A north-east food and drink brand is set to launch a nationwide delivery service for its fruit and vegetable boxes after receiving interest from across the UK.
Mad Potato, owned by Ramona Obafemi, will be starting the service in January which will allow people living in the UK to order from a range of fruit and vegetable boxes online and have them delivered straight to their door.
It comes after Ramona started receiving interest from people as far as away as London and Wales when she launched the boxes around one month ago, so decided to look into ways of how to distribute them to areas other than those locally.
Mad Potato was launched as an online platform in November 2020 and opened its own store, on Great Western Road in Aberdeen, in May 2021.
It is open from 9am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday.
Fruit and vegetable boxes
Fruit and vegetables have always been available as individual products since Ramona established the business.
However after the opening of her store, she has worked more on developing the section to benefit consumers.
This has included introducing fruit and vegetable boxes and a new type of technology that enables customers to scan a QR code on a product and find out its journey.
This will allow people to establish a connection with what’s put on their table.
On average, Ramona has sold 30 fruit and vegetable boxes per week in the first month.
She hopes to increase this to 100 boxes in the first quarter of launching the service nationwide and, by the end of 2022, reach 200 boxes per week.
This means that Mad Potato will have to double its team to six members of staff towards the end of next year.
Ramona said: “Our boxes have been available for around a month now, with a wide mix of fruits and vegetables to allow people to diversify and become more creative with their meals.
“We have been getting interest for our products from a wide range of places in Scotland (predominantly the central belt) and as far as London and Wales since the summer, but this was mostly directed towards the range of fruits and vegetables we have.
“The challenge was finding the right way to deliver them in the best of conditions. We have now found the perfect way to do this.”
Ramona set out to ensure the packaging used by Mad Potato is of the best quality so that the products are as fresh as they can be and are delivered as fast as possible.
She added: “I think people are more interested now in what they eat and put more effort into sourcing the food they eat. They want to be healthy but also want to eat products that don’t have a negative impact on the environment or communities.
“Supermarkets are well-known for sourcing cheap products from other countries (although sometimes that product is grown close to their warehouses) and use bad practices with producers in order to get the best price.
“We are building an alternative to that where we support and help local farmers.”
The boxes
Available in a variety of different sizes, the fruit and vegetable boxes start at 7kg and contain the likes of:
- Cucumber
- Broccoli
- Baby potatoes
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Red Onion
- Pears
- Avocadoes
- Oranges
- Lemons
- Limes
- Apples
Berwickwood Produce, Katies Cakes and Preserves, Mearns Chilli Farm, Over The Wall Produce, Burnorrachie Farm and Barra Castle are among the businesses that supply Mad Potato with their produce.
Prices start at £13 per box. The fee will be £3.50 for UK deliveries and is free of charge for local deliveries.
“We have a range of boxes, with different products,” Ramona said.
“Some are vegetables only, while others are a mixture of fruit and vegetables.
“We are working on new combinations to cater for various needs so they will continue to evolve.
“The products are sourced as close as possible to home, however, we do have a few imported products such as oranges and bananas as they aren’t grown in the UK.”
Ramona also recently launched a wholesale service to offer fruits and vegetables to commercial operators, which so far includes several local cafes and restaurants aiming to be more sustainable.
For more information or to place an order, visit madpotato.co.uk