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Retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers across the UK and Europe turn to Food Team International( Food Team) when they need a reliable, far-reaching sourcing partner. With a portfolio spanning canned, ambient, chilled, frozen, dried, beverage and lifestyle products, the company works with manufacturers around the world to bring high-quality ingredients, food and beverage products to market. Mark Roscoe, Managing Director, provides a comprehensive overview of Food Team’ s operations.“ Prior to joining Food Team in 2005, I worked for another importer and distributor, and Food Team was one of our suppliers. Half Dutch and half Chinese owned, Food Team had an impressive system for supplying foodstuffs from China, Vietnam and South America. In China, the company had people on the ground in various hubs monitoring quality and consistency. When I joined as a young trader, what struck me was that the company was genuinely doing what it said it was doing, it was not just a marketing tactic. After completing my MBA, one of the first decisions I made was to start my own company and bring Food Team to the UK,” he opens.
Mark’ s model was built around alternative sourcing: if a buyer was purchasing a product from one country in Europe, Food Team UK would offer them the same product to the same specification from a different origin in Asia, Africa, Europe or South America.“ We would always advise buyers not to move everything to us, perhaps just 20 percent, and continue to buy from their existing suppliers. That way, if a geographical or supply issue arose, they had a plan B already approved and ready to go,” he adds.
That strategy worked very well for Food Team, and the business grew steadily through to the Sydney Olympic Games. But after that, a series of food scares began to reveal cracks in the model. The monitoring and tracing systems Food Team had put in place were truly ahead of their time. Some of the biggest players in Europe were sourcing from the company, and Food Team was even featured in European magazines and documentaries for the way it operated. While this increased trust in potential and existing customers, Food Team had unintentionally handed competitors a roadmap by showcasing its sourcing methods so openly, with some of them opening their own offices abroad. Around 2008, the owner of Food Team at the time responded by purchasing a factory in the Netherlands and beginning to grow and process some of the products the business had previously sourced entirely from South America, Europe and China.“ That shift worked well for us, as we could now offer the alternative sourcing model across China, Vietnam and South America while also having our own production capability in the Netherlands. Fast forward to just before the pandemic, and I bought the UK and Danish operations of the business. We have since opened offices in the Netherlands and Germany as well,” Mark reveals.
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