Bidfood UK

Leading foodservice provider, Bidfood, adopted Slimstock’s advanced supply chain planning platform to drive greater service, reduce inventory and tackle waste. Following a successful supply chain transformation, Slimstock has been recognised as the “New Supplier of the Year” by Bidfood.

Bidfood is one of the UK’s most trusted foodservice providers. The one-stop-shop for catering supplies distributes more than 10,000 frozen ambient and chilled products to catering businesses, from small and large pub chains, to care homes and coffee shops. With 31 depots, 250,000+ active SKUs, and 40,000 customers, its operational model is complex with a remit to ensure ease and simplicity for its customers.

To empower its supply chain team, Bidfood turned to Slimstock to boost service to its customers through enhanced product availability. Through leveraging Slimstock’s powerful planning capabilities, Bidfood has successfully completed the first phase of an ongoing change management programme focused on delivering supply chain excellence.

Challenges

The food service sector is particularly vulnerable to supply chain volatility. Multiple macroeconomic factors such as global inflation and the Ukraine war have driven up food costs. This, combined with shifts in consumer demand and a need to reduce food waste have driven an urgency for improved efficiency and visibility to navigate this new environment.

“To service the needs of our unique mix of customers, we need a huge amount of flexibility. However, we do not have elastic walls. Therefore, optimising our resources is a continuous challenge,” comments Louise Lyle, Director of Supply Chain at Bidfood. “Digital transformation has helped us to bridge this by creating the agility required to stay one step ahead of new menus and customer mobilisations.”

Results

Since adopting Slimstock’s supply chain planning platform, Bidfood’s 55-strong supply chain planning team have fully embraced the solution’s capabilities to achieve impressive results in a range of areas:

• Stock value has reduced by £6 million from £115 million while improving service levels
• 60% reduction in stock write-off, minimising waste
• Reduced cash flow issues & improved working capital

“The impact of Slim4 on our business has been immeasurable and surpassed our expectations,” Louise explains. “Change can be tricky to navigate, particularly when things have always been done in a certain way, and there was an element of trepidation in adopting a new system. However, feedback has been positive, with the team not only taking to the system with ease, but reporting service improvements, reductions in stock losses, stock value reductions and less waste. This successful collaboration ultimately led to Slimstock being selected as Bidfood’s ‘Supplier of the Year’.”

Solutions

A future-proof platform

Ease of use was one of the most important criteria in Bidfood’s selection process. “Change can be daunting. Therefore, the system had to be easy to navigate and suit our people and culture,” Louise adds.

Slimstock’s platform brings all of Bidfood’s supply chain information together in one place. Insights on stock levels, how stock is performing and what levers need to be adjusted to meet KPIs and drive service levels empower the team to make better planning decisions.

Louise highlights, “In meeting our supply chain goals, we need robust insights to accurately plan and resource goods volumes in relation to seasonal activity, product launches and new customer mobilisations. Slimstock not only allows us to deliver this but provides a future-proof platform to scale and exceed customer expectations as we do so.”

A collaborative approach

Bidfood’s supply chain team must also provide exceptional service to its internal customers. “For example, our warehouse team is constantly trying to manage capacity constraints. Slimstock supports the wider business by ensuring we invest in the right stock,” Louise adds. “While we can’t physically create a warehouse with elastic walls, we have the next best thing in Slimstock.”

Lousie adds. “Part of our collaborative approach means using insights from Slimstock to align with the commercial team. For example, to capture market intelligence. Through enabling greater cross-functional collaboration, commercial teams can access greater insight on how promotions have performed to support both campaign evaluation and future planning.”

Next steps

Slimstock has fast become a strategic and valuable partner to Bidfood. Louise explains, “Much more than just a technology platform, Slimstock has supported the associated cultural change necessary to deliver transformation across our supply chain, and we’re looking forward to embracing the future with confidence.”

“Having seen how quickly the platform has delivered ROI, I only wish we had invested in it years ago, and would recommend it to anyone looking at elevating their supply chain planning capabilities,” Louise concludes.