Success Stories: Fruitlift

In February 2007 David Charlton and Tom Platt launched their company, Fruitlift, an office fruit delivery service operating in the Leeds area.

David who studied at Leeds Met for a BA (Hons) in Leisure and Sport and a MA in Business Studies and Tom, who has a MA in Geography, have been friends since school and have always had the ambition of owning their own business.

Using their experience and knowledge they gained from working for a health convenience food and beverage retailer whilst studying, David and Tom spotted a gap in the market for their business idea and wanted to take advantage of the lack of competition and establish links with clients to ensure they become the market leader.

David explains “there is an increasing trend amongst businesses in the UK to promote a healthy work environment through the introduction of fruit in the workplace. Fruitlift delivers fresh, quality and delicious fruit directly into the office, helping companies to promote a healthy, happy and energised workforce”.

In 2006, Tom and David enrolled on the Business Start-up programme of support where the in-house business mentor gave them help and advice about their business idea and informed them about the Business Start-up Entrepreneurial Summer School which they attended. The Summer School “was an excellent opportunity to improve and develop our skills and knowledge. Networking with other start ups was really useful and we are now using their services”.

In December 2006, Fruitlift applied for the Proof of Concept grant from Business Start-up. The aim of the grant is to provide financial assistance to help test the feasibility of enterprising ideas for business start ups. fruitLift we’re awarded £1000 which they used for marketing material and to fund a pilot scheme. In January 2007 David and Tom approached offices in Leeds asking if they could pilot the fruitLift fruit box scheme at no cost to the client over a period of a month. At the end of the pilot fruitLift gained feedback from participants, “the reaction to Fruitlift was great. Employers and employees alike really bought into the concept whilst their feedback was invaluable.”

David explains “We are focusing on our position of delivering fruit to the workforce of Yorkshire at present but once we’ve sorted their health out we’ll set our targets on the rest of the UK!”

For more information about fruitLift visit www.fruitlift.co.uk