Riverford, the employee-owned organic vegetable box company, will reward its workforce with a £1.3 million profit share after seeing pre-tax profits more than double to £5.3 million.
With sales climbing 11 per cent to £110 million for the year to 4 May 2024, each of the 1,000-plus staff stands to receive about £1,000, up from a total payout of £500,000 last year.
Founded in Devon in the late 1980s by Guy Singh-Watson, Riverford initially supplied vegetables to supermarkets before delivering produce to about 30 households from an old Citroën van in 1993. Today, the company competes with the likes of Abel & Cole and Oddbox, delivering more than 70,000 boxes during peak periods and priding itself on ethical practices—staff receive at least the real living wage and take part in business decision-making.
Riverford attributes the improved financial performance to loyal customers spending more, with prices rising by an average of 5.6 per cent in mid-2023 amid higher energy, fertiliser and labour costs. Despite growing competition from supermarkets, the business managed a “period of stabilisation” after the pandemic’s online-shopping boom subsided.
Lucinda Turner, Riverford’s commercial director, said increased profits reflect “more people choosing quality, organic food, seasonal eating, and fairness to farmers.” She added that the company tried to shield core items from price hikes “to keep organic food as accessible as possible,” even as a 10 per cent increase in the real living wage lifted labour costs by £2.7 million.
Having become majority employee-owned in 2018, Riverford completed the transition last year when Singh-Watson sold his remaining 20 per cent stake for £8.5 million. The company’s workforce, now standing at 1,023, is sharing in the larger profit payout under Riverford’s staff-ownership ethos.
Looking ahead, the firm continues to invest in sustainability by expanding its solar power capacity to over 1 megawatt across several sites, increasing its fleet of electric delivery vans and planting 10,000 trees. Turner expects these steps to bolster Riverford’s credentials as it contends with rising competition in the organic and ethical food sector.