The Cheesecake Shop is powering through a record-breaking year in its wholesale division with sales as at the end of Q3 FY21 up 130 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Justin Menzies, national field operations manager, reveals how this has been achieved.
IFBE: Who is the wholesale client?
TCC: It ranges from smaller convenience and food retailers to petrol stations and large independent supermarkets. The majority of our customers are independent supermarkets.
IFBE: Where has the growth come from?
TCC: The majority of growth has come from a key group of regional franchisees servicing approximately 10 customers each. This sparked a lot of interest for franchisees to give wholesale a go.
We now have approximately 25 franchisees servicing approximately three customers a week.
IFBE: Is this a national result or some regions trending better than others?
TCC: Wholesale activity is occurring nationally with regional Queensland and Victoria with the strongest results. We recently won some metropolitan Melbourne work which is supporting additional revenue and profit for four franchisees in Melbourne.
IFBE: Can you deduce a particular trend from this?
TCC: We are starting to see a halo effect. People are buying a quarter from a local independent and then come into our stores to buy the larger birthday cake.
Flavour popularity in wholesale is predominantly cheesecakes where our retail offer is skewed towards our sponge and mud cakes.
IFBE: Have there been any structural/process changes that have been the catalyst for this sales boost?
TCC: A significant review in our wholesale procedure manual and approval process as well as communication and encouragement for franchisees to participate. We’ve improved our internal invoicing and product labelling system too.
Simple, yet effective marketing material and social media support has played a part in the sales lift.
