Food manufacturer Hain Daniels, whose brands include Hartley’s, Robertson’s, Sun Pat and Gale’s, has brought in DHL Supply Chain to handle its distribution in a multi-million pound deal that runs until 2017.
Hain Daniels bought the brands from Premier Foods in a £200m deal last October in a deal that included the Histon factory site, the production, distribution, sales and marketing of the Hartley’s, Robertson’s, Frank Cooper, Keiller, Gales and Sun-Pat brands, and the licence to produce and distribute Rose’s marmalade.
Alex Tompkins, head of UK supply chain at Hain Daniels said: “Having operated a principally chilled supply chain for many years, our decision to outsource the operation for ambient meant the development of an entirely new supply chain for the business.”
The contract with DHL involves the creation and implementation of a new supply chain network for the t product range. DHL will manage storage, handling, dispatch and customer deliveries from its multi-user distribution centre in Huntingdon.
“Delivering for customers is crucial to ensuring we remain competitive, so picking the right partner was important. DHL demonstrated exceptional expertise in the sector, flexibility in meeting our business needs and a readiness to do business with us – we’re delighted to be working together,” said Tompkins.
David McDonald, vice president of consumer, DHL Supply Chain said: “Our multi-user capability at Huntingdon, combined with a cost effective solution and established consumer distribution network were significant in Hain Daniels’ decision to work with us.”
Hain Daniels is part of the Hain Celestial group which is based in the United States. Other brands in the group include New Covent Garden Soup and Linda McCartney.
Premier Foods has been selling off some non-core businesses following an agreement on new financing arrangements in March 2012. It’s strategy is to focus on a group of power brands that include Hovis, Ambrosia and Sharwoods.
In its half year results in July, Premier said it expected to save £10m from consolidation of tis grocery logistics network combined with a reduction in the number of SKUs and a focus on more strategic partnerships with fewer suppliers.
