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| It all amounts to a huge operation when the flowers and vegetables picked that morning need to be on a supermarket shelf in 48 hours. Typically in Kenya across ten farms every day 55 tons of runner beans are picked to be sent to the UK supermarkets. In addition, 20 tons of other vegetables are cropped both on Homegrown’s own farms and by their 600 outgrowers, based in rural areas around Kenya. |  |
| All of the vegetables need to be kept at optimum temperatures until they go to Nairobi, which is why Flamingo Holdings have enough cold storage space to cover ten football pitches. The vegetables are cooled and blast-chilled and one of the 200 lorries owned by the company transports the produce to the airport-based factories. |  |
| Each day 400,000 stems of roses and 400,000 stems of other flowers and fillers are picked, and down in South Africa another 100,000 stems of chrysanthemums are harvested. All the Kenyan flowers are put straight into cold storage in Naivasha, and then packed and boxed before being taken to Nairobi. The South African chrysanthemums will join the Kenyan flowers in the UK. |  |
| More than 100 million packs a year are prepared at the various factories comprising over 120 lines. Using sophisticated computers both in the UK and world wide, the needs of the supermarkets can be matched minute by minute, ensuring that all orders can be met. |  |
| All product is kept cool in the cold chain, and each day everything is ready on pallets for despatch to Britain from Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. Typically, it’s onto the plane as quickly as possible. 103 tons takes only an hour to load. Check with air traffic control, and then it’s off to the UK. |  |
| Flamingo Holdings has three companies operating in Britain: Flamingo UK, Zwetsloots and Flower Plus. All the vegetables are distributed to the supermarkets via Flamingo UK.At Zwetsloots and Flower Plus, the Kenyan and South African flowers are married up with stems from all over the world to provide a million bouquets a week for Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-Op. |  |
| So from picking early one morning, this huge operation is able to achieve field to table in 48 hours, producing a fresh, healthy product that’s needed by the supermarkets each and every day. |  |
