Premier Fruits and Absolute Taste form the Menu Partners

Premier Fruits has joined with Absolute Taste and Absolute Taste Food to create food sourcing, procurement and distribution firm Menu Partners.

The two specialists will combine all assets, trading activities and resources and source food for distribution to hotels, pubs and restaurants across the UK.

Menu Partners will be led by Premier Group’s founder Jason Tanner (pictured right) and the Absolute Group’s founder Nigel Harris (pictured left). It will offer fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, bakery goods and dairy produce, supplied whole, ready to prepare, fully prepared or fully cooked.

New Covent Garden Market-based Premier Fruits will oversee the new company’s wholesale activities, while Bicester-based Absolute Taste will oversee the hospitality sector of the business.

Tanner said: “We’re thrilled to have officially launched the Menu Partners. While it has been an incredibly tough year, we now have the opportunity to strengthen the hospitality sector with our new offering and help pave the way to a successful future for the foodservice industry.”

Harris added: “While the current situation is undoubtedly a tumultuous time, it’s more important than ever to look to the future and consider how we can make our customers’ lives easier as they return to some sense of normality. Chefs don’t have time to manage a huge number of suppliers and the Menu Partners is designed to ensure they don’t have to, providing a consolidated solution and streamlined ordering process. We’re very much looking forward to introducing our customers to the new concept.”

Rebecca Barrett, head of strategy, partnerships and communications at Covent Garden Market Authority, said: “It is an incredibly encouraging, unique and well-thought-through partnership. New Covent Garden Market’s traders are the beating heart of the hospitality industry and it’s brilliant to see businesses innovating, adapting and growing while trade remains challenging.”