LTS Global Solutions continues to grow with a diverse range of customers, matching logistics solutions to customers’ needs and providing cost effective warehousing and transportation solutions.
Earlier this year LTS entered into a warehousing and distribution contract with Occasional Connoisseur, a Birmingham-based specialist wine importation company that is presenting an opportunity for UK residents to enjoy wines that have previously been unavailable in the United Kingdom.
To enable LTS Global Solutions to support this growing business through their warehousing and logistics solution, they applied for, and were granted, a premises license for the storage and distribution of alcohol. Managing Director Dave Hands gained his personal license and is LTS’s designated premises supervisor.
Given the stringent and clear legislative guidelines set out by the various Birmingham local authorities, LTS redefined some of their working processes and implemented additional ones to adhere to the criteria required.
We asked Occasional Connoisseur to provide some background on their business and also why they chose to work with LTS Global Solutions to support their supply chain:
Beginning in the Czech Republic and Austria with select wine producers, Occasional Connoisseur is importing and distributing the finest offerings of each vineyard and season. Future endeavours will encompass small batch fortified wines, liqueurs and spirits, and also extend into alternative wine-producing zones and countries throughout Eastern Europe to bring the very best of what can be sourced for the home market.
Occasional Connoisseur is specializing in wines that have escaped the attention of the larger distributors, simply because the vineyards with which they are working do not produce wine on an industrial scale. The care and attention with which these vintages are produced is exceptionally high, and – as a result – they are comparable, and in many cases exceed the quality of larger-scale wine producers and purveyors.
The wines they have chosen to import are perfect for occasions of moment and significance. Weddings, engagement parties, graduations, birthdays, seasonal holidays, family reunions, dinner parties…occasions where a special wine can be enjoyed as an inherent part of the celebration itself. The wines will possess a story, a history, some unique aspect to their origin and creation that will become part of the event itself.
Occasional Connoisseur has been created by two people…
Gren Turner is a well-travelled businessman who has owned and managed extraordinarily successful freight, logistics and transport enterprises for more than thirty years. His work has taken him around the world, thus giving him the opportunity to enjoy wines from countless regions and vineyards.
RJ Ellory is a well-known and extensively-translated author and musician who, again, has had the good fortune to travel the world and enjoy wines from more than a dozen countries.
Neither of these personalities are aficionados or connoisseurs, and yet – almost by accident – they have gained a vast wealth of familiarity with some of the finer wines, spirits and liqueurs available in Europe and the commonwealth.
Hence, having enjoyed a personal friendship spanning two decades and motivated by nothing but a desire to share some of these extraordinary vintages and small-batch wines with the public, they embarked on a mission to introduce these unusual, rare and unique items to the UK at an affordable price.
In order to establish a system whereby wines could be securely received, stored, packaged and dispatched throughout the UK, Occasional Connoisseur needed to create and establish a supply chain management system that incorporated and accommodated all import protocols and Food Standards Agency regulations, thus achieving compliance with a number of government departments. Additionally, OC required a website that could facilitate and manage the anticipated quantity of orders and to have that website work in tandem with our logistics partner.
Thus, in selecting a company that could fulfill such a very broad range of requirements, we were very specific in our demands.
The management of LTS had been known to the owners of Occasional Connoisseur for a number of years. Having had a previous working relationship, we have found them to be resourceful and proactive in their approach to providing cost effective solutions for both the home and European market place. Especially now, with the international business panorama changing and the prospect of massively-increasing trade opportunities, Occasional Connoisseur wanted a logistics partner that would not only service the immediate needs of a fledgling company, but also grow with us as we began importing from other countries and accumulating a rapidly expanding customer database.
From initial discussions to final implementation of an integrated and comprehensive logistics package, we found the process rapid and remarkably problem-free. In truth, it was as if we were working with a long-established partner who understood the idiosyncrasies and potential issues of such a new and unproven venture.
Today, LTS supports the OC supply chain in all aspects of management and logistics service solutions.
Further information on OC and their product offerings can be found at;
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