Our history - we go way back!

When the Appletons started at Halcombe Farm the only product available was fresh eggs. The type of customers we were serving enabled us to specialize in one product. We supplied big hotels throughout Sussex such as The Grand Hotel and the Gatwick Hilton.

We also directed our sales at the High Street greengrocers and family butchers. In the 1960's and 70's the housewife still shopped at specialist food shops. Every community had a local butcher and greengrocer, who knew all his customers by name. Egg sales flourished in these outlets and our reputation grew for producing good quality fresh product. Sales ran themselves as people phoned us for orders.

However as more out of town super-markets were built in the 1980's the High Street trade suffered and with the competition many of our traditional customers were closing up unable to compete. We went with the times and became a supplier to the CWS Co-op group. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket. We had to update our packing station and change our packaging to accommodate the needs of the Co-op. Sales were good and for the first time we were having to buy in product as we were selling more than we could produce. However with the threat of the contract being taken at any time we needed to expand our sales in other areas.

At first we looked at other dairy products to complement the sale of eggs. Selling British produce was definitely important to us and we decided to market Maryland Farm cheese and butter. Maryland was a family run cheese maker from Dicheat in the heart of Somerset. Their aspirations of quality and tradition sat well with our own ethos and weekly sales grew on their range of products. We also found that with our friendly and helpful approach customers were asking us to source products that they were having difficulty obtaining.

As we added to our product base we found that customers required more deliveries throughout the week. This required more complex organisation and as we grew our staff grew as well. To ensure a good level of service was maintained we have taken on enthusiastic staff with detail knowledge of foodservice.

We now stock a vast range of products, chilled, frozen and ambient. Plus an extensive list of specialist order only items are available at a days notice. We are here to look after the customers' needs and if you require us to source new products we are only too willing to help.

To obtain a current list of products please phone our sales team on 01273 579579. We look forward to hearing from you soon.