Organic home delivery service Abel & Cole has outlined expansion plans it hopes will make it the UK's leading organic retailer.

As well as vastly increasing the areas of the country to which it can deliver, the online business is considering opening physical stores in the future, MD Duncan Gibson told The Grocer.

Abel & Cole, which now has 50,000 customers and a turnover of £28m, would develop its position as a "green alternative to the supermarkets", he said.

"A company of our size needs to keep growing and keep being innovative. We have to offer our customers superb food every time," he said. "You can't start tuning into the big factory mentality. It would be great if we can continue to substantially increase the number of people who shop with us, be it homes, offices or schools. I would like to supply a lot more people across a much bigger swathe of life."

The company's most recent initiative was the promotion of organic produce as 'brain food' by targeting businesses with fruit bowls to encourage healthy eating in meetings. Trials had been popular, Gibson said, and the format was set for expansion.

The company also extended further into Yorkshire with the opening of a depot in Wakefield this week. It will supply a range of more than 700 products to homes in the region using vans running on bio-diesel. It has also called on more organic producers to come forward and supply it.

While no firm plans had been put in place to open a standalone store, the option was being explored as part of the growth strategy, said Gibson.