At first glance, the career of Jason Glass appears almost accidental. However, the new Managing Director of All Greens, based on Buyers’ Walk at New Covent Garden (NCGM), has racked up more than 30 years in the fresh produce trade, merging the worlds of retail and wholesale. It’s his love for fresh produce that keeps both Jason, and the businesses he supplies, at the top of their game.

Above: Jason Glass (left), with colleague Kadir Mulla

From exotics to everyday
All Greens wholesales, imports and retails premium produce, supplying more than 1,500 lines sourced from small farms and specialist growers locally and around the world. From exotic fruits to everyday staples, the company delivers to hundreds of restaurants and offices while also operating a handful of successful London greengrocers. At the centre of it all is NCGM, the essential ‘hub’ that connects all the areas of the business.

Above: The All Greens team at their unit on Buyers' Walk at NCGM

“It was a backpacking trip to Europe and a shared house in London that started me on my journey, by way of a job stacking apples in a north London greengrocer,” recalls Jason, whose enthusiasm remains unmistakably hands-on. Jump forward three decades and that filler job has grown into a thriving produce career connecting chefs, retailers, and offices across London with some of the finest fruit and vegetables available.

Jason grew up in South Africa, where he worked in the restaurant trade until a childhood friend suggested an adventure backpacking around the world. “I thought that’s a great idea,” says Jason, who soon made London his base with a British passport thanks to his Liverpool-born father. “I moved into a house filled with travellers who all worked at the well-known deli and greengrocer Panzer’s, in St John’s Wood,” says Jason, “and that’s where I first gained a taste for food and the retail and foodservice industries. Fortunately, a job fell in my lap. I started stacking apples and podding peas, and that’s where I learned the core trade.”

The plan had been to work three months, travel three months, but the fresh produce business took hold. Over time Jason’s experience grew in buying, merchandising and retail management, eventually becoming the manager of Panzer’s fruit and vegetable department working for his well-respected bosses John Batey and Duncan Quigley. He’d remain there for more than two decades. “You pick up a huge amount of knowledge when you work in a retail environment” he says. “And with a bit of hard work, you start growing.”

Taking over the office fruit delivery company from retiring bosses John and Duncan, rebranding to Ripe.London Ltd, moving into NCGM, developing Ripe to the thriving business it is today and eventually merging with All Greens Wholesale, is how Jason became established and known in the Market.

The All Greens’ connection
Meanwhile, another story was unfolding in London’s independent food scene. Entrepreneurs Kamil Demir and David Josephs had launched All Greens, beginning with a shop in Stoke Newington, followed by the opening of a second shop in Maida Vale. Their businesses soon expanded to several locations including Clapham. Some stores thrived more than others, eventually a profitable core group emerged: All Greens Newington, All Greens Clifton and All Greens Abbeville being the most recent.

Above: David Josephs and Kamil Demir, co-owners of All Greens

Kamil and David also own the famous Panzer’s deli and grocery in St John’s Wood, renowned for its world-famous hand-sliced smoked salmon and iconic bagels. Since the ownership of Kamil and David, Panzer’s is now so much more than a deli, it’s a world of delights and a special place to visit, shop, eat and drink.

Market move
As the retail side grew, so did demand from restaurants. The shops began supplying chefs, but space was limited. The solution was to establish a central hub at NCGM, which the team saw as an essential part of the jigsaw to be able to supply London’s hospitality industry with top-notch produce.

“The shops were doing a lot of business with restaurants,” Jason says. “But each shop was short on space. So, the decision was made to take some units at NCGM and make Nine Elms our central hub. From here, we knew All Greens Wholesale could supply our retail stores while also building a dedicated foodservice operation.”

For All Greens, the move was both practical and symbolic. The Market had long been the heart of London’s fruit and vegetable trade, even as the industry evolved. Jason remembers visits to NCGM in decades past, where almost anything could be found. “In the old days you could get absolutely everything here,” he says. “John and Duncan from Panzer’s only used NCGM due to its quality and choice.”

Over time, the Fruit and Vegetable Market evolved and became increasingly focused on catering and hospitality, a shift that suited All Greens perfectly as its wholesale business expanded. “Today we supply between 200 and 300 restaurants across London as well as around 300–400 office clients, delivering fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the week,” says Jason. “That volume allows us to split boxes and move product quickly. It keeps everything fresh.”

