Spanish foods wholesaler Mevalco has been forced to temporarily remodel its business in order to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
The Bristol-based company is now working within the home delivery market and offering products hampers and ingredients direct to consumers’ doors with a two-to-five day delivery turnaround.
Read more: How has Mevalco achieved 218% growth?
Joint chief executive, Justin Slawson, explained that Mevalco’s foodservice customers are inevitably in a situation which has meant a drop in trading due to closures and lockdown under Government guidelines, and whilst some customers have repurposed their businesses to take-away models, this only accounts for a small element of normal trading.
“We are in uncharted territories” he explained, “and yes, it’s incredibly tough right now. But we have immediately looked to transform our business to a B2C model during this period…. We have an amazing inventory, which is perfect for the home cook and right now everyone is doing their bit to ensure the nation is kept fed and food is not wasted and it’s not helping anyone if we keep our products on our warehouse shelves.”
He added that the wholesaler’s private client orders are increasing daily, and that they have re-thought their digital strategy to ensure the word is getting out there with recipes. “Once a consumer experiences our products, we are finding they are coming back for repeat orders and with prices that are close to wholesale prices, it presents an attractive offer.”
Read more: Mevalco moves to bigger site to accommodate its fast-track growth
“It may well be that once trading returns to more traditional channels, that we retain an element of B2C. It is clear that diversification and adaptability are paramount in times of crisis as evidenced by what we’ve seen in the last three weeks,” he added.
