Henderson Foodservice invests £16m in new warehouse

Henderson Foodservice has unveiled a new £16 million warehouse facility as part of an ongoing re-development of Henderson Group’s Mallusk complex which began back in 2010.

The Foodservice team accelerated the move to the 190,000 square foot ambient and chilled distribution centre, to support the hospitality sector as it rolled out a phased opening to the public with the easing of lockdown restrictions.

The new larger storage facility has enabled Henderson Foodservice to offer their customers an expanded product range with greater efficiencies in terms of goods in, order processing and picking, providing an overall enhanced supplier and customer experience.

Design and build has also incorporated the latest sustainability and energy efficiency techniques including maximisation of natural light in work areas and any artificial lighting installed is photo and movement sensitive.

Other features include a state of the art charging optimiser for all mechanical handling equipment and an energy optimised refrigeration system. Packaging waste is recycled or reused whilst food wastage is minimised and any generated is processed for re-use via an anaerobic digestion plant for gas production.

During the pandemic in 2020, acquisition companies BD Foods and Foodco were integrated into Henderson Foodservice operations at Mallusk generating an increased product range which required improved storage facilities.

Facilitated by an experienced project team the move was undertaken during the reopening of outdoor dining, despite the pressures from increased orders and customers returning.

Multi-site processes were implemented and a new version of the warehouse management system was made operational with no impact or interruption to customers, order fulfilment or continuity of supply.

Henderson Foodservice Managing Director, Cathal Geoghegan, praised the Foodservice warehouse project team for its successful and streamlined transition to the new distribution centre.

He explained: “As hospitality has thankfully been able to open up, our move couldn’t have been more timely.

“We’re thrilled to be able to support the industry in what has been such a challenging year and we look forward to working closely with our customers as the economy continues to move forward in a positive trajectory.

“The design, build and fit-out of our new warehouse was in partnership with Fermanagh based construction company Tracey Brothers who had previously completed our ambient warehouse facility in 2017.

“We’d like to thank them for their excellent project delivery which helped us transfer to the new centre with zero disruption to customers, during an exciting yet challenging time for our business as we restocked and prepared for the reopening of hospitality.”

Operating out of its head office in Mallusk, the Group employs over 4,000 employees across Northern Ireland.

This latest project is Phase 3 of a Henderson Group re-development investment strategy first conceived in 2008.

The initial phase featured a Foodservice depot completed in 2010 followed by Group head offices doubling the company’s office space in 2016.

In 2017 the Group bought an adjacent Marks & Spencer distribution centre which was remodelled into an 185,000 square foot ambient temperature depot. Looking to the future Henderson Group is currently planning business requirements up to 2040.

* Henderson Group is a local family business achieving 84th place on the latest 2020 Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table of the UK’s private companies. It was also ranked 6th in the Ulster Business Top 100 NI Companies 2020.

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