FDBusiness.com

 Bute Island Foods has awarded a new distribution contract for its Sheese brand vegan, dairy free cheese products to Culina Logistics, the market leading provider of logistics services for food and drink companies. The company wanted to access the services of a specialist logistics partner and reach a wider market more easily and efficiently. Products are now delivered to wholesalers and retailers throughout the UK by Culina Logistics using its highly efficient and scalable shared user model and network of 10 depots.

“Culina is providing an ideal solution which enables us to meet demanding delivery deadlines,” says Mark Crichton at Bute Island Foods. “We were impressed with the set up when we met the team and we have been very pleased with the service.”

The award-winning vegan, dairy free soft and hard cheese range, sold under the Sheese brand, has been produced in Scotland by Bute Island Foods since 1988 and the company now exports all over the world. Distribution to the UK was previously managed from Scotland but the company recognised that it would be able to reach a wider market more effectively by transferring to a service provider with national capability and facilities further south. It wanted to work with a market leading specialist and identified Culina Logistics as an ideal partner following an extensive market review. The contract started in the first quarter of 2012.

Culina Logistics manages the Bute Island Foods from its Stafford facility which is close to the centre of the UK with excellent motorway links. Stock is transferred by third parties from Bute Island Foods’ production plants in Scotland to Culina’s Stafford warehouse, from where they manage fulfilment to wholesalers and retailers throughout the UK and Ireland utilising a shared user model across its network of ten sites, which ensures efficient and timely delivery with the minimum number of vehicle movements and lead times. The shared user model is extremely useful for specialist producers such as Bute Island Foods because it provides access to national distribution networks and extremely high service levels without any restrictions on the volumes being shipped while supporting flexibility, adaptability and scalability to meet ever changing requirements.

In this type of operation storage and distribution infrastructure and services are shared between users throughout the Culina Logistics network. Any Culina vehicle on the road will be carrying products for multiple customers while individual pallets might also contain products from different suppliers but with a common, shared destination. In this way Culina optimises not only the resources utilised in each depot throughout the network but ensures each vehicle is filled as fully as possible for effective, economical and sustainable transportation. Supply chain efficiencies and economies of scale allow Culina to provide efficient and cost effective solutions to customers of all sizes which can be scaled up and down to meet seasonal peaks and the demands of promotions.

“Culina is very good at managing the contract and working with us,” says Mark Crichton. “They spot when patterns are out of the ordinary and it is good to know that everything is being taken care of. The service is helping us to reduce our administrative overheads.”

www.culinalogistics.co.uk