Koffmann’s

The business behind the brand, The Food Heroes, is a specialist British potato supplier with a formidable French-Master-Chef ­flavour.

The British family fi­rm that brought the UK foodservice sector Koffmann’s potatoes has seen business boom since the hospitality sector re-opened post-Covid. Prior to the pandemic, the brand had built a very healthy following for its frozen potato products, but since the country began to rebound, it has increased its sales to 1,000 tonnes of fresh potatoes a week. A rapidly-growing customer base can’t get enough. 

Established in 2018 by experienced fresh produce industry siblings Simon Martin and sister Claire, together with Claire’s husband, legendary chef Pierre Koffmann, The Food Heroes’ initial objective was to offer UK restaurants the best quality British potatoes. But, buoyed by the almost overnight success of its Koffmann’s Specialty Foods brand, which distinguishes potatoes by usage not variety, the company has added carrots and parsnips to its portfolio and is targeting a much wider clientele with its broader range.

The company has launched a ­flurry of new projects designed to achieve its expansive aims. As well as the carrots and parsnips and two new brands ‘From The Farm’ and ‘Humdinger’, the Koffmann’s, range will further diversify by the end of the year to include asparagus and onions, olive and rapeseed oils, prepared vegetables and condiments. An online ‘shop’ is also on the horizon.

“We have really ambitious plans,” Simon Martin says. “The idea of Food Heroes is to sell diff­erent types of product to diff­erent types of consumers, as long as the product has got the right ethical story – by which I mean the people and the produce is treated right – and tastes great.”