Wholesaler opens 30,000 sq ft depot to boost customer offer
Thompsons Food Service has opened a new £3m expanded depot to meet customer demand
Based in Great Yarmouth, Thompsons Food Service opened the doors last month to its enhanced 30,000 sq ft depot, delighting customers with a brand new butchery and delicatessen. The investment, which exceeded £3m, also included a complete renewal of all chillers and freezers, LED lighting throughout and the instillation of solar panels to support the wholesaler’s sustainability goals. The expansion also created an additional five jobs and a newly-built dedicated area for employees.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the work that has been carried out at the depot,” said Ryan Thompson, director at Thompson Food Service. “It was important to us to be able to provide our customers with an enhanced shopping experience and an enlarged product range. Our vision has been to become a one-stop shop stocking everything from cleaning, packaging and grocery to delicatessen, butchery and alcohol lines. The newly refurbished depot ticks all of these boxes and, critically, also provides us with more space to grow in the future.”
As part of the reopening, the team at Confex attended a customer open day to share the benefits of the CORE own brand range. With more than 300 products in its portfolio, the CORE range spans ambient, chilled, frozen and non-foot categories. Exclusive to Confex members, CORE has proved to be a hit with members’ customers, delivering impressive results.
Kish Ramasamy, sales development manager at Confex, said: “Thompsons Food Service has been a long-standing member of Confex and so it was really important to us to support the company during their exciting depot reopening. I’ve been involved in this journey with the company for more than a decade and it was brilliant to see it come together. It was a fantastic day!
“The day was also a chance to engage directly with customers about CORE. Thompsons Food Service has really supported the range since its launch in 2022 and it was a great opportunity to introduce the brand to new customers and talk about its quality and price. By talking to customers, we also received fantastic feedback which will help shape our future plans for the brand – it’s a really exciting time with more products launching during 2024.”
Since its launch in 2022 CORE has been a bestselling range for Confex. “Our vision was to create an own-brand range of great quality products at an affordable price point that customers could trust,” said Matt Norman, Confex foodservice controller, who developed the range.
“CORE continues to go from strength to strength, delivering excellent sales for our members. Customer feedback is invaluable and we use this alongside wider market research, data and insight to develop the range to ensure it continues to perform and delight our members’ customers.”
Confex CORE depot expansion Kish Ramasamy Matt Norman Thompsons Food Service
