THE division within the Henderson Group which was hit hardest by the Covid pandemic has unveiled a new £16 million warehouse and storage facility as the family firm looks to plan its business requirements up to 2040.
Henderson Foodservice, which sources and supplies products to 4,500 customers in hotels, offices and hospitals, has opened a 190,000 square foot ambient and chilled distribution centre as part of the group's ongoing re-development of its sprawling Mallusk complex.
It will allow the foodservice team to support the hospitality sector as continued its phased reopening after lockdown restrictions and will offer customers an expanded product range.
Unlike its wholesale and retail operations, which went largely unaffected from the Covid pandemic, the foodservice subsidiary endured a torrid time as its customer supply base effectively shut down.
But during the pandemic, acquisition companies BD Foods and Foodco were integrated into the Henderson Foodservice operations, generating an increased product range which required improved storage facilities.
Facilitated by an experienced project team the move was undertaken during the reopening of outdoor dining, despite the pressures from increased orders and customers returning.
Multi-site processes were implemented and a new version of the warehouse management system was made operational with no impact or interruption to customers, order fulfilment or continuity of supply.
Henderson Foodservice managing director Cathal Geoghegan said: “As hospitality has thankfully been able to open up, our move couldn’t have been more timely.
“We’re thrilled to be able to support the industry in what has been such a challenging year and we look forward to working closely with our customers as the economy continues to move forward in a positive trajectory.”
He added: “The design, build and fit-out of our new warehouse was in partnership with Fermanagh based construction company Tracey Brothers who had previously completed our ambient warehouse facility in 2017.
”We’d like to thank them for their excellent project delivery which helped us transfer to the new centre with zero disruption to customers, during an exciting yet challenging time for our business as we restocked and prepared for the reopening of hospitality.”
The latest project is phase three of a Henderson Group redevelopment investment strategy first conceived in 2008. The initial phase featured a foodservice depot completed in 2010 followed by group head offices doubling the company’s office space in 2016.
In 2017 the group bought an adjacent Marks & Spencer distribution centre which was remodelled into an 185,000 square foot ambient temperature depot.
