Total co-operation

Total Produce now accounts for a significant amount of the trading space at the Bristol Wholesale Fruit Centre, with units housing the separate Bristol Fruit Sales (BFS), Redbridge and Total Produce wholesale operations, BFS Direct, the Redbridge fruit for schools division and the new Total Produce Retail operation.

Nick Matthews and Steve Payne are joint managing directors of Total Produce’s South West and Wales regional division, which gives the local management hands-on support at all times. “Our whole structure is based on devolving power down to the individual businesses,” says Total Produce’s operations director, Graham Broomhall. “Each company is very much the master of its own destiny, although supported by a relatively small corporate structure.”

“The integration process has gone very well,” adds Matthews. “It helped that we knew the people involved well already, but even so, I would say it has gone better than we could have expected. There was the potential for personality and culture clashes; the fact that there haven’t been any at all is probably a minor miracle.”

In previous articles, FPJ has detailed the plan in most market environments to “Total-ise” the operations of Total Produce, bringing the separate parts - companies and names - under one banner to optimise the identity of the whole brand.

That, says Broomhall, was never part of the equation in Bristol, where first BFS and then The Greenery’s wholesale stand in the market were brought into the fold. “BFS is a unique company in wholesale circles; an iconic brand,” he says.

The minimisation of change has helped smooth the process, Payne says. “Each company retained its identity and I think that has made it easier for everyone to adapt. But we have worked very hard to bring everyone to the same level, to ensure that Total Produce is providing the same service to its customers throughout the South West. In that sense, nothing has changed at all; we are all focused on sourcing and selling large volumes of high-quality produce at competitive prices.”

Wholesale competition

The three wholesale companies compete with each other, as they did prior to Total Produce’s intervention, first to buy BFS in 2007 and then to bring The Greenery into its fold later that year. Each has its identifiable strengths - the BFS and Redbridge stands are traditional operators, with fruit, veg and exotics sections, while The Greenery has a historic strength in salads and soft fruit. “We try to give the customer as much choice as we can,” Matthews says. “We do compete, but we try to play to our individual strengths and customer bases. We have some of the same brands - sometimes that is unavoidable, as all customers want them - but, generally speaking, we work different brands from different suppliers.

“Personnel-wise, it has been very stable. We help each other out when there are sicknesses or shortages, which obviously we would never have done before. We also try to share transport wherever we can to create efficiencies for the group. But by and large, to the customers of the market, we remain competitors - and that is how it has to be.”

Competitors they may be, but there is no need for any rule that dictates what does or does not get discussed in inter-company meetings, says Payne. “Our business still remains very personal and customers buy from specific salesmen because they like them. We are all in partnership with our customers and want to help them to compete effectively against their competitors. For that reason alone, it would help no one if we were to collude as companies,” he explains.

There is also much more than wholesale to the Bristol business. Total Produce is a major player in the National School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, with a unit and team dedicated to the 38-week-a-year business in Bristol.

Total Produce Retail, another dedicated business established in units that used to belong to Hurst Parnell, has spent the last month servicing Total Produce’s national Londis account, and from August 1, was also the southern-most hub for the fresh produce supplies of Booker cash and carry. As much as possible, product is being brought in ready packed for consolidation and onward distribution, but the firm has invested heavily in the infrastructure of the facility and has introduced quality assurance, labelling and packing capacity.

Inter-company efficiency

The combined force offers obvious synergies. BFS has long reaped the benefits of inter-company trading, with Bristol acting as the hub for a business with branches that served the entire south-west of England and Wales. Becoming part of Total Produce has increased the possibilities, says Matthews. “If a customer needs a product, we have more avenues through which to get it than any of our competitors,” he says.

Procurement and logistics efficiencies are there to be enjoyed, both within the Bristol market and also using the rest of the Total Produce group in the UK. “If we bring in a truck of iceberg lettuce from Spain, 50 per cent of that will be accounted for through inter-company trading,” says Matthews. “That reduces the onus on the salesmen in each company to shift such large volumes, which is a problem that some of our competitors undoubtedly have. Obviously, the ability to buy in bulk should secure us a better price, reduce the logistical cost and help us build up stronger relationships with a network of suppliers that understand our customers.”

Increased buying power is also an attractive proposition for those growers. “All the growers we have are keen to sell more through Total Produce,” says Matthews. “And in my view, the more we can deal with growers on a group basis, the more important we will become to them.”

Model vision

The BFS model has been founded as a vision that stretches far beyond Bristolian boundaries, which fits with the global outlook of the group. “The key to our success over many years is that we have never been happy to rely on the customers just turning up outside our front door,” Matthews says. “If we had continued to depend purely on the independent retail side of the business, we would be a shadow of the company we are now.

