Wiltshire Farm Foods Journal

Douglas Lamont heads one of our longest-serving outlets, after fifteen years delivering to the picturesque area of Crieff in Perthshire. His tone suggests the years have been kind; his soft, measured Scottish lilt sparkling and peppered with proverbs, with a gentlemanly manner often lacking nowadays.

Starting out in the textiles industry, as business fell into inevitable decline Douglas accepted a redundancy package that allowed him to invest as the ninth member of a small network delivering frozen ready meals for the home, the brainchild of Ben Walden.

Ben Walden was a local Wiltshire farmer, recognising the opportunities provided by a home delivery service you can trust, with meals frozen for convenience, absolute safety and monitored nutritional values.

But the situation fifteen years ago couldn’t be more different from the sophisticated operation you see today, as Douglas explains:

“The original Walden’s format was quite fluid when I took up the reins in Perthshire as the concept was so new. The passion, products and drive was present but not necessarily accompanied by the tools to take us there. You were very much paddling your own canoe and left to make your own mistakes – and it was a steep learning curve let me tell you!

In the beginning the meals were produced in foil instead of the PET trays we use today, with ‘brochures’ made from folded A3 coloured paper with photos of only three meals and three desserts for illustration with a price list.

As one of the original founders of the network, it was up to us to pioneer the brand and values of Wiltshire Farm Foods in our areas, with no marketing support, cold store specifications, TV advertisements, or training manuals.

We built it from scratch and are very proud to witness our achievements fifteen years down the line.”

Mouth-watering meals designed in-house with nutrition in mind, combined with a commitment to providing a personal, reliable service - it’s no wonder Douglas had a £48,000 return in the first year, with a healthy 20% increase upon this figure each year.

But even after such success, Douglas will never forget his initial customers, or indeed his responsibility to his current flock:

“My wife Doreen was a district nurse in the local community and identified the need for such a service, and saw the difference - and critically the independence - we could offer to those no longer able or willing to cook. I was actually considering a sports shop or similar, it’s a good job I listened to her!

In fact, our first customer was a lady from our rural local village. She wanted to visit her terminally ill sister in South Africa, but couldn’t leave her husband to fend for himself, and we were the perfect solution. We even made our first delivery before we were officially open to the lady in question, and she was able to visit her sister without worrying about her husband at home.

“It can be a humbling situation delivering to elderly customers, from respectable backgrounds – we even have some old aristocracy - who have really made a difference over the years and are now blighted by ill health.

One of our customers is a good friend of mine; he built the railways across South Africa. He’s a real-life pioneer and there’s so much we can learn from such individuals, it’s fantastic to have the chance to help them out. That’s why it’s so important to concern ourselves with providing an exemplary customer experience – a good, traditional, respectful service that’s as special as they are.”

With the increasing use of technology such as the television and the internet, Wiltshire Farm Foods is now an instantly recognisable brand, and with the influx of computers more people can shop for themselves and relatives, but Douglas fears losing the personal touch:

“We do face opposition nowadays, but competition is no bad thing. My only concern is the company becoming too large and losing the personal element that means so much to us. The internet can seem impersonal, but we make the effort to know our customers and area - and I’ve lived in mine for 25 years!

The key is good manners, service, and treating customers with the respect they need, without the impatience you sadly often detect with some staff nowadays. Maybe in the future technology will change enough so you can actually see the person you’re talking to and assess their needs, but until then we’ll carry on giving top customer service regardless.”