Sourcing 1BN glass bottles
Global
As you’ll be well aware, the price of energy sky-rocketed in 2021-2022 and so I decided it was the perfect topic for a webinar which I titled: "How to navigate the Himalayan Energy Markets." The turnout was over-whelming! Fortuitously, one of the attendees was Fever Tree tonics that no doubt you’ll have enjoyed yourself at some point.
Fever Tree buys a huge amount of glass - a major problem as glass consumes huge amounts of energy during production. And so with my knowledge of energy and prior experience souring glass, they asked me to source all their bottles for them – approaching a billion in total!
In the past, bottles had been bought without too much bother – no major surprise as the price was stable and the quality pretty consistent. However, this energy issue meant we had to go in all guns blazing with a total overhaul of the category strategy, detailed cost analytics, running a global tender and the need to carefully engage a fraught supply base.
The Result?
We came out the other end in a good place minimising a good chunk of the inflation, and as an aside, with much more robust supply chains. So, the client is not only proud of what’s in the bottle; they’re equally proud of their bottles too.
The client was very happy. Nick Tovey, COO of Fever Tree, shared: "Simon is a pleasure to work with and treads a careful balance in gaining the trust of the internal teams while driving for the savings that management require. I have also seen Simon to be a tenacious negotiator but always in a “nice” way that fits with our brand ethos and long-term partnership approach, his external perspective in the room is also a very valuable approach".