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Enotria's move to new warehouse set to boost supplier's flexibilty

Published:  17 March, 2015

Enotria has moved to its new warehouse in Park Royal, following significant investment to boost the business.

The move sees the drinks supplier double its warehousing capacity and increase its flexibility to meet complex picking requirements, and respond to customers more quickly.

Chief executive Troy Christensen said the move demonstrated the company's commitment to delivering an individual service. This was at the core of the business, he said and was highly valued by its on-trade customers.

"We believe we can continue building on this proposition through incremental investments in facilities and systems. As many in the industry are outsourcing the 'last mile', Enotria sees this continued connection as imperative for best-in-class customer service," he said.

Speaking to Harpers.co.uk he added that it would have been easy to outsource but it was about maintaining important touch-point with its customers. "Delivering product is an important part of that, which approaches a level of feedback and engagement. We've always had long-term relationships with our customers and some of our staff have worked with us for years, so they know the nuances of the customers' needs. If you outsource that, you can lose a lots of that customer connection."

Although the move was driven largely by the government plans for the high speed rail line to pass through its previous headquarters, Christensen said the firm had outgrown its existing location and had been behind where it wanted the business to be.

"We are well-positioned now," he added. "We have the ability to take the next step leveraging the business."

The new 80,000sq ft warehouse is at around 50% capacity so there is opportunity to grow, Christensen added.

Enotria showcase tasting at the Walkie-TalkieEnotria's recent Showcase Tasting

The distribution company is ramping up its presence in the UK. Last week it held a new Showcase Event tasting, which saw producers, suppliers, and customers across the off and on-trade come together for an evening of food and drink matching at the Sky Garden restaurant of 20 Fenchurch Street (colloquially known as The Walkie-Talkie). Smaller showcase tasting were also held in Bristol and Edinburgh later in the week.

Enotria has also boosted its senior management team following Christensen's appointment in June 2014,. Helen Munday moved from Hallgarten to head up marketing in January, with former Diageo Percy Fox global commercial director John Hearn heading up the off-trade business and Buckingham Schenk md Jon Pepper joining the team in February as head of buying and retail.

The drinks supplier has been owned by private equity firm BlueGem Capital since 2012.

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