Fairfax Meadow choose Progreen to support their sustainability journey

As part of its sustainability strategy, award-winning foodservice butcher Fairfax Meadow, which delivers meat to some of the UK’s most loved hospitality brands, required a partner to supply its first electric vehicles(EVs) to service high-profile customers in London.

After detailed analysis, Progreen sourced and supplied two bespoke electric refrigerated vans on long term contract hire and managed the installation of the charging infrastructure. The EVs will make deliveries to some of London’s finest hotels and restaurants and are estimated to deliver a CO2 reduction of 39kg per van, per day.

Celebrating their 50th anniversary, Fairfax Meadow chose Progreen to support their company’s sustainability journey as they look to put meat on menus for many years to come.

Challenges

Foodservice butcher of the Year 2024, Fairfax Meadow delivers meat to high-profile customers in the capital including Mitchells & Butlers, Drake & Morgan, The Ivy Collection and Gordon Ramsay.
Completing numerous short journeys within London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), Fairfax Meadow wanted to begin transitioning to electric vehicles to futureproof its business from an environmental, cost management and customer service perspective.

Completely new to EVs and their associated charging infrastructure, Fairfax Meadow issued a tender to find a partner that could deliver a bespoke solution for its London depot.

Solution

Following detailed analysis of Fairfax Meadow’s delivery routes and mileage along with a full site survey of its London depot, Progreen delivered two bespoke 4 tonne Ford e-Transit refrigerated vans capable of carrying the same payload as the company’s standard diesel vehicles.

Fitted with an entirely new on-brand cab and body livery designed by the marketing team at Fairfax Meadow, the EVs are supplied on long term contract hire, including full repair and management allowing the business to manage its costs effectively.

The state-of-the-art EVs both feature a Solomon insulated body and a refrigeration system from GAH which provide the essential load temperature stability for both chilled and frozen meat products that will be transported by Fairfax Meadow across London to restaurants, hotels, hospitality venues, and contract caterers.

To keep uptime to a maximum, these vehicles need to be charged quickly and efficiently, and to support this Progreen managed the installation of a charging infrastructure by MER UK.

To optimise performance, Geotab telematics were fitted to both vehicles which will enable Fairfax Meadow to monitor driver behaviour and report on CO2 savings.

The systems will also allow Progreen to provide remote fault diagnosis, tracking and accident detection too. Being new to EVs, it was important for the Fairfax Meadow drivers to understand the impact that driver style has on the efficiency of the vehicles. To give the drivers the best possible start, full training has been provided by Prohire’s training academy, Procademy.

 

Results

• Two bespoke refrigerated vans join Fairfax Meadow’s fleet
• CO2 reduction estimated to be 39kg per van per day (based on a CO2 admission rate of 2.58g per litre used)
• Zero congestion charges within Clean Air Zones
• Full repair and management included
• EVs provide same payload as Fairfax Meadow’s diesel vehicles
• Bespoke design provides load temperature stability

We’ve worked with Prohire since 2021 and have built up a good relationship based on trust during that time. Progreen was an obvious choice to tender for our EV business and, in our opinion, offered the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic EV solution.

Of course, any tender we agree must be commercially viable for our business, and the pricing was a huge part of the consideration when choosing to work with Progreen, but the trust we have built with them played an important part in our final decision. Their knowledge, passion and support gave us confidence that they were the right partner to go on this journey with.

The way the Progreen team managed the process, from tender through to launch has been excellent. They have also provided us with great technical support.

Progreen has been fully supportive of Fairfax Meadow as we start our journey on moving to electric vehicles. This is an important part of our sustainability plan, and the future of how we look to put meat on menus across the UK for many years to come.

Tony Reardon, Fairfax Meadow’s Head of Logistics