Bidfood

As a supplier to the hospitality sector, Bidfood must deliver flawlessly while keeping supply chain costs as low as possible. Without Slimstock’s supply chain platform, this would never have been achieved to the same extent, say Supply Chain Director Aukje Hoogewerf and Supply Chain Manager Jan van Oostrum.

“Thanks to the insights Slimstock’s solution provides, we continue to become more innovative. It has transformed us as a business.”

 

Reliability is essential

Bidfood is a well-known player within the foodservice industry. Every day, it supplies hospitality businesses, healthcare institutions, government organisations and workplace restaurants in more than 35 countries.

“Reliable delivery is crucial for us,” explains Aukje Hoogewerf. “What customers order today must be delivered the next day, on time, complete and fresh. A restaurant simply cannot operate if an ingredient is unavailable, as it could prevent them from preparing an entire dish.”

Cost control is a necessity

In addition to service performance, Bidfood must also maintain profitability.

“The hospitality industry is under significant pressure,” continues the Supply Chain Director. “To protect margins, we must do everything we can to control costs throughout the entire supply chain. We achieve this through careful procurement, increasingly sourcing products directly from suppliers abroad. At the same time, we work with regional products and want to encourage entrepreneurship at our local branches. Bidfood is organised in a decentralised way, and that is one of our strengths.”

 

Consolidating flows

Bidfood’s distribution network in the Netherlands consists of two central distribution centres, sixteen regional branches and its own largely electrified transport fleet. Its assortment includes around 50,000 products.

“Slow-moving and waste-sensitive products are stocked centrally, while fast movers are kept regionally,” says Van Oostrum. “Some fresh products are delivered directly from suppliers.”

Customer orders typically contain products from multiple locations. During the night, these are consolidated in regional distribution centres and assigned to transport routes.

A custom-built system was no longer sufficient

Demand within the foodservice sector has become increasingly unpredictable in recent years, partly due to home working and changing consumer behaviour. As a result, cost control, sustainability objectives and waste reduction have become more complex.

“We have around forty inventory planners,” says Van Oostrum. “Until a few years ago, they worked with a custom inventory system that only analysed sales history for each location. Whenever demand changed suddenly, for example when a large restaurant chain adjusted its menu, every replenishment proposal had to be updated manually. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with all the hospitality lockdowns, that approach simply became unmanageable.”

A strategic choice for Slimstock

Bidfood Netherlands made the strategic decision to invest in software capable of orchestrating the entire inventory network, from central distribution centres through to local stocking points.

“We did not have to think long about choosing Slimstock,” says Hoogewerf. “They are an excellent match for our culture and our level of supply chain maturity. Slimstock’s platform is known for its strong price-to-performance ratio, but equally important is the expertise Slimstock brings. They understand industry best practices, they offer the Slimstock Academy, and they organise Supply Chain Games. That combination made the decision easy for us.”

Tactical inventory decisions

Van Oostrum notes that Slimstock’s solution enables Bidfood to respond more quickly to supply chain disruptions.

“We can also anticipate holiday periods or supplier delivery issues more effectively. We can create scenarios and implement tactical measures accordingly. Previously, it could take weeks before such changes were reflected in forecasts across all branches. With Slimstock’s platform, changes can be implemented across the entire network at the touch of a button. Local planners automatically receive the correct ordering recommendations and can immediately see where additional attention is required through their to-do lists.”

The starting point for continuous improvement

Despite challenging market conditions, Bidfood has maintained high levels of delivery reliability while gaining greater control over waste and inventory costs.

“Without Slimstock’s solution, we would never have achieved this,” says Hoogewerf.

However, the impact went even further. The implementation became the catalyst for a series of improvement initiatives that made the supply chain more efficient and resilient.

“Slimstock’s platform provides visibility across the entire supply chain,” explains Van Oostrum. “This allows us to build inventory in a controlled way ahead of peak periods such as Christmas, without stress or bullwhip effects. Using algorithms, we continuously calculate whether products should be stocked centrally or regionally. For example, during summer we supply beach cafés from regional stock locations, while in winter those same products may be supplied from the central distribution centre. Because warehouse space is limited, we evaluate not only costs and lead times, but also available storage capacity.”

Optimising order quantities

Another major improvement area has been sustainability and the optimisation of order quantities.

“Particularly for suppliers located further away, we want to maximise the use of full containers,” says Van Oostrum. “Using forecasts, shelf life and other factors, Slimstock’s solution calculates which products should be included in a container. The system then determines the best stocking location for those products so that they can be cross-docked directly from the central distribution centre to the appropriate regional branches. This also helps us manage workload more effectively across our distribution centres and transport operations, creating a calmer and more stable logistics environment.”

Success spreading across the Bidfood group

The success of Slimstock’s platform in the Netherlands has attracted international attention within the organisation.

“After presenting our results internally, I was inundated with questions from colleagues abroad,” says Hoogewerf. “Bidfood operates in a decentralised way, so each country decides independently which software solutions it uses.”

Several country organisations have since selected Slimstock’s solution and are already live.

“It also helps that Slimstock now operates worldwide, allowing our colleagues in other countries to receive local support as well.”

A foundation for innovation

By implementing Slimstock’s platform, Bidfood has established a solid foundation for managing and improving overall supply chain performance.

“We have genuinely changed as a company,” concludes Hoogewerf. “The insights, forecasts and scenarios provided by the software give us a single version of the truth and enable us to become increasingly innovative. The central supply chain team drives continuous improvement, but always in support of local branches, allowing them to maximise their entrepreneurial freedom.”