Member Article

Teesside food service startup set for growth following funding

Middlesbrough-based Trio Foodservice Limited is set to grow its operations further with an investment into new equipment, following funding from Barclays.

Established in 2014 by entrepreneurs Richard Stainthorpe, Neil Short and Martin Wheatley, the Teesside firm delivers fresh food supplies to coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and schools.

Based at Nelson Industrial Estate, Middlesbrough, Barclays funding has assisted in the business in expanding its refrigeration and frozen storage capacity, enabling it to expand lines and offer more choice to their customers.

The Trio partners had all previously worked in the food distribution sector before deciding to startup the business. With turnover doubling in the last 12 months, Director Richard Stainthorpe spoke of his delight.

Richard said: “The last year has been so exciting setting up and fulfilling our dream of becoming self-employed.

“We now supply over 350 businesses across the North East and it’s great that Barclays have been able to support our growth and help us fund new equipment.

“We’ve also been able to make improvements to our IT platform which means we now have an automated and seamless service for our customers.”

Trevor Jenkins, Business Banking Manager at Barclays put together the funding package for the deal and said: “It’s great to see a new start-up growing and thriving and Richard, Martin and Neil have certainly got the knowledge and the ambition to take their business to the next level.

“They have grown the business very quickly and we look forward to supporting them as they innovate for the future and grow their expanding customer base.”