How Jersey Royal potatoes are seeking a ‘Coca-Cola moment’

On the island of Jersey, the first shoots of its famed baby potatoes are a sure sign that spring has sprung. The company behind Jersey Royals – now halfway through their notoriously short season – is lesser known to the public, however.

The big force behind the small spud is potato giant Albert Bartlett. It snapped up The Jersey Royal Company last year with the aim of “delivering a sustainable future for the famous crop”. The combined business is now responsible for most of the island’s production, where Royals are cultivated across 5,000 vergées (approximately 2,300 acres).

But Albert Bartlett has a problem on its hands: consumption is declining. Exports from Jersey – which sat at around 50,000 tonnes in the 1990s – fell to just 22,000 tonnes in 2024.

There was a “holiday” during Covid where “you didn’t have to be a good salesman to sell lots of potatoes, but that party’s over”, explains John Hicks, brand & marketing director at Albert Bartlett. Today, more time-pressed consumers are turning to quicker carb options like rice and pasta.

So this year, the company is bringing out the big guns to kickstart consumption. First is a £3m campaign, designed to be used as a regular signal of the start of Jersey Royal season.

“We wanted to create a Coca-Cola truck moment,” he explains. “We want to get to that level of annoyance.”

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The steep slopes where Jersey Royals are grown mean they must be harvested by hand

Jersey Royals are size graded, washed and inspected ahead of packing

Albert Bartlett employs about 300 staff at its farms, 200 of whom are seasonal workers

Recently harvested Jersey Royals. The potatoes have been grown on the island since the late 1800s

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The ‘Roll On Jersey Royal Season’ ads will look to push the seasonality of the potatoes and the unique way in which they’re grown. Which brings us to the second prong in its attack plan: differentiating Jersey Royals from more standard spuds.

Royals are PDO certified, and all packs carry a ‘Genuine Jersey’ logo to demonstrate their provenance. But Hicks wants to shine a greater spotlight on the traditional growing methods.

Tradition meets modernisation

There are eight generational farming families on the island feeding into Albert Bartlett’s production. The potato giant also runs its own farms, employing 300 staff members, 200 of whom are seasonal workers who come to Jersey on nine-month contracts.

The entire process is steeped in tradition. Some farmers still use vraic, the local seaweed, as a natural fertiliser and soil conditioner – a tradition that dates back to the 12th century. But all follow the same basic steps, which have remained a constant over decades.

The planting of seeds – done by hand from a tray – kicks off in December in greenhouses and January outdoors. The island’s south-facing coastal slopes, or côtils, are planted first, given they are generally bright, free draining, warm and more frost-resistant.

The côtils are so steep that they must be ploughed and harvested by hand. Once harvested, the potatoes are at the packhouse within one hour, where they are size graded, washed and inspected prior to packing.

Despite the importance of tradition, Albert Bartlett is also keen to invest in modernising and future-proofing the business. “What we don’t want to do is go backwards with production,” Hicks says.

Packing was a key area that needed improvement. Previously, potatoes from Albert Bartlett would arrive on the south coast of England by ferry before being driven to Scotland to be washed and packed, and then distributed elsewhere. This process took several days.

Now, potatoes can be on shelf in the UK the following day thanks to packing sites on the island – the result of investments by Albert Bartlett and The Jersey Royal Company prior to its acquisition. “You get [the product] out in a much fresher state,” explains Hicks.

Work is also being done to improve yield through land rotations in partnership with Jersey dairy producers. The acquisition of The Jersey Royal Company by Albert Bartlett has limited competition for land, and there is now a strategy looking at the whole island, in partnership with dairy and the government.

Hicks says the government is “really behind the producers” on the island. “We are all very open because what we want to do is promote Jersey Royal”, he says.

And if that enthusiasm can produce some of the firepower of the Coca-Cola truck, all the better.