Can Cold Storage Units Reduce Overheads?

retail cold storage

The Guardian has reported on the continued rise in organic food and drink sales, now reaching a record of £2.2 billion per year. These sales have bounced back since the significant drop following the recession. 

Supermarket shoppers are reportedly spending £1.5bn on organic food and drink, including baby products. Fruit and veg saw an increase of 5.3% while dairy grew by 3.5%. Other vegetarian and plant-based products are up 27.8% year-on-year and organic alcoholic beverages are up 8.7%.

Soil Association's head of farming, Liz Bowles says, "We know that interest in organic food has been growing in recent years and it's great to see that farmers continue to be rewarded for growing food as it should be, with no artificial additives, fewer pesticides, no GM and with the highest standards of animal welfare." 

 

How can retail cold storage raise profits?

cold storage retail Retail cold storage is often one of the largest overheads in the preservation of food products. Logistics consultants will tell you that inventory can be controlled and managed to reduce and control costs if you’re savvy with storage.

There are several options on the market available when it comes to food cold storage. Companies are often faced with the decision to either invest in fixed cold storage or look at mobile cold storage units. Mobile units such as mini mobile cold stores are a great way to keep overheads low compared to permanent cold storage structures.

Why is this?

  • Demand Flexibility - in the food industry there are times throughout the year when the demand for food increases, such as Christmas. When it comes to dealing with fluctuations in demand mobile cold storage is more cost-effective as units can be rented and leased for short periods of time throughout the year. As mobile units can be rented as and when the need arises, they save you paying for fixed, unused capacity throughout the year for the short periods when you might need it.
  • Maintenance - significant costs can be incurred in maintaining physical cold storage structures all year round. Eliminating this expense is easy when using mobile cold storage units as it is the responsibility of the provider to make sure they are maintained to high industry standards.
  • Planning permission - the process of building cold storage structures is costly in itself, planning permission is needed as well as the cost of labour and land. Planning permission is not needed for mobile retail cold storage and units can be stored outside.

 

food cold storage

If you are aiming to expand into European markets cost-effectively, without racking up large overheads in the process, mobile cold storage could be the way to go in terms of cost, flexibility and efficiency of storage.

 

Contact us today to gain expert advice on whether this could be the right decision to help you reduce your overheads. 

 

Friday 1st February 2019

Published by: CRS Cold Storage

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