Birmingham’s Food & Drink Expo proved a solid platform for total supply chain solutions specialist Oakland International to showcase their extensive service offer and cement existing relationships and forge new associations.

Oakland International is one of the leading D2C/B2C/B2B specialists in contract packing, storage, picking, food distribution and brand development support covering ambient, chilled, and frozen food, and services retail, convenience, discount, wholesale and food service markets in the UK and Ireland. Their accredited distress load management (DLM) service helps save up to 85% of product from going to waste. A spoiled or distress load can be both food or non-food, and can be caused due to incorrect temperature, collapsed pallets, clandestine infiltration, theft, vermin, or other contamination, with distress loads costly and a frequent occurrence across all industries.

Oakland International Group Innovation Officer Lindsay Winser said: “The expo provided an excellent networking opportunity and proved helpful for strengthening existing relationships with both our customers and suppliers in addition to forging new associations and all in an environment of collaboration, support and mutual success and it was definitely the place to be to experience some fabulous artisan cheese, plant-based products, and some very tasty chicken!”

Oakland International Operations Manager Alex Cullen commented: “As a company we have so many amazing services to offer it was great to get feedback from people saying thanks for the work we’ve done with them, and for helping them when others couldn’t, and for producing solutions to solve their problems. Feedback like that is just great to hear!”

Oakland International’s evolving and diverse service range incorporates the recently launched OakRA (Oakland Returnable Asset), a thermal reusable, sustainable alternative packaging solution for the home and business direct delivery market and is designed to cater for all temperature bands, and EORI who are customs clearance specialists providing traders with 24hr end-to-end customs clearance solutions. The company is also experienced at supporting new businesses and startups through the many challenges faced to break into the foodservice, retail or direct to consumer markets and is BRCGS AA accredited and continues to invest in sustainable technologies, energy efficient solutions, is working towards becoming the first business within their sector to achieve net-zero and has taken the first step to becoming B Corp certified.