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Total Refrigeration delivers on 800 freezer Martin McColls rollout
02/06/2008
Total Refrigeration delivers on 800 freezer Martin McColl rollout
Demonstrating its ability to handle significant product rollouts in a short space of time, Total Refrigeration, the country’s leading provider of branded ice cream freezers, has delivered 800 new ice cream freezers to Martin McColl stores across the country within the space of a single month.
From Aberdeen in the north to Plymouth in the south, the Hyde-based company has overseen the delivery of a combination of its Maxivision, Slimline Maxivision, Vista 12 and Vista 18 ice cream freezers to over half of Martin McColl’s 900 newsagents, 300 convenience stores and 100 high street outlets in England, Scotland and Wales.
At peak times, the four-week project saw an average of 80 ice cream freezers delivered each day and as Unilever Ice Cream channel controller, Gareth Roberts, comments, the logistical achievement in completing the project with no hitches, cannot be underestimated: “I have absolute respect for the Total Refrigeration team and how they go about their jobs.
“Quite apart from the logistical challenge of organising delivery of the freezers, the test in each store lay in defrosting and removing the old freezers before the new ones could be installed. In some cases, the outlets had undergone re-fits since the old freezers had been acquired, meaning that door frames and sometimes even shop windows had to be removed to get them out.
“However, after meeting the various challenges with minimum fuss and disruption, in-store ice cream sales during the week after the re-fit were up by as much as 20%-25% in some stores, so the smart new branded freezers have already started to prove their worth.”
In praising the efforts of the Total Refrigeration team, Dave Thomas, operations director at Martin McColl, adds: “The greatest compliment I can give any project is that when I hear nothing about it, it must have gone really well. These new freezers look first class in store and I am sure that we will get some fantastic sales now that the sun has started to shine.”
Martin McColl general manager in charge of buying, Helen Foster, was also delighted with the way the project was handled, commenting: “We have been planning this rollout for over a year and thanks to the support we received from Wall’s and Total Refrigeration, we were able to deliver this complex project in record time.”
For every freezer that Total Refrigeration collect and dispose of, 97% of it will be recycled and as marketing manager, Stuart Grimshaw, concludes, the project has been a complete success: “I am delighted that in tackling what was a complicated project, we have exceeded the expectations of everyone at Martin McColl.
“The work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that these things go well can never be underestimated and it is great testimony to the professionalism of our team that we managed to deliver on our promises and that we have contributed to Martin McColl’s recent upturn in ice cream sales.”See all news articles