Vitacress Herbs replaces VHB
Vitacress, the UK’s largest grower and supplier of fresh herbs for the UK retail market, has announced that its herb division will be rebranded as Vitacress Herbs Ltd, replacing Van Heyningen Brothers Ltd. The move, which becomes official from 1st April 2016 is part of a wider strategy to consolidate the Vitacress business under one name.
Simon Conway, MD for Vitacress Herbs, said this is the last phase of a re-branding of the Vitacress Herbs business, things like signage on site and any branded uniform for our colleagues had already changed over a year ago. This now allows us to move forward as one Vitacress team in the UK.
The name change follows the opening of Vitacress’ new £4.5m 9ha herb facility in Chichester, on a site that is also now home to Vitacress’ shared businesses. The site will process 20m pot herbs and supply 60m packs of fresh cut herbs each year.
As well as the new factory Vitacress have also invested in a £40k marketing campaign to promote fresh herbs to consumers. The Herbilicious campaign aimed to inspire consumers to cook more meals with fresh herbs, and included the launch of a new website www.lovefreshherbs.co.uk. 2016 will see ongoing consumer outreach, as well as the launch of new herb varieties.
350 staff are based at the Chichester site. Toby Brinsmead, Vitacress CEO, said: “Vitacress’ goal is to provide the freshest, tastiest, healthiest and most exciting produce throughout the year. The recent investment demonstrates our commitment to achieving this goal in the herb market. As well as a combination of the right investment and the right technology, you also need the right people to succeed, and that is an area where I’m glad to say Vitacress is extremely fortunate.”