Lanchester Wines has become only the third UK wine business to achieve BRC accreditation for Storage and Distribution.
The County Durham based business, which operates over 1million square foot of bonded warehouse across five sites, has received AA rating from the BRCGS (Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standard, formerly the British Retail Consortium). This accreditation ensures the quality and safety of products during their storage and distribution throughout the supply chain.
Lanchester Wines’ warehouses hold in excess of 37,000,000 bottles and manage 1,800 wine pallet movements per day across both its own brands and that of its bonded warehouse customers. These warehouses also hold all wine bottled at sister business Greencroft Bottling, which is also BRCGS AA+ rated (‘+’ signifies an unannounced audit). The BRCGS accreditation also stipulates all Lanchester Wines’ logistical suppliers must conform to BRCGS standard processes, which provides further peace of mind for customers who entrust their wine to the two businesses.
The accreditation process took nine months and was overseen by Lanchester Wines’ logistics manager, Richard Lewin: “Effectively, this accreditation ensures health and safety for the product as we must conform at every stage, from the initial receipt of goods, through processing and until the products leave our care.
“Most of the processes involved in our BRCGS accreditation were already in place however the certification now means these processes are formally acknowledged which is a testament to the hard work of our team.”
The BRCGS Global Standard for Storage and Distribution covers all activities that can affect the safety, quality and legality of food, packaging and consumer products in storage and the process of distribution; as well as activities provided by contracted storage and distribution services. Having BRCGS Storage and Distribution certification can help logistics and warehousing companies to access new markets and win business with food manufacturers and retailers/ supermarkets.
For more information on Lanchester Wines, please visit www.lanchesterwines.co.uk