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2021 Quarterly update

29/04/2021

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone has had a good start to 2021, restaurants and catering establishments are gradually reopening and hopefully the business climate is regaining a sense of normality. It’s been a while since we communicated what’s been going on behind the scenes, so let’s discuss what’s been happening this quarter.

Let’s start with talking about some of the big challenges we have been facing this quarter.

  • Brexit
  • Global shipping crisis
  • Suez canal accident
  • Rising Paper and plastic costs

With our breakup with our European neighbours, the global pandemic and rising material costs, this has had a severe impact on both shipping costs and shipping reliability. We have seen containers quoted 4x of 5x higher than what we expect in normal market conditions! As well as being unable to get confirmation on when goods will arrive in the UK.

This article from the BBC explains the issue in detail:

SHIPPING CRISIS: I’M BEING QUOTED £10,000 FOR A £1,600 CONTAINER’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55740063

You might notice pricing increases or lack of stock availability on certain products at the moment. Overall we have tried to not pass on costs too much to all our customers but we still need to protect the health of our own business.

We ask for your patience on this matter. We’re working diligently on this and we hope that global shipping issue eases in the coming months, particularly from summer onwards so that we can start to experience more regularity with stock control.

 

New Products/stock

Onto some good news, our 500cc black food containers are finally back in stock! Initial demand for both our new 500cc and 650cc black range were both very positive so expect this to be a long term regular product from us.

In regards to other new products, as you are all aware COVID has had a big impact across all areas, we’ve had much difficulty in trying to source new products. One of our new products we’ve been able to get a hold of:

-No Handle paper takeaway bag. Made from Biodegradable paper materials, the material is premium grade and strong enough to carry several takeaway items.

Perfect for catering businesses such as chicken shop takeaways or sandwich shops.

 

We’re also looking at a greater range of paper/renewable products in 2021, with the introduction of meal/chip trays in both paper and bagasse versions very soon! These will be perfect for lockdown reopening if you are looking to use more disposable serving options to minimise hand-to-hand contact between your staff and customers.

https://yesgroupuk.com/product/paper-food-tray-medium-500-pcs/

 

Customer Testimonials

We’ve extremely grateful to our customers for their lovely feedback. Below are some of our regular customers that have adapted their business to the new market conditions we’ve been experiencing!

If you love our products, we would REALLY appreciate it if you leave a product review on our product pages or a Google review. It really helps us out, or if you just have some feedback or suggestions for us, we are always happy to hear it.

 

Website improvements

We’ve introduced some new features to improve shopping experience, some which are more noticeable than others. Including:

5% discount on orders above £250

We used to have a 5% discount code that was eligible to be applied if your order total was over £250. We have cut out this step so that a 5% discount will be automatically applied as long as your order is over £250 on the checkout page.

Livechat

If you have seen the live chat button on the bottom of our website, during normal office hours you’ll be connected with us directly within a matter of minutes to speak to us directly.

We have a full blog post explaining this feature:

We’re looking to improve this feature for existing customers in the long term, with additions such as:

  • Asking about additional product details
  • Delivery info
  • Schedule a callback/meeting

 

Sample requests

Interested in our products? Request a sample box of products or have them included with your next order.

Request a Sample

Blog content

-We’ve started posting regular blog content, check out some of our interesting new catering articles! If you like them, share them with some of your friends! Including:

Restaurant colour scheme guide

“Different colours influence your customers in different ways, and represent your brand so it’s important to understand how your interior and exterior colours of your restaurant affect your business’s message.”

Ultimate Guide to Buying Restaurant Crockery

“Your restaurant supplies are a reflection of your business and your brand so consider purchasing crockery with designs and colours that can more closely match your brand.”


To sum up…

We’re looking forward to the lifting of Government restrictions this quarter, and for the catering trade to gradually come back.

Despite the difficulties in global shipping, we are working hard on guaranteeing our stock availability and keeping our prices competitive. Thanks for your patience.

Keep an eye out on new products and more improvements from us.

Best of luck with your reopening!