Due to the ongoing C-19 situation, demand for our service continues to be far greater than we can supply. To ensure the health and safety of our workers, our customers, suppliers and the wider community, we continue to follow guidance issued by public health professionals, and we are complying with strict hygiene routines and social distancing protocols within all our working premises and vehicles.

We are working extra hard while managing reduced staff numbers, in order to allow vital food supplies to reach as many of the general public as possible, which we are doing by prioritising deliveries to our existing regular independent retail customer base. We are now able to accept orders from other trade areas as well, however due to our reduced warehouse work-force, we cannot yet make guarantees on delivery date.

Placing an order

Please place your order as early as you can, ideally 2-3 working days before your delivery day. Many of our delivery runs are reaching capacity very quickly. We will do everything possible to keep you updated with your order status. If we do need to make a change to your delivery date or method of transport we will contact you to seek an alternative solution. Our `Priority´ service of calling customers with any stock shortages and offering substitute items has been temporarily withdrawn, but we hope to make this available as soon as we are able to.

Phone Lines

You can phone us from 9am-5pm. Please place your order via our online web-ordering service, if you can. If you need assistance logging in, please email care@essential-trading.coop. Please email any credit/returns claims to claims@essential-trading.coop.

Deliveries

Limiting contact when we deliver your order remains imperative: if your order is not fork-lifted off, our drivers will leave your delivery at the door of your premises, they will knock and ask for a name, but will not require a signature and we ask that you observe the social distancing guidance of staying at least 2 metres away. We will refuse delivery if these protocols are not observed.

Payments

We are currently unable to accept cash or cheques and our preferred method of payment is bank transfer. We can also accept payments using debit or credit cards over the phone by calling accounts or online through our website. We can also set up bills to be paid by Direct Debit. Please contact our Accounts team for further information: accounts@essential-trading.coop or by phone on 0117 9430811 or 0117 9430832.

Buying Groups

If you ordered regularly from us before C-19 and you are based in a rural location, please email to bgroups@essential-trading.coop. We can also put you in contact with independent retailers local to you who stock our products.

Local Bristol & Bath non-trade customers

Our two retails shops Harvest Bristol and Harvest Bath stock a wide range of our products and are also offering a local delivery service, you can find more information on their websites.

Orders for Collection

Our collection service from our warehouse remains closed at this time to maximise customer and staff safety.

Supply Chain

High-demand products are being limited per customer to ensure fairness. This is being reviewed regularly and as soon as the supplies return to their normal levels these limits will be removed. You may also notice shortages of some products due to high demand. We are in constant contact with our suppliers and ask for your patience during these very challenging times.

New Business

We are currently not able to process applications for any new business. We hope to resume dealing with new trade applications as soon as we are able to.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment

The UK government has advised companies to upload their Covid-19 risk assessments on their websites. You can find ours here: Covid-19 Risk Assessment (pdf).

We thank you for your patience, understanding and co-operation during these difficult times.

All at Essential Trading Co-operative.