Pilgrim - New Distribution Centre Fuels Growth

2011 is set to be an exciting year for Pilgrim Foodservice, as the company settles into its brand new purpose-built, state-of-the-art distribution centre, located at Marsh Lane in Boston. The move to the 14.8 acre site in November 2010 was a major milestone in the company’s development. As a leader in its field, it prides itself on its dedication to maintaining the highest standards, and this new bespoke facility reflects this commitment.

This, of course, is all a far cry from where Peter Bateman began the business some 32 years ago, in a tiny cold storage facility in the grounds of his father’s wines and spirits business.

Peter’s route into the foodservice sector was a natural progression of the relationship that he had with the free trade public house and hotel sector whilst working for the family brewery. He recognised the opportunity to provide a frozen food offering and decided to employ someone with foodservice industry knowledge to help him to launch a small range of around 300 core frozen product lines. The timing of Peter’s new venture was brave given that it was during the recession of 1979/80; however, his business formula was clearly effective as the company quickly grew out of the small premises it initially operated from.

It was in 1982, with Britain still in the grip of recession, that Peter took the decision to purchase a semi-derelict vegetable processing factory site at Blue Street in Boston, which he adapted to provide cold storage and other basic facilities in order to accommodate the company’s growing product range which now stood at 800 frozen lines. This certainly underlines Peter’s entrepreneurial spirit and his desire to create a business that would provide customers with unrivalled service, attractive price points, and an ever-growing portfolio of products.