Our Story

Pickling since 1906

The Driver family can trace its roots back to the mid 19th century when they first started serving the local community with a grocery shop in the market town of Ibstock, then later in City of Leicester.

a family business

The family started producing pickles to sell in its shops around 1902, the demand was such that in 1906 Driver’s Pickle and Vinegar Company was established by Frederick Charles Driver. Its main business centred around Pickled Onions and Malt Vinegar selling to local fishmongers and to other grocery shops in and around Leicester.

More than 100 years on, the company today is owned by the fourth generation of Driver’s and we take pride in that the products today are still made in the same tradition as in Fredericks era.

Introducing sarah Driver

In 2016, following 20 years in the fashion footwear business, Sarah was looking for a new career challenge and after an enlightening girls trip to Ibiza and a lifetime love of pickles, decided to set upon her own pickling adventure.
 
Under James’s expertise of all things pickled and with Sarah’s extensive design background, Drivers Pickles Deli range was born. Initially set up as a little weekend project, Sarah started selling her range of 7 core products at Leicestershire local food fairs and craft markets.

A growing business

Gaining invaluable feedback to tastings at these events proved crucial to fine tuning the recipes and developing new products which were requested by a growing number of followers. Local events led to national ones such as the BBC Good Food Show and requests to wholesale the range flooded in.

The following year, Drivers Pickles Ltd was a registered as a business and Sarah was ready to take the range to trade. Sarah & James attended their first trade show in Harrogate at the Fine Food Show North in 2017 and before the show had even started, they were listed by their first wholesale company.

A bright future

The Drivers Pickles range now stands at 22 products which are listed today by all the major fine food wholesalers in the UK. The range is distributed to deli’s, garden centres and food halls nationwide whilst also successfully exporting the brand to Ireland, USA, Canada, Thailand and UAE.