A FOURTH generation food and drink wholesale firm is hope the lifting of Covid restrictions for the hospitality industry will lead to a positive impact on future orders.
With social distancing restrictions in place and Christmas parties cancelled with three household limits in place, it wasn’t just pubs and restaurants that were affected in December.
The supply chain has experienced a rollercoaster ride during the Covid crisis and as well as facing driver shortages, isolation period impacts, sourcing stock, hospitality suppliers have had a difficult few months.
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Lanarkshire-based wholesaler Dunns Food and Drink said they saw a 20 to 30 per cent drop off in orders last month, but hope the easing of restrictions will have a knock effect on their business as bars and restaurants build up to full capacity.
Julie Dunn, operations director at the firm which employs more than 100 people and supplies stock to around 400 hospitality sites across Scotland, said: “Like many businesses we have had to cope with supply chain ruptures out with our control and not just related to Covid restrictions. We have had issues finding drivers and getting stock into the country.
“The run up to Christmas would traditionally have been an extremely busy time for us as bars and restaurants experience a rush. At the begging of December we saw orders drop off and over the course of the month it dropped off by as much as 30 per cent.”
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However, the Blantyre firm which started out life in Glasgow’s East End in 1875, says now is the time when they are likely to see increased demand.
Ms Dunn added: “Restrictions easing means the hospital industry will be trying to make up for what they lost before Christmas and I think we will see more demand for stock from our customers. It might be an immediate boost, but then given the time of year it could also level out.
“I think people will initially be keen to get back out there, but it is a time of year when hospitality is traditionally a bit quieter. However, bills still have to be paid both at the customer and supplier end and I think it is important that any financial assistance firms are entitled to comes fairly soon.”
Early on in the pandemic the family-run business scaled their workforce down from around 140 to just under 40 and were grateful for the aid of the furlough scheme. For them keeping the business going was a priority.
Ms Dunn added: “We had no option but to carry on albeit on a smaller scale. Hospitality might have been shut down but food wholesale is a large part of what we do and we had care homes to supply we had to keep going. We also dealt with consumers more and more as people found it hard to get supermarket orders or might have been shielding, so we adapted quickly to supply that market as well. We also linked up with charitable organisations to help with food drops in the Bothwell and Hamilton area and also worked with the Celtic Foundation with one of their projects.”
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