 | It was a challenging start to the year on the farm, and not just because of the relentless rain! After much deliberation we sadly closed our home delivery business, Northern Harvest, at the end of January. With 18 years of weekly food deliveries, hundreds of customers and a dedicated team of staff, this was a very difficult decision to make. But in farming you can't stand still for long. We've taken the opportunity presented to us with the closure of one part of the business to help develop something totally different at Kenyon Hall: a coffee roastery! In this post I'll introduce our latest venture, including the interesting couple of characters behind it... |
For those who didn't know Northern Harvest, here's a quick 30 second history. My parents created it as a new arm to the farm business back in 2002. A 'farmers market on wheels' - it was a way of getting fresh produce from us and several other local farmers out to customer's homes in the north west. If this sounds familiar (like a rip off of Ocado or something) it's worth saying that in 2002 we were genuinely trailblazers for online food shopping and delivery - ahead of almost all the supermarkets. By 2008 we were delivering food to around 500 homes a week. On a personal level, driving the delivery van was always one of my favourite holiday jobs!
Northern Harvest. 2002-2020
Unfortunately, as with many niche businesses, the recession hit Northern Harvest quite hard and we never re-captured the success of those early years. The supermarkets stole a march, we couldn't compete, and in the end there was only one decision we could take from a business point of view. It was not a pleasant process to go through - we had to let down our staff, suppliers and of course customers; and for our manager Ed and my parents in particular it was very sad to see 20 years of hard work fall away. For those interested, there are a few more details in the announcement we released (see below).
our full announcement about northern harvest
It is with great sadness that we took the decision to close Northern Harvest at the end of January 2020. After 18 years of weekly food deliveries to thousands of homes around the northwest, this was a very difficult decision to make.
Since founding Northern Harvest in 2002 we have been fortunate to have a devoted core group of customers, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning. However, in recent years we’ve been battling to attract and retain new customers in the face of stiff competition from supermarkets with more resources than we could ever match. The number of deliveries has been steadily declining from a peak of over 500 a week in the late 2000s, and after trying several different ideas to revive the business, we felt we had little choice but to draw a line under the operation.
We appreciate that this will come as disappointing news to our loyal customers and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We are also conscious that this will be a blow to our suppliers, many of whom are small independent producers relying on us to help sell their goods. Most of all we’re sorry to the wonderful staff who have worked tirelessly for Northern Harvest over the years. Not least to our manager and fellow director Ed, who has been with us since Northern Harvest began and has dedicated some of the best years of his career to running the business.
No other elements of Kenyon Hall Farm will be affected in any way by this decision. The Farm Shop, Café, Plant Centre and Pick Your Own operations, as well as the traditional agricultural side of the farm continue to develop and expand. Despite the closure of Northern Harvest, at Kenyon Hall we remain as dedicated as ever to supplying our local communities with fresh, local, seasonal produce and championing British food and farming wherever we can.
As many of you will know, the Farm Shop sells much of the same produce as Northern Harvest and we hope that as many of you as possible will continue to support us here at the farm. Although the shop doesn’t have the space to display the huge range of goods sold by Northern Harvest, we’d be happy to discuss any requests for specific items you may have which we could source for you. We also intend to continue taking Christmas food orders for turkeys, geese, veg boxes etc, just as we’ve done at the farm shop for the last decade.
On behalf of everyone at Northern Harvest, we’d like to say many thanks for all your support over the years. We hope we’ve helped bring some fresh, local, seasonal groceries into your life and it has been a pleasure to do so. We look forward to seeing you here at the farm in future.
Since founding Northern Harvest in 2002 we have been fortunate to have a devoted core group of customers, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning. However, in recent years we’ve been battling to attract and retain new customers in the face of stiff competition from supermarkets with more resources than we could ever match. The number of deliveries has been steadily declining from a peak of over 500 a week in the late 2000s, and after trying several different ideas to revive the business, we felt we had little choice but to draw a line under the operation.
We appreciate that this will come as disappointing news to our loyal customers and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We are also conscious that this will be a blow to our suppliers, many of whom are small independent producers relying on us to help sell their goods. Most of all we’re sorry to the wonderful staff who have worked tirelessly for Northern Harvest over the years. Not least to our manager and fellow director Ed, who has been with us since Northern Harvest began and has dedicated some of the best years of his career to running the business.
No other elements of Kenyon Hall Farm will be affected in any way by this decision. The Farm Shop, Café, Plant Centre and Pick Your Own operations, as well as the traditional agricultural side of the farm continue to develop and expand. Despite the closure of Northern Harvest, at Kenyon Hall we remain as dedicated as ever to supplying our local communities with fresh, local, seasonal produce and championing British food and farming wherever we can.
As many of you will know, the Farm Shop sells much of the same produce as Northern Harvest and we hope that as many of you as possible will continue to support us here at the farm. Although the shop doesn’t have the space to display the huge range of goods sold by Northern Harvest, we’d be happy to discuss any requests for specific items you may have which we could source for you. We also intend to continue taking Christmas food orders for turkeys, geese, veg boxes etc, just as we’ve done at the farm shop for the last decade.
On behalf of everyone at Northern Harvest, we’d like to say many thanks for all your support over the years. We hope we’ve helped bring some fresh, local, seasonal groceries into your life and it has been a pleasure to do so. We look forward to seeing you here at the farm in future.
But from the ashes of one part of the farm's business, a phoenix has risen! Just as we working out what to do with the farm buildings vacated by Northern Harvest, we were approached by a couple of coffee connoisseurs looking for a home for their coffee roasting enterprise. The timing was so serendipitous it felt like it was meant to be!
Alex and Suzy. Multi-talented!
Alex and Suzy - the founders of Carrington's Coffee - have quite the back-story, which is worth a read here if you have a minute. They're professional photographers, professional musicians and now professional coffee roasters too! With a personal connection to Colombia, from where they import their coffee beans from single estates, their passion for coffee is obvious and infectious. We happily invited them to set up their roastery at Kenyon Hall, and it's been producing beautiful aromas around the farm for the last few weeks.
Coffee roasting at Kenyon Hall - who'd have thought it?
The first batches of coffee are now available to buy in the farm shop, with a choice of Dark Espresso, Medium Colombian or Decaffeinated. What's more, we're offering it up in the cafe too, so as you can try before you buy. Feedback so far has been very positive, with people enjoying the lighter, smoother flavour. And you can't get much fresher or more locally produced when the roaster is sitting not 50 yards from where you're drinking!
And there's no doubt the coffee team mean business. Their impressive and shiny roaster (which looks like it belongs to NASA) can roast up to 100kg of beans a week - that's a tonne of coffee every couple of months! With this capacity they're keen to grow their market and would love to hear from anyone looking for a quality, local wholesale supply of coffee. If so, you can get in touch directly at CarringtonsCoffee.com.
And there's no doubt the coffee team mean business. Their impressive and shiny roaster (which looks like it belongs to NASA) can roast up to 100kg of beans a week - that's a tonne of coffee every couple of months! With this capacity they're keen to grow their market and would love to hear from anyone looking for a quality, local wholesale supply of coffee. If so, you can get in touch directly at CarringtonsCoffee.com.
I didn't want to let the news of Northern Harvest go un-mentioned, given how big a part of the history of the farm it has been over the last two decades, but in truth I wasn't particularly looking forwarding to writing about it's demise. Thankfully Carrington's Coffee has come along as our silver lining, helping us create something positive, which we hope will be good not just for the farm, but for an adventurous local business, and for our coffee-loving customers too! Things are looking up...
James Bulmer (26th February 2020)
James Bulmer (26th February 2020)