Home deliveries help Harvest through pandemic uncertainty
Switching from B2B to B2C in an instant was a tough decision facing Richard Strongman, managing director of Harvest Fine Foods, but the Southampton-headquartered business faced hardship, or worse, without some innovative thinking
Arriving slightly late for his Zoom interview with The Business Magazine, Richard Strongman is apologetic. But he has one of the best excuses we’ve heard.
Rapid move in new direction to rebuild customer base
Since May’s economic re-opening, Harvest has been rebuilding its lost B2B customer base in the healthcare, education and hospitality sectors.
The way the company responded to the pandemic is a lesson in seizing the day. Harvest cooked up a home-delivery service “in about 48 hours” when the first lockdown was announced in March 2020.
Strongman takes up the story: “We bounced a few ideas around and decided we could do it. People everywhere were isolating, feeling frightened and struggling to get groceries. We have considered starting a home delivery service for some years and this was the ideal opportunity to give it a go.”
He was staggered by the demand, with some 13,500 people signing up in the first two weeks, around one third placing orders and about a quarter re-ordering. “We went from a zero to a £5 million annual turnover run-rate overnight,” said Strongman. “While it has now dropped off to about £12,000 per week (an annual turnover run rate of £624,000), it remains an important part of our business for the future.”
Richard Strongman 66
I was down in the warehouse helping peel and prepare vegetables for tomorrow’s orders – we have lost quite a few staff following Brexit and the team were under extreme pressure. We’re working flat out to keep up with demand
Boosting morale in the local community
As well as business survival, there was a strong altruistic motive in supporting the local community and boosting staff morale by keeping as many as possible in work rather than furloughed. “We were providing around 3,000 meals per week to school children, the elderly and the infirm,” he said. James Tetley, partner at RSM added “interestingly, Richard commented that they would probably have been better off financially in closing the doors and furloughing the staff. It was important to Richard and the management team, and core to the values running through the business to keep the doors open, and as many of the staff as possible continuing to work.”
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JULY/AUGUST 2021
businessmag.co.uk
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