Wholesale vegetables and fresh produce, picked at the market for your kitchen
Ortaggi is a family-run fresh produce wholesaler working from New Covent Garden Market at Nine Elms. We hand-pick wholesale vegetables, fruit, herbs and speciality lines, from figs and artichokes to heritage tomatoes and the wild mushrooms in their season, for kitchens across London and the South East, choosing what is at its best that night, and deliver them before service.
The wholesale vegetables and fruit we supply
Chefs' staples
Onions, potatoes, garlic, tomatoes and cucumbers: the wholesale vegetables a kitchen gets through every service, bought on the same night and on the same order as the seasonal lines.
Seasonal vegetables
Courgettes, aubergines, peppers, fennel, cavolo nero and celeriac, with asparagus in its season: whatever is at its best right now. We will tell you what is coming in and what is on its way out.
Wholesale herbs and salad leaves
Basil, coriander, flat-leaf parsley, dill, tarragon, chervil, mint, thyme and rosemary, with baby leaves, rocket, watercress and pea shoots, cut fresh and turned over quickly. Our wholesale herbs are chosen on the same walk of the stands as the vegetables and come on the same order.
Fruit, citrus and speciality
Blood oranges, bergamot and Amalfi lemons in their season, and figs, stone fruit and berries when they are worth eating, with the everyday citrus and bananas all year round.
How to buy wholesale produce from New Covent Garden
Our wholesale produce is bought at New Covent Garden Market, at Nine Elms in SW8, where the buying begins in the small hours while most kitchens are closed. Ortaggi works from 36–37 The Arches on the market itself, so you can buy from the market without being there: send your order by midnight, and we will choose it on the stands and deliver it before your service.
Our team works the market on overnight shifts, 9 pm to 5 am, from Sunday night through Friday night. Giuseppe Santamaria, co-founder and purchasing director, walks the stands with Franco from around half past midnight, while Jaime Suarez, co-founder and operations director, runs the warehouse and checks every order onto the van. Those six shifts feed the morning rounds, Monday to Saturday, each area on the mornings its round runs.
Buying through us is for trade kitchens: restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafés, caterers, schools and care homes. Your fresh lines go on the same van as your dairy, dry goods and frozen lines, on one account, and if a line is not on our list, we will gladly source it.
Giuseppe SantamariaCo-founder, purchasing 
Jaime SuarezCo-founder, operations
How we keep it fresh
Produce chosen at the market reaches your kitchen a few hours later.
We hold no buffer stock waiting for an order: what we buy for you that night goes straight through to your delivery.
The cold chain is unbroken.
Our vans are chilled, our warehouse is temperature-controlled, and nothing waits on a warm loading dock, so herbs and leaves arrive as they were chosen.
Should anything fall short, whether a box of leaves that looked right on the stand but turned once opened or tomatoes not yet ripe, do tell us that morning, by telephone, WhatsApp or email.
Wholesale fresh produce from the market floor
Our fresh produce comes from New Covent Garden Market, the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market in the UK. Giuseppe and Franco are there through the night, walking the stands before most of London is awake and choosing stock by eye and by hand.
That matters because fresh produce varies. Two crates of heritage tomatoes from the same grower can look quite different on different days, as ripeness, firmness, colour and aroma change with the weather, the season and the handling of the crop. Buying well means being there, night after night, and knowing what to look for.
We buy in person, on the stands. Every box of fresh produce we sell has been seen and approved on the market floor by Giuseppe and Franco before it goes on the van, which is what buying wholesale produce by eye means.
Vegetable suppliers to London kitchens, through the seasons
Ortaggi supplies in-season wholesale vegetables across London and the South East: fennel, celeriac and cavolo nero, courgettes, aubergines and peppers, and asparagus when it is in season, alongside herbs, leaves and speciality lines. Giuseppe and Franco hand-pick every box at New Covent Garden Market from around half past midnight, on the Sunday to Friday night shifts, and it is delivered before your service on the mornings your round runs. We have bought there as a family firm since 2007.
We follow what is coming into season and what is leaving, so you can plan menu changes before a line disappears, and we will let you know when something remarkable comes through the market: a case of white peaches, the first English asparagus, wild garlic just landed.
If a dish or an event needs something particular, such as a certain variety of tomato, a case of porcini or a large order of Tropea onions, tell us with as much notice as you can, and we will source it.
Ordering fresh produce: the practical questions
For anything else, do call 0333 091 5281.
How late can I change a wholesale produce order?
Midnight. Anything with us by then goes into that night's buying, which begins at New Covent Garden Market at around half past midnight, and arrives before your morning service. Telephone, WhatsApp or email, whichever is quickest for whoever is closing up, so a late booking or a menu change after service can still reach your next delivery.
What happens if a produce line isn't right at the market that morning?
You will have a call before the van is loaded. Giuseppe and Franco are on the stands when it is made, so what they offer is what they can see in front of them that night: a different variety, another leaf, a box from another stand. The choice is yours, and nothing is substituted without your say.
Do you deliver fresh produce on Sundays?
No. The rounds run Monday to Saturday, so there is no Sunday delivery. Saturday morning's delivery is the last before you reopen, so order by midnight on Friday with Sunday's service built into the list. Say what that service needs when you order: Giuseppe and Franco are on the stands a few hours later, and the buying follows what you asked for.
Further reading
Related pages
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Enquiries trade only
Talk to us
Tell us about your kitchen and what you buy, and we will arrange your first delivery with you.
The Market Note free, every Monday
Know what is at its best before you order
A letter from New Covent Garden Market: what is worth buying this week and what is about to turn, written by Franco from the market floor. Unsubscribe whenever you wish.