In the time since the Journal visited Belfast there have been many changes. Hotels and restaurants are appearing all over the city as lasting peace emerges ñ there is a real buzz about the place.
However, the market in the city is a pale impression of its former self. The number of companies at the Balmoral Fruit Market has fallen from 16 to a handful, the majority owned by Fyffes.
North Down director Andy Bishop feels the group's move across Belfast has proved the doubters wrong. “We were warned against moving out of Balmoral but the market facilities were poor and in need of refurbishment. Now we have a secure site and the majority of our customers have welcomed the move and when you look at what's left of the market we got out at the right time,” he says.
The move would probably have come sooner but the company was waiting to see what move the remaining companies were going to make. Company secretary Steven Thompson explains: “We spent a lot of time waiting to see if there would be a consolidated move, but we decided we couldn't wait any longer and took the plunge to move our entire wholesale and distribution operations to Kennedy Way.”
A new state-of-the-art warehouse has been built on their three-acre site. This has provided much needed storage space and is improving the running of the wholesale arm. The fear of moving out of the market has been quickly eradicated. Chairman Perry Donaldson says the move could not have gone better. “The move has been good for business, with our new facilities the cool-chain is not broken and wastage is lower,” he says. “Although we have moved out of our market location, there has been little change to our customer base. We have a good relationship with customers, more are e-mailing and faxing orders through as they trust they will receive quality produce every time.”
There has also been a rise in the volume of business. Director Ashley Megarry feels the business has become much more competitive in the compound unit. “Business has risen between 25-30 per cent with the same staffing levels. We're seeing success with pre-packed lines such as the Florette salad bags and we're always looking out for new products to stay on top of our game,” he says. “Moving the business to Kennedy Way has enabled us to become a one-stop shop. As well as our distribution business growing we have around 200 wholesale customers and we take the time to speak to them to ensure they are happy with the service they are receiving. Our focus is on giving our customers a quality service.”
North Down has also worked hard to build business partnerships. Thompson says we now look to make bulk purchases and we have picked a number of people to work with. “We work closely with eight or so suppliers across Europe. We have good contacts in France, Spain and the Netherlands. The add-on services are a good growth area and we have brought on board a local vegetable company aiming to improve sales.”
Being in the new location has also offered new opportunities and the business is now open seven days a week. Megarry says: “Initially the move meant less space, so we moved to opening every day to improve the flow of produce. We have found it is so successful, that even though we have the new warehouse we will continue with our Sunday opening.”
The group has also realised that diversifying is key to continued performance and has acquired a couple of complementary businesses to push progress. It has been working hard on its speciality ranges and sees this as the way forward. Thompson says: “Our speciality ranges are essential to our success. We now have more to offer customers and the array of products doesn't stop with fresh produce. In 2000 turnover stood at £500,000 for our speciality lines and that was our first year, it has since risen to £1.3 million.”
However, the group has built its name and reputation and believes this form of public relations is integral to its success. “In this day and age word of mouth is a great way for business to grow,” says Thompson. “We have a very good sales team in place and we know there is more business out there. We have a strong presence in the six counties, but are not looking to expand the business unless we know we can give a quality service ñ this is our commitment.”
Sales director Harry Crawford believes the company's personality is vital to the development of the business. “Treating the customers right is so important, we've built up a lot of key relationships. It's essential that we keep it simple and give our customers what they want when they want it.”
The group's delivery area is concentrated within a radius of approximately 25 miles of the city. The arrival of national chains into Northern Ireland means that the company can now expand further. Crawford says: “We are conscious that we do not want to encroach on areas where our smaller customers do business, but due to the size of their operations they are unlikely to want to become involved with large chains. There are opportunities out there and we have some exciting new customers, such as Pizza Hut. The future looks very bright.”
The personality that Crawford speaks of has seen the company involved in a variety of contracts. Besides hotels and restaurants North Down also provides pub chains, including Botanic Inns Group. There is also a contract with the outside caterers to the Northern Ireland parliament Stormont. One of the most interesting contracts is with Belfast zoo. Thompson explains: “The zoo wants top grade fresh produce to keep the animals happy and healthy. We have a lot of mouths to feed there and since acquiring the contract last year we have been pleased with our performance and look forward to continuing the relationship.”
North Down also has a number of key relationships with professional associations. Thompson says: “We're involved with the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association, Northern Ireland Hotel Federation and the Northern Ireland Chefs and Cooks Association. A lot of good work is done at events. It is also necessary to remember that chefs are important people ñ these guys run the restaurants and hotels and they decide who they work with.”
The company's efforts don't stop there. Crawford says that the North Down is always looking to increase its margins and work closely with customers so they understand how the business operates. “We bring our customers into our site so they can see the problems we experience, not to make excuses but so they can see how we operate, we try to get them to understand the process from procurement right through to distributing the produce. We also run customer surveys to ensure we establish that they are getting the service they desire.”
The group also has a care programme in place with staff. Crawford says: “We understand it is necessary to educate our staff as much as possible. We want to see the blame culture disappear within the industry. Mistakes happen but it's important that we learn from them.”
And it seems to be working. In May this year at the Hospitality Trade Awards the company received the 2002 Janus Award for Professionalism in the large supplier category. Crawford says: “In the past we have undersold our achievements it's about time we started shouting about our successes.”
Rising tourism presents another new opportunity to the group. Crawford says: “This is taking off in Belfast. We now have large concert halls in the town, new hotels and restaurants. Belfast is a rapidly changing city.”
Thinking ahead of competitors and putting customers first has put the North Down Group in a strong position but Perry Donaldson says they are not resting on their laurels. “The last 10 years have been difficult. The arrival of UK supermarkets and increasing competition means it is a lot of hard work,” he says. “When Tesco arrived in Northern Ireland they let it be known very quickly that we should not rely on them for business.”
Looking to the future, financial director Berni Duncan says the company believes there is potential in the future for an online shopping service. “Customers could go online and see exactly what we have in stock and place their orders and eventually I could see this spilling over to wholesale. Salesmen no longer need the level of expertise that was once required, as the quality control is done before it reaches them.
Thompson is pleased with the relationships formed with English- based companies that assist the business. “We have user groups once every six months where we meet with other businesses and get to bounce ideas off each other, share problems experienced and work together to help improve our respective businesses.”
The company is also working on a new range with the Health Promotions Agency and is looking at how to develop the business for the future. Megarry says: “We can never afford to sit back we have to keep on driving forward.”
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