Award-winning service
Monday, July 10, 2023
Supply chains can be complex. But our models are designed to deal with anything that’s thrown at them – and we won an award for our adaptable, flexible service during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Unprecedented times, unprecedented demand
The Covid-19 pandemic affected supply chains and retailers all around the world. In the UK, there was a huge surge in customer demand as the lockdown was announced in March 2020.
Panic buying led to empty shelves and retailers placing limits on the amount that shoppers were allowed to buy. Retailers were facing shortages of all types of products, from toilet paper to pasta. Demand was so high that our average weekly sales volumes increased by up to 75%.
Built to serve complex supply chains
Our business model means that we have 4-6 weeks’ worth of stock available for our customers at any one time, rather than buying or producing to order.
That meant that, when the crisis hit and supermarket shelves were empty, we were able to respond to demand – fast. During the first few weeks of lockdown, we could satisfy the initial upturn by supplying our retailer partners with products we already had in stock. Then, we could keep them in stock going forward by reordering and replenishing products to suit the increased demand.
Minimising waste
Another major issue that arose during the pandemic was the closure of out-of-home and food service businesses – something which could have led to massive product wastage.
Our business model meant that we were able to save these raw materials from going out of date by diverting them back into retail, where the demand was the highest.
Our award-winning service
We always put our suppliers and retailer partners first, and our business model is set up to support them.
So we were thrilled when we were awarded for being one of the best inbound suppliers in the industry during the pandemic, thanks to our ability to quickly respond to the huge increase in demand across the frozen category.