5 minute read
Greensky Contract Catering
Add a drink and enjoy the magic
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
Booker-supplied Green Sky Contract Services is cleaning up after successfully pivoting operations to meet changing customer needs.
From retailers to caterers, and all manner of other industries in-between, the impact of the global pandemic has been keenly felt across the business spectrum.
For Swindon-based facilities management and cleaning company Green Sky, the pandemic has made its mark in variety of different and entirely unexpected ways, prompting the team to think fast and react fl exibly in order to meet new and changing customer demands.
Operations manager Mike Banfi eld explains: “The company was established by our managing director Kevin Clancy, who has operated cleaning companies for upwards of 30 years and has a wealth of experience in this fi eld.
“Cleaning forms the core part of our business and we deploy our services across a range of different sites, from small offi ces right up to vast warehouses.
THE LOWDOWN
GREEN SKY CONTRACT SERVICES, SWINDON
Established June 2018 Areas of expertise Professional cleaning, facilities maintenance and management, electrical and plumbing works, waste management. Operations Manager Mike Banfi eld Staff 25
TOPPLANNER
GREENSKY CONTRACT SERVICES
Mike’s Mechanics
Spreadsheets are my best-friend. My top tip for anyone managing lots of mini projects, in whatever field that might be, is write it down and establish a proper flow, so that you can clearly see how you are going to get from A to B to C. It’s the only way you can truly know where everyone and everything is. Don’t ever try to keep it all in your head or you’ll never get a minute’s peace, it will constantly be running in your head.
“More recently, we’ve expanded our services yet further and now offer those same businesses full facilities management solutions, including maintenance work, repairs and conversions.
“We wanted to be able to offer our customers a one stop shop. We didn’t want to just clean the taps for them, but repair the taps too if needs be, re-paint the walls, build new ones, everything we could do to help them to look and perform at their very best.”
“We manage upwards of 30 sites now including large distribution warehouses, head office locations, and academic settings, all in and around the Swindon and Bristol areas.
Assisting Mike in his quest for perfection is Booker, through which Greensky buys all of its consumables: the key cleaning and maintenance products which it uses to deploy its services.
“The cleaning side of the business uses a vast amount of consumables, from floor and toilet cleaners to antibacterial sprays, paper products, hand soaps, and much more and we buy all of those products from Booker.
“The bulk of the products come from Booker’s CleanPro range which includes products that can help to combat
Covid-19 such as viral cleaner, washroom cleaner and disinfectant, alcohol hand gel, antibacterial wipes and floor gel.
“The products also feature helpful colour-coded labels for each area of use, from warehouse washing to washroom, floorcare and kitchen.
“Booker offers prices and deals that other suppliers just can’t match. Booker’s Swindon branch is also just a short drive from our head office so it’s ultra-convenient too and I probably visit in person at least three times a week in addition to scheduled deliveries,” Mike says.
“I’m actually going to the branch in the next hour to get 20 packs of Mini Jumbos and 20 packs of centre-fold towels. I’ll load it all onto a van and then take it directly to the site where it’s needed.
“The pandemic has changed the way in which we buy from Booker slightly and I now visit the branch in person more regularly to collect what I need, rather than keeping piles of stock in our own site store which is what we used to do pre-Covid-19.
“We do always keep a decent amount of surplus stock though just in-case of an emergency or if one of our sites suddenly runs out of something for some unforeseen reason.
“Booker’s Swindon branch is like a store for us. Price plays a key role too and there are some good deals when you buy by the case.
Booker does a really great deal on bleach for example. We regularly buy three fivelitre containers of bleach for just £10.29 which offers a good saving compared to individual containers. There are quite a few very good case deals like that and we “The lead up to Black Friday for example was manic – we were sending out huge amounts of stock in the run up to and over shopping period, which was then of course followed by the equally busy Christmas period.”
always take advantage of them.”
Unsurprisingly, the global pandemic has had a major impact on the types of consumables that he buys and the volumes in which he buys them too.
“Well, for one thing, we never used to buy facemasks at all and now, we get through them like nobody’s business.
“The amount of gloves that we buy has also soared too.
We’re also buying vast quantities of paper towels compared to 2019 and that’s all because people are washing their hands so much more than they were before.
The hand-washing message has clearly got through. Consumers are so much more aware of the need to live more hygienically and we are also suppling our customers with far more hand soap and other handwashing products than ever before.
“Interestingly, demand of actual hand sanitiser has fallen in recent months. At the start of the pandemic, hand sanitisers demand was through the roof and we could barely get it out to our sites quick enough but in recent months that has slowed and been replaced by much higher demand for hand soap.
“Customers are clearly adopting very good and regular hand washing regimes, as opposed to simply sanitising. The handwashing message has been heard loud and clear and it shows in the volumes.”
“Fortunately for us Booker has been brilliant at helping us to adapt to the new state of play.”
