Vitacress Salads Ltd. is an agriculture company headquartered in

St Mary Bourne St Mary Bourne is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It lies on the valley of the Bourne Rivulet, a tributary of the River Test, northeast of Andover. Governance The civil parish of St Mar ...

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the River Test, Test, and lies alongside the major A303 road, A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Portugal-based company Grupo RAR. The company, which was founded in the 1950s by Malcolm Isaac, is Europe's largest provider of

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

, and also grows and packages washed rocket (

arugula Rocket, eruca, or arugula (''Eruca sativa'') is an edible annual plant in the family Brassicaceae used as a leaf vegetable for its fresh, tart, bitter, and peppery flavor. Its other common names include salad rocket and garden rocketFlora of NW ...

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

, and other baby salad greens. Beyond salad, the company also produces and distributes freshly harvested new

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

. In addition to the UK, Vitacress has its own farms in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Vitacress supplies retailers and foodservice operators in several markets.

History

The company, was founded in 1951 by Malcolm Isaac. In 1959, the watercress cultivation estate of

Eliza James Eliza James (30 September 1855 – 26 September 1927) was an English watercress grower and entrepreneur, known as the Watercress Queen of Covent Garden. Her watercress business was the largest watercress company of the time in Europe. Life Sh ...

, known as 'the Watercress Queen of Covent Garden', was sold to Vitacress Salads Ltd. In addition to the UK, Vitacress started operations in Portugal and Spain. Vitacress supplied retailers in the UK under their own brand (JSainsbury or Marks & Spencers). In Portugal and Spain, in order to diversify the risk and as a way to combat the slowing of the UK Washed & Ready To Eat salad market, Vitacress decided to launch its own brand (from

Odemira Odemira (), officially the Town of Odemira (), is a town and a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Beja District in the Portugal, Portuguese region of Alentejo. The population in 2021 was 29,538, in an area of , making it the large ...

). In 2007 Vitacress had a turnover of £81m and employed around 1,000 people. On July 1, 2008, Portuguese company RAR Group reportedly bought Vitacress for £52.5 Million.

References

External links

Official website
Companies based in Hampshire Agriculture companies of the United Kingdom {{Food-product-stub