Partnership Award Team spirit

One key factor our panel of expert judges look for when picking the winner of the Partnership Award is evidence of a true partnership, rather than just a long-term contract. The fact that Mike Watson Transport (MWT) and Real English Drinks Distillery (REDD) have worked so closely together to grow both their businesses for two years without a written contract is just that sort of evidence.

REDD is a young business producing growing volumes of premium gins, vodkas and rums which have now been listed by some of the major supermarkets as well as being sold online.

Diana Blaskett, chief operating officer of REDD, says the company’s story is almost like a fairytale. “If you read about it in a book, you wouldn’t quite believe it,” she says. “The business was born of the passion of the founders, Neil and Robyn Patterson [now chair and director respectively].

“Neil was asked to come to the UK from South Africa, where he’d been an award-winning winemaker for 20 years, to start a vineyard.

“While in the UK, Patterson identified an opportunity to make premium spirits,” says Blaskett. “Neil has exceptional talent which, when combined with a wealth of knowledge, creates amazing drinks.”

A turning point came when Neil and Robyn began working with AU Vodka. This not only resulted in a move to a different location, but also a third partner, Douglas Howard, now CEO, joining the business.

AU is a fast-growing vodka brand distinguished by its gold bottles. AU wanted a range of premium-quality spirits, some of which are flavoured, coloured and would appeal to their customer base.

“Neil created a number of specialist unique drinks which sold incredibly well,” says Blaskett. “They were promoted via social media and sold through Costco and Booker with REDD doing all the production, filling, packing and palletising themselves, and using a local transport firm to get it out to the various wholesalers for distribution.

“However, as demand grew the REDD team could no longer keep pace and had to look at new ways of operating, investing in new machinery and people.”

Blaskett continues: “It has been an amazing journey with REDD, which started in a rural business unit with a four-head filling machine. Now, after relocating in January 2021 to an industrial estate in Liphook near Guildford, the business operates from a 20,000sq ft building with an additional 40,000sq ft of storage and multiple filling lines.”

As well as making products for AU, REDD has developed a selection of its own beverages.

The newest addition to the line-up is the “pud” range of drinks, flavoured with some of the UK’s favourite desserts such as salted caramel, sticky toffee and chocolate brownie. REDD has also produced a range of limited edition seasonal and special occasion variations. “We developed this range to complement desserts or to drink neat over ice or pour over ice cream,” says Blaskett. “Not only is it really versatile, it also tastes good!”

So that’s REDD’s story – how did MWT come to get involved?

Reliable logistics

“When REDD started, it used a local transport company and kept being let down,” says Blaskett. “The business was growing quickly and it needed a company that was able to provide the flexibility required. Logistics isn’t what we do, it’s not what we’re about.”

So, Neil Patterson looked around and made a cold call to MWT based on their location and good reputation locally. MWT is one of nine hauliers owned by Palletline Logistics, whose MD is Paul Elson.

“The gentleman who answered the phone made such a positive impression on Neil that it started from there,” says Blaskett. “Paul and his colleague Keely [Priestman, commercial general manager] ventured down to ‘the rural location’ to understand what was needed and how we could work better.”

MWT provides a wide range of logistics services for REDD, as the customer’s transport requirements are relatively complex.

“It is varied,” says Elson. “We provide storage for a variety of items required in the manufacturing process at MWT’s warehouse facility. Some freight goes through the Palletline network and then there’s the full-load activity, some of which we do, while some will be handled directly by the likes of Booker.

“There is also some container work, where MWT will de-stuff and store the material.”

Sponsored

On the back of REDD’s growth, MWT added a second site which also serves the distillery.

“MWT doubled in size over a short period of time,” says Elson. “We’ve kept the old site on and also moved into a new 28,000sq ft facility.

“We run the network operation from there. We’re moving more than 200 pallets a day so it’s not an insignificant size depot. We provide storage for other customers there too, but REDD is the predominant one.”

Blaskett adds: “This level of flexibility has been incredibly helpful. For example, we’ve recently gained a new customer because the bottling facility they used had gone out of business and all of their clients were scrambling around at peak time to try to find places that can fill for them.

“Due to the support of MWT we were able to make the necessary space available and accommodate them.”

Mutual trust

Both companies have grown since joining forces, despite – or maybe because of – the fact that their relationship is based entirely on trust and great communication rather than a written contract.

“It’s always been very symbiotic in the way that the relationship has grown,” says Elson. “There has never been a contract in place. We’ve never discussed a contract other than the fact that we’re comfortable working without one.

“We always strive for a relationship-based approach and this is one of the rare occasions that it’s actually true.

“We understand REDD’s plans and they’ve always been true to their word. There is a lot of trust in the relationship.”

Another strong signal of a true partnership is the integration of the service provider with the client, which has enabled REDD to make better use of its factory space. Blaskett says: “We always treat them as part of the team and they are so integral to what we do that we just have that unconscious relationship, which sounds corny but is true.

“One of the things we’ve been able to do is be more efficient in our own use of space so that we can store more finished product. That means we can run more than one production process at once because we’ve not had to keep all the raw materials on site. Being able to do that during peak times such as Christmas is essential.”

MWT also worked with REDD to support their BRC accreditation for its warehouses – something some retailers insist upon.

With such rapid growth it is inevitable that lessons have been learned on both sides along the way.

“What’s exciting for us this year is to do things differently to last year because we’ve learned,” says Blaskett. “We will have to work quite cleverly with storage and just-in-time on raw materials, which is where the planning with the local team will really kick in to help us do that.”

Other plans for REDD include breaking into the US market, increasing its online presence and continuing to expand its product range. As well as using MWT to handle more storage to free up production capacity, REDD could soon be adding a second manufacturing site.

“Who’s to know what may come in the future because we work with a number of different clients now,” says Blaskett. “We’re really lucky to have had people approach us and ask us to help and support their business.”

Looking back to the night in September at the Grosvenor House Hotel when their names were announced as the winners of the Partnership Award, Elson says: “We were thrilled to be honest. The entry hopefully demonstrated what we’ve achieved by developing this partnership, being non-contractual, being open and honest, standing by what you say you’re going to do and doing it, and having robust conversations.

“We had a really good night.”

Blaskett agrees: “It was lovely to meet the MWT team in a different context.

“It was quite an emotional moment. It was a genuine recognition of what we have achieved together that was really powerful. It was a fantastic night!” n

What The Judges Said

Our panel of judges made REDD and MWT clear winners in a hard-fought category, with one saying: “I particularly liked the comment that REDD changed their production schedules to accommodate transport schedules. It can be hard to get a customer to change their process or spend money/increase cost unless they trust their partner and believe in the mutual benefit”.

Another commented: “I enjoyed this submission, full of information and success, especially around growth for both parties. Amazing increases in revenue and production which meant both parties utilised each other’s expertise to manage storage, transportation and pallet handling.”

One judge concluded: “From a very small start this partnership has grown and developed into a mutually beneficial relationship. There is a clear collaborative approach to solving challenges with trust on both sides. This has enabled both businesses to grow substantially over recent years, demonstrating the strength of the partnership.”