Viva Lewes April 2015 Issue #103

feature: food boxes
Fin and Farm
Muir Jankowski
What is Fin and Farm? It’s like a veggie box
service, but we also sell a lot of fresh, seasonal, local
produce items, such as fruit juices, milk, charcuterie,
cheese, spice blends and meat. It’s all sourced from
Sussex producers, between Chichester and Hastings.
Where’s your warehouse? We don’t have one! All
our produce is collected and delivered on the same
day in our refrigerated truck, which ensures freshness.
Customers can order online, and there are up
to two deliveries a week.
How many different products do you offer? Over
a thousand in any given month; this will increase in
the summer, when there’s more diversity.
Are you an ethical company? As ethical as we can
be. We feel that we are supporting the local economy,
and attempting to limit our carbon footprint
at the same time. We offer a very fair and personal
service to our producers, too, because we see them
twice a week and offer them customer feedback.
Who are your customers? A surprisingly diverse
range of people from young singles to families to
old couples. And a number of restaurants and pubs,
such as The King’s Head, The Snowdrop, Limetree
Kitchen and Laporte’s and Iydea, The Foragers, The
Chimney House and Troll’s Pantry in Brighton and
Hove.
What’s your role in the company? My partner
Nick and the third member of the team Jim do
all the collecting and delivering. They sometimes
have to be up at 4.30am. My job is the nice one:
administration and customer relations. I visit a lot of
farms and keep track of what we’re offering online.
I spend most of my time on the internet looking at
pictures of food.
What problems do you encounter in the business?
Usually the weather: droughts, floods or snow
can cause havoc with crops and delivery. Once, donkeys
trampled a field of carrots. We’ve never failed
to make a delivery, though we’ve been late once or
twice when it’s been snowing. In January 2010 during
that cold snap, Nick had to heroically jump out
of the van and stop it sliding down Southover Street,
one of the steepest in Brighton. It was a baptism of
fire… or ice maybe.
Where’s the ‘fin’ come in? We used to deliver fish
as well, and we might do again, but we’ve decided to
concentrate on other products.
Is the vegetable produce dull in winter? We try
to avoid that “oh no, not another turnip” response.
We offer peppers and salad leaves all year round.
Local producers are very imaginative and there’s
always a wide variety of vegetables on offer.
Give us a top cooking tip… Make a paste of
smoked paprika and smoked salt mixed with maple
syrup and spread this, with a little olive oil, on
grilled slices of aubergine. This makes great fake
bacon, for a credible vegetarian BLT. Alex Leith
07966 972530, finandfarm.co.uk
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