Bakery ingredients supplier, Holgran, and dried fruit, seeds and nuts importer, Kimpton Brothers, are to jointly source raw materials for the free trade bakery sector.
The alliance aims to satisfy growing consumer demand for 'healthy' options and meet pressure from in-store bakeries, plant bakers and specialist bakers to deliver volumes of consistently high quality products.
Holgran, part of Hovis Bakeries, a division of Premier Foods, supplies healthy and natural ingredients for the production of premium bread products. The trading house Kimpton Brothers imports beans, pulses, seeds, dried fruits and nuts from around the world.
Alan Marson, commercial director of Holgran, said: "We believe this partnership doesn't just make economic sense, but that it will drive premium products through healthy and indulgent offerings to consumers. Our customers will benefit from improved communications and stability of supply and distribution in an otherwise volatile marketplace."
Holgran sells 20,000t of processed foods to industrial milling and baking manufacturers across Europe. For more than a century Kimpton Brothers has been a leading provider of natural products in the UK.
Today, it trades worldwide and holds stocks in multiple locations around the world with warehousing and logistics arrangements to provide a wide range of solutions for customer requirements.
Prior to the alliance, Holgran sourced its own dried beans, pulses, nuts and seed ingredients. More recently, Kimpton Brothers had been successfully managing Holgran's supply chain for bakery ingredients.
Under the new alliance, Holgran and Kimpton Brothers have together identified the best suppliers in each country of origin to provide Holgran with the best quality ingredients. "This means our customers now get the best quality product available," said Marson. "The market is quite competitive. We don't want risk spoilage or contamination."
The alliance will also allow Holgran time to develop new custom blends.