01482 841139
01482 841139
The current team in Growco consists of 6 employees.
Patrick joined Growco as the Commercial Manager in 2012. His role changed to Managing Director at the start of 2015 due to the departure of Martin Ellis from the company. Patrick joined from English Village Salads and brings a "lifetime" of experience and knowledge to the Growco team.
Patricks role within Growco comprises of the overall marketing of produce supplied to Growco by its members, development of good customer relations to enhance the reputation of Growco in the market place and development of outlets for produce and product lines. He is also responsible for the implementation and management of all systems pertaining to the profitable supply of produce of the Growco members to its existing customers.
Patrick works with the members to agree annual production plans and yield forecasts and undertakes negotiations with both existing and potential customers. Working with the supermarket customers and marketing agents/intermediaries to agree ordered volumes and prices. Weekly production forecasts are also collated of the Growco members, to present availability of produce to supermarket customers, dealing with daily fluctuations in product availability and orders.
Patricks vast experience with the 'Wholesale Markets', has stood him in good stead for managing the sales surplus to supermarket requirements.
Safe transportation of produce to customers, produce tray and pallet use, packaging (Labels/boxes etc.) is overseen by Patrick with the management of the Growco office staff. Along with this, working with the QA manager on quality issues, site accreditation and liaising with the customer(s) accordingly.
These are just to let you know about a 'handful' of Patricks day to day responsibilities.
Lisa Peniston joined the Growco team in 2015 her job has adapted to becoming Supply Chain and Compliance Manager during her time in the job. Lisa's background began with 'Technical and Quality' for 12 years at English Village Salads as Technical Assistant. This included maintaining and the management/delivery of the due diligence systems Lisa put in place. With the closure of English Village Salads, this led Lisa on to working for the sister site Yorkshire Fresh Fruit for 3 years as night shift administrator and trainer (covering company procedures, GMP, Health & Safety). Both of these roles had interaction with commercial/procurement so Lisa adds value to the Growco team.
Lisa's role within Growco is to assist and support the commercial manager on a daily basis in numerous tasks whilst owning her own. Lisa is in frequent communication with the members and customers relaying deliveries/arrivals, amendments to plans whilst tracking and recording all the information. Lisa also has daily contact with the transportation companies ensuring collections and deliveries are achieved according to plan, whilst keeping transport costs to a minimum.
Cucumber stock is managed by Lisa, again daily, to ensure that the relevant customer's order is always met. Direct deliveries into customer depots are owned and managed by Lisa, supported by Patrick, liaising with the growers concerned.
Lisa collates each members forecast weekly and presents the availability to each relevant customer. This information is then agreed and confirmed back to the individual grower.
Simon Bromwich is the most recent member of the Growco team, joining in June 2019 as Commercial Assistant. Previous to joining Growco, Simon worked for Morrisons' Beverley store in a variety of roles from; "Market Street" Sales Assistant (while still in Sixth form) to being a Picker and Driver for the Home Delivery team in his latter of his 4 and a half years with the supermarket.
Simon however is not unknown to the world of Growco as he briefly helped out as holiday cover in the summer of 2014.
Simon collates each members forecast weekly and presents the availability to each relevant customers. This information is then agreed and confirmed back to the individual grower. He also uses the complaints and online reviews sent from customers to inform the growers of customers thoughts. Another job that Simon has been undertaking is recording all the QC reports sent from customers and distributing this to the necessary site. More recently Simon has been carrying out "Packhouse Visits" and giving feedback to the relevant grower.
The website and Facebook page is maintained/managed and updated by Simon as and when necessary ensuring all the information is kept up to date and relevant.
Donna Calvert has worked for Growco for over 10 years - starting out as Administration Assistant and progressing to the role of Company Secretary within just over a year. Donna has an extensive history working with an accountancy and legal background.
Donna's role within Growco is extremely varied, from gaining operational programmes approval for the members from the RPA, organising and minuting PO board meetings and functions to ordering the company stationary. There is nothing that Donna is not capable of.
Main responsibilities lie within the financial side of the business, ensuring that, members are paid weekly from both supermarket and wholesale market sales, Growco staff salaries are paid, transport, VAT and suppliers etc are just a few to mention.
Company personnel records, holidays, contracts are all held and maintained by Donna.
Kirsty Horne started with Growco in early 2012. Kirsty was a full time mum to 4 children until this time while attending college to further herself in business studies.
Kirsty's role is to assist the company secretary primarily on the sales side of the Growco business. All sales invoices are produced and dealt with for both the supermarkets and wholesale markets for all the PO members.
