Salad orders 'through the roof' during heatwave

A salad grower has broken its own sales records as demand rose during the hot weather.

Bryan's Salads in Tarleton, Lancashire, harvested 21,000kg (about 46,000lb) of fresh spinach on Saturday which was washed, packed and dispatched before Monday morning.

Across the factory, the company also sold more than 300,000 bags and bowls of salad in a single day - the equivalent of 25 articulated lorry loads.

Henry Bryan, who works for the family-run business, said: "Over the summer, when you get 25 degrees-plus temperatures, our sales can double overnight, so it's a difficult thing to forecast, but it's just what we do."

"For this weekend alone, and the weather was 30-plus degrees, everyone must have been having barbecues because our orders went through the roof," he said.

"But in turn, the good weather means our crops grow and yield better in the field.

"So they go hand in hand, orders go up, crop yield goes up."

The farm has 400 acres (162 hectares) of baby leaf crops including chard, spinach and bull's blood, as well as another 400 acres of lettuce, including iceberg and romaine.

"Last week we produced 1.6 million separate items of salad," Matt Bryan, also part of the family business, told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"The soil in the local area is so fertile - it's very peaty and the minerals in that are just ideal for growing this sort of crop.

"Three generations ago in our family that was realised and it's just grown from that."

The farm, which was established in 1959, employs over 400 staff.

The Bryans said it takes a "huge effort" from everyone involved on both the farm and factory sides of the business, from harvesting in the field to processing, packing, logistics and dispatch.

"Luckily, we have the staff available," Henry added.

"So if our orders come in by 11am and we see they've doubled from the day before, we'll be able to pull staff in to harvest more of our fields and we'll work longer hours to make sure we get it back to keep everybody happy."

Asked what kind of salad they enjoy, Henry joked: "We don't really like salad. We see enough of it at work, so we don't really want to see it when we get home.

"Fish and chips or a good steak is what we usually go for."

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