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​From Crisis to Growth:

How Arthur David Foods Built a State-of-the-Art Facility...

 

80-year-old food distributor transforms operations with purpose-built warehouse designed for agility and growth.

​Arthur David, an 80-year-old food distribution company, has successfully completed an ambitious facility transformation that has revolutionised their operations and positioned them for continued expansion.

The business, which manufacturers, sells and delivers multi-temperature catering products to chefs and caterers across the UK, partnered with PROMPT Business Strategies to develop a cutting-edge 33,000 square foot warehouse facility in Hallatrow.

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From Pandemic Pivot to Rapid Growth

The project's origins trace back to the COVID-19 pandemic when Arthur David faced a prolonged crisis. With their traditional customers of schools, hotels, and restaurants being forced to close, their traditional B2B market virtually disappeared overnight.

"During COVID, they literally had no business because schools were forced to close, and pubs were shut," explains David Stone, CEO of PROMPT Business Strategies. "It didn't phase them. They literally went, ‘right, let’s supply to the domestic market.' They'd never done that in any volume or form at all, and over a weekend, developed a bespoke website, went online, and started the whole supply chain. It was just incredible."

This rapid pivot to direct-to-consumer sales, including innovative products like grow bags for lockdown gardeners, not only saved the business but sparked growth that demanded new infrastructure.

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Designing for Flexibility in a Fast-Moving Business

The new facility, housed in an industrial building built around the Second World War, presented unique challenges. The building featured a mezzanine floor structure that required creative solutions.

Mark Bayley, Property Expert at Prompt Business Strategies, who project-managed the 18-month development, explained the complexity: "We engaged with architects and designers to maximise the design layout, making sure we gave them 30% growth capacity. The challenge of the property were the dynamics of having a significant mezzanine floor through the length of the property, which they didn't want to take out."   The facility required cold storage capabilities with different temperature zones - chilled zones between four and six degrees, and ambient storage between 15 and 20 degrees.

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Agile Project Management Meets Entrepreneurial Spirit

What set this project apart was PROMPT's flexible approach to a client known for rapid decision-making and constant innovation.

Rather than being constrained by rigid plans, Prompt adapted their approach to support the client's agility as the project progressed and changed. 

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Revolutionary Staff Experience

Perhaps the most significant transformation has been in working conditions. The company's previous farm-based operations, where they'd been located for over 60 years, required all staff to wear full PPE - high-vis clothing, steel-toe boots, and hair nets - even to access staff offices."Examples in their existing building, where the offices were at the back of the chiller room, and office staff had to walk through the chiller room first in full PPE. In the new facility we've got offices right at the front, so that PPE doesn't exist for those members of staff," explains Mark Bayley. "They feel like they're coming into an office and they're not going into a warehouse. Of course, this new arrangement saves both time and money too." The new facility eliminates the dangerous logistics of the old site, where staff had to park at the far end of a busy operational site where they would frequently wait for an Arctic lorry to finish unloading before they could move across the site.​

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Staff Engagement at the Heart of Success

Prompt's approach included staff consultation across all shifts - meeting shift teams throughout the day to ensure everyone could see the vision and contribute. "We set up rolling workshops for the shift staff to visit the property where we could show the building in its current state as well as 3d imagery of the proposed layout," says Mark Bayley. "We would show the plans, talk about the current building, the opportunities and key differ to the current working practices, walk through the aspirations, and seek feedback and ideas from the staff members. Staff felt they were part of the journey."

Stone confirms the positive reception: "Normally, when you move people into a different environment, there's loads of uncertainty. But that's not the case here. The team have been really engaged."

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Strategic Infrastructure Investment

The project required significant infrastructure upgrades, including negotiations with National Grid to install a new transformer, doubling the site's power capacity in record time. This forward-thinking approach ensures the facility can support future growth.

The timing proved crucial, with the facility needing to be operational for the Glastonbury Festival, one of their biggest events. During Glastonbury week, the site operated around the clock processing record volumes, with stock "coming in 24/7 and then going back out down the road."

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A Model for Agile Business Transformation

The Arthur David project demonstrates how traditional businesses can successfully navigate rapid change through strategic partnerships and flexible thinking. The company's entrepreneurial culture was evident throughout the project, including one memorable incident when a lorry driver got lost trying to find their farm location and became wedged on a bridle way.

"The directors, everyone, just downed tools, company vans out, trailers too, and they literally moved all of the products, butter, milk and whatever else, by hand from the lorry and took it back to the farm," recalls Bayley. "By 10 o'clock that evening, the trailer was emptied and the perishable stock was out to customers again."

As Arthur David continues to adapt - currently experiencing exceptional milk sales - their new facility provides the flexible foundation needed to capitalise on market opportunities while maintaining the entrepreneurial culture that has sustained them for over 60 years.