Aldi, the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket, is marking British Food Fortnight by celebrating some of the local Nantwich people and businesses that supply the high-quality products on its shelves.
This includes Nantwich-based supplier, Joseph Heler, which provides close to 150 tonnes of Red Leicester cheese to Aldi stores every month. The family-owned business, which has been making cheese since 1957, has worked with Aldi for more than 10 years, enjoying significant growth during that time.
The partnership has helped Joseph Heler to invest in its packing equipment, it is also embarking on a new £5.5 million investment to automate the final stages of the cheese-making process from this month. The local supplier has also worked with Aldi to reduce its environmental impact, including changing its packaging to save 1.2 tonnes of plastic every year, as well as reducing lorry movements by more than 250 times by opening a new cheese maturation store on-site.
Speaking about the partnership, Angela Pasco, Retail Sales Manager at Joseph Heler, said: “Aldi has been hugely supportive of our efforts to become even more sustainable, and the popularity of our Red Leicester has helped us to grow our business. It’s fantastic that customers love our products, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Aldi to deliver even more.”
This forms part of Aldi’s commitment to supporting local food and drink producers across the UK who make the products that its customers know and love. Its long-term partnerships have seen it ranked the best-performing supermarket for compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice for six consecutive years.
Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying, said: “British Food Fortnight is a fantastic opportunity for us to recognise the amazing work that suppliers across the UK do to help us provide our customers with the best quality products.
“There’s definitely lots to celebrate over the next two weeks and it’s been brilliant to see our partnership with Joseph Heler grow over the years. Our work with both local Nantwich suppliers and independent businesses across the UK is something we’re really proud of here at Aldi.”
British Food Fortnight takes place between 21st September and 6th October 2019. It was established in 2002, and is the biggest national celebration of British food and drink.