In light of the rising demand because of the lockdown, many restaurants have now switched to home delivery. Many chefs, waiters, and other hospitality workers have been laid off or furloughed. Food producers, wholesalers, and retailers have likewise been affected.
Now producers across the country are offering home deliveries. And this is a brilliant way to support manufacturers while staying away from busier supermarkets and simply ensuring a steady supply to your homes.
There are a few apps facilitating the process. Foodchain is normally a marketplace for chefs to access the best produce around. Since COVID-19, the app has been modified to give regular consumers access to meat, fish, dairy, fruit, vegetables, and more. Likewise, Karma, a food-waste app has now switched its focus to home deliveries and is set to launch a new delivery service with Premier Fruits. In other locations, directories have been set up. Helpkentbuylocal.co.uk, for example, collates a range of local producers who are delivering. Similarly, freshfromthefreezer.co.uk contains a list of places delivering frozen foods across the UK and localfooddrops.co.uk lets users access food supplies at wholesale prices.
With many of Britain’s biggest veg box suppliers not taking new orders, several smaller farms are still taking orders. Here is a directory of some of the food suppliers who have set up home deliveries. If you know of others, share them with us in the comments section below.
The Good Egg Fellas
With over a thousand home customers signing up in a week, many of those reporting egg shortages in supermarkets, The Good Egg Fellas are now taking home deliveries. The minimum order is a sizeable 120 eggs, though the farm guarantees they’ll be at your doorstep within 24 hours of being laid.
Bidfood
Bidfood normally supplies hospitals, care homes, restaurants, hotels, cafes, schools, and prisons. Now, it has launched a new delivery and click-and-collect service: Bidfood Direct that offers a wide range of frozen and fresh goods, from meat and fish to fruit, veg, and dairy products. There is a minimum spend of £100 on home deliveries.
Forman & Field
Forman & Field has been supplying top global restaurants for 20 years. Now, their premium produce can be delivered within 48 hours across the UK. From cheese, beer, and smoked salmon to pre-made pies and fish cakes, if you’re after something fancy to treat yourself with, look no further. Deliveries start at £9.95.
La Tua Pasta
A pasta wholesaler supplying restaurants nationwide for 14 years, La Tua Pasta’s produce is available online for the first time. The online shop has a myriad of traditional fresh pasta varieties. Delivery is free on orders over £30, and a meal is being donated to the NHS for each purchased online.
BBS Wine
This wine importer tends to supply businesses but has begun online deliveries to help counter the loss of clients. Couriered anywhere in the UK, orders must be made in multiples of 12 for packaging purposes, but you can mix and match, with wines starting at £6.
Fowey Valley Cider
This Cornish cider producer has seen its pub and restaurant custom dry up, while the shops, delis and farm shops that stock it are quieter than usual. Their ciders, vinegar, oils, and chutneys can be accessed nationwide, with free deliveries on purchases over £40. For those living locally, they’ll deliver by van for free.
The Fine Cider Company
They specialise in supplying some of the finest British restaurants with the best British cider from small producers. With many of these restaurants closed right now, Nash has turned his attention to supplying homes. There’s a £10 discount for many London postcodes, with free shipping elsewhere in Britain.
Darts Farm
Darts Farm in Devon is offering seasonal vegetable boxes, starting from £11, with further fruit, salad and meat hampers. Deliveries are available nationwide, and free for the vulnerable and over 70s in Devon.
Five Points Brewing Co.
The London-based brewery is offering its range of ales, lagers, and porters in 12 and 24 packs for home delivery. Delivery is across the UK for £5.99, with free deliveries over £50.
Celtic Marches Cider
Celtic Marches has set up an online shop after its pub, shop, and restaurant sales took a hit. There’s free delivery to all UK mainland addresses, while five percent of sales are being donated to the NHS COVID-19 Appeal.
CMB Foods
As CMB is no longer able to supply schools, restaurants, and hotels, it is now taking home orders on beef, chicken, pork and lamb in London and the southeast, stretching to Oxfordshire and Hampshire. Call 01342324200 to place an order, or visit their website. Minimum orders £70.
