The story of the beginnings of the world’s most famous companies often starts in the garage. Two buddies, an interesting idea, a determination to conquer the world! In a way, the story of The Pantry begins similarly..
Grounds is feeling the right moment..
Two friends Darek Jeleniewski and Karol Wronski, a car that is not the first of its kind, a borrowed trailer, some cash and a business idea that no one has yet used. So equipped, they left Lublin one morning with their first shipment of Polish food and a plan to conquer the UK market with their native products.
The year 2004, Poland’s accession to the European Union and the opening up of free trade was a challenge for the brave. Many of them left to look for bread abroad. Some fell upon the idea of taking this bread to them. Polish food found loyal buyers not only among the growing Polish community in Britain. The partners themselves went from shop to shop with the goods, winning customers and building business relationships that continue to this day.
They gained their place in the business but also valuable knowledge of market needs and Client expectations. Knowledge on the foundation of which they developed the Pantry, adopting the main principle “taking care of our Clients’ business is taking care of our own business”.
The pantry was expanding very quickly and exploiting the potential of the market. After three years of operation, the company already had its own transhipment warehouse in London. Over the next two years, such pantry warehouses were established in Manchester and Northern Ireland. Today, there are five in total – with new ones starting up in Lincoln in the UK and Zevenbergen in the Netherlands in the following years.
In 2015. Spiżarnia launched a modern distribution centre in Lublin, which allowed it to decisively expand its product range.
The following year, our &Market network based on franchise principles began its activities, targeting customers giving them marketing and sales support.
In 2022, the dynamic growth of the company made us decide to change our warehouse to a larger one. At the beginning of the year, we moved to a new distribution centre with modern office space and a 20,000 m2 warehouse (including 8,000 m2 of cold storage). In the same year, we also moved to a new, larger warehouse in the Netherlands in Moerdijk.
We currently already have several thousand different food products on offer and are not resting on our laurels. We are constantly working to develop our &Market partner network of local entrepreneurs. We offer flexible co-operation terms, affordable prices and marketing support.
We create a reliable and professional company, constantly expanding our knowledge and skills in order to completely satisfy the needs of our business partners. We put an experienced sales team, friendly and professional service and modern methods of cooperation at our customers’ disposal.
We are aware that following the beaten path will not ensure that we keep up the pace of development. The world is changing day by day, and we want to keep pace. Looking for new, bold solutions is in the DNA of our company, and our willingness to turn threats into opportunities makes us look boldly to the future.
It is our ambition to approach cooperation with our counterparties in an open, out-of-the-box manner, working out action plans together. We know that looking after the interests of our clients means looking after our own interests. We grow and develop together, therefore Customer satisfaction comes first.