“We have identified the people we want to deal with and made the effort to go out and see them. A large part of it was making sure we got the message across that we were not a ‘traditional’ wholesaler. If you go back 10 years, it’s fair to say that wholesale had become a dirty word, but once suppliers were aware that we were quite prepared to pay a fair price to secure the best-quality produce, doors began to open.

“It is very difficult to gauge now what proportion of our business is retail - in Cornwall, for instance, a lot of the product we supply into independent retailers ends up in the catering trade anyway. We continue to explore new avenues of business and our size creates new opportunities for us.”

The desire to expand horizons is something that large parts of the wholesale sector have perhaps neglected in recent times and, in another fairly unusual move for a wholesale company, Total Produce has employed a graduate fluent in five languages to enhance its relationship with overseas suppliers and extend its network of growers. Tristan Ramos will work on the procurement side of the business. “We recognise, of course, that there are areas that can be improved on,” says Payne. “Tristan will spend a lot of time travelling and will help us and our suppliers understand each other better.”

An understanding of the need for people with different and diverse skill sets in wholesale markets is one thing. Recruitment of young talent remains tough, but internal training has been stepped up to improve the skills of existing staff at all levels, part-funded by the government’s Train to Gain scheme.

Gains all round

The Bristol experience has been a good one for Total Produce, but has the Total Produce revolution been good news for the market in Bristol? Payne thinks so. “I think what we have done has revitalised the market,” he says. “When the Hurst Parnell business fell by the wayside, there could really have been a big hole left here, but those units have largely been taken up by Total Produce and the market has continued to perform pretty well. For the companies that are here, we have helped to maintain a significant barrier to entry to any potential newcomer, while maintaining the competitive nature of the market and safeguarding a lot of jobs.

“People have said for many years that markets and the companies within them need to consolidate. That’s what we have done,” Payne continues. “You want a thriving market because, by implication, that will be a competitive market. If the Total Produce companies were the only firms left in Bristol, customers would go elsewhere.”

SKILLS SET PUTS TOTAL ON TOP

David Foster was promoted to sales director for the South West in June, a position he considers “a great honour” to hold. “I accepted the position on behalf of a lot of great people who have helped me along the way to achieve what I have with Bristol Fruit Sales (BFS),” he tells FPJ. “I have a great challenge ahead of me, but it is something I will approach very positively.”

He speaks for many in the industry in adding: “In fresh produce, I believe it has to be more than your job; it is your life. Our success as a company has come from the loyalty of the people who have been put in place to use the wide range of skills needed to do the job. The relationship that the management has with the staff is brilliant, and that translates into the close relationships we have built over many years with our suppliers and customers.

“I think it is important to stick to a formula for 52 weeks of the year, dealing consistently with people rather than performing well for just a few weeks of the year,” Foster says. “You also need to reflect sometimes on what made you successful in the first place. No one really wants to hear that you’re better than everyone else, they want to see what you do - and they can see our companies in Bristol investing in our facilities, our vehicles and our staff to continually enhance our performance levels.”

Finally, Foster says, the ability to listen to the ideas of new people in the business is vital. “We can never think we have mastered this business; when new blood comes in with new ideas, skills and agendas, BFS has always been very good at taking that on board. If staff can see that the management is taking the company in the right direction, it can only pay back with their confidence in us. And I think this company is the king of adapting to the changing times in which it operates.”

A TOTAL FAMILY TREE

Alex Hawker is manager of the Total Produce-branded wholesale branch in the market; the company previously known as The Greenery, which was bought in October 2007.

The transition in the last two years has been painless, Hawker says. “We do work together as a company, but we compete with each other so, in most respects, nothing has really changed. The Greenery was a ‘family’ and now we have a larger ‘family’ with the mother ship over at Bristol Fruit Sales (BFS). We get great support from Nick and Steve; any issues are sorted out very quickly.”

“It is different because having local management helps to get things done,” says Phil Nichols, branch manager at Redbridge. “They can relate to the local subtleties.”

BFS and Redbridge, he admits, were “bitter rivals” before the coming together of their activities. “I think at first it was difficult to see how it was going to pan out,” says Nichols. “The customers were naturally a little wary. Steve and Nick are very supportive and hands-on whenever we need it, but largely leave us to do our own thing. That would perhaps be more difficult if we were struggling as businesses, but we were all strong companies in different ways, in different parts of the catchment area, and with different customer bases. The fact that we have all retained our separate identities, with the same staff and obvious points of difference, has dispelled any concerns.”

Competing with each other does not preclude a level of inter-company collaboration, of course. “The three companies talk on a regular basis,” Nichols continues. “We look at the market from three different points of view and our combined strength allows us to target customers with a wider range of products and brands. We can also create considerable transport efficiencies, as we all have customers and suppliers across the region.”