How Cloudwater Simplified Deliveries and Improved Customer Service with Sellar Distribution

For many breweries, running an in-house delivery fleet feels like part of the job. Vans, drivers and route planning are simply accepted as the cost of getting great beer into customers' hands.

For Cloudwater Brewing, that thinking changed.

Sean, Operations Manager at Cloudwater, recognised that managing logistics was consuming valuable time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. Rather than continuing to operate its own dray service, Cloudwater partnered with Sellar Distribution to take over the operation entirely.

"Sellar Distribution replaced our entire dray service. Using Sellar Distribution was an opportunity for us to reduce fixed costs for the business while offering a similar or improved service to our customers."

The hidden cost of running your own deliveries

When most breweries think about delivery costs, they think about vans, fuel and drivers.

Sean believes the real cost runs much deeper.

"Brewery owners and operators start and run their businesses to produce groundbreaking products, not to work out how to get it to their customers."

For Cloudwater, the biggest challenge wasn't simply paying for deliveries—it was the amount of management time they consumed.

"Having our sales team building and organising dray runs reduced time for them to sell beer."

Sean believes many in-house dray operations become an operational burden.

"Typically, in-house dray systems are seen at best as a necessary evil and at worst as a fiscal and operational drag."

Rather than dedicating valuable time to planning routes and managing deliveries, Cloudwater wanted its team focused on brewing great beer, supporting customers and growing sales.

Better service for customers

Replacing an in-house dray operation wasn't about reducing service—it was about improving it.

Previously, Cloudwater operated a single van covering a large area stretching from North Yorkshire to Derbyshire. This meant different parts of the region were only served on certain days of the week.

With Sellar Distribution, Cloudwater's largest customer base within the M60 can now receive deliveries five days a week.

"We can now offer a much better customer service experience to our most local customers."

The move also allowed Cloudwater to sell a delivery van they no longer required, reducing both fixed and ongoing operating costs.

More time to focus on growing the brewery

Removing the responsibility of running deliveries has given Cloudwater something even more valuable than cost savings—time.

Instead of organising routes and managing logistics, the team can concentrate on developing the brewery and supporting customers.

Sean explains why outsourcing deliveries made complete business sense.

"If that can be outsourced to people who are better at it, passionate about it and, as Sellar is, directly involved in the success of the breweries at a sensible price, why would we do it ourselves?"

Better ordering habits and greater reliability

Sellar Distribution hasn't just changed how Cloudwater delivers beer—it has changed how customers order it.

With clear order cut-off times and predictable next-day deliveries, customers have naturally become more organised, reducing the number of last-minute requests the team has to deal with.

"They know that orders need to be in before 11am for next day delivery, meaning significantly less texts or phone calls at 4.30pm begging for last minute beer drops."

And when something unexpected does happen, Sean says the Sellar team has always been willing to help.

"Even if the shit does hit the fan, which it always will from time to time, Sellar have been flexible and understanding in trying to service those customers."

Looking ahead

For Cloudwater, the biggest opportunity is still to come.

As Sellar Distribution continues expanding its network of regional depots, Sean believes breweries will be able to reduce their reliance on expensive courier networks when supplying customers further afield.

"The biggest impact for us as a business will come as more hubs come online and we are able to negate the expense of DX/APC fees to get to other major cities in the UK."

Sean's advice to other breweries

Sean believes one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry is that operating your own vans is the cheapest option.

"Most brewery operators assume it's 'cheap' to run their own vans or it's some sort of buried cost."

He points out that by the time you've paid for the vehicle, insurance, maintenance, MOTs, fuel, wages, pensions, National Insurance and everything else that comes with operating a fleet, the costs quickly add up.

On top of that comes the hidden cost of management time.

"You've got someone who probably should be driving profit into your business sat at a laptop... building the van run, checking the weight and making sure the drivers are getting to venues in a quick and efficient manner."

Sean also challenges another common assumption—that customers have a strong attachment to brewery delivery drivers.

"Most customers don't even know your driver's name. Most customers just want their beer to arrive at the right place, on the right day, at the right time."

The result

For Cloudwater, moving to Sellar Distribution has been about far more than replacing a delivery service. It has enabled the brewery to reduce operational overhead, improve customer service, simplify logistics and free its team to focus on growing the business.

As Sean puts it:

"I want my teams to be focussing on what matters, making and selling great beer and offering great customer service and Sellar Distribution allows us to do even more of that."

Interested in Sellar Distribution?

If you're looking to reduce logistics costs, improve service levels or expand into new regions without the overhead of managing your own fleet, we'd love to show you how Sellar Distribution could work for your brewery.

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Get in touch - distribution@sellar.io

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