What is the Secrett?
Secrett’s Direct has been trading since August 2002. As the brainchild of Gregg Wallace and Vernon Mascarenhas, they have, in little over two and half years, established a real niche in supplying some of London’s finest eateries, with top quality, fresh British fruit and vegetables. Gregg and Vernon’s credentials in the market place are both without question and have helped to establish their business. Gregg is a former Covent Garden fruit and vegetable wholesaler who is well known as a writer, radio presenter of Vegetable Talk on Radio 4 and television presenter of Saturday Morning Kitchen on BBC2. In fact, he is co-hosting the re-launch of Masterchef on BBC2 due to be on our screens every night in March. Vernon owned and ran a well known restaurant in Hampstead for many years. Both are very well acquainted with the owners and chefs of some of London’s finest restaurants.
The company operates from a farm in Surrey where they grow and supply some of the more sophisticated items that appear on restaurant tables. These would include pink fir potatoes, black cabbage and a vast range of leaves and herbs. They pride themselves in having what has been described as the best asparagus in England and their customer list reads like a restaurant top 100. They also supply some of the major hotel groups and certain caterers.
Produce is picked during the day and as the orders are received from restaurant chefs around midnight, their night shift make up the orders and their vans leave at 5am to deliver to the restaurants first thing in the morning.
Westbury have been providing services to Secretts since its inception. We were asked to assist with the corporate structure, help with the accounting and computer systems and have been providing ongoing advice ever since - which includes meeting monthly with the Directors to review management accounts and help with the development of the business strategy.
In just two and a half years, the company has grown dramatically and is now exploring ways of diversifying. It is hoping to launch an online version, selling the same produce to end users on a home delivery basis, a farmer’s market company, selling produce selectively and future plans include retail operations and the supply of prepared foods to the restaurant industry. One thing is certain, Westbury hope to be by their side helping and supporting them as their business developers. For more information visit their website at www.secrettsdirect.co.uk
