Last week, we were delighted to be involved for a second year with the Workington Community Emergency Response Group with fresh produce supplies – including broccoli, potatoes, sprouts and carrots which were all carefully picked, weighed, packed and delivered to Energy Coast UTC where they were parcelled up along with a number of other food donations from local businesses ready to be distributed to 500 families throughout West Cumbria ahead of Christmas Day.
This campaign is vital in supporting families and those in need over the festive period, we were thrilled to be asked to support again.
A huge thanks to all the supporters, fundraisers and volunteers involved.

 Time flies by so quickly, we couldn’t believe we were 12 months on from the first Ready Steady Cook event which took place at Carlisle Youth Zone last summer!  The young people enjoyed it so much last year we just knew we had to have another competition this year.
We worked in partnership with our friends at Carlisle Foodbank who provided a wide range of ambient ingredients, along with ourselves at Inter Fresh who supplied the fresh produce and dairy items for the event.
The project aims to raise awareness of the two Charities CYZ and Carlisle Foodbank.
The children were split into teams – team green, orange, purple and blue, and with the help of an adult from various local businesses who are all Patrons of CYZ, they did a fantastic job cooking up at storm with the ingredients, which were typically what you would expect to receive in a food parcel from the Foodbank.
It was the Green Team that were crowned top chefs on the day (congratulations to our very own Nikki!)
It was an absolute pleasure to be involved in this project again and a fantastic opportunity for young people to work in teams alongside CYZ Patrons, learn new skills, and try ingredients they may not have had before.  We definitely found some future kitchen stars!

A huge thank you Carlisle Youth Zone for planning and hosting the event and to everyone who took part. 
Including:
Carlisle Foodbank, David Allen IT, Warwick Mill Business Village & Mark Nield Wealth Management
 And the guest judges:
Chloe Hogg from Fantails, Wetheral, Stephanie Humes – Carlisle Foodbank & Harrison Ward – The Fell Foodie
 
We look forward to this event growing from strength to strength each year

In January we started working with Cumbria Zoo in Dalton, supplying produce to feed both their hungry visitors aswell as the vast array of fantastic animal residents who are fed and looked after 24/7.  Lots of mouths to feed of all shapes and sizes!
In May, Sue, our Sales Manager visited the Zoo to meet the team, she was given a real insight into the “behind the scenes” operation, and saw how our fresh produce is prepared for the animals.

Sue met with Anna (baboon fan) - Operations Manager, Sam (red panda fan) - Marketing Manager and Kim (rhino fan) - Animal Manager, all who are long serving staff at the Zoo. Their enthusiasm to achieve the best visitor experience, and the welfare and conservation projects for their “residents” was wonderful to learn more about. 

There is so much going on behind the scenes to ensure their customers have the best time when visiting. The Zoo is popular for people all ages with their Education packages for groups, feeding experiences (which Sue highly recommends!) after having a close up chat with the giraffes, lemurs and kangaroos – it was great to see animals right across the park enjoying our fruit and veg!
Each animal group have different requirements and controlled diets, with firm favourites being beetroot, sweet potato, apples and swede.  They definitely get their 5 a day!

It was interesting to watch the Animal Kitchen Team hard at work cutting, chopping and mixing the produce.  Tons of fruit and veg prepared with love, mixed with other special feed where needed before being delivered by Kim and her team of 16 keepers to the different enclosures.  Even cut into different sized pieces depending on the size of the animal!

It was interesting to hear how the Zoo looked after their residents during Covid, and the challenges they faced when they had to close to the public.  They talked about the power of social media and how much people enjoyed watching their live videos online, the generosity of supermarkets / local donations and charities, in particular Fareshare, who specialise in the distribution of surplus food to frontline organisations.  This support ensured the animals were fed and cared for throughout this difficult time.

