New crates system improves service and cuts CO2 emissions

apetito, the leading frozen ready meal supplier to the community and healthcare sector, has launched a new ‘crates’ system for delivery to customers, replacing cardboard boxes. The result is a more flexible service, about 1 million cardboard boxes replaced by returnable plastic crates and an annual reduction of around 100 tonnes in CO2 emissions.

The new system also allows order picking by individual tray rather than cases of a number of trays. It makes life easier for the catering manager as they can order exactly what they need to, which helps keep stocks to a minimum. Freezers filled with residue stock will be a thing of the past. Working with their customers, apetito will pack the crates by meal by day allowing easier handling at point of use. Each crate is clearly labelled with mealtime and contents. In addition, there will be no cardboard boxes for customers to dispose of and the crates are returned at the next delivery for convenience.

Neil Emery, Head of Customer Service and Distribution comments on the introduction of the new system:

”The response has been very positive so far. Every customer is provided with dollies to move the crates around at no cost to them. We see it as a win-win situation and I guess one measure of success is that we are getting 100 per cent of crates returned.”