Company marks 70th anniversary

Airdrie vegetable firm Albert Bartlett is celebrating its 70th anniversary by running a competition to win dinner with Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux jnr.

Its 2kg bags of Rooster potatoes will be available in vintage-look packaging from Saturday and include the promotional prize draw.

Twenty couples can win dinner at the chef’s famous London restaurant La Gavroche, along with a one-night stay at the four-star Washington Hotel in Mayfair.

The firm was formed in 1948 by Albert Bartlett, who had worked as a basket weaver on Clydeside before moving to Coatbridge. He invested £30 in a water boiler and cast-iron bath to set up a beetroot boiling operation.

With sons Jimmy and Alex the family operation soon grew and moved in 1957 to the Wheat Holm Bakery site in Airdrie. It became the company’s former premises at Watt Street and was later the first in Britain where carrots were packed into polyethylene bags.

The company began to supply carrots, onions and potatoes to supermarket chains 40 years ago and has grown ever since.

It launched a range of frozen products three years ago and has now moved into chilled products.

Head of marketing Michael Jarvis said: “Albert Bartlett remains a family-run company and we’re delighted with the manner in which it has grown from selling beetroot to the local market to be a leading supplier of fresh and frozen potatoes.

“As we now diversify into chilled potato products in our 70th year we look forward to continued success. We believe Albert would be very proud.”