Howard Tenens: Experts in Food and Drink Logistics….

Howard Tenens is one of the UK’s largest privately owned logistics companies, specialising in bespoke supply chain solutions for an impressive portfolio of household brands across multiple sectors.

Established in 1953, Edward Morris sold his business, Create More Work (CMW) to Howard Tenens, a shipbrokers in London set up by three old Etonians led by Howard Foster. CMW specialised in packing and timber case manufacturing. On joining the company in 1953, Edward Morris was given a shareholding and over the next 30 years built the company up into the formidable business it is today. The company was called Howard Tenens Services Ltd and was mainly involved in providing services to the British Motor Industry. Peter Morris (current Chairman and CEO) joined the company in 1963, becoming Managing Director in 1979 after his father retired. Heading a management buyout in 1983, the company has since expanded greatly and acquired many additional sites across the UK.

The company has since diversified into retail, renewable energy and food and drink logistics. The company now operates out of 10 locations and over 3.5 million sq ft of premium warehousing across the UK, the majority of which is freehold owned by Tenens.

One customer which has worked with Howard Tenens as both companies have grown is Costa Coffee. Today Costa Coffee is the UKs’ largest and fastest-growing coffee shop brand. Following Whitbread’s takeover of Coffee Nation in March 2011 Costa Express became the new name for a quick and convenient way to grab a great Costa coffee on the move, with now over 5,000 machines in locations such as airport lounges, supermarkets, rail/petrol stations and universities.

From January 2013, keeping the ever growing number of Costa Express self-service machines topped up with coffee, sugar, syrups, cups lids and stirrers has been the responsibility of Howard Tenens. Howard Tenens started working with Costa Express following a tender process in 2012, when Costa identified an opportunity to drive efficiencies through the supply chain and searched the logistics market for a potential new partner to undertake Costa Express’ ingredients delivery. Howard Tenens secured the business after clearly conveying their commitment to a long term, value for money relationship.

Through direct deliveries and supplier collections, a stock of Costa Express items including coffee beans, flavoured syrups, cups, lids, stirrers and paper napkins is housed at the Andover facility. From there pallets of stock are sent out to one of six Howard Tenens’ platform locations at Ashby de la Zouch, Boston, Sunbury-on-Thames, Manchester, Newcastle and Belshill. Next day or ‘Day 1 for Day 2’ deliveries are then made Costa Express’s UK outlets by Howard Tenens vans.

Following the success of this contract and a detailed six month tender process, Howard Tenens were then successful in securing a five year logistics contract covering the entire ingredients supply chain for Costa Proud to Serve and Costa Express. The contract has driven further efficiencies and savings for the two brands, as well as cement Howard Tenens’ position as their supply chain partner.

As well as the existing warehousing and distribution services Howard Tenens are undertaking for customers such as Costa, they have also developed their 2-man delivery offering significantly, which has recently been publicised in collaboration with ITN Productions and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in “Tomorrow’s Supply Chain, Today”, a programme which features key industry interviews and news style reports along with sponsored editorial profiles as part of the commercial project. Howard Tenens feature twice within the programme introduced by national newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, highlighting their expertise in both Two Man and solar logistics.

The four minute feature focuses on the company’s Two Man Logistics offering for Costa Express UK and how Howard Tenens won the business to distribute and install the Costa Express Coffee machines throughout the UK; this has since expanded to cater for their International expansion and deliveries/installations.

A Howard Tenens spokeswoman comments: “The Costa Express business has grown phenomenally over the years. Howard Tenens has supported Costa Express throughout, and we like to think of ourselves as partners rather than a customer and supplier.” The Costa Express business is flourishing with a growing total number of machines installed to over 5,000 Worldwide.

Dan Rowe, Installations Manager at Costa Express UK states: “We use Howard Tenens to transport all of our machines and they enable us to get machines into the ground at the specific times and locations that we need. The great thing about working alongside Howard Tenens for Costa Express is their ability to cover all regions of the country, quickly, easily and without any stress at all.”
The Two Man Logistics segment can be viewed at the below link: https://itnproductions.wistia.com/medias/2u260buw9x

The future looks bright for Howard Tenens with recent developments and acquisitions at both Sharpness and Manchester, and further development plans within the Midlands. The development of a 169,000 sq ft facility “Bristol Gateway” is the largest speculatively developed warehouse within the Southwest, including 14 metre eaves, 20 dock level loading doors, two storey offices and a viewing platform. The Sharpness unit sits within a further 450,000 sq ft (41,805 sq m) of existing warehousing on a fully serviced secure 43 acre (17.37 hectare) site. The site also benefits from easy access to the M5, M4 and A38 and connections to the rest of Howard Tenens’ national logistics operations.

The Group have also just purchased a new site in Heywood, Manchester. The site includes 175,000 square feet of warehouse space and significant yard and outside area, increasing Howard Tenens’ total warehouse footprint to over 3,500,000 square feet in the UK.

The unit has been bought by the Group as a result of the growing demand for logistics warehouse space from their customer base. Jamie Hartles, Logistics Director at Howard Tenens comments: “Manchester represents an important purchase from a strategic standpoint. As a national logistics business Manchester further supports our continued growth. The added advantage of owning the sites means we can provide our customers with enhanced service options. This is part of a significant investment package to create capacity in the business, enabling us to grow,” Hartles continues: “This includes a warehouse build at our Sharpness site of 169,000 square feet, new market leading warehouse and transport management software, and investment in people development.”

Further information can be accessed on our web site: www.tenens.com or please contact us on 08702 415640.