The British Hamper Company

Last Updated on March 3, 2025

A Deli Experience to Your Door

Visiting the headquarters of the British Hamper Company is an enlightening experience. I’ve been sent many hampers in my life – and never really had a second thought about what went into making them. Travelling up to Lincoln to meet some of the founders of the British Hamper Company, I was on a mission to discover how they source, pack and deliver their luxury hampers.

For a start, The British Hamper Company is closer to a top-quality deli offering than I’d imagined. A far cry from tins of dusty tea and nearly-at-use-by-date shortbread biscuits, their aim is to source the kind of produce from around the UK that you might buy if you were visiting a local food fair. Of course, most of us don’t have the time to travel from Land’s End to John O’Groats on a regular basis looking for new delicacies – but The British Hamper Company does…and that means you’ll find their hampers are packed with treats from around the British Isles. Think Braes o Gowrie Sparkling Elderflower Drink from the Cairn O’Mohr winery in Perthshire made from wild flowers in their Bourtree orchards or Alfred Enderby dry cured smoked salmon from Grimsby. These are small batch, artisan producers so that you really are getting a unique selection of products.

The British Hamper Company was founded in 2014 by James Tod and his parents, Mike and Liz. It’s still a real family business, with James’s sister Alice in charge of sales. The company feels quite personal – from products which are the particular obsession of one family member through to the strength of the gluten-free option, with Liz herself a coeliac, something that is understandable.

We got a chance to feast on some of their goodies – I particularly liked the all-butter cheese biscuits from Suffolk, the charcuterie from Bray and the Lincolnshire Poacher from local artisan cheese producer Simon Jones in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a slow-maturing speciality which takes between 14 – 16 months to develop its cheddar and gruyere-like qualities. Everything was just so – a real tribute to the sourcing.

There are so many things you just don’t imagine when you order a hamper for Christmas. We learnt that the British Hamper Company has regular sales of around 1,500 hampers a month now. But at Christmas, sales literally explode – with 28,000 hampers ordered for delivery between late November and Christmas! That means growing the team from 17 to around 50 for the Christmas period and having a tight hold on logistics – because while there is a standard hamper range, you can also build your own selection. They ship across the UK and also offer a substantial International delivery service – it would be the perfect gift for any expat pining for the British weather.

Downstairs in the warehouse, we were particularly impressed by the careful labelling of every product line. The British Hamper Company prides itself on being able to deliver vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options – and that means being meticulous.

They also have a solution for perishable foods, with items like smoked salmon and soft cheeses carefully packed in chilled bags and added to the hamper at the last possible minute before dispatch. So, you get food for your fridge that will actually last for a couple of weeks or more.

We had a go at packing our own hampers, learning how everything that isn’t in presentation tins is carefully wrapped and layered so that the heavier items are at the bottom and well packed in.

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating – and I’m delighted to report that my hamper arrived safely at its destination, on time and with good tracking. The recipient is still working his way through the goodies but has been raving (as I was) about the quality of the offering.

I particularly like the ‘build your own’ options so that you can genuinely send a personalised gift. We all have our own preferences, and if you know someone well enough, you will be able to pick dark over milk chocolate, marmalade over strawberry jam or even English sparkling wine over Champagne. If you happen to be looking for a Mother’s Day or Easter hamper, this one comes highly recommended and lets you pick all sorts of dietary options, including low-sugar, gluten-free, vegan and halal! But there are also pre-selected hamper options which you can sort and filter by price and type using their rather clever website.

I’m looking forward to someone realising how much I love the British Hamper Company’s offering and sending me one as a treat…or maybe I’ll just indulge myself next time I need cheering up!

Tempted? Check out the British Hamper Company website.