Merchant Gourmet, the UK pulses and grains business owned by local distributor Leathams, is to start selling directly to consumers as one way of adapting to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The company is marketing food boxes, both “bespoke” and pre-packed, which households can order directly to home and which can be bought by small firms. As the products come in large quantities that would usually be provided to restaurants, small food businesses could look to purchase them to stock up on ingredients, the firm told just-food.

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The bespoke boxes can be made up of food from a variety of categories, including food cupboard, home baking and vegan.  The bespoke boxes prices will range depending on the products chosen.

Four pre-packed boxes are also available – an Italian box, a Spanish alternative, a third focusing on Asian products such as tofu and kimchi, as well as a fourth providing “store cupboard essentials”. Each are priced at GBP45 (US$54.87), apart from the Spanish box which costs GBP50. Orders can be placed at https://shop.leathams.com/.

Nyree Chambers, head of brand at Merchant Gourmet, said: “In the current crisis, supermarket shopping has become significantly harder, with longer queues, wider food shortages and waves of panic buying. In these difficult circumstances, we want to provide a variety of healthy, easily accessible ingredients, offering quick meal solutions to small businesses”.

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