Suppliers & Producers
Wherever possible, we look to support specialist independents, local producers and those on a mission to improve communities, working and production practices and their own carbon footprint. That their products are also exceptional is surely the definition of ‘win, win’.
Planet Minimal
Minor Figures
Infinity
Cycle of Good
Tealicious
Fireheart
Paper Bag
Dove’s Farm
Duchess Oils
Husk and Honey
Sunbird Kitchen
Jiddler’s Tipple
London Honey
The Good Dot
Aeithalis
Gin 58
GoJute
Sticker It
Pastificio Carleschi
French Flint
Fill
Ecojiko
Blue Earth Clean
Shipton Mill
Neary’s Sweets
Hodmedods
Suma
Safix
Planet Minimal
Minor Figures
Infinity
Cycle of Good
Dove’s Farm
Neary’s Sweets
Hodmedods
The Good Dot
Aeithalis
Gin 58
GoJute
Sticker It
London Honey
Duchess Rapeseed Oil
Shipton Mill
Safix
Tealicious
Pastificio Carleschi
French Flint
London Honey
Husk and Honey
Sunbird Kitchen
Jiddler’s Tipple
Fireheart
Fireheart
Fill
Paper Bag
Ecojiko
Blue Earth Clean
Suma
Aeithalis
Aeithalis (Ayy-tha-lis) means ‘evergreen’ in Greek, and comprises Ilias Panagiotakopoulos, a Greek farmer who inherited a neglected olive grove near Kyparissia in Southern Greece, and William Uden.
“It wasn’t long”, says Will “before we had won a Great Taste Award for our first harvest. Aeithalis operates as transparently as possible. Last year we gained PDO status, this year we have applied for organic certification and we regularly dispel myths on olive oil production through social media. Many expensive oils still use vast amounts of weedkillers which completely wreck the ecology of the groves for example.” says Will. “We pay our workers a living wage and excess profits go back into maintaining the grove without the use of chemicals.”
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Tealicious
A Hertfordshire based, family-run business started by friends Katie and Louise in 2011, since joined by husbands Nigel and Simon. 35 years in the industry, Nigel was Director of Primary Tea Buying at Tata Global Beverages, buying more than 60 million kilos of tea per year. All their teas are sourced from tea estates that are members of either or both The Ethical Tea Partnership and Rainforest Alliance, their 1kg refill bags are 100% compostable, they have been working with Ecologi UK since October 2020 and are now a carbon neutral business.
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Fireheart
“The best coffee is fresh coffee and that means seasonal beans roasted to order”, say Fireheart. A Muswell Hill-based speciality coffee roasters, Fireheart has two coffee obsessives at its heart, Thomas and Paul, who built a coffee roastery during lockdown from which they produce small-batch coffee that’s always seasonal and hand-roasted to order. They source the best seasonal beans and pay their farmers 50% more than FairTrade prices for a true living wage
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Fill
From a family-run factory in Northamptonshire, Fill is a range of refillable eco laundry and household cleaning products, delivered in bulk containers, which are collected and refilled for a zero waste closed loop solution. They make everything themselves with real chemists, combining biodegradable ingredients, no dyes, no harsh chemicals, no single use plastic. They are Allergy UK, Vegan, Plastic Free and Sedex accredited and are a living wage employer.
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Minor Figures
Based in E17, Minor Figures is an unlikely mob of painters, jazz musicians, basketball players and barbers, who make plant-based, 100% vegan teas, coffees and oat milks particularly developed to accompany their coffee. So, it doesn’t split in the lightest roasts and textures to the perfect foam, keeping the focus on the coffee. They are also a certified Carbon Neutral brand with some of the best branding we’ve ever seen. Sadly lost on refills!
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Gin 58
An eco-conscious distillery based ‘under the arches’ in Haggerston. As part of their commitment to being the category leader in sustainable craft spirits production, they were the first UK distillery to switch their production to hand sanitiser in response to the Covid-19 crisis; which is recommended by the WHO and officially supplied to the Met Police, NHS Trust hospitals and Marie Curie Hospitals.
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Pastificio Carleschi
“Our pasta is the only pasta in the UK that won 5 Great Taste Awards in 2020,” says Pastifichio Carleschi’s Natalia Gruzina. “It’s also the first and only organic and plastic free pasta certified in the UK. We bring our Italian heritage and skills to create artisan pasta of the highest quality, slow dried at a low temperature allowing the nutritional value and natural taste of the grains to remain intact.”
Artisan made in East London, Pastifichio Carleschi use ancient wheat varieties like spelt, emmer and einkorn, making their pasta a particularly popular vegan choice through its superior nutritional values and high protein and fibre content – up to twice that of industrially produced white pasta.
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Infinity
Infinity Foods is one of the UK’s leading distributors of high quality, organic, biodynamic, fairtrade and natural products, based in Shoreham-by-Sea. It has been a worker’s cooperative since 1979, founded in equality and fairness. “We guage the success of our business not only in terms of profit, but also through environmental and social responsibility and involvement in our local community”, they say. “We believe that it is our responsibility to provide food that, is as far as possible, natural and unadulterated, free from GM and hydrogenated fat, organic accredited and sourced from companies with high ethical standards”. That’ll do us.
