One of the UK’s leading foodservice providers, Bidfood, has recently opened the doors to its new depot in the heart of Cumbria.
Bidfood’s Penrith depot, which started trading on March 19th 2018, will be servicing a variety of local customers within the Cumbrian area, including Centre Parcs and Beacon Hill School. The new depot has been developed from Bidfood’s recent purchase in December 2017, of a Blakemore Cash & Carry depot in Penrith. This acquisition included the transfer of the experienced local staff employed at the site, who are now still employed at the depot by Bidfood. Along with these employees, the new site development will provide even more employment opportunities for people living in the local areas, from the warehouse team, to office support and of course, drivers. Appealing to local customers, the new office refurbishment will also offer a customer Click & Collect service and a Same Day Delivery option, to help streamline customer services. The depot is also planning to work closely with local cheese and meat suppliers to offer Bidfood’s national customers traditionally local Cumbrian produce. Speaking about the new site, Norman Wemyss, COO at Bidfood said: “Having started my foodservice career many years ago in Carlisle, I understand the desire that customers have to trade with wholesalers who are truly embedded within the local community. Whether that is through involvement in local projects, providing employment for local people, or supplying locally-sourced products. “In order for Bidfood to continue to meet local caterers’ needs, it’s vital for us to offer a truly local service, with the majority of our depots no more than 80 miles away from our customers. The investment into the new Penrith depot will help us to continue to deliver this.” Over the last three months there has been a complete overhaul of the Penrith site, including, but not limited to the 21,357 sq ft ambient centre and 5,078 sq ft freezer development, intensive in-house employee training, health & safety assessments, safe systems of work set up, as well as making sure the site complies with all food hygiene standards. Alan Joyce, General Manager at Bidfood’s Penrith depot said: “These are exciting times for Bidfood with the opening of our new Penrith depot. “Penrith is strategically placed so that we can improve our service offering into the surrounding areas, Keswick, Windermere, Carlisle, Workington and Penrith. “Along with this, our plans are to improve our service offering to benefit our customers and to be the leading local foodservice provider in the area. This will include various new schemes such as our new Click & Collect service, and Same Day Delivery that we will now be offering.”