NATIONAL TRUST
THE BRAND
Established in 1895, The National Trust preserves and protects the countryside, coastlines and buildings of England, Wales and Northern Ireland through practical caring and conservation, learning and discovery, and encouraging millions of people to visit and enjoy their national heritage, forever, for everyone.
The Trust supports thousands of local enterprises. It protects over 700 miles of coastline as well as over 617,000 acres of countryside and coastline.
The Trust is one of Britains largest farmers it supports over 2500 tenant farmers on its land.
THE BACKGROUND
Rivermill were approached to develop and sell a retail ready food range over the next 5 years and beyond.
The timing of the project has arisen at a time when the retail landscape has changed dramatically. We have a competitive trading arena with retailers looking to ensure they have the greatest and broadest appeal to their audience. This challenge has been made even greater given we have a new government, we have a tightening of household spending and yet, we possess a growing passion for investing in the environment and in good honest British food. This is quite apparent given the recent sale of the mark ''Duchy'' to Waitrose.
The brief on National trust is a unique and challenging one.
We must develop a range of products that have wide appeal to all retailers and must source all ingredients as close to home as possible. This may not always be practical but we must ensure there are good reasons not to do this.
We take inspiration from historic recipes held within the Trust's archives.
Whilst the product is definitely more expensive to manufacture we must ensure it is competitively priced!
THE RESULTS
We have just seen our first range of biscuits launched in the multiple retailers, have achieved product sign off on 7 Christmas products and 5 Savoury products across 5 suppliers.
Sales have now commenced their drive to gain listings. Early signs would indicate at least one major multiple taking the majority of the range.
THE CLIENT SAID ...
We chose Rivermill because of their knowledge and their tenacity to get the job done. In their own words they describe the process of achieving our goals as ''a long winding and at times treacherous road - full of pot holes and other dangers to prevent us from getting there!'' - but as they also added ''this does not mean that with care and tenacity we cannot achieve our goals. We are delighted with the early signs of success".
The National Trust is a major brand with 4 million members and is a refreshing reason to talk to retailers about adding food provenance to their category.