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We have come a long way since 1991.
Here are the key milestones that made us who we are today.
Adam and George founded The Fresh Olive Company, but the heritage goes back a good few years before that…
Adam and George get allocated to share a desk on their first day of secondary school, and have been best mates ever since.
Adam begins studying at university while George goes to cookery school in Paris, and then works in Michelin-starred restaurant, La Taillevent in Paris, before returning to London to work in the Capital Hotel.
George is the chef on a private yacht, travelling around the Mediterranean.
Adam and George visit George’s mum, Ailsa in Provence. She takes them to the market, where Monsieur Soler sells olives of a quality British people can only dream about. They take ten buckets back to England. Their first customer is Fasta Pasta in Oxford, and the Fresh Olive Company is established.
Fresh Olive takes off: armed with a Yellow Pages, a little van and the only top notch olive mixes in the UK, there is no shortage of delis and chefs eager to buy, including Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.
Keen to expand the range, George and his mum tour Europe looking for exciting new ingredients.
On their travels they find outstanding olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pesto, and make lifelong friends in Eduard, Allesandro and Mario.
We take a stall at the world famous Borough Market near London Bridge, where we trade happily until 2016.
Our B2C brand, Belazu is created, and we launch oils and vinegars in Sainsbury's and Waitrose.
A trend for British chefs setting up abroad works in our favour; our first export customer is the Jumeirah Beach hotel in Dubai...the first of many (we are now available in 30 countries).
In the same year, in house manufacturing is established.
The Belazu Foundation is established.
The Foundation sponsors a school in Morocco, and soon we are sponsoring three schools. To this day, we support them, as well as other projects closer to home.
By 2005, our packaging line includes pestos and culinary pastes, selling 30 million servings of pesto a year.
In 2006, we begin supplying more and more food manufacturers, including companies who make food for Marks and Spencer. As a result, we gain A status from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
We move to specialist premises in Greenford, enabling us to make more of our products in house to the highest possible quality.
We enter the Great Taste Awards for the first time. Four years later we have gained 100 stars in our trophy cabinet.
We become certified as a London Living Wage Employer.
The year of zero landfill.
Our Ready Steady Green recycling initiative achieves zero landfill status in just one month, for which we win several awards.
Now we offer over 300 product lines, being called "Fresh Olive" does not do our range justice any more.
We roll both of our brand names together into one to become The Belazu Ingredient Company.
25 year anniversary!
We celebrate 25 years of success by winning 'Best Stand' at Taste of London and launching a new range of premium bar snacks.
On top of this, we open the Pembury, our on-site kitchen dedicated to product innovation.
We achieved BRC AA+ Accreditation, the highest accreditation possible.
We also opened our high care nut manufacturing room.
William Jackson Food Group acquires Belazu.
Established in 1851, WJFG is a 168-year-old family-owned business that provides Belazu with even more knowledge and expertise of the food industry.
The year of retail development and expansion.
We add more lines and products to supermarkets including Ocado, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsburys, and Booths.
We also win Best Employer at the 2019 Grocer Gold Awards.