How the Welbeck estate went large to win farm shop award

The idea of opening a shop on Nottinghamshire’s Welbeck estate was born over a pint in the local pub.

Estate owner Joe Parente and his friend Michael Boyle, son of one of the estate’s tenant farmers, came up with proposal after discussing the difficulties in sourcing quality local produce.

The result was the Welbeck Farm Shop, which was this year declared Midlands large farm shop of the year in the annual Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards.

Celebrating its 18th birthday this month, the business specialises in loose fresh produce sold with a focus on traditional, over-the-counter service.

“While many retailers have moved away from this service style due to the associated high payroll costs, maintaining this aspect has been a great differentiator for us,” says general manager Oliver Stubbins.

In contrast to supermarket shopping, which is often seen as a chore, visitors to farms shops and other independent retailers enjoy the process, he says. “I believe this is due to the level of personal service we offer.”

At 3,000 sq ft, Welbeck isn’t a particularly large shop, he acknowledges, but the business makes the space work hard while maintaining an open feel and low-height displays.

Customers are greeted by an eight-metre run of butchery counters when they enter, with cheese, deli, patisserie and gelato counters along the perimeter.

“Butchery, cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, and our deli counter are our key features,” says Stubbins. “When including our fruit, vegetables and bread, loose fresh food accounts for approximately 80% of weekly turnover.”

Butchery makes up half of sales alone, with much of the produce sold in the shop sourced on the 15,000-acre estate that straddles the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. “Local sourcing is of uttermost importance to us.”

The shop’s lamb is from a fifth-generation shepherd based on the estate, while all pork sold is British free-range and local where possible. Venison is sold in game season, alongside pheasant, partridge, duck and other game birds from the estate’s shoots.

“This produce is prepared on the estate by our gamekeepers, meaning the first time this produce leaves the estate is in a car when a customer takes it home – truly low food miles and the best quality,” Stubbins adds.

‘The first time this produce leaves the estate is when a customer takes it home’

In addition to meat, the shop is supplied by businesses on the estate including rum distillery DropWorks, Apothecary Mead, Bohns Rubs & Spices, Welbeck Abbey Brewery, Welbeck Bakehouse and Stichelton Dairy. The estate is also home to The School of Artisan Food.

Grower Steve Wright began restoring Welbeck’s 3.5-acre walled garden three years ago. This now supplies fruit, vegetables, salad and eggs for the farm shop and the Harley Café that is run alongside it.

Other local produce features throughout the shop, says Stubbins. But he adds: “The benchmark has always been quality, and if there is outstanding quality produce further afield, we do not confine ourselves to sourcing solely within a specified radius.”

The business does not confine itself to fresh produce, offering a small range of ambient goods – “an eclectic array of things we love”, according to Stubbins. “We have never tried to offer a ‘full shop’ range.”

Nonetheless, basket spend has increased as the business has evolved. In the past 10 years, the shop’s team has grown from 16 employees to 41, with another 24 in the café.

“Over the past four years we have seen significant increases in footfall alongside strong basket spend, making a substantial change to our trade and staffing levels,” says Stubbins, adding that recruitment is one of the constant challenges faced by the business.

Another major challenge has been soaring costs. Unfortunate timing of the renewal of the business’s electric contract meant it faced a 10-fold hike in energy overheads alongside significant wage and food inflation.

“Finding a balance of remaining financially sustainable while trying to ensure we didn’t price out a large proportion of our customers was a strategic challenge,” says Stubbins. The business only passed on food supplier increases and improved productivity and processes to help ride out the energy and payroll spikes, he adds. “This not only retained footfall, but we saw strong footfall growth, meaning as the energy bills have started to settle, the business is in a stronger position than ever.”

“Remaining financially sustainable while trying to ensure we didn’t price out our customers was a challenge”

Footfall has been further boosted, he says, by the business being named large farm shop of the year for the Midlands in the Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards. Stubbins was particularly taken aback by the win as Welbeck had been named small farm shop of the year in the 2020 awards.

“Roll forward just four years and, with our turnover growing, we fell into the large farm shop category for the first time,” he says. “Listening to [co-chair of judges] Nigel Barden describing the winner and realising he was describing us was an amazingly proud moment.”

The shop’s monthly net revenue growth has ranged from 20% to 35% since it won the award, Stubbins adds. “We are in a rural location on a non-commuter road, but when people do find us, we have a good level of retention, and this award has undoubtedly helped grow our reputation and introduced new customers who have already become regular shoppers.”