AD – This blog post is part of a paid content campaign with Waterdene.
I am a big advocate of local businesses supporting other local businesses and today I am thrilled to introduce you to Waterdene Foodservice, a family-owned and managed distribution and catering supplies business. Based in Leighton Buzzard, Waterdene was established more than 40 years ago and continues to support independent food vendors and restaurants in the surrounding areas with the supplies they need.
In this blog post, discover more about Waterdene’s story and how they support local restaurants and food vendors.
Waterdene’s story
Waterdene Foodservice was founded in 1982 in Leighton Buzzard by Trevor & Jackie Stimpson. It quickly established a customer base of general catering establishments mostly pubs, restaurants, schools, hospitals, mobile caterers and fast food outlets. By 1985, Waterdene had outgrown its first location and moved into a new depot in Leighton Buzzard. Waterdene continued to grow and by 1998, needed to move again but this time into a building that was fitted out to their requirements with cold and chilled stores. By this point, Waterdene stocked all range of goods including frozen, ambient and fresh goods.
Today, Waterdene is now Managed by Trevor and Jackie’s children Richard and Rachel and the product range now features over 3000 lines, employs almost 50 people and has 25 vehicles delivering within an 80 mile radius of Leighton Buzzard. They deliver to Milton Keynes Monday to Friday to vendors including Bogota Coffee Co., Alpha at Oscar’s, New Day Café and Cross Keys in Woolstone.
Why choose Waterdene?
Many independent businesses in Milton Keynes and beyond use National Wholesalers & Cash & Carrys’ like Costco. Richard Stimpson, Managing Director at Waterdene wants to encourage local businesses to look closer to home when looking for supplies.
He says, “As a family-run business with a relatively small team, we offer a customer service experience that many businesses won’t find elsewhere. We offer a daily delivery service for everyday essentials in bespoke Dual Temperature Controlled vehicles that help catering businesses continue to operate.”
Richard adds, “Many of our customers love using Waterdene because of our customer service. We can reliably offer delivery – sometimes last minute! – and have an extensive range available.”
He is not wrong – Waterdene offers everyday essentials like fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, milk, eggs, bacon, bread together with a full range of drinks, confectionery, chilled and frozen foods, ambient foods and groceries, catering disposables and non-food lines including cleaning materials. They are an ideal choice for vendors and restaurants who need a reliable and quality source of supplies that come from a local supply chain.
Prego in Buckingham has used Waterdene for over 10 years. Chris Fox, the owner says, “Waterdene is fantastic at sourcing individual bespoke products for us to use. They offer a brilliant and reliable delivery service alongside an easy to use online ordering platform. An all round excellent company.”
Local vendors who love Waterdene
It’s music to my ears when I hear that restaurants keep their supply chain local! The more money that is kept in the local economy, the better and some of my favourite foodie spots in Milton Keynes use Waterdene, including Bogota, Percy’s, New Day Café and Cross Keys Woolstone. They also deliver to Prego in Buckingham.
Working closely with independent vendors and ensuring they have access to the same Sales Operators and delivery drivers only adds to the highly personal experience Waterdene offers. As we know, larger companies don’t always prioritise service and small businesses can get lost in their vast customer base.
Richard says, “However big the order, we treat everyone the same. From street food vendors to cafés, every vendor is important to us.”
Chris Biggs who runs Sizzler’s Street Burgers has been using Waterdene since 2005 and speaks very highly of the service: “Waterdene helped me out immensely when other suppliers went under during lockdown. They are always happy to help and are just a phone call away. My delivery drivers (Colin and Paul) are exceptionally good and can’t do enough to help.”
Adding to Chris’ glowing words, Amy Alt, who runs New Day Café and catering business, Lucky Spoon, says, “We use Waterdene across our catering business and cafes and as one of our most important suppliers they do a fantastic job. The service is personal and friendly as well as highly professional, their online ordering is so easy to use and they really go above and beyond to help with last minute requests. They stock a great range which allows us to consolidate a lot of our ordering into one place – we simply couldn’t operate with them!”
Local supporting local
I loved finding out more about Waterdene Foodservice. They are a brilliant example of how customer service goes a long way, especially when it comes to small businesses.
Richard Stimpson concludes, “We are proud to supply only independent food outlets no matter how big or small and pride ourselves in offering a personal, friendly service to over 50 customers in Milton Keynes every day through our friendly sales team and drivers.”
It’s clear that a lot of independent vendors simply couldn’t do without Waterdene.
About Waterdene Foodservice
Waterdene Foodservice Limited is a family-owned and managed distribution and catering supplies business established more than 40 years ago. They offer customers a daily delivery service for supplies of both everyday essentials like fresh fruit, vegetables & meat, milk, eggs, bacon, bread together with a full range of drinks, confectionery, chilled & frozen foods, ambient foods/groceries, catering disposables and non-food lines that includes cleaning materials.
Waterdene Foodservice Limited is an STS Food Safety Certified Food Supplier in Storage and Distribution meaning all products supplied have been stored and handled correctly to ensure the best possible quality and product safety.
To enquire, call 01525 371367 or email info@waterdenefoodservice.co.uk. To find out more, visit waterdenefoodservice.co.uk.
I hope you enjoyed finding out more about Waterdene. If you are a food vendor, make sure you mention that you heard about them through Sophie etc.!
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DISCLAIMER: This post is part of a paid content campaign. Click here for my full disclosure policy.
