Aldi Starts Fruit And Veg Handling At UK’s Largest Automated Warehouse
Updated: Sep 24
Aldi has begun handling fresh fruits and vegetables at its £500m Bardon Distribution Centre, improving the speed and cost of moving temperature-controlled produce to stores, and unlocking further capacity for the discounter’s planned UK expansion.
The first pallets, including ginger and avocados, arrived at the Leicestershire site on 16 September, with the first outbound pallet dispatched the following day.
The move to handling fresh produce marks the latest phase in the development of what Aldi describes as the UK’s largest automated supermarket warehouse, which began operations in May.
Once fully operational in 2027, the 1.3 million sq ft site will be capable of moving more than 1,500 tonnes of fruit and vegetables a day during peak periods, enabling more than 6,000 pallets of fresh produce to be dispatched daily to Aldi stores across the UK.
The investment is intended to improve both the speed and cost of moving fresh produce between suppliers and stores, while maintaining product quality, Aldi said in a press release.
Bringing high-volume, temperature-controlled produce logistics into Aldi’s automated operation marks a “step change" in how the retailer serves its customers, according to Jonathan Heaton, Aldi’s Regional Managing Director for Bardon.
“Fresh produce is a vital part of our customers’ shopping, yet it presents one of the most complex challenges in grocery logistics, with products needing to move quickly and efficiently from suppliers to stores to maintain freshness,” Heaton explained.
“The technology we’ve implemented with Cimcorp allows us to handle enormous volumes while maintaining the precision and care that fresh products demand.”
The investment is designed to address far more than efficiency, however.
“By reducing the cost of moving products from our suppliers to our stores, we can continue to deliver the lowest prices on the market while ensuring customers always find fresh, high-quality fruit and vegetables on our shelves,” added Heaton, Aldi’s Regional Managing Director for Bardon.
Automation Designed Around Produce
The Bardon operation handles fresh produce within three dedicated temperature-controlled areas, including chilled storage for products such as apples and carrots, and a specialist banana room.
The chilled chamber uses high-bay racking and automated shuttles to store and retrieve pallets for dispatch.
The system, supplied by technology partner Cimcorp, is designed to handle the high volumes associated with Aldi’s fresh produce operation, while maintaining the different temperature requirements of products including salad leaves, bananas and soft fruit.
“This distribution centre demonstrates how intelligent automation can manage high volumes while maintaining the flexibility needed for a complex grocery environment,” explained Mikko Kumpulainen, Key Account Manager at Cimcorp.
“Our automation allows Aldi to respond more effectively to changing demand patterns while supporting long-term growth. Ultimately, the goal is simple: ensuring high-quality fresh products are available for consumers whenever they visit their local store.”
Ready For The Next Phase Of Growth
The Bardon warehouse forms part of Aldi’s £1.6bn investment in Britain across 2026 and 2027, and is designed to add substantial supply chain capacity to its distribution network.
As operations and capacity builds over the coming weeks, Bardon will play an increasingly important role in supporting Aldi’s long-term ambition of operating 1,500 stores in the UK.
Once fully operational, the Bardon site alone will be capable of handling nearly seven million pallets a year and employ around 1,000 colleagues.
Indeed, the scale of the operation is significant for a retailer with a growing fresh produce business.
Aldi describes itself as the UK’s third biggest retailer of fresh produce. In July 2026, Aldi was also crowned the biggest customer of domestic apple growers, selling 2,250 tonnes of British apples during one month.
On average each year Aldi said it sells 2.2 billion fruit and vegetables, including more than 300 million bananas, 80 million apples, and 160 million potatoes.
By the end of 2027, the retailer is targeting a 14% increase in the number of portions of fruit and vegetables sold, which makes additional supply chain capacity increasingly relevant.
With fresh produce now moving through the facility, Bardon will give the Aldi additional capacity to supply its existing stores while building the logistics infrastructure needed for its next stage of UK growth.
The Bardon development also has a sustainability element, with 19,000 solar panels installed on the roof.
Aldi said the site has the lowest carbon density of any warehouse across the Aldi South Group.
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