Cool, calm and consolidated Central Foods Group Ltd Tithe Barn Blisworth Hill Barns Stoke Road Blisworth Northants NN7 3DB Tel: 01604 858522 Fax: 01604 879205 E-mail: enquiries@centralfoods.co.uk Website: www.centralfoods.co.uk Key Personnel Managing director ­ operations Gordon Lauder Managing director ­ sales Tony Levy Technical controller Mike Tyler Financial controller Kevin Higham KEY Clients & Brands - Bakker - Diversified Foods Group Restauranic - Eurobuns Americana -Goldstar Meats Big Al's - Haldane Foods Group Realeat, VegeMince, SuperVeg! - Karea - KaterKing - KaterKids - Kitchen Range Foods - Perkins Frozen Foods - Springs As one of the UK's leading suppliers to the frozen wholesale market, CFG manages over £12.5m sales and delivers more than 24,000 cases nationwide every week, bridging the gap between frozen food manufacturers, wholesalers and their foodservice customers. Integral to its business is brand partnership ­ it helped build Eurobuns from a zero ledger company to number two in the UK's burger bun stakes with a £5million turnover in two years. "We also established VegeMince in the vegetarian/healthy eating catering market and Big Al's in the reformed, fully-cooked meat sector," says joint md Gordon Lauder, whose empathy with brand issues is no doubt heightened by the experience of managing CFG's own KaterKing and KaterKids products in an increasingly demanding food market. Both CFG ranges were recently declared free from mechanically recovered meat and GM ingredients and the company went further by giving an assurance that derived ingredients were GM free, too. A commitment to quality The company works closely with manufacturers in identifying frozen products suitable for development and sale to the foodservice market, advising on suitable packaging, portion control, quality and even pricing structure. Below the line activity includes market research, exhibition management and marketing, and it has a consolidated PR service. Frozen web wonders "CFG prides itself on being able to offer its customers a flexible, dedicated and pro-active service," says Lauder who is now preparing to embrace the opportunities created by e-commerce. "In the future, we envisage taking simple order transactions via the Web as well as communicating via e-mail with our customers. Orders with our own suppliers will also take place via the internet," he says. "Eventually, CFG will be looking to use its website to disseminate product information to its customers in the form of on-line product specifications and product photography which they can download and use for their own marketing purposes." One stop shop Lauder believes the internet will open a number of doors on the UK market for smaller European manufacturers (and vice versa), and is positioning CFG to take advantage of the forecast movement in Euro trade by promoting the benefits of CFG's consolidated service. "We offer a central delivery point ­ dependent on volume, goods are either collected ex-works or manufacturers deliver to CFG's 500 pallet central cold store in Wolverhampton; the company gives direct access to the largest number of frozen wholesalers/distributors in the UK; and we can reduce overheads for clients by taking over full administration of the business ­ from taking title to the goods to telesales, stock management and invoicing." The company's operations department looks after credit control and invoicing along with stock forecasting and order replenishment. Its dedicated telesales team rings customers for orders every week. "CFG's technical department is continuously working on quality assurance and new product development and has recently gained two prestigious QA awards ­ TLC and STS (both Higher Level)," says Lauder. "The awards mean that CFG's customers can be totally assured of its ability to deliver on all levels." Price competition "For manufacturers, CFG promotes and sells their frozen products to wholesalers and/or caterers, while for wholesalers CFG offers innovative new lines in mixed pallets, making it easy for wholesalers to offer more choice to caterers yet benefit from bulk-buying cost savings," explains Lauder. "Certain product sectors in the catering market are very price sensitive and the bigger brands tend to carry a price premium. This gives us the opportunity to supply secondary/tertiary brands at a lower price yet still offer premium products. "We believe our product range, pricing, consistent quality and first class delivery are key measures of our success with customers." {{Z SUPPLEMENTS: BROKERAGE }}