Sponsored article: Bestway
Best foot forward for wholesaler
People, price and service are the three pillars at wholesaler Bestway as it looks ahead to the busy festive season.
The company, which operates depots in Aberdeen, Dundee, Newbridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow – covering all of Scotland’s major towns and cities – offers customers a choice of over 10,000 products, with a fleet of more than 30 vehicles ensuring customers receive their orders in a timely fashion, regardless of where they are in the country.
Those well-situated depots, and the low-carbon nature of the company’s fleet, mean the business is able to service its customer-base in a way that’s sustainable as well as reliable.
“Our regional depot network enables us to provide a reliable consistent delivery service so customers can focus on other priorities,” said Bestway’s head of catering and on-trade, David Livingstone.
“Our aim is to give customers a hassle-free service to make their lives easy.”
Price has, obviously, become an even greater consideration for bar, pub and restaurant operators this year as margins continue to be squeezed, and Livingstone said pricing is now ‘the number one priority’ for the company’s customers. Bestway’s trading team, based in Edinburgh, are constantly checking prices against competitors as well as keeping an eye on trends and new products.
In addition to aiming for market-leading prices across beers, wines, spirits, soft drinks, crisps and bar snacks, the company runs six promotional periods every year, advertising deals in its Drinks Express brochures and which are scheduled to coincide with busier periods for the trade.
And partnerships with suppliers including Heineken UK can lead to further savings for customers; Bestway has installed over 200 taps for Heineken this year, with customers able to earn up to £500 an install.
All of this can help trade customers to get more value for money. But Livingstone stressed that there’s ‘no point having the best price if you can’t back that up with the right range and quality of service’.
“Our depot teams are committed to providing our customers with a minimum service level of 98% availability, 99.5% pick accuracy and on time deliveries within the agreed delivery window, and we achieve these service standards on an ongoing basis,” he said.
“Our job is to provide a reliable consistent service the customers can rely on, they have enough going on (on their plates) to be worrying about pricing or deliveries turning up on time!”
As with so many hospitality businesses, it’s the people that really make the difference with Bestway, according to Livingstone.
“We have an established team with years of industry experience.”
The company employs a ten-strong field sales team, with a further eight staff based at the company’s contact centre, processing over 2000 orders every week.
“It’s an established team with years of experience and the current team consist of a mixture of ex on-trade brand reps or industry experts,” he said.
“So they have worked as pub and bar owners and managers, and have experience from both sides of the bar, with the empathy, knowledge and understanding you would expect.
“They are always looking to save the outlet money and help them make money.”
