Bury food and drinks wholesaler goes for growth with latest deal after support
Dunsters Farm, a third-generation family firm based in Bury, has been supplying a wide range of businesses – including hotels and restaurants, catering and hospitality companies, schools, colleges and hospitals – for 60 years.
But when the government announced a national lockdown in March, many of its customers needed to shut their doors and the business had to adapt quickly or face the possibility of closure.
Working with the Hub’s Digital Innovation team, the business launched Dunsters Farm Shop, an ecommerce site which sold directly to consumers for the first time and has since kickstarted the company’s digital transformation.
Under the management of siblings Hannah Barlow (joint managing director) and Tom Mathew, (commercial director), Dunsters Farm is now set for further expansion including a new contract win and new product launch.
The company, which has historically supplied food and drinks to schools and colleges, is now entering the Higher Education market after winning a tender with Newcastle University.
Dunsters is also set to launch 23 cleaning products for kitchens, adding to its current range of non-food items.
Hannah said: “Through working with GC Business Growth Hub we have transformed the business in six months to a digital operation.
“Being able to stay open during the first lockdown – and supply consumers with necessities such as pasta, flour, fresh fruit and vegetables – not only meant that we were able to pivot, but also keep jobs and help our local suppliers and customers and futureproof the business.
“We are in a better place than we were six months ago, and the work in transforming our digital operations has meant we were able to continue to expand and diversify.
“We were always strong in the education sector and to win our first contract with Newcastle University is exciting. Education is a sector where we are known, and this win boosts our reach even further.
“We’re looking to do more in the B2C market, including launching new products such as the cleaning range, as well as corporate food gifts for staff working from home. There are a lot of plans in the pipeline as we continue the work we started in March.”
She added: “We’re continuously looking at new markets and diversifying the business, whether that’s new customers or working with existing customers, to see where there are further opportunities, and it’s about keeping those conversations going.
“We are continuing to work with the Business Growth Hub which is providing ongoing support as we embark on further transformation.”
Chris Murphy, the Hub’s senior business advisor for Digital Innovation, worked with Dunsters Farm to help scale the business through a digital operation, including a new ecommerce site and developing an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, as well as providing digital processes mapping support.
Chris is also working with Hannah on a university collaboration to help Dunsters Farm digitise their entire processing system.
He said: “When COVID hit, Hannah understandably needed to get Dunsters Farm Shop operational as soon as possible. We were already in talks about creating an ecommerce solution to future proof the business and the pandemic accelerated those plans as the majority of their customers had to stop trading.
“We helped Hannah and her team understand the technology they had in place and how they could scale that by providing a digital roadmap which identified areas of growth.
“Hannah was great to work with and extremely knowledgeable. It’s a brilliant business that is switched on, driven and going in great directions.”
