Member Article

Pelican Rouge makes its mark with investment into staff upskilling

The South Tyneside depot of Europe’s largest refreshment supplier is investing in staff upskilling to support major changes to the business, which has changed its name and its direction.

Pelican Rouge, formerly Autobar UK, employs 62 people at its base in Boldon and 1,600 people UK-wide. The firm is pursuing growth through what it calls a ‘premiumisation strategy’, which aims to make it a pan-European coffee giant.

The move has seen the company shift its focus from being a supplier of vending machines with a subsidiary coffee roasting plant, to primarily being a producer of quality coffee. The company now uses vending machines to popularise the brand. To make the new direction more visible to customers, the company has changed its name to Pelican Rouge which is the name of its upmarket, long-established coffee brand.

The South Tyneside depot supplies, maintains and refills vending machines in all business sectors. Three of its key employees have started new training programmes in management with Gateshead-based Access Training to help drive forward the new strategy.

Jason Muller, who is branch manager at Pelican Rouge in Boldon and has worked for the company for 19 years, is studying a Higher Apprenticeship in Management. Sarah Lawrence, who manages 14 field based operatives, has enrolled on an Advanced Apprenticeship in Management and David Hughes is doing the same but in Warehousing and Storage.

Branch manager Jason Muller comments: “We are responding to customer demand for the continental style, high quality coffee experience, from bean to cup. As part of this we are in the process of changing and improving many aspects of our service, including customer service management systems, product awareness training, utilising management information to good effect and of course premiumising the offer from our vending machines.

“The changes within the business prompted me to look into training to help us work more effectively. Since enrolling on the courses with Access our team performance has improved, both in effectiveness and efficiency as a result of the excellent standard of training. Our communication is better and the quality of our work has improved and as a result we are on track to expect growth.

“I’ve found the training to be relevant to my role; whilst challenging, the support from my tutor Sue Tomlinson has been brilliant. What I’ve learned has allowed me to free up time to better support my team and take on greater responsibility.”

Managing director at Access Training, Malcolm Armstrong, said: “We see a lot of already-talented managers come through our Higher Apprenticeship in Management and the majority are surprised at just how much their day-to-day skills are enhanced by the course.”

The NVQ Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship in Management leads to a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Diploma in Leadership and Management. The qualification is designed for managers to support the development of their leadership and management skills. It covers strategic decision making, managing budgets, planning and implementing change, leading teams and managing projects.

Access Training is an award winning training provider with offices in Gateshead and Chester-le-Street and has helped over 5,000 people start and develop careers. It offers apprenticeships at intermediate, advanced and higher levels in a wide range of occupational areas.

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