East Lancashire food suppliers Wellocks are celebrating 50 years in business. We find out why they were ahead of the time when it comes to the latest culinary trend.

CELEBRITY chefs Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, and top restaurants throughout the country all do it, and now amateurs are too — cooking with local specialist products rather than items from a supermarket.

But the idea is nothing new for family-run Pendle firm Wellocks which began half a century ago, by selling locally-produced potatoes to fish and chip shops.

During the past decade as TV chefs and foodies alike have extolled the virtues of local produce, the firm has thrived.

From peddling the humble spud, the family business has branched out to sell selling fruit and vegetables, and now it deals in an amazing 4,000 specialised products from independent producers.

And their reputation for sourcing fine ingredients has led them to having a customer base that includes some of the top restaurants in the UK with all the Michelin-starred restaurant in the north of England relying on them, including Northcote at Langho.

“When my father started the company there weren’t the supermarkets that there are now, so people looked to independent producers and greengrocer for produce,” said James Wellock, MD of the company.

“There has been a return to this idea in the past 10 years but rather than just sourcing local produce, because of the improvements in transport people have been looking to get the highest quality food from specialised producers from across the UK and beyond.

“Also, on the whole, people are going out for dinner more as a social occasion and rather than just to the pub, and because they are eating out they expect a higher standard and quality of food than that they could make at home.

“And people have also been travelling more and with that there has been an increase in demand for a broader range of more specialised products”

And with the trend increasing In the past five years the company has grown, previously employing 15 members of staff they now employ a 100, with more jobs set to be created this year.

“People are getting more clued up about what they are eating and I think this has extended to people’s homes.”

But despite the huge addition to the range of products they supply, James says that the principle of the business has stayed the same over the years.

“What we do now and what we did then is essentially the same. We have always sourced products and supplied them but it used to be a lot slower, now we have people working throughout the night. We now also supply to across the UK and also source our products from across Europe. Hopefully the next step is to start supplying to Europe as well.”

To celebrate their half a century, chefs from Michelin starred restaurants from around the UK will be on hand at their open day tomorrow to show off their skills.

The open day also celebrates the opening of their new purpose built premises in Lomeshaye Business Village in Nelson from their former home in Trawden.

Top names will who be demonstrate their skills include Andrew Pern from The Star and Peter Neville from The Pheasant, both in Harome, who will be showcasing some recipes from Andrew’s new book. While Michael Wignall from Pennyhill Park, Bagshot, Surrey will be serving up Foie Gras.