As part of our HOPE project, we have a target of achieving a ‘one stop shop’ service with our suppliers.

The benefits of this strategy are; i). lower costs as we work with less suppliers, and ii). less damage to the environment as we deliver less frequently with more products on the lorry, and with less road/carbon damage.

That said, our clients also demand local supply/Fairtrade and sustainability of local business, so we have split our supply chain into two parts; National dry, chilled and frozen goods – here we have contracted Brakes to supply across the UK with high quality goods and reduced deliveries, and Local fresh butchery, fish, greengrocery, dairy and baker goods – here we are working with e-foods who are an agency with a national network of local suppliers to provide the freshest and most localised supply possible.

To keep our local supply cost effective and always on their toes, we have also nominated Brakes fresh food supply within the one stop shop concept, so our catering managers can make sure they are always getting the best price on behalf of their client. If they have to switch to the Brake fresh supply, the integrity of our environmental care is kept intact as the same lorry which delivers the national supply can then deliver the fresh. This particularly works well during seasonality pricing pressure.

Finally, we use our in-house developed g-shop e-procurement software to reduce the administration time as well as paper usage plus we can track product price changes through the year to help our catering teams manage their menu choices more cost effectively.