Neame Lea Nursery was awarded the prestigious Overall Supplier of the Year Award at the annual IPL Vendor awards ceremony at Asda House in Leeds.
Neame Lea, which is based in Spalding, was chosen out of thousands of suppliers, spanning across 27 countries and five different continents, for its dedication, investment and vision that has allowed for significant growth across Asda’s horticulture category.
IPL is the procurement arm of Asda/Walmart and the biggest single importer of produce into the UK, providing everything from vegetables, nuts and dried fruits to ambient goods like houseplants, flowers and wine.
The outstanding performance Asda has seen across its horticulture category comes from being able to deal directly with the growers and the benefits that brings in terms of quality, value and innovation.
Neame Lea also helped deliver more than 7,000 pallets of both plants and flowers in the days building up to Mother’s Day this year, with the event proving to be a huge success despite the operational challenges in delivering such a large amount of product in such a short space of time.
Managing director David Ball said: “It’s a great achievement for all of our team and it is fantastic that the hard work that everyone has put in over the last 12 months is acknowledged by being awarded with this honour.
“It’s a challenging industry so it is even more satisfying to see our customers out-perform the market and a credit to all of our team of what they have been able to deliver this year.
“Our focus is now on how we can improve on this for the forthcoming year, and further lift the bar in terms of supply across the horticultural industry.”
Neame Lea, which owns four sites and rents five others, has recently started building the next phase of its development, with a further ten acres being built at its Horseshoe Road site. That is planned to be completed by the end of this year.
It also has plans to redevelop its Lucksbridge and Bridge Farm sites – developments that are crucial in order for the business to be sustainable in the long-term.
Mr Ball said: “Our costs are always rising so we have to continually look at ways of mitigate these cost increases.
“The new development will give us some of the best facilities in the UK, which will be great for the area and the horticultural industry as a whole.
“It’s a small-margin industry and we have to work hard for every penny, but we are fortunate that we have a local planning team that appreciate the importance of the industry to the local area.”
