*all about “My Exotic Fruit”……the story so far

The subject matter of this week’s London Shoes publication is somewhat different from the sort of topics I usually publish – as this blog article is actually all about what is a relatively new, and very interesting business venture.

In terms of the London Shoes criteria – this particular topic has a strong London connection – and it is most definitely unusual, and at the moment lesser known – and although it may not be historic (yet), one day it could well be.

So – this Shoes article is all about the creation – development – progress and success of an enterprise entitled…….**“MY EXOTIC FRUIT” **

Background:

My Exotic Fruit is one of the UK’s leading exotic fruit retailers – supplying the public & businesses with a wide selection of fruits from all around the world.

The company is the brainchild of Colin Bannell – who set the business up and started trading as My Exotic Fruit in 2014.

Now – regular followers of my work, when reading this blog article, may be thinking to themselves as to why London Shoes is covering off this particular topic – as it is very much different from the normal stuff I publish – and the answer is quite simple – there is a (very) tenuous link between My Exotic Fruit and London Shoes…….I’ll explain.

Colin’s dad is Les – and Les and I have known each other for almost 50 years.

We first made our acquaintance when we were both junior staff at Barclays Bank in the mid 1970’s. At that time, we never actually worked together in a branch, but used to bump into each other at the bank’s East London District social events, like sports days, sportsman’s suppers and stuff like that. From memory, I think we may have also attended a few of the same training courses etc.

Anyway – fast forward to the late 1980’s – I was transferred to the Whitechapel branch of Barclays Bank, as an ‘Assistant’ to the Office Manager – and the office manager in question, just happened to be my old mate, Les.

Under what were at times ‘challenging’ circumstances in an extremely busy branch, located in the middle of what was then London’s rag-trade industry – situated in a diverse and always eventful east end district – we had an enjoyable couple of years of working closely together under the same roof – great fun good times and happy memories.

However – I am digressing – so let’s get back to the amazing story of ‘My Exotic Fruit’.

Early Years

Les’s son Colin left school at 18 with a couple of A Levels under his belt. He didn’t really fancy going off to University, instead he took up a few part time jobs.

Colin’s initial interest in setting up his own business came from a time when he used to work for a renowned and extremely popular Country Club located not that far from the family home in Billericay-Essex.

The venue is very much in demand, continually hosting all different type of events – and Colin was an essential part of its busy hospitality team.

Colin began to suggest and implement various enhancements to the Country Club bar and restaurant – all of which were well received by clients, with Colin personally receiving complimentary and encouraging feedback.

The introduction of Colin’s initiatives also generated a significant increase in income for the establishment.

However, after a while, Colin felt that he wasn’t really being appropriately rewarded for the amount of work he was putting into the job and especially the improvements he drove to increase returns for the business.

Colin got a massive buzz from seeing his ideas being taken on board and becoming successful – and began to think of ways that he could potentially boost his own income by perhaps setting up his own business.

The Beginnings of ‘My Exotic Fruit’:

With an enthusiastic entrepreneurial spirit, self belief and with the help of family and friends he started by building a ‘Mobile Cocktail Bar’ – and advertising his services as an enhancement for house / garden parties and such like events.

The novelty of the availability of hiring his mobile cocktail bar very soon caught on locally, as word got out about how cool it was.

Colin then started introducing exotic fruits in his cocktails, to provide something a little bit new and exciting for his customers.

Demand for his ‘cocktail bar’ quickly grew far and wide – and very soon Colin found that he was taking bookings for events such as weddings – private parties held in hired halls – garden parties – promotional events held in hotels – in fact it wasn’t long before Colin’s mobile cocktail bar was included as part of wedding planner packages on offer at a local hotel – even local celebrants were promoting his services.

Colin’s interest in exotic fruits was generated by visits he had made to SE Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos plus a few other countries) where he saw fruit being displayed and sold in markets and as a street food. Most of the fruits were brand new to him and he assumed they would also probably be new/unknown to most folk back home in the UK, as they probably weren’t being sold in the supermarkets and/or other fruit retailers.