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GoJute
Our reusable jute bags are 100% natural, 100% biodegradable and come courtesy of GoJute – a Cornish family business with strong ethical standards at their factory in India, where safety and quality control is meticulously adhered to and families are supported with comprehensive welfare and education programmes. Their raft of ethical and sustainability accreditations includes Sedex, FairTrade, EcoCert, ICiX and Climate Care.
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Sticker It
The People’s Planet brand stickers may look glossy and plastic, but they are made from sustainably sourced wood pulp from managed plantations, are vegan, 100% biodegradable and compostable. They also have a thinner backing than normal sticker, helping to lower their environmental impact.
French Flint
Our jars come from East London based French Flint, who have been in business for nearly two centuries, when they started imported the newly invented Flint Glass from France in 1824. As well as being local, over 60% of their glass bottles and jars are made in the UK.
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Paperbag
For those buying in bigger quantities, we have back up 100% recyclable eco-paper bags from the aptly named Paperbag Co, an FSC certified company based in Wiltshire, that ethically source all their materials, including paper from sustainable forests that meet only the highest standards of forest management. What’s more, they hold the Guinness World Record for making the largest paper bag in the world. 22.50m x 15.51m x 3.36m, as you ask!
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Cycle of Good
Our delivery bike, Eric, is an Elephant bike – a decommissioned Royal Mail delivery bike that has been literally ‘upcycled’ by Cycle of Good. This amazing company donate up to three bikes to Malawi for every one that they sell in the UK – a country where a bike can increase a household income by 35% and make education accessible to children in far flung villages. Not only that, but they have set up a workshop to restore the bikes, which trains young offenders the skills of bike maintenance and a potential trade. Meanwhile, in Malawi, they have set up a parallel workshop for the restoration of the bikes that they ship over, which again teaches local people a skill and a trade. Incredible work!
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Planet Minimal
Our cleaning and bathroom products and our Aeithalis refill extra virgin olive oil is delivered in bulk by North London-based Planet Minimal’s electric van, usually driven by sustainability zealot Hamish. The empty containers are then collected for washing and refilling, eliminating single-use plastic entirely. Apart from being a joy to work with, Planet Minimal are on a passionately held mission to address the plastic pollution crisis.
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Ecojiko
Ecojiko supply our branded bamboo and sisal pot scrubbers and the bamboo paddle brushes in our bathroom refill gift sets. They are a small family business based near Lancaster, supplying the highest quality products that are all made from natural materials that biodegrade easily and which arrive in recycled packaging and compostable postage bags that will biodegrade within 12 months.
“Influenced by our love of nature, we wanted to create a range of everyday products that were both natural and gorgeous to look at,” they say. “We became tired with the constant use of plastic in the home, the endless non-recyclable waste it produces and its negative effects on the environment. And so, ecojiko was born.”
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Doves’ Farm
Dove’s Farm was founded in 1977 by Clare and Michael Marriage, with the simple idea of making quality flour from their organically farmed grains. This means that it has been produced with higher levels of environmental and animal welfare, lower levels of pesticides and no genetically modified ingredients or artificial fertilisers. Still family owned and based in the North Wessex Downs, their multiple award-winning range continues to develop, milling heritage flours too, including rye, spelt, einkorn and emmer.
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Duchess Rapeseed Oil
Duchess Farm has been family run in Hertfordshire for six generations. The name comes from current custodian Oscar Harding’s great grandmother, who was known as “Duchess”. Their oil is grown, harvested, bottled and pressed on the farm. There is no mass production. Protecting their soil and the farm’s environment is central to their ethos and they have worked with Friends of the Earth to stop the use of harmful insecticides and dedicated 150 acres of their farm to conservation. Even the pressed seeds don’t go to waste – they are fed to the cows. We receive your oil in 20 litre vats via eco-electric-delivery-supplier Planet Minimal, who collect, clean and reuse them when empty.
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Husk and Honey
Multiple Great Taste Award winning independent, Husk & Honey, are the UK’s only dedicated bakery for oven-fresh, premium granola using the finest ingredients and baked, since 2017, under the historic railway arches of Spa Terminus in Bermondsey.
“The ethos at H&H has always been to bring to you the absolute best in quality ingredients – honey, oats, spices, fruits, nuts and everything else we can get our hands on. But – with a twist! What’s the point of having all these incredible ingredients if we don’t get creative with them?”
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Blue Earth Clean
An independent based in Fife, Scotland, Blue Earth Clean’s fitting strapline is “inspired through innovation”. Innovation which comes from a team of chemists with over 50 years of combined laundry expertise, driven by a passion for a more sustainable future which is better for the environment.
That means their own ecological footprint too. “In the long term, we are pursuing a goal of not only producing CO2-neutral, but also showing a positive CO2 balance” they say. “A large part of our production operation is already well below the industry average.
