Founding suppliers

Our suppliers are the true heroes of Herd, and we think it's only right to celebrate them accordingly! Here are just a few of the amazing people growing, catching and producing the sensational stuff we have on the market. 

In the four short years since launching Shrub, Sam Best and Harry Dyer have unearthed a new optimism for Britain’s small-scale fruit and veg growers. While most farmers suffer the permanent pressure of supermarket buying tactics, Shrub’s operation has enabled their 50 strong network of farms to sell direct to hundreds of restaurants across the South East - with both sides of their market growing month on month.

With an unwavering commitment to the absolute traceability of every single item they market, Shrub’s growth has no doubt been propelled by the exposure they provide to the incredible quality produce we have in the UK. That, alongside the ability to show the methods of farming that their growers adopt - all in an attempt to strengthen, not deplete, soil health. In the absence of their system, most growers would toil to sell locally. Now you can help to accelerate this impact from your own home - one delicious dish at a time.

Sticking two fingers to the supermarkets demand for tasteless pork is Mark Hayward, The Willy Wonka of Pigs, and founder of Dingley Dell farm. Having decided that the British palate needed to be exposed to the beautiful potential of pork - not the grey matter we’ve become used to - he has developed the Suffolk Red breed over the last 16 years to create what will, without doubt, be the best pork you’ve had in your life.

Bred to produce a pig with incomparable intra-muscular fat, his animals live an incredible life on the sandy soil lands of East Suffolk. Now producing the wagyu of pork that has become incredibly popular in markets all over the world, it’s about time his efforts are shared with the British public. With most of his cuts aged for over a month, get ready to have your palate recalibrated.

When you read the term ‘free range’ on a pack of supermarket chicken, you’re led to imagine this agricultural utopia, where hens run through meadows like Theresa May galloping through fields of wheat. Sadly, the reality is that almost none of these chickens would ever describe their environment as ‘free’. Cooped in enormous static sheds the size of half a football pitch - most will never step out of the barn, nor see sunlight at any point in their lives. Another magnificent effort of food labelling pulling wool over all our eyes.

However, there is hope and it comes in the form of Will Waterer and Belinda Nash at Sutton Hoo. Operating on a 40 acre site on the East Coast of Suffolk, their farming method really does live up to that expectation we all have of ‘Free Range’. With every chicken grown slowly, these beautiful birds put on muscle naturally while having the opportunity to graze on the vast pasture. Short of the feed and access to water, there is not a single input into the process. No electricity. No antibiotics. Just chickens growing as they should and tasting as incredible as nature intended.

Meet the Tony Starks of the lamb world - James and Will Vining. Son of the mercurial Shaun Vining, James and his brother took on Pitfield only a few years back, but have pioneered an incredible method of farming lamb and hogget. You may find this too ridiculous to believe, but due to the supermarket’s insistence on using lambs under 20kg dead weight (about half its live weight), sheep farmers will often not get paid for any extra weight above that threshold.

This is fundamentally mad as a lamb will put on a far higher ratio of meat as it grows beyond 20kg. Seeing the opportunity, James and his brother buy up all the local Suffolk Charollais lamb from other farmers that look like they’ll be over size. They then finish them on the lush grass in the low valleys around Axminister and sell them locally to the chefs and locals who value their incredible quality. No inputs needed. Just beautiful lambs grazing on beautiful grass, producing incredible meat that’s aged for 10 days before being packed to send to you.