaging overall and increased the amount of recycled material used in its packaging to 85 per cent.

Vivienne reads the future right for book shop

In the headlines

The new sole owner of the West Midlands’ biggest second-hand book store has exciting plans for its future after buying out her long-term business partner.

Vivienne Mills has spent two decades converting the run down Soar End Farmhouse on the Arbury Estate in Warwickshire into the Astley Book Farm, and has now taken over as its sole owner after buying out co-owner Sarah Exley.

Vivienne is now planning to improve the store’s on-site facilities, boost the shop’s café and add to her existing stockpile of more than 100,000 books.

And to do that she has brought in the help of accountancy firm Burgis & Bullock to help with the other side of book-keeping.

She said: “I am really proud to be able to continue the amazing job Sarah and I started. It has been a great partnership and I am delighted to push the business forward.”

Books on offer at Astley Book Farm cost from 50p to £9,000, and in recent years Vivenne and Sarah invested in its garden and café areas to cater for the growing need for rural businesses to diversify and a rising demand for improved customer experience.

Sean Farnell, a partner at Burgis & Bullock, said: “Astley Book Farm is a one-off and Sarah and Vivienne have built a super business which attracts people from far and wide.

“She is clearly a literary expert – she keeps the books and we do the book keeping.”