The Pursuit of Perfection

James Wellock and his team have found all the right ingredients for a Lancashire success story. He spoke to Roger Borrell.

- Roger Borrell

WHAT makes the perfect strawberry? Is it the shape, the size, the taste or something more fundamental like the length of time the plant takes to fruit?

If anyone knows it’s probably James Wellock and if any organisation could supply that perfect strawberry, then it is his company which is based in the Lancashire town of Nelson.

Much of his working life has been spent in the pursuit of perfection, so much so that ‘The Perfect Ingredient’ has become the mission statement for the Wellocks business.

His father, Richard, founded the firm and developed it from a simple food supply outfit into something much bigger. When he retired in 2001, James took the company and made it extraordinary.

What started out as one man and a van load of spuds supplying fish and chip shops is now an award-winning business with 400 staff and a turnover in excess of £40 million. Growth has been running at an astonishing 20 per cent a year.

The customer list reads like a Who’s Who of legendary chefs, top class hotels and great eating places. Wellocks fresh food goes to no less than 40 Michelin-starred restaurants and hotels and the chefs working with them include Nigel Haworth, Lisa Allen, Simon Rogan and Michael Wignall.

The fact that few outside the business know about them is unsurprising when you meet James at their state-of-the-art distribution depot and offices at the Lomeshaye Business Village.

‘We tend to plough our own furrow and let others worry about what we are doing,’ he says. ‘We have a clear idea of what we want to achieve and we focus on that.’ He’s clearly a doer rather than a talker but he can’t hide his obvious passion and pride in the company he runs with his wife, Jo, and children Sally and Ralph.