Established in 2008, Coffee Hit is one of the UK’s leading coffee equipment wholesalers, importing coffee equipment from the USA and Australia for consumers and coffee shops across the UK. Its range also includes cups, glasses and cleaning products, helping customers keep their coffee service clean and efficient. Coffee Hit is also diversifying beyond equipment sales into its own range of coffee.
Experiencing rapid business growth, Coffee Hit needed a high-quality, cost-effective warehouse service that could scale with the business. The company engaged The Supply Chain Consulting Group (SCCG) to run a competitive tender process and manage the contract on its behalf.
SCCG managed this contract for Coffee Hit via a competitive tender process.
Coffee Hit engaged further with the SCCG team, with the requirement to select and implement the most suitable 3PLs and Warehouse Providers to best accommodate their continued business growth. Coffee Hit was flexible as to the location of its new warehouse, accepting locations outside of London.
The SCCG professional consultants analysed Coffee Hit’s current distribution costs and service provision, considering future targeted potential client requirements, to provide a service requirement RFQ document and detail prospective transport suppliers.
Following this, the consultants presented Coffee Hit with recommendations for the most suitable 3PLs and Warehouse Providers to ensure the scalability of the warehouse operation throughout the significant business growth curve. They also reviewed the processes from storage requirements to goods-in and despatch.
Considering the business expansion, a warehouse functional requirement specification was developed to suit the current and expected operational requirements. The distribution costs and service provision were upgraded to meet the requirements of future potential customers and the target market.
Coffee Hit was running two separate logistics operations, one in the UK and one in the Netherlands, and wanted to transition to a single, combined warehouse operation in the UK, run by a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. The company was flexible on location, open to sites outside London, but needed a provider capable of supporting a steep growth curve.
SCCG’s consultants analysed Coffee Hit’s current distribution costs and service provision, factoring in future potential client requirements, and produced a service requirement RFQ document covering prospective transport and warehouse suppliers.
The team then evaluated and compared candidate 3PL and warehouse providers using a mix of quantitative and qualitative assessment, covering operational processes, standardisation to best practice, implementation plans, costs, exception management and contingency planning. SCCG also developed a warehouse functional requirement specification to match Coffee Hit’s current and expected operational needs, reviewing storage requirements, goods-in and despatch processes along the way.
SCCG presented Coffee Hit with recommendations for the most suitable 3PL and warehouse providers to support the business through its growth curve. The selected 3PL provider helped define future-state service levels and KPIs based on current best practice, and now delivers both warehousing and distribution for Coffee Hit, giving the business more sustainable inventory management and more economical transport costs.
The Supply Chain Consulting Group team of consultants was truly professional. They identified ways to optimise the warehouse layout and methods to minimise the company’s distribution costs. As a result, Coffee Hit benefits ongoing, from improved service capability. — Director, Coffee Hit
By combining a structured tender process with detailed cost and service analysis, SCCG helped Coffee Hit move from two disconnected logistics operations to a single, scalable UK warehouse and distribution setup built for growth. Talk to our warehouse outsourcing consultants about running a 3PL tender for your own operation.