84. Well Seasoned

Founder: Patrick Tolhurst
Founded: September 2011
Website: www.wellseasoned.co.uk  

Founded as an offshoot of a blog celebrating seasonal foods, Well Seasoned made our 2012 list for its unique pesto sauce which uses ethically-sourced British ingredients that rotate with the seasons, including Kentish cobnuts, Northamptonshire rapeseed oil, and traditionally made Wiltshire cheese. The company has grown impressively over the past 12 months; its products have featured in stores such as Selfridges and Partridges, the number of independent deli stockists is into double figures and it recently signed its first major supermarket contract with Booths. In a measure of faith in the company, now-chief executive Patrick Tolhurst left his lucrative job as a City lawyer to work on Well Seasoned full-time and the company’s growth has also attracted a number of industry awards, including the Producers Bursary on the BBC Good Food programme, Best Food and Drink company in the Lloyds TSB PEA Business awards and the Green Supplier of the Year in the prestigious Grocer Gold awards. Having just taken on a distributor for the south-east region, Well Seasoned remains on course to treble its turnover in the next 12 months, with a wider plan to become Britain’s leading ethical food brand.