Values are what create the difference between two businesses who broadly do the same as each other.

The end goal may be the same but they will get there in different ways depending on what they value. The size of the business affects things too: a team of three people can obviously run their business differently from a multinational.  But even within small businesses the personality of the founder and the culture will emphasise certain characteristics. The more the values are easy to experience the easier it is for the right customers to know like and trust them and buy.

Buying groceries with added values

During lockdown I had tried to get supermarket deliveries of groceries but found it difficult as I was not a customer.  I normally prefer to shop at my local fruit and veg shop or in person at a supermarket.

I was advised to use Riverford by people who used them, and I had also heard good things about Abel and Cole.

I could not sign up immediately as they were fully stretched but was encouraged to go on a wait list and offered a copy of their Autumn and Winter Veg Book.  It looked like a well designed “proper” book and I knew I would gain from being more imaginative with cooking vegetables. A week later I was told they could deliver to me, and I appreciated the friendly and courteous messages, together with the prompt service.

I found myself thinking “So he really means it.  He really grows this stuff.”  It was almost a shock to discover that this was an authentic message from someone who is actually in the trenches “doing” it.  Not a personable front for a big faceless organisation with deep pockets.

I was surprised to find a some notes tucked down the side of the box when it came.  But as someone who loves reading it felt like a real bonus. What I read gave me a jolt of surprise.  It was from the “main man” expressing hope for the year ahead and mentioning that the frost had just destroyed a crop of thousands of purple sprouting broccoli.

Clues about values are all through the Riverford brand

You squash the boxes flat and leave them out for collection when your next delivery arrives. This is such a brilliantly simple solution, and the boxes are apparently used about 10 times. There is no Sellotape or plastic.

Inner packaging is made of compostable material.  They ran a survey to discover whether their customers did their own composting.  As the answer was yes they are now proud to have all necessary packing for soft fruit and vegetable suitable for home composting. This requires less heat than more commercial recycling/composting services. 

The website and the weekly notes tell you more about the vegetables you have received. About what is happening and often are directly from the growers themselves in the country or region where they are being grown. As the customer this helps you to feel part of the network too and get an idea of what goes on behind the scenes.

The notes and the cooking videos on the website offer straightforward ideas for how to make the most of the produce.  It is not about making cute piles of food in a fine dining kind of way, but more about finding out about vegetables, and discovering the different ways they can be cooked.  The videos I have watched are by young guys wearing bobble hats and are cheerful!  I have cooked carrot fritters for the first time (and enjoyed them!)

Continuity and trust for the company

The organisation is on a franchise basis with a local representative.  So the same person comes to the door each week and we have a cheerful wave.  This builds up more trust and feels more pleasurable than an “efficient” text telling you your time slot, and the name of the driver, who then may take a photo of the box on your doorstep. There is no need for the extra level of Quality Control photograph: he knows he has delivered.

So at every interaction with Riverford I have become aware of what they stand for. My personal experience has introduced me to a business that is more than a grocery deliverer.  The vans and the boxes are decorated with “Live life on the Veg” which is more of a joke than a serious company mission statement. The regular magazine is called “Wiki Leeks” . So it seems that Riverford is not too earnest or reverential about itself. But I get the message that it is serious about what it stands for.

Riverford is not owned by a hedge fund, it is not even a business run by Guy Watson. Its legal status is of a co-operative of growers. 

It also has the status of a B Corp.

I was simply looking for vegetable when I first joined. But have stayed even when the shops are open again.  I share their values of minimum waste and fairness both to the customer and to the people whose contribution makes the organisation function.

Are your business values expressed in the people you buy from?  What about the people who buy from you?