About Us - The Fruit Box Story

Hello, I’m Jonathan the founder of The Fruit Box…

I love being healthy and I have a passion for business, so The Fruit Box seemed the ideal company for me. I used to buy fruit for my office colleagues every Monday from one of Leeds’ city centre supermarkets. I was always a little bit disappointed by what we got for our money and on top of that we were exhausted by the time we returned to the office! Never the less everyone loved having fresh fruit in the office.

I recognised a growing awareness of the need to eat healthily combined with the fact that people are so busy. Fruit is a convenient, healthy snack and it’s not expensive. I figured there must be a way of supplying offices with fruit as a wellbeing benefit. After a bit of research I discovered the success of specialist office fruit suppliers in Australia and Norway. I decided that this business could be a success here in Leeds.

The most important aspect in developing the idea was finding a quality supply of fresh fruit that could be provided to businesses on a cost effective basis. This is where I had a chance meeting with Richard Thompson of the famous Yorkshire Produce Centre. When I tasted that first juicy apple I knew that the workplaces of Leeds would be as hooked as I was!

After the assistance of The Princes Trust and Leeds Metropolitan University I decided it was time to get drastic and quit my job and start The Fruit Box. This allowed me to concentrate 100% on developing a service to provide the highest quality fruit to offices in Leeds. The Fruit Box was off the ground.

The Fruit Box business model has been built on a foundation of friendly and reliable customer service. I’m 100% committed to making The Fruit Box experience as rewarding and hassle free as possible for businesses. I source only the highest quality and freshest produce for my customers.

Over the coming months I will be working hard to develop The Fruit Box’s CSR strategy. At the moment I donate the fruit which has not quite made the stringent quality checks to a local homeless charity called Emmaus. The charity helps homeless people in Leeds and the surrounding area to help themselves by providing a home and work in a supportive environment. It’s a great charity and they really do a great job in giving people a chance to support themselves. Visit them here for further information on this great charity.

The Fruit Box provides employers with Wellbeing in a box - a cost effective way to boost employee wellbeing and keep staff performing at their best.

I hope you enjoy eating Leeds’ finest fruit.

Jonathan Russell
The Fruit Box founder