Market Drayton, Shropshire, UK: Culina Logistics has won a Bute Island Foods contract to distribute its Sheese brand vegan, dairy free cheese products.
Products are now delivered to wholesalers and retailers throughout the UK by Culina Logistics using its shared user model and 10 depot network.
“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.”
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.
Culina Logistics manages the Bute Island Foods from its Stafford site close to the centre of the UK. Stock is transferred by third parties from Bute Island Foods’ production plants in Scotland to Culina’s Stafford warehouse, from where it manages fulfilment to wholesalers and retailers in the UK and Ireland utilising a shared user model across its network of ten sites.
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.
