Riverford: the organic veg box delivery firm that is owned by its staff

INTERVIEW

Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford, talks about juggling the impacts of the pandemic, Brexit and trade deals while remaining a sustainable company

Guy Singh-Watson founded Riverford in 1987, where he started delivering organic vegetables to 30 local homes. (Photo: Riverford)

By David Parsley

July 12, 2021 

How did the pandemic affect you?

Within a few days of the first national lockdown our sales more or less doubled, and we had to close our website to new customers. Our staff and supplying farms were responsive and pulled out all the stops to the rising demand. Fifteen months on, we’re getting back to some sort of normal. The good news is that we had a very profitable year and were able to share those profits with our co-owners.

How has being a staff-owned business changed Riverford?

We are more successful commercially, staff turnover has halved, and wages levels have increased so that from this autumn we will not only pay the voluntary living wage but will routinely share a minimum of 15 per cent of profits between our co-owners. Overheads have reduced as more responsibility and decisions are taken locally, reducing the need for management, improving quality and reducing waste. In general, there is more creativity and flexibility, making us more responsive to a changing world.

What about the impact of Brexit?

It has added substantially to our costs in many ways and I’m yet to see any clear benefits. The level of paperwork required to import and export is huge and largely unseen and uncosted, but it will inevitably contribute to food inflation in the longer run.

There is a loss of flexibility and responsiveness in trading relationships as they become bound by forms rather than the desire to simply deliver what your customer wants to buy in the most efficient manner possible. We used to export a small number of vegetables to Denmark to a box scheme there that is certainly no longer feasible. We own a farm in France which grows vegetables which I am now trying to sell.

How do you feel about the Australian trade deal and the agricultural elements of that? 

We are told this is a flagship agreement; a sign of things to come. I despair partly of the lowering of farming, food, and environmental standards and partly of the utter shameless lying of our current government. In my 60 years never have I seen such abysmally low moral standards in public life.

Where do you think the business will be in five years’ time? 

Most importantly I feel very confident that we will stick to our values; indeed, all the signs are that we will become more ardent in following and living up to our professed beliefs. 
I do expect there to be substantial growth, though personally at the age of 61 I now have limited appetite for that; there are many younger more ambitious voices within the business who would like to see us exerting our influence to change a larger part of the world.

We will be patient and aim to under promise and overdeliver; in the long run that’s how you build trust. In short, we want to be part of a quiet revolution that improves food standards, farming practices and the norms of business.