He soon established that there was a great interest in the exotic/tropical fruits he used when making up cocktails for his clients – and that customers were also really interested in how to go about actually buying these fruits directly themselves – as there wasn’t really anyone or anywhere to shop for this sort of stuff – and so Colin could clearly see that there was definitely a gap in the market, and an opportunity to supply exotic fruits to the British public.

So – with the above in mind and noticing a gap in the market and thus an opportunity to make a bit of money – Colin began to start selling the most popular of the exotic fruits he was using for his cocktails.

It was at this point that, to supplement his income from his Country Club job, Colin made the big decision to have a go at being a sole trader.

Using his Mum & Dad’s home as his ‘factory’ – first the garage – then expanding the operation to part of the lounge – then on to his bedroom – and then erecting a bespoke large metal shed in his dad Les’s back garden……he started selling his exotic fruits on-line.

Colin immersed himself in everything “exotic fruits” – reading anything relevant that he could, visiting markets, visiting ethnic shops particularly those based in London, talking to suppliers / wholesalers at markets. He even visited markets and shops in South East Asia, to learn as much as he could about exotic fruits, their origins, their taste and their nutrients.

Very soon Colin’s girlfriend Christina quit her day job and began working with him – dealing with the packaging up and dispatching the on-line customer orders – as well as still taking bookings and orders for wedding event promotions / corporate events /private parties and food fairs…….the business was now really moving into another gear.

The setting up of basic social media feeds such as a Website / Facebook / Instagram – plus basic ‘word of mouth’ recommendations – all helped ‘spread-the-word’ about the existence and availability of Colin’s exotic fruits.

The Covid Pandemic:

Then – the dreaded COVID pandemic hit the UK, bringing a halt to almost everything.

However – as the old saying goes “one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor” – the COVID lockdowns in the UK actually resulted in a HUGE increase in demand for the type of fruits Colin was selling, mostly driven by the fact that consumers were having more time on their hands to browse the internet, and more cash in their pockets to buy stuff, as they weren’t able to get out and about on the streets, to spend it.

The increase in demand during the ‘lockdowns’ meant that the business had now totally outgrown its faithful old home industry base – a new much larger business premises was now required.

My Exotic Fruit’s – New home:

So – in 2020, following 6 years where the business had gone from being a ‘mobile cocktail bar’ to an on-line sales operation – all operated from the family home – Colin’s My Exotic Fruit business moved to a new ‘home’ at Oaklands Farm Estate – Goatsmoor Lane in Stock, near Ingatestone –Essex – where Colin rented a single unit, to operate the business from.

It soon became apparent that this new unit wasn’t really big enough or fit for purpose enough in its own right,  to run the ever growing My Exotic Fruits business from – and so over the 4 year period that the business has been operating from its Oaklands Farm home – further units have been rented and major enhancements made, to the extent that as at today (Dec 2024) the business now operates from 6 units including a greenhouse and its garden – a huge achievement in such a short period of time and a reflection of just how popular My Exotic Fruit has become.

Customers:

The business continues to grow and flourish. The increase in awareness of having a healthier diet plus the growing popularity in becoming vegetarian or vegan, saw My Exotic Fruit gaining new customers from all different walks of life – and not just individual people buying fruit for their household consumption’s.

For example – today ‘My Exotic Fruit’ customers range from top London hotels / cocktail bars / gin distilleries / wine bars / / pubs / brewers / premium retailers – a certain iconic and globally famous London department store, based in Knightsbridge…..Harrods– is a regular customer, who My Exotic Fruit deliver to on a weekly basis.

