JJ Foodservice records growth despite Covid crisis

JJ Foodservice’s latest yearly results have shown it’s still possible to find positivity during the Covid crisis as the wholesaler recorded a 1.3% sales growth.

The Unitas member reported sales of £225 million fo the calendar year ending December 2020, which represented an increase on sales over the same period the previous year.

With most of 2020 dominated by the coronavirus outbreak and JJ one of many foodservice wholesalers that were forced to adapt their offer quickly last spring, the figures represent a huge success for the business.

Among those actions, JJ quickly set up a direct-to-consumer offer after the announcement of the first lockdown and adapted that to become JJ Home later in the year.

“Restaurants, cafes and pubs account for the majority of our sales – we lost that overnight,” said Chief Product Officer, Sezer Ozkul.

“[When the consumer service was launched] we dropped the minimum order from £125 to £79, kept our prices stable to promote fairness and sustained product availability.

“We were fulfilling 100% of the orders and in record time.”

While many wholesalers did something similar to make up for lost sales, JJ added to that by introducing 12 smaller vehicles to help with home deliveries alongside supporting existing hospitality customers who were doing takeaway.

Ozkul added: “It was all hands on deck. While the rest of the industry was in serious decline, we kept going. It’s a tremendous achievement for our team.”

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