The questions buyers
actually ask us.

We are the UK and Ireland commercial office for a defined group of international food manufacturers producing ambient fruit and vegetable lines: dried, freeze-dried, infused and purée fruit, finished fruit snacks, canned vegetables, tomato and pepper pastes, sauces and condiments.

We hold the commercial mandate for our manufacturers in this market, which means we can commit rather than relay on specification, samples, pricing and production scheduling, and we manage the account afterwards. Our office is in London. Production is in Türkiye.

You can talk to the factory. It will point you back here, because we hold the UK and Ireland commercial mandate for these lines.

That was a deliberate choice on both sides. Our manufacturers are specialists in production. Servicing this market well is a different discipline: knowing what a UK retail technical pack actually asks for, which formats move in which channel, what a buyer means when they name a standard, and being reachable in the hours it matters. They concluded it was more effective to hand that to a team who already knew the market than to build one alongside the factory.

So we are not standing between you and the factory. We are the part of the operation that knows your market, and we can commit rather than relay.

A UK subsidiary is a standing cost a manufacturer carries: an entity, an office, headcount and the years it takes to build. That cost is eventually carried in the price. This model does not create one.

Send us the product and the volume and we will give you terms you can compare.

Food manufacturers, foodservice operators, retailers, distributors and food brands.

Manufacturers come to us for specification-matched ingredient supply, with the documentation their QA team needs on arrival. Foodservice operators need catering-friendly formats that work for chefs in professional kitchens. Retailers develop own label with us, from brief through to a shelf-ready product. Distributors take bulk and core lines with predictable seasonal availability. Brands come to us for end-to-end product development based on their own brief.

We work with established businesses and growing ones alike. What matters is the brief, not the size of the company.

A trading company sells from what it holds. We start from what can be made. Describe the texture, thermal behaviour or shelf life you need and we will tell you which technique gets there and which plant runs it, and we can commit to it rather than check and come back.

We deliberately focus on ambient fruit and vegetables, knowing the raw material from where it is grown to how it is processed. That depth of focus is what lets us answer a technical question properly rather than forwarding it.

Fruit, seven ranges.

• Sun-dried fruits: apricots, figs, mulberries, raisins, sultanas, pitted cherries
• Naturally dried fruits: low-temperature oven dried without preservatives, across 38 varieties
• Infused fruits: sweetened with apple juice concentrate or sugar, soft and juicy
• Freeze-dried fruits: colour, shape and structure intact, light and crisp
• Fruit purée pieces: cubes, strings, sticks, leather and macaroni
• Bakestable purée pieces: holds flavour, structure and colour through the oven
• Fruit snacks: leather bars, balls, roll-ups, shapes, chocolate enrobed fruit and packaged dried fruit

Vegetable, two ranges.

• Canned vegetables: peppers, jalapeños, capers, grape leaves, giardiniera, Mediterranean ready meals and sun-dried tomatoes
• Sauces and condiments: pizza sauce, tomato and pepper paste, ketchup, harissa, bruschetta toppings and fruit and vegetable concentrates

Everything is ambient and shelf-stable, so there is no cold chain, and there are no artificial colours or flavours anywhere in what we supply. See the full range.

Across five purpose-built plants in Türkiye, run by four manufacturers. Each is a specialist: dried fruit ingredients, fruit based snacks, canning and preserving, sauces and pastes, and sun-dried tomato processing.

Our facilities sit in the Mediterranean because that is where the fruit and vegetables we deal in actually grow. The commercial and technical sign-off sits in the UK. More on manufacturing.

Both. The same fruit can be supplied as a bulk ingredient for your line, or as a finished product packed under your own brand. Formats across the range include bulk, retail pack, foodservice format and catering tin, depending on the product.

Yes. Both the fruit and the vegetable categories are EU Organic and USDA Organic certified. Tell us the line you are interested in and we will confirm what is currently running as organic.

Yes. Every product in our production portfolio, across both fruit and vegetables, can be made under your own label. That includes producing under a brand that is not your own, such as a licensed or partner name.

We handle recipe and formulation development with the plant’s R&D team, sample iteration until you approve, written product specification agreed before production, packaging format, production scheduling and quality verification, certification, allergen statements and nutritional analysis, and logistics coordination to your site. More on private label.

Yes. Send us the reference product and the specification. We will trial against it and keep iterating until the result matches, on taste, texture and everything in between.

Yes. Tell us what the product has to do rather than what it is: texture, thermal behaviour, mouthfeel, shelf life, format and the claim the pack needs to carry. We identify the right technique and facility and confirm feasibility with the plant before anything goes to sample.

Recipes can be formulated for specific age groups and for targeted claims.

It depends on the product, the format and whether the line is already running. We are flexible and supportive in most cases, so rather than quote a figure that will not fit your brief, tell us the product and the volume you have in mind and we will give you a clear answer.

Like minimum order quantities, this depends on the product and the format, and on whether we are producing an existing line or developing something new. Send us the details and we will come back with a clear answer rather than a range.

On the enquiry itself, we respond within 24 hours.

Yes. Samples are pulled and sent for evaluation, then adjusted and re-sent until the result is right. Nothing goes to production before you have approved a sample.

Every facility we work with holds current GFSI-recognised certification, BRCGS or IFS Food as a minimum. Both the fruit and the vegetable categories are also certified to Sedex, EU Organic and USDA Organic, with Halal and Kosher available across both.

Scope sits with the facility and the certification body, so it differs from plant to plant. Rather than take our word for it, tell us the product and the standard your buyer works to and we will send the current certificate for the facility that would run it, with the scope and expiry on the face of it. See the schemes we hold.

Yes. Facility records and current certificates are supplied on request. Tell us the product line and the standard your buyer works to and we will get you the current certificate.

Tell us what you are trying to make: the product, the format, the volume and the standard your buyer works to. An existing specification is ideal, and a description of the result works too.

Send it through the enquiry form or email hello@forksandfounders.com. We come back within 24 hours with whether it is possible.

Selectively. We take on a small number of manufacturers so that each one gets genuine commercial attention.

We look for ambient production focused on fruit or on vegetables, genuine manufacturing capability rather than trading, current GFSI-recognised certification, capacity to meet UK volumes and standards, openness to innovation and to developing against a brief, and a partner seeking the market run on their behalf rather than a sales agency. For manufacturers.