Company History
In 1963 Roger Simpson’s venture into business started from very humble beginnings; from knocking on doors selling bags of potatoes, to opening the first greengrocers shop, this was closely followed by the second and third. This was also interspersed with supplying other shops and catering outlets and ultimately resulted in the acquisition of a wholesale produce merchants business in Parkway Market, Sheffield. With the pressure of running retail and wholesale it was decided to sell the retail side and concentrate fully on the new business, which by further acquisition went from one unit to four in five years, and then became one of the biggest produce merchants in the north of England. The Company developed strong links with growers in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire along with Spanish, Dutch and French Exporters and a small fleet of vehicles was acquired, to collect and distribute the produce. In 1990, at the height of its success, the business was sold to Mack Markets plc.
Freshlink Ltd was established in 1985 to streamline the supply of the rapidly expanding Gateway stores, which later became known as Somerfield. This very successful relationship grew, acquiring new premises with potato packing lines, with orders of up to 60 tons daily. Eventually the business out grew the premises, expansion on a much bigger scale was needed with massive expense and little commitment from its customers, after 8 years Fresh link Ltd closed its doors and ceased trading.
In 1988 R W Simpson Transport Ltd was formed and grew steadily. Originally used by R W Simpson to collect produce from Lincolnshire and Cambridge for the wholesale business but, as time went by, it gradually developed into a service for other companies in Sheffield Wholesale Market, providing their transportation requirements. In 1988 David Simpson, Rogers’ son, joined the Company. David took an interest in the transport side of the Company and together they set about extending the customer base. Other Market locations were added and the customer base began to increase.
In 1997 R W Simpson managed to acquire the business of a major competitor, T B Oliver in Peterborough. This was a bold move but it enabled the company to offer our customers a more complete service to all the southern markets. It doubled the fleet overnight to 14 vehicles and 20 trailers. The Sheffield site became the hub for the northern distribution and Peterborough concentrated on the south. The company grew quite rapidly over the next few years, doubling its turnover with each year of trading.
In 1999 a new site was acquired in Ecclesfield, Sheffield, just a few hundred yards from junction 35 of the M1. A new purpose built cold storage and distribution building was built on the site in early 2002.
On January 1st 2004 the company opened a new Depot in Paddock Wood, Kent. With its close proximity to the ports, the site has proved to be a vital addition to the business and has contributed immensely to the growth of the company. Now an overnight service to any wholesale outlet or supermarket RDC in the country can be offered. New business was taken on with major importers such as Hars & Hargebauer, Fortuna Frutos, Redbridge and many others. An office in the port of Sheerness has also been opened. This is already proving successful and a distribution contract with a major banana importer has also been secured.
In 2006 the turnover was just short of £10 million and the company operated 54 units and 75 refrigerated trailers. Thanks to the efforts of the management and staff the company can pride its self on becoming, possibly, the largest distributor of fresh produce to wholesale markets and retailers in the country.
The company is still very much a hands on, family run business, with a passion for delivering the right level of service. That passion, we believe, is the reason for our success and we should never lose sight of it.
