29 November 2018
Customers
Meet Our Customer: Better Food
Better Food is an organic, local and ethical food pioneer in the city of Bristol, and we are delighted to supply them with a range of our high quality loose leaf teas.
How did your business start?
Better Food was officially launched in 1992 by owner Phil Haughton. He has been living, working and breathing organic food from the age of 14 when he first became a member of the Soil Association.
What is unique about your company?
In some ways we’re trying to be the opposite of unique. Stores like ours should be the norm, where we all have access to good, wholesome food, grown and made with care and respect to people and planet.
If pressed, I’d say our point of difference is that we’re small enough to be ahead of the curve in innovation and trends, and big enough to have a real impact as a retailer, supporting small businesses, influencing our community and leading positive changes.
Who, and where are your customers?
Our customers are anyone and everyone, and of all ages. Having said that we find slightly different trends in each store.
Our oldest and largest store in St Werburghs often attracts the ‘deep greens’, people for whom eating organic food is as much part of their DNA as owning an allotment, cycling to work or avoiding single-use plastic. It’s also a destination for out-of-towners because it has the largest product range, is near the M32 and has a car park.
Our Whiteladies Road store attracts people who love to know about where products come from and are adventurous in their tastes. We get a lot of students as it’s on their way from Halls to Uni, and a lot of older people who really know what they like.
Our newest store, in the new and very cool Wapping Wharf area, has a high number of ‘grab and go’ transactions as it’s on a pedestrianised cut-through to the city centre. Lots of young professionals love it because there’s always something new and interesting to try.
How’s the future looking for you? What are your plans?
We have no immediate expansion plans, but we are doing lots to improve the experience inside our stores. We’re investing in some great self-serve units, for example, so we can offer more products in less plastic. We’re expanding our range of low or no-packaging goods (like our excellent loose-leaf teas from Organic Herb Trading).
Why do you buy from Organic Herb Trading?
We buy Organic Herb Trading teas because they are absolutely the best quality loose-leaf tea we can find. They look beautiful, they have an amazing fragrance and we know the quality of the herbs used is second to none. They give our customers a great reason not to buy tea wrapped in lots of packaging. The fact that Organic Herb Trading are a local business we have a long friendship with makes the arrangement even more palatable.
Why is organic/provenance important to you?
The main focus of Better Food is and always has been organic, so that’s a given requirement of any product we sell. Trusting the sourcing of goods we can’t verify ourselves in person (which is what we do with fresh produce, meat and dairy) is really important because if your company is called Better Food, you need to make sure it is!
What is your favourite cup of tea?
I love a cup of chai myself, that spicy, cakey, aromatic earthiness...
Find out more at http://betterfood.co.uk/