3663’s multi-million pound depot investment

13-Nov-2013 - Last updated on 13-Nov-2013 at 09:42 GMT

3663 aims to invest millions into new depots

Foodservice firm 3663 aims to invest millions of pounds in infrastructure, including four planned new depots in Wakefield; Hoddesdon; Bicester and Chepstow.

The company would not reveal the exact figure, or how many jobs were being created in the move, but said the development was phase two in a wider spending programme.

3663 md Alex Fisher said the initiative also followed significant business growth. “This announcement comes on top of £40M of new account wins and additional category supply agreements with major regional and national customers including Subway, TGI, Rank Group and David Lloyd Leisure.”

Multi-temperature depot

The company opened the 11,241m2 multi-temperature depot in Wakefield at the end of October. And it has recently received planning permission to develop a similar depot in Chepstow, which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2014.

Once open, the firm expects to relocate its existing depot in Severnbridge to the Chepstow site. It plans to open depots in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and Bicester, Oxfordshire, after that.

The Enfield facility is double the size of its Hoddesdon facility and 3663 has declared plans to relocate the Enfield hub there in January next year. The 8,082.6m2 multi-temperature Bicester depot is due to open in March 2014.

Phase two of the development programme also involves the implementation of technology to improve efficiency, such as integrated warehouse voice picking systems.

‘Significantly greater capacity’

“In terms of our new facilities, over the next nine months we have four new depots coming on stream, which will improve our local depot network and give us significantly greater capacity to support the customer growth we are experiencing,” said Fisher.

“We remain committed to operating from depots close to our customers, as we believe this is key to ensuring the best service levels and flexibility whilst reducing food miles and supporting the local communities in which we operate.”

The first phase of 3663’s investment roll-out began in 2012 with extended service coverage following its acquisition of Scotland’s Forteith Foodservice in July and South Lincolnshire Foodservice in October.

During this period, 3663 also increased freezer capacity across its network by upgrading several existing depots.