Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!
Creed Celebrates Major New Partnership with Leading Coffee Shop Chain
Creed Foodservice, the Staverton-based food wholesaler, is celebrating its first year as nominated sole supplier to SOHO Coffee Co. – one of the South West’s leading coffee shop chains.
The contract – which is worth approximately £1m – was won against tough national competition and has helped boost the family-owned company’s annual turnover to an anticipated £37 million in 2009. SOHO Coffee Co., which began life 10 years ago as a stand alone coffee shop in Cheltenham, has also enjoyed a rapid growth period and now has six additional outlets in shopping centres throughout the West Country and South Wales, and stores at five major UK airports. SOHO also has a site at the Roadchef motorway services on the M5 near Tewkesbury.
“SOHO Coffee Co. is renowned for product innovation and has built its reputation on organic Fairtrade coffee and top quality, handmade sandwiches, baguettes, salads, and cakes,” explained Nick Brookes, group account manager for Creed Foodservice. “Our relationship with SOHO is very proactive and we work very closely when developing new menus and identifying new trends in the foodservice sector.”
As well as supplying a wide range of multi-temperature foodservice items to SOHO - including dry goods, frozen foods, fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, speciality breads and patisserie – Creed Foodservice also helps customers stay ahead of the game by offering sector and category insight and proactively sourcing new products.
One of the key ingredients in this successful partnership is the added value aspect of Creed’s offering.
“We aim to offer SOHO, as we do all our customers, a high degree of flexibility in terms of product ranges, locally produced wherever possible, product innovation and realistic, convenient delivery times.
“SOHO Coffee Co. is a fantastic business to work with, and the fact that we are based just a couple of miles from their central production unit also means that the food miles remain as low as possible,” added Nick.
Penny Manuel, Director of SOHO, comments: “SOHO is an ethical business and we always put the desires of our customers and concern for the environment at the forefront of everything we do.
“Not only are we passionate about ethical issues such as organic, fair-trade and local produce, but we handpick our suppliers extremely carefully, and are delighted to be working with Creed Foodservice,” she added.
October 2009
Follow us