OUR STORY
Robin met Ben when he started dating Ben’s sister – Susie, who is now
Robin’s wife. Ben was working as a corporate lawyer; Robin as an engineer
and producer in the music industry.
Whilst Ben was living in Paris, he made friends with Jerome Miet - one of
the biggest oyster farmers in France. Jerome wanted to do business in
Jersey and asked Ben to help him with translation and the legal aspects
of his project. Ben’s love of oysters started here and with Robin on board,
they decided it was time for a career change.
In November 2002, Wright Brothers wholesale was born. They started
delivering Jerome’s Speciales & Fine de Claire oysters to London
restaurants. At that time, oysters were not widely consumed in the UK
and there was a huge cultural division between the English and French.
In France, oysters were widely grown and consumed on a regular basis,
whereas in the UK they were eaten by a selective few and treated as a
delicacy, so Wright Brothers decided to change the perception of oysters
amongst UK consumers.
A big part of their business plan involved educating their clients –
explaining how oysters are grown, where they come from and how to shuck
them which was something that the chefs were striving to understand.
British oysters were added to their offer, starting with Richard Haward’s
from Borough Market.
Working from front rooms of their flats and driving to Heathrow at 4
o’clock in the morning for deliveries, Robin and Ben came to realise that it
was time to employ their first driver –
Mark Mercer, a school friend of Bens, and has been with the company
ever since (now running the oyster farm).
In 2005 the opportunity to locate wholesale in Borough Market and open
their first restaurant came along. At the same time, they found out that
the Oyster Farm in Cornwall was available. And so it began…