A community reborn
Jason says the sense of community between businesses at the Market has been boosted by the opening of the new Buyers’ Walk at the start of this year, which he’s used as a catalyst to grow trade to new levels. “For the first week on the new Buyers’ Walk everyone was watching what everyone else was doing,” says Jason. “But now the community we had before is coming back. The Market has always been collaborative as well as competitive and as traders we all borrow stock, swap produce and help each other fill orders. One day I might need some baby carrots. I make a phone call, walk across Buyers’ Walk and grab them. Then I’ll replace them tomorrow. We’ve created an ecosystem where even friendly rivals can depend on one another.”

Tradition meets technology
Reflecting the rise of technology seen across society, All Greens has embraced modern systems to keep pace with the scale of its operation. The company has moved largely away from paper-based ordering, introducing tablets and digital order-management systems that allow staff to process orders more accurately and efficiently. The business also uses AI-assisted tools to help capture orders left via voicemail or messaging services. “Chefs might send a WhatsApp or leave a voice message,” Jason explains. “AI converts that into an order and the team checks it. It saves a lot of time.”

The shift has reduced errors caused by handwritten notes and streamlined invoicing, an essential improvement when dealing with thousands of individual items and fluctuating prices. “Our fruit and vegetable prices can change daily,” says Jason, “so when the supplier invoice comes in, we can update our system and the price changes straight away.”

Exceptional produce
At its core, however, All Greens remains driven by the quality of the produce itself, with Jason and the team specialising in finding ingredients that chefs struggle to find elsewhere, be that seasonal British vegetables or exotic fruits from around the world. Among All Greens’ more unusual lines are grenadillos [a golden variety of passion fruit], mangosteens and rambutans [often described as a hairy lychee], and a selection of premium Japanese products.

Above: exotic produce, in this case imported from Japan, is one of All Greens' USPs.

All Greens’ interest in exotics began several years ago when it took a gamble importing premium mango varieties. “We started bringing in Kent mangoes and were soon moving eight to ten pallets a week,” Jason says. “Six months later everyone in the Market had them, albeit from different suppliers.” Competition grew, but the category remained strong. Today exotic fruits are a significant part of All Greens’ offer. “It’s about finding something different,” he says. “We want to offer something chefs can get excited about, so we’ll import it and deliver it to our clients.”

 Retail roots
Although the wholesale side of the business has continued to grow, the company’s retail heritage remains central to its identity. Panzer’s deli is widely considered one of London’s best delicatessens and is stocked by the very best produce from All Greens. Jason highlights Panzer’s premium groceries and exceptional produce selection, attracting devoted customers who visit daily. “People do their entire basket shop there every day as everything is premium, from fresh to ambient, says Jason. “There might be eight different peanut butters on the shelf from around the world, for example.”

All Greens’ shops cater to similarly food-focused neighbourhoods, where independent bakers, cheesemongers and wine merchants are thriving. “You get these pockets across London where people really care about food,” says Jason. “Our shops fit right into that.”

Opening the Market to the public
One unexpected development has been the growing number of members of the public visiting the Fruit and Vegetable Market itself. Traditionally a strictly trade environment, this side of NCGM is increasingly attracting curious shoppers, many from the fast-expanding local population. “At All Greens we have embraced the change,” says Jason. “If someone wants to buy one mango, I’ll sell them one mango. Why not?”

Jason sees each sale as an opportunity to showcase his business, thinking about future visits. “I enjoy showing visitors around and explaining where our fresh produce comes from,” he says. “I had a couple come in one Sunday night just to see what the Market was about. They spent half an hour walking around with me. The next week they came back with their friends and now visit our stand regularly for their weekly shop.” It may never be the company’s main business, but Jason believes the exposure benefits the entire Market community. “Walk in customers spread the word about what we do.”

Freshness above all
Ultimately, freshness remains the greatest selling point of All Greens’ produce. Many visitors are struck by the difference between fruit and vegetables bought directly from wholesalers and those purchased through supermarkets. “The parsley you’re buying here might have come off the truck half an hour ago,” Jason says. “In a supermarket you’re buying it two days after it’s been packed and moved through a distribution centre. For our chefs and increasingly for our food-obsessed customers in our retail shops, that difference is everything.”

After more than three decades in the trade, Jason still finds excitement in the daily rhythms of the Market: the arrival of new produce, the unpredictability of weather and harvests, and the relationships he’s spent years building across the fresh produce supply chain.

From a backpacking adventure to a thriving wholesale operation at the heart of NCGM, All Greens has grown organically, like the ingredients it champions. And if Jason has his way, the connection between growers, traders, chefs, and customers will just keep getting stronger. “It’s a great place to be,” he concludes.