Please visit and support!
If you haven’t visited Cumbria Zoo before, it comes highly recommend this as a fabulous day out.  There are daily feeding experiences, animal adoption packages and a chance to learn more about the fantastic Dogs For Wildlife project in Africa, where the Zoo have trained and invested in 2 British dogs, Dan and Indy, to go South Africa and work in anti-poaching roles to protect endangered wildlife – how amazing is that!
​
We are proud to support Cumbria Zoo, we asked Sue what her favourite animal was and this was a tough question to answer. She will certainly be back to visit again soon!
For more information & tickets visit www.southlakessafarizoo.com
Other useful links
www.dogs4wildlife.org / www.southlakessafarizoo.com/conservation-2

The festive season often proves a difficult time financially for families, especially with the current cost of living crisis that the country faces.  This is affecting so many within our Cumbrian communities. 

We were delighted to be approached by the Workington Community Emergency Response Group to see if we could lend a helping hand this year to support this very worthwhile cause.
With just a couple of days to get the produce ordered, checked, counted and packed, it was all hands on deck to make this happen.  With Christmas carols playing, cups of tea and mince pies flowing, the team at the Carlisle depot swung into action!
 
The shopping list included:
600 heads broccoli, 600 x 2kg bags potatoes, 600 x 1kg bags carrots, 600 x 500g bags Brussel sprouts
 
Pallets of fresh produce arrived and the counting and weighing began.  Within a few hours the vegetables were bagged up, vans loaded, and headed off to the Energy Coast UTC, Workington.
 
We were met by a fabulous team of volunteers, including the Rotary Club and Inner Wheel Club members, Derwent Recycling, Workington Town Council, the Helena Thompson Museum to name just a few.

The vans were unloaded, and the UTC Sports Hall was awash with produce.  Carrots and Brussels seemed to stretch for miles across the room!  The “Christmas Elves” then got to work, packing up fabulous food bags for families in need.  Generous donations of mince pies, chocolates, turkey crowns, Christmas puddings, custard and even tin foil, were packed neatly into the 600 bags before being distributed across the region ahead of the big day.
 
The organisation and planning of this huge task must have taken a lot of time and without the local funders and sponsors would never have happened.  We were delighted to support the project, knowing that 600 families will be able to enjoy a lovely meal and some treats on Christmas Day made us a proud project to be part of.
 
Merry Christmas everyone – I think we will be counting sprouts in our sleep for some time yet!

​Earlier this month, Will and Morgan were kindly invited as guests by one of our UK fresh produce suppliers to the Fruit Attraction 2022 exhibition in Madrid.  This was an opportunity not to be missed.
Fruit Attraction has become the leading event worldwide regarding the fruit and veg market, it was a good chance to meet and network with some of the growers that Inter Fresh deal with through our UK supply chain.
The array of fresh produce on show was superb, a sea of colour wherever you looked!
Over the 3 days 90,000 visitors came through show, with over 1800 exhibitors in attendance from over 130 countries so the exhibition is on a massive scale.
Whilst they were there, Will and Morgan watched cooking demonstrations, attended talks from various suppliers, and got a real insight into the pressures that suppliers overseas are up against in relation to all different aspects such as; adverse weather conditions, soaring fuel costs, Brexit, importing costs to name just afew.  It was interesting to hear direct from the growers themselves as our communication links are always with our UK suppliers.
The exhibition is held in October, a great time of year for the growers to discuss what’s new for the year ahead regarding supply and demand of produce coming into Europe from all corners of the globe.
There were other interesting suppliers in attendance, such as machinery, Eco friendly packaging, biological solution testing laboratories – something for everyone attending to enjoy.
Madrid is a great city to visit too – Spanish beer and Tapas is always a winner!  Hopefully we will get to return next year.

Will and Jonny, the Co owner of sister company Boxed Fresh were delighted to take part in the Sponsors Day. Inter Fresh are proud sponsors of The 15th hole on the course.

We were lucky with the weather after serious downpours earlier in the week - the grounds staff work had worked around the clock to keep the course drained.
 
Other sponsors who took part in the day included Fantails, JJ Electrical, Armstrong Watson, Premier Electrical amongst other local businesses so it was a good opportunity to catch up and network with other supporters.

