9:00am Sunday 5th September 2010
By Nazia Parveen
LAMB reared in Clitheroe, bacon from Barrowford and Bowland Forest eggs – a Padiham businessman has joined the bid to reduce food miles.
Sourcing all his goods from local producers Gavin Lunniss, who previously worked as an engineer at defence giant BAE, is using his experience in logistics to make a success of his four-week-old business, Local Foods 2 U Limited.
The 32-year-old, who lives with his partner Lisa and their two children, Mia Rose, 2, and Leo,7, embarked on the venture after becoming frustrated with the world-wide nature of the food he purchased in supermarkets.
Three years later he began a five-month trial to ascertain whether his business model of sourcing locally would be viable in the current economic climate.
He said: “The majority of our milk comes from Scotland or the Midlands and I had meat products from the Netherlands and fruit from Spain.
"It just didn’t make any sense when we have all these things on our doorstep.
“There is a demand for locally-sourced produce. I am not here to get rich within a short period of time, but I would like to offer the people of Lancashire, Lancashire produce.”
Mr Lunniss, who is based at Time Technology Park, in Simonstone, distributed 20,000 leaflets to Church, Oswaldtwistle, Clayton-le-Moors and Simonstone and has almost 200 customers.
He currently employs a driver and a cleaner and is hoping to expand his business into Preston and create further employment in the area.
Plans are in the pipeline to add fresh fish and sweet pastries to the current product list which includes dairy goods from Holt Farm in Rishton, yoghurts from Ann Forshaw’s and cheese from Singleton’s in Longridge.
And Mr Lunniss who spent time in women’s refuges as a child is to donate a percentage of his £1 delivery charge to domestic violence charities.
He said: “The children who end up in these places have the odds stacked against them and because of my previous experiences I want to give something back to help them leave the cycle of violence behind.”
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