How Jump Ship Brewing Is Saving Time and Reaching New Customers with Sellar Distribution

For a small brewery team, every hour matters.

Time spent planning routes, loading vans and making deliveries is time that cannot be spent brewing, selling or supporting customers. For Jump Ship Brewing, managing local deliveries had become a strain on the team, while shipping beer further afield was often too expensive to make commercial sense.

Sonja, founder of Jump Ship Brewing, wanted a delivery model that would make it easier and more cost-effective to serve trade customers across Scotland and further afield.

Sellar Distribution provided that solution.

“We use Sellar Distribution for delivery in Scotland and now Newcastle. Managing local deliveries as a small team was a strain on our resources.”

Removing the burden of local deliveries

Before Sellar Distribution, Jump Ship had to dedicate valuable team time to getting beer to customers.

For a small business, that operational burden quickly adds up. A member of the brewing team may lose a large part of the working day making deliveries instead of producing beer.

Since moving deliveries onto Sellar Distribution, Jump Ship estimates that it saves between half a day and a full day of a brewer’s time.

“We have saved half to a full day of brewers’ time, meaning more time brewing beer and less time delivering it.”

That gives the team more capacity to focus on the work that creates value, while deliveries are handled by a service built specifically for breweries and their trade customers.

Making deliveries beyond their local area commercially viable

Jump Ship also faced a challenge familiar to many smaller breweries. Selling kegs beyond its immediate local area was difficult and expensive.

“It was difficult and costly for us to sell kegs outside of Edinburgh. Shipping costs were off-putting for customers.”

Traditional shipping can make a relatively small order uneconomical. Even when a customer wants the beer, the additional delivery charge can be enough to stop an order going ahead.

Sellar Distribution allows Jump Ship to serve those customers through a regional dray service instead. This makes it easier and more cost-effective for venues to order directly from the brewery.

As Sonja explains:

“We wanted to make it easier and more cost-effective for us to service more trade accounts.”

Opening up previously inaccessible areas

One of the clearest results has been Jump Ship’s ability to reach customers in areas the brewery could not previously serve.

Before Sellar Distribution, fulfilling draught orders further from the brewery would have been difficult for the team to manage both commercially and operationally.

Now, Jump Ship can open new trade accounts without having to build its own delivery infrastructure in each region.

“We have new draught accounts in Newcastle which we couldn’t have serviced before.”

This means Sellar Distribution is doing more than replacing an existing delivery method. It is giving Jump Ship a practical route into areas that were previously out of reach.

The brewery can develop direct customer relationships beyond its local market without needing to add its own vehicles, drivers or regional delivery operation.

A reliable dray service for direct customers

For Jump Ship, growth has not come at the expense of customer service.

Sonja says deliveries have been dependable, efficient and well communicated, with customers noticing the difference themselves.

“Deliveries are on time, very efficient, communication is good and our customers have commented on the great customer service.”

That is particularly important when customers are buying directly from a brewery.

They retain the direct relationship with Jump Ship, but receive their order through a dependable regional dray service rather than relying on a general courier.

The result is a delivery experience designed around the needs of drinks businesses, with clear communication and a team that understands the importance of getting beer to the right venue at the right time.

Going further when a customer needs help

For Sonja, one urgent customer request demonstrated the flexibility of the service.

A customer needed beer for an event at short notice. Under Jump Ship’s previous delivery arrangements, getting the order there would have been difficult.

“We had an urgent customer request for beer for an event. Normally we would have struggled to get it there, but Sellar were able to accommodate the request.”

The beer arrived and the customer got the outcome they needed.

“The beer was delivered and the customer delighted.”

It is a simple example, but an important one. Reliability is not only about completing routine deliveries. It is also about having a responsive team that will try to help when something unexpected happens.

More than just a delivery company

Sonja believes the difference comes from Sellar Distribution being built around the success of breweries, rather than treating each delivery as an isolated transaction.

Her advice to another brewery considering the service is straightforward:

“Go for it.”

She explains:

“It makes a big difference to be part of a network dedicated to helping breweries thrive, rather than simply charging for deliveries.”

That sense of partnership is central to the way Jump Ship uses Sellar Distribution. The service reduces operational pressure, helps the brewery serve customers more effectively and supports growth into new areas.

The result

For Jump Ship Brewing, Sellar Distribution has created more time, better customer service and access to new regional opportunities.

The team saves between half a day and a full day of brewing time by outsourcing deliveries. Customers benefit from reliable, efficient service and clear communication. The brewery has also been able to open new draught accounts in areas it could not previously serve.

For a small team, those benefits make a significant difference.

Sellar Distribution allows Jump Ship to spend less time delivering beer and more time brewing it, while giving customers beyond the brewery’s local area a dependable way to buy directly.

Interested in Sellar Distribution?

Whether you want to free your team from local deliveries, reduce the cost of serving customers further afield or reach new areas without building your own delivery operation, Sellar Distribution can help.

We’d love to show you how it could work for your brewery. Contact us at distribution@sellar.io to discuss further.

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