Company Focus - PEROS

It seems like the whole of Chelmsford is out jogging today. A small rise in the temperature and budding athletes seem to appear from nowhere. Arms and legs pumping, tendons snapping and feet banging the pavement for all their worth. People of Chelmsford you are so fit! You see there is life in Essex....ok enough rambling.

With Fairtrade Fortnight just around the corner I thought we'd do a little bit on a company that specialises in Fairtrade products. The company was conceived by Peter Goodey and James Roberts back in 2000. In previous lives they were contract caterers who longed to run their own business specialising in Fairtrade products. Their story is inspirational, starting with a small business loan they developed and expanded their operation, through excellent customer service, they now have become one of the largest independent Fairtrade distributors to the Food Service Sector in the UK. Their range includes over 350 Fairtrade, Organic and Sustainable products.

A little known fact about this company is their tireless work that they've done to improve the lives of thousands of people in the Third World.  Just one example is The "One Foundation" provides clean drinking water to villages across southern Africa through its Play Pumps scheme. To date, through the sale of One water, Peros and their customers have helped to provide fresh, clean drinking water to 60 communities in the North West Province of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi.

Their product range is huge and being a fan of chocolate I am particularly interested in their new brand of chocolate, Nero and Bianco which is both Fairtrade and Organic. Fingers crossed they might send me a couple of bars to review? I've just taken a snippet from their website to give you an idea, "Nero & Bianco’s delicate, smooth textures and rich, aromatic flavours originate from the finest organic and Fairtrade cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic and Peru, and cane sugar from Paraguay which is also Fairtrade and organic.  Using traditional techniques the cocoa beans are nurtured and harvested by passionate growers for the experienced chocolate makers at Nero & Bianco to create the three delicious flavours in the range". If you're interested Peros are running a Valentine's competition click here for more details.


Ask yourself these questions. Is your company doing enough to promote Fairtrade? Do you see these or similar products in your restaurant or local High Street deli? If not you need to be challenging your catering teams or your boss. 


To visit Peros click here!


Don't forget Fairtrade Fortnight is from 28 February - 13 March 2011