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Shipton Mill
Set in a beautiful Cotswold valley near Tetbury, the mill in Shipton Moyne Wood has been producing flour since the time of the Domesday Book. Today it produces a wide variety of speciality flours, using both traditional grain and traditional methods. They mill a range of organic flour of exceptional quality, without haste and with scrupulous care, using only the best ingredients; and all ground with traditional French Burr millstones, retaining all that organic goodness – just as they would have been in medieval times.
A restoration project since 1981, the mill, its river and millpond have also become home to a thriving and diverse ecosystem, including wild brown trout, kingfishers, damselflies and otters. And now that the millwheel is restored and the sluice gates can close to create the beautiful millpond, they are working on generating our own electricity from the millwheel.
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Neary’s Sweets
The UK’s specialist for eco-friendly, plastic free, palm oil-free, vegan sweets, Neary’s are based in Huddersfield. Which also happen to be delicious! They also run an eco-point system which customers donate to planting trees. The Willie Wonkas of waste reduction, you might say!
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Sunbird Kitchen
The woman behind the Sunbird Kitchen curtain is Fiona Dowling, who developed her incredible range of delicious and nutritionally rich granola and overnight oats recipes in her kitchen. Within a varied career in the food & drink industry, Fiona moved to California and worked with granola guru, Sarah Lange at Bearclaw Kitchen, returning armed with the knowledge and experience to launch Sunbird Kitchen and develop her own blends.
She bakes them in small batches in West London, using the finest ingredients, organic, gluten free oats and only unrefined sugars. She keeps her sugar content low (between 10.9% to 14.7%, compared to 20% plus in the big brands) and her nut and seed contents significantly higher than the competition.
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Jiddler’s Tipple
Jiddler’s Tipple is a multi-award-winning, carbon positive, Turnpike Lane-based brewery. The man behind the curtain there is Jacob Liddle …
“After falling in love with homebrewing in 2017”, says Jacob, “I launched Jiddler’s Tipple in October 2019, with the aim of creating perfectly balanced, delicious, session strength craft beer.”
It’s not just the flavour that differentiates his brews, their striking design is inspired by vintage shirt patterns, “so they look as good as they taste!”
Why vintage shirts, Jacob? “When creating the labels, I was wondering what to use for the design. Then it clicked – I have a wardrobe full of awesome designs! In this way, Jiddler’s Tipple is a marriage of two of my greatest passions in life – beer and vintage shirts!”
He’s also committed to an environmentally friendly business. “This is why I decided to package all our beers in cans (rather than bottles) and with paper labels (not plastic) and use materials that are as environmentally friendly as possible wherever I can. I wanted to build in carbon offsetting from the start, so it’s part of Jiddler’s Tipple’s DNA.”
That includes offsetting a whopping 25% more carbon than Jiddler’s Tipple produces, “so that we can not only “wipe our face”, but also give something back”.
They also work with TIST – The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program – whose carbon credits have been validated and audited so that the carbon has already been captured and removed from the atmosphere.
“Unlike other projects, where offsetting is pledged or promised and you risk it being unfulfilled, ” explains Jacob, “and the TIST farmers receive 70% of the net profits from the sale of the credits. This ensures the money from carbon offsetting goes back to the farmers local economy, significantly helping their standard of living.”
So very many reasons to enjoy your Jiddler’s Tipple!
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Hogmedods
Suffolk-based Hodmedods was founded in 2012 by Nick Saltmarsh, Josiah Meldrum and William Hudson, and swifty amassed a trophy cabinet of awards, including seven Great Taste Awards and the BBC Food & Farming Awards’ Best Food Producer in 2017.
Hodmedods is committed to providing quality food from only British farms, that’s more sustainably produced, including beans, peas, grains and seeds. And are particularly interested in searching out less well-known foods, like the fava bean – grown in Britain since the Iron Age, but now almost forgotten – and quinoa, grown for the first time in the UK.
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London Honey
An exceptional floral honey, it is made in N22 by 70,000 bees cared for by Roo Kaplan and his mother, and powered by the nectar paradise that is Alexandra Palace Park, which includes “miles of Horse Chestnut, Lime trees and blackcurrants,” says Roo, “amongst all the other flowers and trees on offer”.
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Safix
Safix has provided economic empowerment via employment for hundreds of women.
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The Good Dot
A small family-owned and managed the factory in Pakistan where the employees (of which there are just 3) are all paid above the national minimum wage, in a very small factory and work 5-days per week, maximum 8-hour days with 1-hour lunch breaks and are closed for all the national and religious holidays.
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Suma
A cooperative since 1977, Suma is the UK’s largest independent wholefood distributor. It specialises in vegetarian, fairly traded, organic, ethical and natural products. Now under its own brand it also has a wide range of food and non-food products. Taking an ethical approach runs to the very heart of what Suma is about. For foods, this means that you can expect great taste and value plus an ethical approach in every decision.
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Let’s Work Together!
If you are a supplier and interested in working with The People’s Pantry, please provide some information and we will contact you
Let’s Work
Together!
If you are a supplier and interested in working with The People’s Pantry, please provide some information and we will be in contact