CoolKit meets the kneads of Rink Bakery

“Our freezer van from CoolKit is paying for itself – and more,” says Justin Hardman, Bakery Manager at Rink Bakery.

After years of paying for a third party courier to deliver their speciality breads, Rink Bakery in Bacup, Lancashire, has invested in its own freezer van.

The Mercedes Sprinter Euro 6 Chassis Cab with an insulated box body caters for four pallets at a time – which holds approximately 8,400 buns.

Previously Rink Bakery, who specialise in bread products for wholesale distribution such as black brioche buns, burger buns, and frozen pizza dough, spent several thousand a month on distribution through a third party. Justin said: “We have been thinking about it for several years. The third party was reliable, but price was a factor. We put the investment into a CoolKit van and it’s paying for itself.”

Rink, which employees 18 people, delivers to Hopwells – the distributors for Center Parcs with locations in Nottingham, Sheffield and Birmingham, Oliver Kay in Bolton and bakeries in Manchester and Accrington.

Rink previously purchased a refrigerated van from CoolKit and were familiar with the high quality of their vehicles, but over time their requirements have changed.

Justin said: “When we thought of getting a freezer van we went on the CoolKit website and noticed that they’ve started doing the box van design.

“We approached them to see if they could create a box body that fits four pallets in the back. CoolKit are known for their excellent payload as well so we wanted to stay under the 3.5 tonne weight limit. They came back with different chassis and design options and then built it.”

Justin said the new van not only offered them more flexibility, it is also saving the bakery substantial amounts of money.

“We used to spend thousands a month on third party couriers. Now we spend less than a quarter of what we used to on some of the longer distance trips. It’s paying for itself. We should have bought one years ago.

“All the pallets fit in it comfortably, it looks good and we haven’t had any issues. We can’t ask for any more from a van.”

The order was placed at the end of the December and the bespoke van was ready by the end of February.

Justin said: “CoolKit’s customer service and aftersales is excellent. They kept us up-to-date with the build progress, and even loaned us a freezer van until we could collect.”

Justin said the van will help them to increase the number of deliveries they can make and help grow the business.

“We are trying to grow but it is a very competitive market. If someone rings up and asks for a delivery last minute, now we don’t have to worry about getting in touch with a third party. We have the flexibility to do what we want and deliver when we want.”

Sam Hargreaves, sales specialist at CoolKit, said: “It was a pleasure to deal with Justin and work on a box body design to suit the business requirements.

“Thanks to the talented design engineers we have here at CoolKit, we were able to create a freezer specification reaching -18°C including the overnight standby function on a rear wheel drive chassis, and still achieve a payload of 1050Kg for the customer. Innovation and quality of build is what drives us as a business and it is rewarding to be able to deliver a complete product to the customer that meets exactly what they were looking for, and brings in the results they desired.”