L ’ OSTERIA
Stefan
Höllen , Supply Chain VP at L ’ Osteria , on the Post-Covid Rebound of the Restaurant Empire
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“ The target is to provide a one-stop shopping experience for the restaurants ,” explains Höllen , “ because they need to concentrate on the guests , and not be sat in the back office ordering products .
“ Together with our logistics provider , we provide all restaurants with the same level of service . It doesn ’ t matter if we have only a single restaurant in Lyon . They will have the same quality level as everyone else .”
Cost control drives logistics strategy Part of the reason for this approach is cost control – an increasingly important factor at a time of stiff cost inflation and the war in Ukraine .
Pre-Covid , says Höllen , the company was performing strongly on cost control . “ One of my proudest achievements since joining L ’ Osteria at the end of 2017 was we reduced the cost of our food by nearly 4 % points of food-cost in just over two years . That was before Covid and the Ukraine war . That was a big achievement . Inflation continues to be a huge problem ”, Höllen concedes .
“ The biggest challenge right now in purchasing is the inflation rate . What the future holds , nobody really knows . Everything bad that has happened in the past 18 months could happen again .”
He adds that this is one of the key drivers of its logistics hub structure , the others being efficiency and time savings .
“ If you have only a single restaurant in a country and you buy local , it is likely to be much more expensive . It ’ s better to go with full truckloads over long distances , and then use local partners or our own warehouses from where we can make the last mile deliveries with small trucks . That ’ s the plan .”
108 October 2023