Fresh Direct adds GrowUp Farms’ produce to portfolio

Hospitality operators can now buy Kent-based GrowUp Farms’ salad and baby leaves through Fresh Direct.

This is the third partnership for the Brakes Group business with a British vertical farm, following the addition of Norwich’s Fischer Farms last year.

Fresh Direct’s vertical farming partners provide year-round access to their crops, helping address food security concerns and weather-related issues with harvests that have caused significant challenges for conventional growers over the past few years. 

GrowUp is B Corp certified and produces salad leaves at its modern vertical farm, designed to reduce its carbon emissions.

The farm, which is powered by renewable energy from the bioenergy plant next to the facility, does not cause soil erosion, and produces long-lasting products all year in the UK, which should cut down food waste and lorry miles.

GrowUp also aims to use 90% less water when fully operational and, because the farm is a completely enclosed process, requires no pesticides, fungicides or weedkiller.

In addition, Fresh Direct’s development chefs have thoroughly tested the new products and reported that, as well as the sustainability benefits, the produce outperformed conventional leaves for quality and freshness.

Paul Nieduszynski, CEO at Fresh Direct and Brakes’ parent company Sysco GB, said: “Vertical farming has made some fantastic strides forward in the past couple of years, and has become a much more practical solution, helping to support conventionally grown produce. We want to support British agriculture in all its forms and have been an early adopter of this technology, which gives us a year-round solution with enviable quality.

“Adding GrowUp to our portfolio of vertical growers gives our customers even greater access to high quality, locally grown produce with no concerns about the weather, seasonal changes or quality.”

Fresh Direct is part of Sysco’s Speciality Group division, which brought together five specialist businesses, including M&J Seafood, Freshfayre, Wild Harvest and KFF, in 2021.