01482 841139
01482 841139
The current team in Growco consists of 6 employees.
Joined Growco from English Village Salads in 2012 as the Commercial Manager for the business. Patrick has been employed in the fresh produce industry throughout his working life, spanning over five decades. Patrick’s apprenticeship was on the wholesale fruit market in Hull, working at Carmichaels in the accounts office. Then moving to White & Son, eventually moving onto the commercial/trading side of the business. Selling produce procured worldwide, which included citrus, apples, pears, grapes, vegetables, soft fruit, and salads.
In 1984, Patrick was employed by SGT (North) grower’s co-operative, in conjunction with Geest Industries, as a salesman selling salads and vegetables. At SGT, they did a small amount of importing and exporting. This was Patrick’s first taste of dealing with supermarkets, M&S, Fine Fare, Hillards, Argyll, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Gateway, etc. Using his wholesale market knowledge to help manage wholesale market customers throughout the UK. This was also a big learning curve working with East Yorkshire growers, Fulney (Spalding) and Chawston (Cambridgeshire).
Throughout Patrick’s career, he has worked at several fresh produce companies in varying management roles. These experiences include sales, procurement (UK, Spain, Morocco, Israel, Holland, Canary Islands, USA, Mexico etc), transport, and packaging.
Patrick was appointed to the board at Growco as the Managing Director in 2015. This is a very hands-on role, managing a small team of colleagues in the Growco office(s) working for the Growco members (growers). Growco members (growers) are all based in the East Yorkshire area, producing salad crops, supplying them to supermarkets, processors, and the wholesale market. The Growco office manage(s) with the support of their members, compliance along with administration, logistics, and marketing.
Lisa Peniston joined the Growco team in 2015 as commercial assistant. The role has developed over the seasons to become Supply Chain and Compliance Manager. Lisa's background began with 'Technical and Quality' for 12 years at English Village Salads as Technical Administrator, to being Technical Assistant at the time of the site closure. This included maintaining and the management/delivery of the due diligence systems that Lisa developed and 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, high risk production, GMP, Health & Safety). Both roles interacted with commercial/procurement, so Lisa adds value to the Growco team.
Lisa's role within Growco is to assist and support the members and the commercial director daily in numerous tasks, whilst owning her own. Lisa is in frequent communication with the members and customers, relaying deliveries/arrivals, amendments to forecasts and plans, whilst tracking and recording all the information. Lisa has contact with the transportation companies planning collections and ensuring deliveries are achieved according to plan, whilst keeping transport costs to a minimum.
Cucumber stock is owned and managed by Lisa, 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 and Simon, 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. Lisa assists the supply chain planner with tomato planning where required.
Lisa re-developed the Food Safety HACCP plans and brought the due diligence systems in line with the BRCGS requirements since taking on the compliance role. Lisa manages and oversees the compliance assistant, both of whom advise and assist the growers in maintaining their due diligence systems and BRCGS accreditation status. This includes carrying out the internal audits and food safety meetings along with monthly packhouse visits on all BRCGS accredited sites, keeping the sites up to date with industry and customer requirements, ensuring that customer technical requirements are completed on the customer online portals.
Magda’s career has been defined by dedication, precision, and a deep commitment to maintaining high standards. Before joining the Growco team, she spent many years working in the meat industry, specializing in quality assurance. It is a field that demands focus and resilience.
After years of building experience, Magda joined Growco in January 2025 as Compliance Assistant. Transitioning into compliance allowed her to apply her background in quality assurance while expanding into new areas of regulatory understanding and organisational support. It marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter - one where Magda can grow, contribute, and continue developing skills in a dynamic environment.
Magda’s duties at Growco include conducting internal audits, packhouse visits, collecting and submitting laboratory samples, attending and contributing to food-safety meeting minutes, maintaining QA reports, as well as handling daily organisation and administrative tasks.
Simon Bromwich joined the Growco team in June 2019 as Commercial Assistant. Prior 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 the latter years 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.
During his time at Growco, Simon has undertaken many different tasks. He has recently contributed to the changeover of customer trays from GXO to IFCO. He has developed a working relationship with the primary wholesale market customers. Simon also helps in the collation of each members forecast weekly and presents the availability to each relevant customer. This information is then agreed and confirmed back to the individual grower. In recent seasons, Simon has taken on a greater role in organising and planning transport, this has included working on the costing whilst endeavouring to achieve budget targets.
As part of the post-season work, Simon often will help with the analytics of a season. This is to help other colleagues, especially when there are meetings with potential new customers, current customers and the growers themselves. Dropbox has become a key element to the Growco workplace, Simon has integrated the system into the Growco offices and further to the growers, which helps streamline the company. The website and Facebook page are 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 April 2012. Kirsty was a full-time mum to 4 children until this time, while attending college to further herself in admin & business studies. Kirsty’s core responsibilities include creating and sending sales invoices to customers accurately, including raising ad hoc and credit invoices as needed. As part of this, she will also handle customer queries and resolve any billing issues or discrepancies that arise. At the end of each season, Kirsty completes a reconciliation to the sales ledger to ensure all records are accurate.
