3G Food Service
MBO signals wide ranging benefits
December 02, 2009
A management buy out (MBO) of 3G Food Service & Seafood Solutions Ltd was successfully completed on the 10th November 2009. The move to pursue independent strategies from parent company, The Smales Group, was led by Managing Director Ben Smales with fellow Board members Fiona Smales (Purchasing Director), Alex Smales (Operations Director) and Andrew Stedman (Sales Director). The MBO is anticipated to result in considerable advantages for both staff and clients of the Hull-headquartered, national company.
Ben explains the significance of the move to 3G:
“As a result of the MBO, we will be able to place greater focus upon our core activities of food product sourcing & supply and tailored supply chain solutions, which will result in a more flexible service to our clients. We have already made substantial investments to enhance our customer service with great results to date, and additional developments will further improve the customer experience of both the 3G Food Service & Seafood Solutions offers.
“For example, with regard to our logistics service, we have acquired our own National Distribution Centre in Hull which is managed by our newly recruited Operations Manager, Graham Jones, a highly experienced logistics and warehousing professional. In addition, we are also introducing a state of the art logistics planning and vehicle tracking system which will allow us to maximise the efficiency of delivery routes, whilst also tracking the progress of deliveries.”
In conjunction with this, 3G is reshaping its delivery fleet to ensure the most efficient vehicles are used dependent on size of delivery, vehicle capacities and mileage required on each route. Further efficiencies have also been made possible by introducing X-docking at regional distribution centres, considerably reducing stockholding, handling costs and energy usage on a national basis. With lower costs, the company has been able to invest in people and warehousing at its National Distribution Centre, resulting in improvements in service levels and shorter lead-times on the introduction of new products.
The developments have also generated additional customer benefits as the company is now able to operate with more flexibility throughout the entire supply chain, providing a multi-temperature tailored supply chain solution for customers across chilled, frozen and now ambient products, including backhauling from producers as required.
3G is also focusing on improving communications with clients too and in support of this its Customer Service Centre has relocated to the company headquarters in Hull to facilitate better internal liaison between key customer departments, with the objective of increasing customer satisfaction. In addition, the business has invested in a new CRM system for its independent customer field sales team which provides rapid information transfer and improved knowledge sharing, leading to greater responsiveness to customer needs.
Ben concludes, “Our strategy is to provide a market-leading, wholesale product sourcing and delivery service to our highly valued independent customers, and to work with like-minded, food focused national operators who require a consolidated tailored supply chain, but whose current centralised distribution does not provide sufficient flexibility or meet desired service levels.
“The improvements we have made so far demonstrate our total commitment to providing a great service to all our customers, both group and independent, and we look forward to driving 3G Food Service & Seafood Solutions to further success and expansion in the future.”
3G Food Service has over 30 years experience in the food service industry, and draws on a 70 year family heritage in the fish and seafood sector. Since the business was established in 1972, the Hull-based firm has continuously evolved and expanded and now works with some of the largest and best known restaurant chains in the UK, in addition to a wide variety of independent customers.
