Diversity is the key as supply businesses adapt to survive

With food and drink recently classed as an essential industry, those involved in the supply chain have been asked to stay open during the coronavirus crisis if they can.

However, far from it being business as usual, many firms are having to operate as never before as they work to meet new government guidelines over health and safety, and changes in demand.

For some, it means accelerating the work they have been doing to diversify their businesses, while for others who have been trading heavily with restaurants and catering businesses forced to close during the outbreak, it is a waiting game.

Among the latter is Summer Harvest, a family-owned producer of cold pressed rapeseed oil based in Crieff.

Owner Mark Bush says business has “fallen off a cliff” since hotels, shops and restaurants were ordered to close.

“At least two of our wholesalers are temporarily closing down, so that means there’s no sales to those channels and that’s 50% of my business,” said Mark.

Trade with small independent outlets, food markets and events has also stalled, but around 5% of Summer Harvest’s produce goes to Waitrose stores with those orders still holding up.

Selling produce in environmentally-friendly glass bottles now makes it difficult to pivot to online direct sales and deliveries so, for now, Mark intends to sit this crisis out.

He says: “I’m a one-man band effectively. On the positive side our business is strong, we don’t have any debts or staff on the books, so we can take a bit of time now and sort out those little odd jobs that need doing. Hopefully, we’ll ride out the storm.”

The recent stock shortages and crowding in supermarkets has seen a surge in shoppers looking for home delivery alternatives, with farm shops among others adapting to meet steep surges in demand.

One farm-based business is taking that a step further by encouraging customers to make their own bread and cheese using DIY kits.

Kat Goldin and husband Kevin Harrison of Gartur Stitch Farm in Stirlingshire are big advocates of making your own food from scratch and, through their website Alifeinthemaking.co.uk, have posted a number of online how-to courses for locals, as well as selling sourdough bread-making and cheese-making kits.

The packs include an instruction booklet, flour, starter (pre-ferment) and a bread-making basket for around £38, and the couple have noticed a sharp increase in demand for these kits – selling in just a three-week period over 200 bread-making units – more than they sold in the whole of last year.

Kat explained: “We want to give people the skills so they know they are going to be OK, so they can feed their family and not be as reliant on the supermarkets that may not have things in stock.”