Tony Alfano founded Best Imports in October 1984 primarily to import
Italian confectionery and cakes to satisfy the growing demand for these
products within the flourishing Italian community in London and the South
East of England. He continued to expand his product range to include various
high quality gourmet lines.
Having established a solid and well respected business he was
recommended to the American company of Herman Goelitz Inc,
(now the Jelly Belly Candy Co.), the manufacturers of the
highly prestigious and successful Jelly Belly ® range of Gourmet
jelly beans who were looking for a UK distributor. So it was
that in October 1987 Best Imports became the sole official UK
importer of this product, now enjoying great success.
In February 1992 Best Imports became a limited company. It
employs eleven permanent staff to run the offices and
temperature and humidity controlled warehouse. Both are fully
computerised utilising the latest dedicated software technology.
For areas our own fleet does not cover we offer a next day
business courier delivery service by both TNT and Interlink.
We have a fully computerised system in place to track all parcels
from the moment they leave our warehouse to the time they reach
their destinations thereby ensuring our customers of an efficient
service.
Our offices occupy 1,200 Sq ft within our 12,000 Sq ft of
warehouse space, and, as with our tracking services, are fully
computerised to cope with the demands produced from our twelve
hundred and fifty accounts which include the likes of
Selfridges, Harrods, Hamleys, Fortnum and Masons, House of Fraser,
Fenwicks and John Lewis stores to mention only a few. Even
though we of course service the supermarket giants such as
Waitrose, Sainsbury's & Tesco, we do not forget the smaller
specialist independents with which we continue brisk trade.
As you can see our service cuts right across the retail spectrum,
from the small (and not so small) confectionery specialists and
Independents, to department stores, forecourt shops right up through
to the big supermarkets and convenience store chains.
We operate both an In-house sales department for direct sales
contact for both existing and prospective customers, and also a
national network of pro-active sales representatives which guarantees
nationwide coverage of the UK, including Southern Ireland.
Best Imports Ltd believe its continued future lies in providing
its customers with only premium quality products of the highest
calibre, in conjunction with a fast efficient service second to
none.
The major lines we currently deal with include from the
Americas: Jelly Belly jelly beans, Spangler candy canes,
Adams & Brooks Lollipops and Gourmet Soda's.
From here in the UK we feature sumptuously packaged Chocca Mocca
chocolates and also all natural candy canes from the Original Candy Company.
From the pre-eminent Italian manufacturer of standing, Loacker Spa we also import a
range of Luxury chocolate and Nut wafer biscuits. Last but not least that cup of Cappuccino or Espresso
would not be the same without a crisp almond Cantuccini biscotti by Pan Ducale from the
same country.
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