Getting ready for January 1, 2021
The Pelican team has been busy working with clients and suppliers for several months to help plan for Brexit and reduce and mitigate any supply chain risk through contingency planning.
At the beginning of the year, Brexit was the key focus at client and supplier meetings but in March this quickly changed as the pandemic started to hit the UK.
The switch was rapid and Pelican adapted their approach, with the covid response bearing distinct similarities to Brexit preparations.
For those in foodservice, the biggest risk is product safety and availability and Pelican Procurement Managers have been working with both clients and the supply-chain to ensure the right plans are in place.
Here are some of the actions the Pelican Procurement Team have been carrying out:
Product and Price Management
- Identifying business critical lines to ensure that the products that are key to the success of client operations are ringfenced, with secondary suppliers are in place.
- Providing RAG (Red, Amber, Green) reporting to show which products are at a higher risk of short supply and explain the solutions in place to help mitigate these risks.
- Procure and forecast frozen fruit & vegetables and meat products, to minimise the risk, where required. Supporting our hospitality clients with sourcing new products that will be available which will allow them to engineer dishes according to their target markets.
- Supporting clients with product negotiations and forecasting for those wishing to take bulk deliveries and store certain items such as pasta, rice, sauces, and tinned products.
- Negotiating fixed-term pricing for extended periods of time with appropriate suppliers.
Menu, Allergen and Nutrition Management
- Working with clients to support menu changes that will mitigate risk
- Working with our educational clients to ensure that appropriate ingredients and products can be sourced and ringfenced to meet school food standards.
- Providing nutritional and allergen support to clients who are switching products.
- Identifying and sourcing alternatives for key lines based on allergen and nutritional requirements.
- From an early stage, Pelican has identified potential product switches to UK producers or manufacturers. This advance planning will ensure volumes are already in UK supplier forecasts.
Health & Safety, compliance, industry standards
- Identifying an option of secondary suppliers for all categories. This ensures suppliers will have evidenced their due diligence and accreditations to food safety standards in advance.
- Supporting clients who have achieved Food for Life accreditations, ensuring the availability of the products that have been sourced to gain their award, such as organic produce.
Supplier service, KPI management
Measuring supplier performance and KPI’s closely to enable us to act quickly should supply or performance become problematic.
Stock and waste management
- Providing professional expertise to schools operating cost/cover who have limited storage and wish to reduce the number of dish options being offered.
- Work closely with our clients to understand their events calendar and identify where additional stock forecasting may be required
We are here to help you
With Covid still front of mind for many, there is a danger that Brexit has fallen down the agenda. The Pelican team, however, are working proactively with suppliers to ensure that we mitigate the risk that Brexit could cause to our clients.
As part of our supply-chain management and client support, the team at Pelican is standing by to ensure clients have the right contingencies in place and are ready for the challenges that Brexit may bring – so get in touch if you need support with Brexit preparations at hello@pelicanprocurement.co.uk
