A visit to the flagship site of award-winning Tout’s has inspired a fellow forecourt operator to switch its views on sourcing local produce.
The Pricewatch Group was persuaded to introduce products from Sussex and Kent at its Wivelsfield site, near Brighton, after general manager Tom Buckley attended our On the Road with Forecourt Trader event at the Cleeve, Somerset operation in October.
The Tout’s site stocks around 640 lines from some 112 neighbouring suppliers.
Buckley, who runs the Pricewatch Group’s five forecourts, contacted a series of local suppliers following the behind-the-scenes tour. Now its Wivelsfield site in East Sussex offers 100 local products from more than a dozen producers at its 2,500sq ft Morrisons Daily outlet, and Buckley says they together account for 9% of shop turnover.
Buckley says he was impressed by the network of local suppliers Tout’s had nurtured.
“I was blown away that while we were at the event a guy arrived with a box of cucumbers and I thought to myself that we could do better: with local food offering us a point of difference and another reason for motorists to shop with us,” he says.
The range at Wivelsfield – highlighted with ‘Locally Produced’ shelf edge labelling – includes Sussex Crisps, which are part of a £4.50 meal deal; Court Lodge yogurt; Sussex Charmer and High Weald Dairy cheese; Ridgeview, Bolney and Court Garden wine; meat from Handcross Butchers; cakes from Ruby’s Bakery; and beer from Hairy Dog Brewery, which is in the same village as the petrol station.
There is also a substantial range of more than 30 skus of salad and fruit pots, sandwiches, baguettes and lamb sausage rolls from a supplier in the neighbouring county, Kent, The Hawkhurst Bread Shed.
Buckley singles out his pièce de résistance as a milk/milk-shake Cool Cow Co. machine using milk from cattle just a few miles away: sales at £450 a week have far exceeded expectations, he says.
While dealing with multiple suppliers adds an administrative burden, benefits far outweigh any inconvenience, says Buckley, who now wants to extend local supplies further. However, the initiative will be limited to Wivelsfield as the group’s other forecourts are too small.
He maintains that, at 22% to 45%, margins are healthy, and waste is minimal because most of the suppliers do not require a minimum order size, and at least one offers same-day top-up deliveries.
“It’s all gone better than I thought, and it is really nice to be able to show our community that we are supporting local businesses,” says Buckley. “As we continue to expand the range, I’d like to see local increasing from 9% of Wivelsfield’s sales to 15% initially, and then grow further from there,” he adds.
“People see the value in buying local products and are prepared to pay more for them. And while they don’t fill their entire basket with them, it complements the entire shop.”
The next step is to find a local supplier for cider, eggs, and summer soft fruits, as well as making more of a feature with an extended butchers’ range, with point of sale telling the farmer’s story.
“In the next couple of months, the farmer is planning to sell us some of his meat reared in the same village as the petrol station. He wants to slaughter cattle and sell direct to us. I said if you get it packaged and barcoded up, I will sell it for you and get you a bit of exposure,” says Buckley.
“It works both ways. He delivers to us five days a week, and nothing is ever an inconvenience for him.”
