Riverford sales rise 6% as UK organics market enjoys biggest boom in two decades | Organics
Consumers seeking healthy food from trusted sources have fueled the biggest boom in the UK organic market in two decades, according to veg box retailer Riverford.
The delivery business, which sells vegetables as well as meat, cheese, cookbooks and recipe boxes, is up 6% to £117 million in the year to May 2025, with the UK organic food and drink market growing by almost 9% that year, according to new figures from the Soil Association. Strong growth, which has significantly outpaced the wider food market, has helped the employee-owned business deliver a £1.1 million bonus to workers.
Rob Haward, managing director of the Devon-based company, which delivers around 70,000 boxes a week, said the company was gaining new customers and existing customers were spending more. “We haven’t seen the market grow this much in 20 years,” he said.
Haward said rapid market growth in 2024 continued last year due to increased awareness of healthy eating and “increasing concerns about where you can get food you can trust.” This represents a recovery for the sector, which has had a difficult time since the credit crunch and slowed down during the pandemic.
Riverford’s sales of organic meat were particularly strong, accounting for a tenth of sales, as shoppers sought a reliable source of higher welfare meat.
However, operating profits fell to £3.4m from £4.7m the previous year. Haward said the company is absorbing some of the increased costs rather than passing them on to its customers.
Prices rose 3% in the financial year as Riverford and its suppliers struggled with pressure on operations from high wages, energy costs and Brexit-related paperwork on imports from its farms in France and Spain.
Haward said growth fell last summer during extended periods of hot weather after the end of the financial year, but picked up over Christmas and the new year.
It expects sales to continue to rise as the wider organic food market continues to grow (only 2% of UK food sales are organic), well behind other European markets including Denmark and Germany. “We have some ground to make up,” he said.
“Trading conditions remain challenging as we head into 2026,” Haward said. “But we continue to see customers care deeply about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and who benefits.”
He said inflation continues to impact suppliers due to higher fuel, labor and packaging costs. He welcomed the resumption of the government-backed sustainable agriculture incentive (SFI) in June, but warned there could be a “gap in supply” as uncertainty around support hinders the expansion of organic farming to meet growing demand.
“The real problem for farmers is uncertainty,” he said. “The sooner the government acts [the SFI] When it comes back clearly and consistently for as long as possible, farmers know exactly where they stand.”
Riverford started growing vegetables for supermarkets in 1986, and founder Guy Singh-Watson began making home deliveries to around 30 friends seven years later. He sold almost three-quarters of the company to employees in 2018, transferring his final 20% stake in 2024 for £8.5 million.
The company has approximately 1,000 staff, each of whom receives equal annual dividends, is paid at least an independently verified living wage, and participates in the running of the business. In the previous financial year, they received a slightly larger payment of £1.3 million.
The group is investing to reduce its carbon impact with 70% of its pickup trucks being electric and two electric heavy vehicles in its fleet.
Riverford is involved in nature enhancement projects at its Wash Farm and neighboring supplier farms, including planting woodland and woodland pasture, integrating tree planting with livestock grazing.
