6 minute read
Column: HoReCa Supply & Demand
Bonna
The drama of demand and supply
It’s all well and good having something to sell, as long as you actually have it to sell. Valda Goodfellow talks supply and demand
About G & G
Founded by Paul and Valda Goodfellow, G & G Goodfellows is a highly creative design & Distribution Company with an amazing showroom in Little Portland Street. Off ering a truly hands-on service, Goodfellows passion is to bring new and exciting, bespoke food presentation concepts to the UK’s culinary scene. As well as off ering a wide variety of the world’s best branded tableware, kitchen equipment, clothing and machines, Goodfellows also collaborates closely with UK craft producers for totally unique products. It works with all sizes of restaurant and catering projects, happy to supply anything from an individual plate to a full restaurant concept. Last weekend I trotted off excitedly to try and buy a new car. There are supply issues, I was told. You are going to have to wait! Have you not heard about the shortage of semiconductors? Well yes, of course I had, but I thought there must be some manufacturers that were better able to control their supply chain. And there are, but even luxury car manufacturers have to accept some delays. And they are by no means the only sector being hit by supply chain problems.
It seems we are in the eye of a perfect storm that is not limited to the ‘chip’ industry, our own tableware sector is having to cope with a cocktail of issues including; a surge in demand created by the opening of hospitality (certainly in the UK), reduced workforce availability due to Covid, raw material shortages creating hold-ups further down the supply chain, shipping and courier issues and continued high retail demand, particularly from online sales. Spare a thought for us Brits who also have to deal with the knock-on eff ects of Brexit!
When I was told I had to actually WAIT for my car, it did not go down well but there was little alternative other than try my luck with a diff erent manufacturer. This is a decision being repeated across every sector, including ours, which poses some real challenges and potential serious impact to brand loyalty. If customers must switch, they may not return to their previously favoured brand.
Everyone accepts that sometimes problems occur but what counts is how those problems are handled. Where a brand/manufacturer is not information, consolidating shipments and promoting core stock selections. This last point has been really eff ective in helping us deal with a surge in new customers coming to us having been let down by other suppliers; and now have critically short lead-times. I am not saying we don’t have supply issues, of course we do, more so in relation to some glassware and kitchen equipment than our exclusive ranges but we are not complacent about the challenges that are present
directly communicating with the enduser, service must be handled by the distributor or retailer; and there is no doubt that continued brand loyalty is most likely to be achieved where the relationship through the manufacturer/ distributer/customer chain is the strongest.
We have amazing relationships with our manufacturers, who have been indomitable in their eff orts to maintain supply to us. We have, in turn, taken our share of the responsibility for helping them with advance demand in the supply chain now; and how long they may continue in the future. We put immense eff ort into very close communication with both manufacturers and customers to try and ensure that if we do have issues, we are off ering our customers viable options they will love. Where possible we will do that from the same manufacturer but in the end, achieving customer satisfaction is paramount.
What we stress to our manufacturers is that we are all in this together and that we need to work hard to maintain
Valda says...
loyalty to their brands. The more they help us, the more we will collectively retain customer loyalty. Even the effort to try and overcome issues goes a long way in keeping customers on-side. In these days of pivoting to online services, old-fashioned customer relationships suffer and while we all need to embrace new technology, in the end people are individuals with feelings which dictate
What’s affecting supply and demand in tableware?
Covid ❚ raw material shortages creating hold-ups down the supply chain ❚ shipping and courier issues ❚ continued high retail demand, particularly from online sales ❚ knock-on effects from
Brexit
their behaviour. My husband always says the most expensive commodity in business is goodwill and I am not sure how that is delivered online (other than through loyalty bonuses) when there are problems.
We are lucky in that our customers have got used to lead-times from the start for our hand-made products, so we are not so much victims of the next-day supply mentality that has become rooted in most of the hospitality sector. If lead-times need to be extended, we explain the reasons why and we can usually retain the sale for our producers. In particular, we have the amazing Montgolfier, Studio Mattes and Hering Berlin who all try hard to support customer critical dates. We hold stocks of popular items where we can, just so we take some of the pressure off and where chefs and restaurateurs need something unique, they know that they have to work with a lead-time.
For what I call ‘core ranges’, we hold significant stocks of brands like Narumi, Costa Nova and Bonna, so that we can satisfy almost any cuisine requirements from stock. When we help customers build their concepts, we can advise on how to create a unique concept, even if we have to do it last minute where their normal supplier can’t deliver.
So, take this week, when a new customer finds he has been let down for his opening and has been recommended to try us. His concept is a small plates menu of popular mixed cuisine. We look at his restaurant design and see what he reacts to in terms of look. Then we guide him to a core of Costa Nova Roda plates, mixing his service items with elements of Notos which solves his table space issue and then add a few wow items like the Hydrangea Leaves in Vigne & Tomate - suddenly, he has a core concept that we can satisfy from stock but doesn’t look like it was picked from a catalogue. He then wants to add a couple of unique items for bread service which he knows will take a few weeks to produce, but in the meantime, he can either use Notos bowls or the Lagoa Metal bowl which is also handy for side salads. He leaves the showroom a relieved and
Montgolfier happy man. The point is, he came into the showroom with a problem and left not just with a solution, but one which he really loves. We could equally have matched his expectations with our great selection of Bonna core options. Will he return to his previous supplier? I don’t know yet, but what I do know is that we created that incredibly important commodity of goodwill. Where there is a demand, customers will find the supply from someone. If not you, then it could well be your competitor.
