Scottish wholesaler Thomsons Foodservice has increased its turnover by 20% thanks to investment in a new warehouse and membership with a foodservice buying group.
The Dumfries-based company moved to a new 15,000ft squared warehouse last year, and in the subsequent 12 months increased its turnover by a fifth, largely due to a substantial increase in sales of frozen and ambient produce. It comes after the wholesaler decided to join Fairway Foodservice in a bid to expand its offering of frozen and ambient produce.
Thomson Foodservice general manager Michael Watt said: “We had been looking to grow the business for five or six years, and took a bit of a risk investing in our new warehouse. Joining a buying group was absolutely essential to growing the business and making the new warehouse work.
“Fortunately an opportunity came up to join Fairway; this allowed us to expand in both the frozen and ambient sector, complementing our existing experience in fresh and chilled food.
“It enabled us to use the increased capacity that our new warehouse provided, and since we moved into the new base and joined Fairway on 1 June 2014, we’ve increased our turnover by 20%.
“A big factor in that has been increasing the frozen and ambient side of the business, which has grown from about 5% to 25% overall, as well as being more competitive on pricing through the buying group.
“I feel that in order to move forward, independent wholesalers simply have to be part of a buying group to survive. It has made a massive difference both to the business and our customers, who now have a greater choice of products available.
“Our customers don’t want to be dealing with multiple suppliers, so it is imperative that wholesalers are able to offer as comprehensive a range of products as possible, which is exactly what we’re always looking to do.”
Fairway Foodservice chief executive Chris Binge added: “We’re really pleased that the move to a new warehouse and membership with our buying group is paying dividends for Thomsons Foodservice.
“The growth in turnover that Thomsons Foodservice has recorded over the last 12 months is typical of our membership. The market is buoyant at the moment, as reflected in an 11% increase in turnover across the group, collectively generating £556m for 2014.
“We’re always striving to help our members in any way possible to increase their sales and profitability and maintain their independent business identity; to take advantage of collective purchasing of goods, services and technology but also to allow them to meet and share ideas and experiences with each other.
“Members’ successes are extremely gratifying to all of us at Fairway who have helped in some way to support them. I am sure that Thomsons Foodservice will continue to grow profitably over the coming years with their drive, determination and hard work and our continued support.”
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