Abel & Cole
Abel & Cole began life in the basement of a house in South East London in 1988 when Keith Abel rashly decided that life as a barrister was not for him (nothing to do with the fact that his exam papers weren’t up to scratch).
In those days it was Paul Cole and him, with their friend Jules and Keith’s Mum, flogging potatoes door to door. It was cold, physically hard work (they’d start at 2am each morning at New Covent Garden Market to get the best spuds) but they had a great sense of pride when, at the end of the first day, they’d sold a ton of spuds in 10lb bags! It was also a laugh a minute packing potatoes in the middle of the night, joking with South Londoners on their doorstep at breakfast time and always saving time for a quick beer on the way home to bed.
Before long they were selling enough to start buying directly from farmers and one day a Devon farmer called Bernard Gauvier (we still buy from him) offered him some “organic” potatoes. “Ask the farms you currently buy from what they spray on them” said Bernard with his West Country twang.
So on his next trip to a farm in Kent the doors were pulled back on an enormous shed full of hundreds of bags covered with skulls and crossbones, and “danger - highly flammable” warnings.
Abel & Cole
The next day Keith was knocking on doors selling people either organic potatoes or “conventional” ones and in doing so explaining to people what “organic” meant. No prizes for guessing which ones people wanted when they’d had the difference explained.
Since then Abel & Cole has come a long way. The company has been led by Duncan (a farmer’s son & keen foodie) for the last couple of years who has created a great team around him that has enabled us to keep growing yet crucially stay true to our founding values.
I think this is the secret to Abel & Cole’s success over the last few years: we believe that running a business is about building long-term, trusting and fair relationships between people, be it Felipe who has always kept our offices sparkling, Rob who has delivered for us for nearly 18 years or Nick Gosling who provides us with the most wonderful organic milk. We don’t always get it right but we always try our hardest.
It has also been a treat to witness and be a part of the success of organic food: one of the few areas of life where people don’t just want things as cheap as possible but are prepared to pay a small premium for real, healthy, sustainable, quality food.
“Five –Star, one stop organic delivery service that has made going green sexy. Great food, service & website” The Daily Telegraph.
Abel and Cole have a number of values that they are committed to keeping, to these include;
Delivering outstanding service – They won the national customer service in 2006 and 2007.
Support British farmers – They support over 120 British farmers, purchasing only local produce.
Work with the seasons - Different fruit and veg are added to the boxes throughout the year dependent on the time and what is in season.
Guided by their ethics – They are committed to donating £4000 a week to schools so they’re able to eat healthily.
We look after the environment – They never air freight and we recycle all of our packaging.
Click Abel & Cole to discover the wide range of organic home delivery products they have to offer.