A great meal and a few drinks were enjoyed after the game. Inter Fresh and the golf club work in partnership through the course sponsorship, aswell as donating fruit boxes for their young people’s summer camps.  We also supply the Clubhouse restaurant with their fresh produce requirements.
 
Sadly Inter Fresh didn't win on the day, but prizes were given to the overall winners, nearest the pin and the longest drive.

Photos show Jonny trying his best to hit the ball straight..... and views of the course, Clubhouse and the sunshine. 

Last week, Will was delighted to be asked to present at Carlisle College.  He was invited along to chat with the Level 2 Business and Workskills Students about Inter Fresh and his journey since the business began in 2016.
 
Will was himself a student at Carlisle College a few years ago where he completed a business admin course, which set him up with valuable key knowledge and skills to take into his working life and were of great use when setting up Inter Fresh as a business.
 
The students were keen to hear how it all began - back in the early days of "a man with a van" delivering around the Carlisle area and then fast forward 6 years to a business with 15 vans. 25 staff, 2 distribution depots and a customer base of over 400 active accounts.
 
They were also keen to hear about how the pandemic affected the business, and how Will adapted his business model during lockdown.  This included the growth of the newly created sister company, Boxed Fresh, the home delivery service, which accelerated massively during this time.  
 
Questions asked included;
What made you start where did the ideas come from?
What was your mindset like when you started your business?
What do you do in your spare time?
What is the hardest thing you have to put up with every day?
How far would you like to expand the business?
 
After the 2 hour talk, Will expressed his enthusiasm for the students at the college, as it was not too long ago he was in the same position. "I am a big believer that it is not all about the grades, having a good attitude, being reliable, a bit of common sense and most importantly of all, always being pleasant with people"
 
Photos show Will suited and booted and ready to present - including an outtake image!
 
The presentation was arranged by Katie Hunter, Carlisle College

As Patrons of Carlisle Youth Zone (CYZ) we were delighted to be involved in this morning's event in conjunction with Carlisle Foodbank, creating awareness about the need to support local Foodbanks.  In these very difficult times for so many this was a great event to make the young people of Carlisle aware of the support that is out there in our community.

Ahead of the event, we consulted with CYZ and the Foodbank regarding ingredients for the day.  We were to supply the teams with key ingredients, typical items which are popular donations received at Carlisle Foodbank.  We put our heads together and came up with a good list. From the Foodbank - tinned items such as potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, meatballs, hotdogs, pasta, rice, eggs and other staples.  From Inter Fresh fresh produce including onions, spring onions, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese & milk.

First thing this morning, the van was loaded up and off Sue went to deliver the produce and get set up for the young people and businesses arrival.

5 incredibly awesome businesses, alongside the young people went head to head in a Ready, Steady Cook! style competition.

Kingmoor Park, RAW Insurance Brokers Ltd, David Allen, Armstrong Watson and Handelsbanken all took to their cooking stations, Chefs hats and aprons on, hands washed, and at 11am the event began - 20 minutes on the clock..... in 3,2,1, Ready, Steady COOK!

The contents of the Foodbank supplies were revealed and the fresh produce pantry was open.  Menus were quickly discussed between each team, various tins and packets were opened and veggies were chopped up.

20 minutes soon passed and the challenge was completed.  Then it was time for the scoring.  Presentation / creativity / taste and extra points for nutritional value and even more points if all ingredients were used in the dishes.

Welcome to our new website!

We are delighted to launch our new website; we hope you find it a useful tool and will give you a more in-depth insight into Inter Fresh and how we operate. Keep an eye on our news, we will update you on handy hints for what’s in season, trends and ideas – all useful information when updating menus and looking for inspiration.

As you know, launching a new website really is “a work in progress” so if there is more from us that you would like to know or for us to include, then please do get intouch, any ideas are most welcome!

To sign up for special offers and last minute deals, please contact us directly and we will add you to our ever popular WhatsApp group – where there are often deals to be had, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a bargain?!

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook & Instagram for instant news and information. Thank you for your continued support and we wish you and your business well.

Best wishes Sue and the Inter Fresh team