Though we’ve not been finding time to post news because of the pandemic, it doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening here at Richard Whittaker. We’ve installed two new Rovema packing lines to improve sachet packing efficiency and we have extended our Gluten Free packing room to enable us to install a new blending machine and more racking, so allowing us to increase capacity, due to soaring demand from both existing and new customers.
To help with cutting back on the use of plastic in the food industry, we are now packing our Panda range for foodservice, into PET jars which contain a huge 50% recycled plastic pellets. Though they are more expensive than using jars made from “virgin” plastic, we feel that it was worth it to improve our “green” credentials and make a small contribution to “saving the planet”. If everyone made a small change such as this, we will make a difference!
With our many years’ experience of packing ration packs for the Ministry of Defence and United Nations troops, we were proud to be able to produce many thousands of sachets of easy to reconstitute, dehydrated food, to help feed the displaced Ukrainian refugees, and as everyone, pray that the war will soon come to an end.
We have been asked once again to house a container to allow volunteers from The Hub in Littleborough, to pack the space efficiently before they send it to Africa to help children in need.
Recently some of the Richard Whittaker team attended a Progression Day at Rochdale 6th Form College, to chat to students about job opportunities in the Food Industry, whether they wish to go to university or start earning sooner.
And finally, we have recently been supplying much needed bread flour to The Pantry at the Kashmir Youth Project, Rochdale Food Network and Action Together, via their Food Warehouse, at a time when surplus stocks from major retailers slowed as they committed to Fareshare/Food Cloud/Neighbourly and suchlike, meaning local providers were struggling to attract donations to distribute.
As Linda Convery, the recently appointed Surplus Food Coordinator for Rochdale Borough Housing said, our corporate social responsibility is all the richer for our actions, and we will do our best to help when surplus stocks become available.