Woods’ Foodservice
One of London’s biggest suppliers of dry, chilled, and frozen produce to chefs, Woods’ Foodservice is now doing next-day deliveries in Greater London. Veg boxes start at £14.99, fruit boxes at £17.99 and meat at £23.99.
Borough Market
The ancient London food market is offering delivery (within a 3.5-mile radius) on its produce. There’s top fresh bread, meat, cheese and more on offer.
Pale Green Dot
Their home delivery services supply fruit and veg, eggs, and other fresh essentials, such as milk and bread. Their boxes starting at £12.50 can be ordered weekly or as a one-off. Currently taking orders across London, Brighton and Hove.
The Butler’s Larder
The family behind Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses has brought together a range of small local produce – cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, fresh bread, fruit, etc in the northwest of England, offering delivery to Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. Minimum order £40.
Real Kombucha
Considered Britain’s best kombucha supplier, its healthy, fermented, non-alcoholic brews are used by several Michelin starred chefs in the UK. They deliver across the UK, with prices starting at £29.99 including shipping for 12 bottles.
Malton Delivers
Malton, aka “Yorkshire’s food capital”, has a raft of local producers. From bread to baking ingredients, cheese and meat to fruit and veg, you can find almost everything here.
Dunsters Farm
Dunsters has branched out to home delivery across northwest England with a wide range of groceries. There are meat boxes, cheese, eggs, cooked meats, flour, sugar, pasta, rice, bread, fruit and veg, confectionery even cleaning products. The minimum order for delivery is £30, though there’s no minimum for collection at the Bury warehouse.
York Wines
Normally supplying wholesale to pubs, York Wines is now doing direct-to-customer deliveries of imported wines nationwide, free on orders of 12 and above.
MexGrocer
Mexican food lovers anywhere in the UK can ensure a steady supply of tortillas, chilli sauces, cornflour, beans, chillies, herbs and more from MexGrocer, which imports from Mexico. It’s a key supplier to Mexican restaurants in the country, but its attention is firmly on home deliveries now, with free next-day delivery on orders of £35 or more.
Provenance Cuts
This Surrey-based pasture-fed meat business launched this year targeting the premium wholesale market. It has been forced into a swift u-turn, now delivering its pedigree beef to Surrey locals. Minimum orders are £30, and are delivered within 10 miles of the farm in the Surrey Hills.
Reliquum
This Colchester-based farmer grows cabbages and spring onions for Chinese restaurants. Those sales have dried up, so efforts have turned to fruit and veg delivery, free to anyone with a Colchester postcode.
Watts Farms
A family-run business with 10 sites, covering Kent, Essex, and Bedfordshire. It usually offers wholesale, but there’s now an online home delivery service covering all manner of produce, from fruit and veg to dairy, eggs, and toilet paper.
JJ Foodservice
JJ Foodservice is a food and drink wholesaler, normally supplying restaurants and takeaways from its 11 branches nationwide. It is now delivering to homes across the country, with 2,500 products available. A VIP service gives priority to NHS, police, and fire service staff.
Home Pantry
Until the lockdown hit, Home Pantry was known as Office Pantry and delivered food to office workers. It is now switching to homes in London, the Thames Valley, and Bristol with fruit and veg boxes, milk, coffee, snacks, and baked goods on offer.
York House
York House has 40 years of experience manufacturing food for supermarkets, pubs and restaurants. It is now delivering products like bacon, meatballs, sausages and gammon to those in Bedfordshire.
Dishpatch
Dishpatch is a London-based directory of food and drink suppliers that deliver across the capital, with plans to expand across the UK. Users can access a range of London shops and stockists, from butchers like Turner & George, cheesemongers like La Fromagerie, to fruit and veg wholesalers.
Collectiv Food
Collectiv Food has joined together with Deliveroo to launch a consumer food delivery service called Farmshop. Customers can access meat, fish, fruit and vegan products sent quickly to their front doors. Currently only available in the south and west London.
Mighty Small
Mighty Small is an online supermarket filled with smaller, independent food and drink brands. There are all sorts of individual products available, but there’s a focus on bundles, such as fitness, working from home, breakfast, or “indulgent night in”.
Floc Market
This recently launched service allows food lovers to access all sorts of produce from independent producers and traders in one place. There are bakeries, delis, beers, wines, coffee, meat, vegetables, and more.
