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It's Buying Time For Scottish Hospitality Businesses
Sourcing supplies from purchasing consortiums has its advantages at the best of times, including bulk discounts and helpful advice on the best purchasing decisions. However, in a fragile economic climate such as this, consortiums can also provide the security of knowing that your pipeline of supplies won't dry up, even if a supplier goes to the wall.
Beacon Purchasing is one such organisation, and after harvesting a number of new business wins over the last 12 months in the face of the economic downturn, the company is enjoying an enviable degree of success in Scotland.
Catering in Scotland takes a look at the UK's largest purchasing consortium for the hospitality industry, and finds it can pay to 'buy big'…
Grant Sword, a partner in Castle Stuart, the 18-hole golf links resort overlooking the Moray Firth, has worked with Beacon since his days as Managing Director at Morton Hotels: 'I'd known Beacon when I was with Morton Hotels and I contacted Susan [Young, Beacon's Regional Manager for Scotland] almost as soon as the project commenced.,' he says. 'With this being a green-field site, everything has had to be built from scratch. With the opening imminent, everything is coming together at once, we're going a hundred miles an hour and timing and speed are of the essence.
'Beacon has been sensational in this regard; they are acting like a de facto purchasing department for us, and through them we're able to make purchases of quality supplies very quickly.'
Due to open its golf course and clubhouse this July, the Castle Stuart project includes 148 resort-ownership lodges and apartments, the first of which will be unveiled in 2010, and a 70-bedroom luxury hotel and spa which will follow in 2012 to complete the current phase of development.
To ease the buying process, Beacon orchestrated 'open days' for suppliers and manufacturers to present their products to Grant and his team. Everything from food and drink, linen, cutlery, crockery, furnishing supplies - even utility suppliers - are driven into Inverness by Beacon to be looked over and sampled where possible by Castle Stuart decision-makers.
'It has taken enormous pressure off us in terms of management time,' says Grant. 'We get to see different supplies and equipment in the comfort of our own environment, and Beacon have also been extremely helpful in obtaining quotes for us from different suppliers. Because of this, we know we are getting the best products at the best possible price.'
Beacon is no stranger to the luxury end of the hospitality market. MacMillan Hotels, which includes the award-winning Glenapp Castle in Ayrshire, is a member, as is The Old Course Golf Resort and Spa in St Andrews, currently short-listed in the 2009 CIS Excellence Awards*.
David Townsend, Purchasing Manager at the Old Course, has been keen to consolidate the hotel's purchasing power and supply chain: 'We've had regular meetings with Beacon since we signed up as members six months ago,' he says. 'Working with them has helped to expand our options in relation to what we buy, where we source it and who we buy from.'
Meanwhile, Meallmore Ltd, one of the fastest-growing owners and operators of care homes in Scotland, is also a long-standing Beacon member. The majority of the company's food and drink supplies are purchased through the consortium, as well as many of its fixtures and fittings. With some 18 properties across the country – including two new-build properties – Meallmore is the perfect platform on which to highlight Beacon's strengths: 'I once tried to source 18 flat-screen televisions and no one could help me,' says Morag Waring, Hotel Services Manager at Meallmore. 'I called Beacon and they were able to source them for us almost immediately; and they negotiated the best prices, too.'
Beacon's distribution channels and their arrangements with local suppliers also helps to control their carbon footprint, which more and more members are beginning to appreciate. Moreover, in the current economic climate, many hospitality companies are recognising the value of pulling together their purchasing power to secure the best deals.
'We like to see ourselves as strategic partners of both our members and our suppliers, and if there's one thing we all need to be today, it's flexible,' adds Chris. 'We don't have a one-size-fits-all formula, and we always try to respond and adapt to our members' needs.'
In the end, it's this flexibility that makes Beacon's advancement across Scotland so successful, even in the current economic climate.
This article has been edited from its original version. For the complete feature, please see Catering in Scotland magazine September/October 2009.
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