Supplier content: Understanding a customer's individual needs is vital
The days of solely providing food and beverage deals are gone, with expert advice now extending to the menus on which they should be seen and the environment in which they should be served.
Director of Purchasing and Operations Paul Connelly is celebrating his 10th anniversary with Beacon and said the brand had evolved massively since first coming on board in 2003.
He said: "We do like to think we meet the bespoke needs of our customers. The new services we offer will play a big part in this as we help them prepare for the future. It could be help with recruitment, staff training or the formulation of a new brand concept for a customer."
"The ways in which we help are wide ranging and they differentiate us from our competitors, who see the lion's share of spend going on food and drink, and focus on that area alone."
Paul said that dedicated Beacon account managers are in the perfect place to understand the needs of their customers' business, preparing extensive consultation and benchmarking reports that lead to bespoke purchasing plans.
"We work with nursing homes, sports venues, hotels, restaurants and many more sectors besides, which means that really isn't a 'one size fits all' approach at Beacon.
"Technologies are changing too. We will use technology wherever appropriate to help meet the requirements of each customer.
"Our new look website is an example of this, with customers able to manage their statements and key information in one place, while being able to generate their own financial reports to compare outgoings with previous years."
