Waitrose Duchy Organic
(formerly Duchy Originals from Waitrose and earlier simply Duchy Originals) is a brand of organic food sold in
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
stores in the United Kingdom.
The brand is a partnership between Waitrose and Duchy Originals Limited, a company set in 1990 up by King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
when he was
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
and
Duke of Cornwall.
The Duchy Originals company is named after the
Duchy of Cornwall estates that are held in trust by the Duke of Cornwall, who often holds the title Prince of Wales.
History
![Duchy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Duchy.Organic.old.ruby.ale.2012.JPG)
The Duchy Originals brand was originally conceived in 1990 as an outlet for the organic food grown on the Prince of Wales
Highgrove House
Highgrove House is the family residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It lies southwest of Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove and its estate were owned by various families until it was ...
estate and the first product was oaten biscuits. Products were initially sold through high-end stores such as
Harrods and
Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...
. During the 1990s Duchy Originals products began being stocked in farm shops and independent delicatessens
and expansion during the 2000s saw a selected range of Duchy Originals products becoming widely available in most major UK supermarkets, with Waitrose as the brand's largest customer. By 2008 sales of Duchy Originals had raised over £7 million cumulatively for
The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund.
Following the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
the Duchy Originals business began making losses, amounting to around £3 million in 2009, and in September of that year it was announced that Duchy Originals had agreed an exclusive deal with Waitrose. From August 2010 products were relaunched under the ''Duchy Originals from Waitrose'' brand and the then range of around 200 lines was expanded to over 300.
[ Waitrose invested heavily in the brand and sales doubled during the first three years of the exclusive arrangement. By 2013 the brand was selling in 30 countries including Australia and Japan.] In the summer of 2015 the brand name was changed to ''Waitrose Duchy Organic''.[ The tradition of donating royalties to charity has continued and the ]Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
has continued his involvement with the brand which operates separately from the Duchy of Cornwall. ''Waitrose Duchy Organic'' reported a profit of £3.6 million in 2021.
The brands
The company Duchy Originals, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund, originated the ''Duchy Originals'' brand in 1990[ as a premium organic food and drink brand. It also created two other brands, ''Duchy Selection''s and ''Duchy Collections''. ''Duchy Selections'' was a range of premium free-range (but not organic) pork and fish products and mineral waters, and ''Duchy Collections'' was a range of high quality non food products. The Duchy Originals company has never sold the goods that carry the brand names, and other than the short-lived ''Duchy Originals Food'' company venture it has not manufactured them. Instead Duchy branded products have been sold and manufactured by a number of different retail companies, all of whom have paid royalties to the Duchy Originals Company.
]
Financial information
By the end of the 1990s the brand had an annual turnover of around £1 million. This had grown to £4.86 million by 2006/7. Administrative expenses came to £3.31 million, giving an operating profit of £1.53 million. The company was badly hit by the recession in 2007 and started making a loss. For the financial year 2008/9, the company failed to make any profits and turnover dropped to £2.2 million, with an operating loss of £3.3 million, compared to the previous year's operating profit of £57,000. Fortunes improved after the 2009 Waitrose arrangement, and by 2013 annual profits were £2.8 million.
The Duchy Originals Food company
Duchy Originals' only venture into manufacturing has been the ''Duchy Originals Food'' company. This was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Duchy Originals company and it opened a factory in Launceston, Cornwall in 2006. The factory was a bakery making both sweet and savoury pastry products. The venture suffered financial problems, with the factory making a loss of £447,158 in the financial year 2006/7. In 2009 the Duchy Originals company decided to sell the bakery, with one-off costs from the sale contributing towards Duchy Originals making a loss for 2009–10.
Herbal medicines
In 2008 Duchy Originals partnered with the alternative medicine company Nelsons to produce a line of herbal remedies. This led to controversy, in which leading UK scientists said that Duchy Originals promoted its herbal remedies with scientifically unsound claims. Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst (born 30 January 1948) is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, alleged ...
, the UK's first professor of complementary medicine
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...
, said Duchy Originals detox products were "outright quackery". Subsequently, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ruled that healing claims were misleading and required the company to amend an advertising campaign promoting two herbal medicines.
Mineral water
In 2002 the ''Deeside Water Company'' began to produce some of its bottled mineral water
Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases.
T ...
for the ''Duchy Originals'' brand. In 2010 Waitrose rebranded the product as ''Duchy Originals from Waitrose'' and in 2016 the supermarket repackaged it as part of its ''Waitrose One'' premium range.[
]
Garden tools
Gardening tools were produced under the Duchy Originals brand by the Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
company ''Caldwells'' until it went into administration in 2009.
Charitable giving
The company Duchy Originals Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary company of The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund and donates to the charity from its profits. By 2013 the brand had raised £11 million from its profits for the Prince's Charities. In Canada the proceeds from sales of Duchy Originals products are donated to the charities associated with The Prince's Charities Canada. By 2012 more than one million Canadian dollars were being raised annually in this manner.
The Duchy Future Farming programme
The ''Duchy Future Farming'' programme was set up in 2013 in partnership with the Soil Association
The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establ ...
to provide advice and support to UK farmers and growers in conducting research into organic farming
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...
methods. Participants are encouraged to carry out experiments in their own fields, and over 3000 farmers had been involved in this by 2015. A research fund offering up to £25,000 is also available.
References
Further reading
*Acton, Johnny & Sandler, Nick (2006) ''Duchy Originals Cookbook''. London: Kyle Cathie
*
{{CPW
British monarchy
Biscuit brands
Charles III
Food manufacturers of the United Kingdom
John Lewis Partnership
Organic farming in the United Kingdom
Organic farming organizations
Waitrose