It’s not just for human consumption purposes that attracts customers to My Exotic Fruit – for example, they have clients such as photographers usually requiring fruit for things like advertising assignments etc. Then there’s TV and Film production companies – ethnic UK based markets – even the tv prog ‘Loose Women’ placed an order once for a piece they were doing on ‘smelly’ fruit ( I think it was called ‘stinky toes’!!)

In 2021 when “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here” was filmed at a castle in the UK during one of the Covid lockdowns, it was Colin’s My Exotic Fruit who provided some of the fruit material used in the ‘Bush Tucker Trials’ !!!

Trade deals are great from a business perspective because of the size of the orders – but overall, it is the general public from across the UK not just London, who are by far the largest sector of My Exotic Fruit customers.

There are many reasons as to why exotic fruits are in demand, and not all of those are just trade or business related. For example, some of Colin’s customers may have spent their formative years growing up overseas and have happy memories of certain fruits etc growing in Grandma & Grandad’s garden, and being nostalgic for the good old days, are interested in purchasing the weird and wonderful fruits from their youth.

Similarly – there are a lot of Colin’s customers that made up of younger people who, in their ‘gap years’ may have travelled to countries where some of the more exotic fruit is grown – and now want to take up the opportunity of buying it as part of their household food shop.

Whatever the demographic, it appears that customers are more than happy to pay for quality produce.

Most popular exotic fruit:

The most popular exotic fruit Colin’s business knocks out is probably ‘Soursop’ – which can be sold in many sorts of ways – fresh / frozen / juice / frozen sachets / tea bags / sweets / dried leaves / fresh leaves and even powder.

On its own, Soursop fruit is quite tasty  – and there are some that say it has anti-toxin properties that allegedly may help stop the spread of cancer or even contracting the disease. Now – there’s no scientific proof behind this theory, but clearly some people believe it has helped them, and that may well be why it is one of the most popular purchased exotic fruit.

Operational Set-Up:

Today (Dec 2024) My Exotic Fruit employs 8 full time plus 10 part time staff……a far cry from the days when Colin was knocking out packs of fruit from his mum and dad Les’s garage.

At present, the operational set-up of My Exotic Fruit involves a marketing department (inc. social media / newsletters etc) – email inbox management – after sales paperwork – packers – daily order preparers – dispatchers…..all overseen and managed by a warehouse manager – a trade department – sales director.

The business stocks around 400 different exotic fruits – which can be ordered on-line or via eBay or Amazon or the Good to Go purchase mechanisms.

The purchase order distribution methods used by My Exotic Fruit are mainly a next day nationwide delivery courier service – but the business also operates an in-house delivery service to local buyers – plus it offers a special arrangement (for an additional fee) for deliveries to London and the Home Counties.

Delivery experience:

In fact, my London Shoes had experience in one particular element of the My Exotic Fruit distribution mechanism…..I’ll explain.

As mentioned earlier, Colin’s dad Les is a long-time mate of mine from our Barclays Bank days. Anyway – Les often assists in the My Exotic Fruit distribution process – either dropping off orders or picking up unusual fruits from all over the place, mainly the more distant locations, particularly the central London ones.

One of the regular weekly ‘runs’ Les does for the business, involves the delivery of exotic fruit to a certain globally known department store based in Knightsbridge…..the iconic ’Harrods’ – and that process in itself, has to be conducted with military precision, as this legendary store has extremely organised operational procedures in terms of its deliveries – you can’t just rock-up when you want and offload a delivery.

Anyway – delivering exotic fruit to Harrods sounded like an exciting experience and so I asked Les if I could accompany him one Friday – and he agreed I could.

So – at 4:45am one Friday morning, the My Exotic Fruit van pulled up outside my London Shoes base in Romford – and with a cargo of exotic fruits, we set-off towards Central London.

As we drove through East London we passed the Barclays Bank Head Office building in Canary Wharf, where ironically both Les and I ended our 40+ year careers. We then moved towards the Tower of London and to the Embankment and then Trafalgar Square and onward to Knightsbridge, it was really weird seeing the streets so empty, with hardly any sign of life around at that time of the morning– in the knowledge that, on our return journey, the scenery would be so completely different.

