Great product, wrong paperwork
The producer was excellent. The workshop was clean. The product was outstanding. What was missing was the structured food safety system that a UK retailer would demand before granting shelf space.
Without a BRCGS certificate, a whole tier of international buyers was simply out of reach. Not because the product was unsafe, but because the paperwork could not prove it.
The twelve-month path
The programme began with a gap analysis against the current BRCGS Food Safety Standard. Every clause was mapped to what the workshop actually did, and the gaps became a prioritised work plan with monthly milestones.
The HACCP plan was rebuilt from scratch around the real process flow, not the generic template the producer had inherited. Allergen control was formalised with a dedicated production schedule and a segregated storage area. Environmental monitoring, glass and hard-plastic registers and pest control records were all put on defined cadences.
Traceability was tested with a mock recall drill: an unannounced request to trace a specific batch from finished pallet back to raw material within a defined time. The first drill failed. The third drill passed comfortably.
The pre-audit was booked deliberately three months before the real audit so any weaknesses could be corrected without pressure. When the certification body arrived, nothing on the day was a surprise.
What certification actually unlocked
The producer passed with a strong grade at first attempt. The direct result was a UK retail listing that had been impossible the year before, and access to a further set of European speciality buyers who all use BRCGS as an entry filter.
This is another reason direct sourcing from Greece is difficult in practice: many small producers make superb food but cannot navigate the certification landscape alone. theGreex closes that gap so the buyer can list them without carrying the risk.
