Utopia’s move into big new premises in Chesterfield is part of £15m+ investment
Utopia, the UK’s largest supplier of tableware and glassware for the hospitality industry, has seen its market share grow substantially in 2018 and the start of 2019, both at home and overseas. To keep pace with these rapidly increasing sales the company has moved to a new 168,000 square foot warehousing and office facility at Langham Park near Chesterfield. This takes Utopia’s total investment in expanding its business to over £15m during the last six months.
“This is a great opportunity for Utopia,” says Kathryn Oldershaw, marketing director of Utopia. “It allows us to increase capacity and hold more stock throughout our whole hospitality range. Our total number of distributors has grown rapidly during 2018 and we now have over 1,100 sales representatives promoting our products across the world. The new warehouse facility has been purpose built to accommodate our Hospitality Division.”
The capacity of the new warehouse is more than three times greater than Utopia’s existing warehouse. This allows the company to hold in excess of 30,000 pallets under one roof, preventing the double handling of goods and giving constant visibility of all stock. With 15 dock levellers there will be no need to unload containers outside, bringing benefits in terms of speed, less damage to product, and a better and cleaner working environment.
The move to Langham Park facilitates Utopia’s drive to improve customer service, increasing speed of response, packaging integrity and accuracy of pick. It also allows partner distributors to expand their businesses with the Utopia’s range of original and stylish products. “This investment brings major benefits to customers, since it helps us raise the barrier in terms of variety of products, quality, innovation and competitive pricing,” says Oldershaw. “It also enhances customer service in terms of stock holding and speed of deliveries.”