As we approached Knightsbridge, the streets surrounding the delivery entrance of this world famous store, were suddenly full of vans and lorries all queuing up for their allotted time slot – and all loaded up with all manner of high-end food stuffs like poultry / eggs / fish / fruit / larks tongues in aspic (joke) you name it, it was being delivered that day.

Having entered Harrods delivery quarters, and got ourselves signed-in, we were allocated a delivery bay, and then Les leapt out of the van and sprang into action (ably assisted by my London Shoes) to get the exotic fruit that had been ordered, onto a trolley so that it could be viewed by the Store’s quality control, because as you can probably imagine, Harrods demand only ‘premier/perfect produce’ and they have rigorous quality control processes in place to ensure only the best is supplied and the fruits meet pre-agreed criteria such as source, weight, size, presentation and shelf life. Once that part of the delivery process has been completed, then the exotic fruits get taken to the actual department within the store that had submitted the order (told you it was like a military operation).

The delivery ‘drop off’ itself had to be done promptly as there were loads of delivery vehicles still queuing up for their allotted time-slot – and the store’s delivery set-up only operates for a couple of hours each early morning, so as not to cause congestion on the Knightsbridge streets.

Having delivered the order of exotic fruit – we were soon homeward bound, arriving back just as the world was waking up and getting out of bed!!!

All in all, a unique and great experience for my London Shoes to have been involved in.

“The Greengrocer”

Because of the interest in My Exotic Fruit and the demand for its products, in August 2024 Colin implemented a new initiative by opening “The Greengrocer” a retail shop located on the My Exotic Fruit  Oaklands Farm site in Stock near Billericay.

The ‘Greengrocer’ not only sells exotic fruits, but also ‘normal’ fruits that are available in supermarkets, along with dried fruits / frozen fruits / fruit baskets / premium olive oil and even selected vegetables.

Coincidentally – my London Shoes was there at the opening of ‘The Greengrocer’ and witnessed first-hand, the interest shown by the constant stream of public that turned up throughout the day to check out the shop and all the produce on sale…..very busy it was too (and the welcoming glass of prosecco went down a treat too).

“The Future” 

With my London Shoes having watched Colin at reasonably close quarters, it has been both interesting and pleasingly heart-warming to see someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, have the bravery to take his dream, totally believe in it  and then make it a reality – a very courageous thing to do, as it’s a 24/7 commitment all the way (in fact, I would say its more like 25/8 !!!)

As the old saying goes “from little acorns, mighty oak trees grow” and my London Shoes is looking forward to seeing the My Exotic Fruit business with its new ‘The Greengrocer’ shop, progress into the New Year and future years beyond – if commitment is anything to go by then I have no doubt that Colin and the business will go from strength to strength.

You can follow the activities of My Exotic Fruit on Facebook (their videos are certainly entertaining) and Instagram – and of course, you can find out what’s on offer and can purchase fruit / fruit packages / birthday prezzies / Christmas prezzies….anything really…ON-LINE….from their website:- www.myexoticfruit.com

Similarly, should you ever find yourself in the Billericay or surrounding districts of good old Essex – then why not pop into ‘The Greengrocer’ shop and have a browse.

If you do pop into the shop or order yourself some exotic fruit or a basket as a gift for someone, then be sure to mention to My Exotic Fruit that you heard all about them via London Shoes…..they’d luv to know that !!!

So – that’s the story of ‘My Exotic Fruit’ – in line with London Shoes criteria ethos, an unusual topic with a biiiiiig London connection – and a subject matter that’s been a pleasure and a privilege to cover-off and publish.

Hope you found the article interesting and that you enjoyed the gallery of photos accompanying the story.

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See below the entire gallery of photos taken and published to support the ‘My Exotic Fruit’ blog