What we do
We have been growing, packing and processing onions for over 40 years. We live and breathe onions, shallots and garlic, and we believe that to be the best, you should stick to what you know. We certainly know our onions.
The journey
Follow one onion from a Lincolnshire drill to the supermarket shelf. Scroll to travel the season.
SEED TO SHELF
DAY 000
STAGE 01 / DRILL
The season starts in fen soil
Day zero. Sets tumble from the drill into some of the richest soil in Britain, the silt of the Lincolnshire fens. Everything that follows is decided here.
The divisions behind the journey
Chapter 01 / Growing · Journey stages 01-03
Where it all began. Founded by Gilbert Oldershaw with his son Robert and nephew John Grimwood in 1983, our farming business grows around 150 hectares of onions and shallots for Moulton Bulb and Goldwood, alongside 80 hectares of processing and packing potatoes, plus carrots, cauliflower and the traditional Lincolnshire crops of winter wheat, peas and sugar beet.
As one of the few shallot growers in the UK, we are a founder member of UKShallot.com, promoting British-grown shallots. We have been an assured produce grower for many years, we are a member of LEAF and Sedex, and we keep extending our British onion growing area, in recent years moving into Norfolk.
DIV 01 / LINCOLNSHIRE & NORFOLK
DIV 02 / ~100,000T PER YEAR
Chapter 02 / Packing · Journey stages 04-07
The heart of the Group. Onion, shallot and garlic sourcing, grading, packing and supply for retail, wholesale and recipe box companies. Our own farm generally kicks the UK season off; after that we call on a specially selected group of British growers from the length and breadth of the country, supplying over 1,700 tonnes of onions each week, complemented by around 40 international growers when the UK crop is not available.
We are investing in the future of the British crop, too. A new 4,000 tonne multi-functional onion store cures the crop, carefully managing heat, humidity and airflow, before transitioning into long-term cold storage. Three-tonne bins cut forklift movements and handling, and the store is designed to turn over up to three crops a year: overwintered, set and drilled onions.
Chapter 03 / Processing · Journey stage 06
Ready-prepared onions and garlic: whole peeled onions and a range of dice and slice sizes for retail and food manufacturers. As a trading arm of Moulton Bulb, Goldwood has access to a stable, consistent supply of crop, which means reliable, high-quality raw material for our customers' food processing needs.
Our vertically integrated model delivers exceptional quality control. Because every onion has already passed through our NIR grader, product is consistently fresh and free from internal rot. At Goldwood, quality is never compromised.
DIV 03 / PEELED · DICED · SLICED
DIV 04 / EST. 1998 · LIVERPOOL
Chapter 04 / Importing · Joins at stage 05
Established in 1998 and based in Liverpool, MBI is the Group's wholesale business. It supplies the British wholesale market with imported onions, principally netted Spanish and Chilean crop, through long-standing grower and packer relationships in both countries.
It also completes the loop on our own harvest. Good onions that fall outside a retail specification are sold through MBI rather than downgraded, so more of every crop we grow is eaten.
Alongside the imported programme it offers British onions and own brand, Gilly's Choice: packed at the Moulton site in distinctive cardboard trays, using the same onions supplied to our supermarket customers. Supermarket quality and traceability, delivered to the wholesale market.
Why buy from us
01
Lean and flexible
A small family business delivering quick decisions and fast reactions.
02
Vertically integrated
Grower, importer, packer and processor. Transparency from seed to store.
03
Allium specialists
We only do alliums. Bespoke facilities manage post-harvest conditioning, storage, grading and packing.
04
Capability
Whole head and processing facilities with multiple routes to market for greater crop utilisation.
Trusted by the UK's retailers and manufacturers