Darren Goldney, Managing Director of Unitas Wholesale, responds to the announcement of the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund in Scotland today.
“It’s encouraging to see the announcement of the resilience grant fund scheme in Scotland and shows how organisations like SWA and FWD are critical in helping wholesalers,” he said.
“Unitas Wholesale members have supported this lobbying and as well as awaiting detail on the Scottish grant system and eligibility, we are pushing hard to understand the action coming from the insight we have provided to DEFRA. So far, meaningful support for wholesale in grants has not been forthcoming, yet we are the essential link between outlets who fight to survive and are receiving grants, and suppliers whose support we need but who need paying.
“We know government is listening when we see action. We know many suppliers, though not all, are also listening. We need more support and understanding around all of the challenges presented by the crisis. Not all wholesalers are part of national or multinational groups, yet still perform a critical role in food supply. The unprecedented rise in demand of certain categories means suppliers needs to be updating credit limits to reflect the new paradigm of customer spending. Another issue is minimum order quantities. For example, a foodservice wholesaler fighting to continue to supply care home customers which was just 20% of their business need flexibility as they can’t meet previous MOQs as though they still have 100% of sales. It is unfortunate that it is not just stock shortages that can cause availability gaps in critical areas, but things like this, which quick listening and action can resolve.”
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