Hull's Arthur St Trading Offers Organic Veg Box Promotion To Encourage Healthy Eating
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
The
Arthur St Trading Co is giving a free fruit or veg box away when you
try their produce over the summer, to encourage the people of Hull to
eat healthier and feel the difference.
Hull, 5th
June 2009 – Hull based Co-operative, Arthur St Trading
Company, today announced a new incentive to help the people of Hull to
eat healthier and more local, and generate awareness of organic growers
in Yorkshire. The promotion is designed to challenge the often common
belief that organic or local food is no tastier than non-organic, and
promote the fact that people tend to feel better and healthier if they
prepare and eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
A promotion is
available now at www.arthursorganics.com
until 31st August 2009. Customers receive a free fourth veg box when
they buy three by 31st August 2009.
The company, that
was among the final candidates at the Outstanding Young Persons Awards
2008 for their achievement in ethical leadership, reinvests all profits
back in to the co-op and has a passion for sustainability. Their
approach supports local and organic farming, which avoids the use of
pesticides, and helps the environment.
Arthur St Trading
Company Director, Graham Brooks said There is still a lot of news
around at the moment surrounding the credit crunch, and an endless
promotion of cheap food from the supermarkets. Our theory is that
eating healthier is a simple change you can make in your life to feel
better!. Research from the Soil Association has shown people who do buy
some organic produce are not cutting back on un-processed organic food,
but are tending to cut back on leisure spending and ready-meal /
prepared products. This is a strong indicator that they FEEL the
difference by eating organic, and so we believe that your quality of
life can be better with a fresher more organic diet.
The Soil
Association reported this year that although sales are down overall,
consumers are getting smarter and saving money by cooking from scratch
and cutting waste. Their research shows that over a quarter of
customers that dont currently buy organic ‘would like to know more
about organic products than they do’.
Alison Wileman,
Interactive Marketer for Arthur St Trading said To me this statement
illustrates how powerful the media can be. There is so much conflict
and debate about organics, its confusing most consumers. The upshot is
that we care about peoples health, local businesses, and how our
customers feel. Many people believe that eating organic food can make
you feel better, and a growing body of research as cited by the Soil
Association shows that organic fruit and vegetables contain higher
levels of vitamin C and essential minerals, as well as cancer fighting
antioxidants and Omega 3. At the end of the day, if you were presented
with two lettuces, one that had been sprayed with pesticides, coated
with chemicals to make it last longer, and travelled quite a few
hundred miles, compared with one that has been grown in Yorkshire using
naturally occurring substances or traditional methods used for
centuries, which one would you choose?. Were just asking people to
actually taste the food, and see if they can tell the difference.
Arthur St Trading
Company know from some of their own customer feedback that once
customers start to eat more fresh produce, they are reluctant to
compromise by purchasing fruit and vegetables that could potentially
have been grown in artificial conditions and sprayed with a myriad of
chemicals. However for those that havent converted, or indeed for
those that simply cannot afford it, what is the answer?
As Graham told us
To put it strongly, whilst we recognise that our produce is more
expensive than non-organic we do compare very well with the supermarket
organic ranges and are often much cheaper. You will usually find that
items like our salads are from down the road, whilst Tescos lettuces
are from Cambridgeshire. We can source some of our products very
effectively and obtain a lot of seasonal produce from local growers in
places like Rise and Nafferton. We pass those savings on to customers.
When you also add up the free delivery (instead of you taking the car,
we use a solar charged milk float for a proportion of our deliveries
where we can) and the fact that many of our products are simply not
available in the supermarkets, we feel we have a very powerful
offering.
On another note,
we are very mindful of those families that are struggling financially,
and we are hoping to get involved with a funded scheme that will help
certain families obtain produce at a reduced rate.
The company
itself did see a significant downturn in sales with the onset of the
credit crunch last year, although an online buying shop created in
September 2008 saw a 20% increase in new customers.
The promotion is
available now at www.arthursorganics.com
until 31st August 2009. Customers receive a free fourth veg box when
they buy three by 31st August 2009.
The
9th June 2009 
5 June
8th
Money Matters
The daughter of a socially involved former Burmese Ambassador, MiMi Tin Tun Raschke, largely grew up in the West and is at home in both cultures. Based in London, she feels the strong pull of her roots and is determined to give exposure to the little known Burmese culture and handicrafts. 
The company utilises its own network of autonomous craftspeople and traders. We refuse to get involved in sweatshops and make an effort to adhere to the principles of fair trade. When the business first started the aim was to support local communities in Burma, by committing to donating a percentage of profits to local charities. We regularly contribute to various causes in Burma. 
In these cash-strapped times,