2021 - what a year!

Wowee - what a year that was! Now that the craziness of Christmas is over, we've got some time to reflect on our achievements and thank all of the awesome people that have helped us make 2021 the best year yet!

Suppliers 

We wanted to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to all of our incredible suppliers. We would not be here without you!

We started off the year with 50 suppliers and ended it with a whopping 70! All local, all totally unique and all with incredible stories behind their products. They make Boxlocal what it is. We were lucky enough to spend some time with a lot of them over the Summer and learnt more about how their excellent produce is made. Something we definitely want to continue to do in 2022!

Outsourcing our packing

In May, we made the huge leap of outsourcing our packing from Kate's humble garage to Allegro Logistics. A local family-run business that has now become an extension of Boxlocal. It was a nerve-wracking move, but the Allegro team have been beyond brilliant and have continued the same quality and attention to detail that we pride ourselves on. Thank you to this wonderful team of people.

Going zero-emissions with Zedify

2021 also saw us partnering with zero emissions delivery service, Zedify. Not only have they helped us reduce our carbon footprint and make a positive contribution to the Bristol clean air initiative but they are the friendliest bunch of people and have been consistently reliable with their deliveries. If you are a small business looking to switch up your deliveries - please use this fantastic team, you will not regret it!

Brand new website 

We discovered the incredible Chris at bristechtonic at the beginning of the year and he has become almost the third member of Boxlocal. Chris has done phenomenal work on our SEO and website - going above and beyond at the drop of a hat! If you are looking for someone to help you grow your business and get found on google, we cannot recommend this guy enough!

Award-winners!

We were finalists for two categories at the Bristol Life Awards and two categories at the Business Leader Awards. A real pinch-me moment for us both! We were gobsmacked to win Best Retailer at the Bristol Life Awards - such an honour to be nominated amongst some fantastic Bristol business that we look up to, let alone win! There was an epic after-party too! 

Charity Work

We got way more hands on with our charity work in 2021.

Over the Summer we volunteered at FareShare South West making food parcels for vulnerable families across the South West. Such a fantastic experience and the volunteers were so inspiring. We even got Kate's son involved!

In December, we volunteered at The MAZI Project donating and creating food boxes for Bristol's disadvantaged young people and helped deliver the boxes around Bristol. We witnessed first hand the impact these boxes had on these young people's lives. Melanie and the team do such fantastic work! We want to return in the New Year!

Finally, we raised a total of £1,188 for The Grand Appeal through box sale donations and donated £200 worth of stock to the Children's hospital over Christmas. Words can't express how grateful we are to the incredible staff there.

Looking ahead to 2022!

Thank YOU lovely customers for supporting us every step of the way - we really are so grateful to you. Looking ahead to 2022, we can't wait to bring you more fabulous local produce and make it easy for you to gift in a local, sustainable way. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts/feedback! If there's anything you'd like us to change/include - let us know. We would really love to hear from you :-)

In the meantime, 2022 - we're coming for you!

Bethan and Kate x