Industry
Primary: Accommodation and Food Services
Secondary: Wholesale and Retail Trade
Key Contribution
Reengineered the business, rebuilt the senior management team and increased the resource capability within the business which resulted in a significant improvement in morale for the remaining staff, eliminated the trading losses and established the platform for the business to generate positive trading results.
The Business
The organisation had a proud history in the buying and selling of high-quality food ingredients, primarily servicing food manufacturers and the food service industry.
The Challenge
The organisation had been acquired by an investment company that did not retain the founder/manager and was unsuccessful in finding the right manager to run the business which resulted in the loss of significant business intellectual property and high turnover of short-term General Manager appointments.
The Assistance Required
The organisation needed to appoint a General Manager capable of taking on a business in near fatal decline with very low staff morale and limited experience retained in the business to completely rebuild the senior management team, significantly increase the resource capability within the business, improve staff morale and eliminate the significant trading losses incurred.
The Approach
The investment company appointed a General Manager to truly understand the core competencies of the business, the capabilities of the staff and the key, profitable market segments and customers to focus on in turning the business around.
The Results Delivered
The engagement ran for 18 months through a significant period of change including reengineering the business, rebuilding the senior management team and increasing the resource capability within the business which resulted in a significant improvement in morale for the remaining staff, eliminated the trading losses and established the platform
for the business to generate positive trading results.
Key results delivered during this engagement included:
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Rebuilt the business around its core competency (buying & selling natural foods), focusing on three key market segments;
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Realigned the external sales team’s focus onto the 40% of customers contributing 93% of total sales with these customers classified as either Key (i.e. Top customers) or Important customers with differing account management requirements and growth strategies;
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Simplified the pricing structure from five to two levels and introduced contract pricing for Key customers;
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Rationalised the product range, liquidating just over 50% of the products with a stock investment of approx. $350,000 and accounting for less than 7% of turnover;
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Secured a contract to supply the house brand range of Dried Fruit & Nut products for a major Food Service customer worth more than $500,000;
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Exited the business’ transport fleet and manufacturing operation including the sale of assets at Book Value to the appointed third party packer;
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Implemented batch tracking for audit and traceability purposes and managing product expiry (best before) dates to improve the effectiveness of inventory management;
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Implemented customer service performance measurement using Delivery in Full on Time (DIFOT);
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Significantly improved the financial performance of the company through increasing trading margins whilst maintaining sales levels and significantly reducing operating expenses which established the platform for the business to generate positive trading results.
