About - H. Smith Food Group plc

discover who we are

H. Smith Food Group plc has been a main contributor in the food industry for over 30 years. We pride ourselves in everything we do; please take some time to read our history and journey below.

H. Smith Food Group plc is one of the UK’s leading independent frozen food service companies specialising in the oriental, fusion/crossover and food-to-go markets. We supply and distribute a wide range of frozen poultry, pork, lamb, seafood and vegetable products to wholesalers, cash and carries, caterers, retailers and sandwich/ready-meal manufacturers throughout the British Isles and Ireland.

H. Smith has, throughout its history, kept abreast of the increasing globalisation of the industry and now imports directly from Asia, the Americas, Australasia and mainland Europe.

As a company we are proud, that despite the vagaries of the economy, we have continued to push the company forward. In 2013, a decision was made to purchase land and build a new coldstore and office complex in Rainham – the first time in the company’s history it has owned its premises.

In recent years, consumer concerns over food safety have driven our industry to greater accountability and traceability. Consequently, the company now has two BRC accreditations with an AA grade being achieved for both Agents & Brokers, and Storage & Distribution. The directors believe that this strong commitment to certification ensures product quality and customer confidence.

The company is run by six hands-on directors each with specific responsibilities to ensure that every aspect of the operation is managed efficiently and diligently. The company is structured as follows:-

Procurement

Frozen product is bought from all over the world from EEC approved factories. Each prospective supplier is personally audited with an initial visit by a director before becoming an approved supplier. An in-house design team enables the quick development and deployment of co-packed products that leads to long-lasting relationships with suppliers and strong customer brand loyalty.

Sales and marketing

The sales office is based upstairs at Rainham and is run by two directors with a team of highly skilled sales executives. The board has invested heavily in IT and telecommunications equipment, and the sales operation is run on a custom built order database. Our system not only records all aspects of each transaction (including batch trace-ability and technical information) but also produces price lists, product specifications and marketing brochures.

Storage and distribution

H. Smith Food Group plc now operates from its purpose built premises at Easter Park in Rainham, Essex. By running our own storage facility, we can offer a mixed pallet service. The company also runs its own fleet of refrigerated vehicles that deliver to most destinations on the British mainland. The remainder of the UK deliveries and those to the Republic of Ireland are handled by carefully chosen third party logistics partners.

Accounts and administration

H. Smith was early to adopt the advantages afforded by the advances in computer and IT solutions. The company is run using an in-house built and maintained system that controls all aspects of the company’s accounts and logistics functions. Over the last two years, an extensive electronic document management module has been introduced and this has reduced, vastly, the need to process and store paperwork in the conventional way. Electronic payment of suppliers has been introduced as all statements and invoices are emailed to customers to cut down on paper waste and increase efficiency.

H. Smith Food Group plc has been trading for over 30 years. Below is a timeline of our journey so far.

October 2014 - Present

Easter Industrial Park

In October 2014, the company moved into its brand new premises at Easter Park, Rainham. As a new build, it was possible to incorporate the latest technologies such as 540 PV panels on the roof to generate some of our own electricity and state-of-the-art IT and telecommunication system. The amenities include: a 2,500 pallet capacity freezer, five lock on loaders (and one level loader), a chilled loading area while holding rack storage; the administration of the company is accommodated on the first floor where there is in excess of 5,000 square feet of office space. The flexibility of the new site has enabled the company to offer rental storage and office facilities to third parties.

October 2014 - Present

September 2013 - September 2014

Tilbury Docks

Unfortunately, in 2013, our lease at Dagenham was not renewed. The directors looked at a number of options including outsourcing the storage and distribution to a third party company. This would have required wholesale redundancies as well as losing control of the service element of the company. With this in mind, the board made the decision to put the company's accommodation and future firmly within its own control and acquired a piece of land near Rainham, Essex, with the view to building its very own facility. The planning and building process necessitated a temporary move, in September 2013, to Tilbury docks.

September 2013 - September 2014

March 2007 - August 2013

Pooles Lane

The company moved to the Kuehne & Nagel complex in Dagenham in March 2007 as a result of the Frigoscandia site being subject to a compulsory purchase order by the LDA to make way for the building of the 2012 Olympics stadium. The facilities were custom built for H. Smith with a brand new, 2,200 pallet coldstore with lock-on bays, a dedicated logistics office and a state of the art sales and administration suite. The directors invested heavily in IT and telecommunications technologies to ensure that the company continued to offer a service second to none.

March 2007 - August 2013

October 1995 - February 2007

Frigoscandia

In October 1995, the operation was moved to Frigoscandia in Stratford, east London. The additional storage space there enabled the company to hold a greater diversification of stock, and with the fleet of commercial vehicles enlarged, deliveries were now undertaken on a countrywide scale. The infrastructure of the company grew rapidly after this move and, in recognition of this, on 31st October 1997, H. Smith converted to a public limited company and was renamed H. Smith Food Group plc.

October 1995 - February 2007

November 1991 - October 1995

Seedbed Centre

After a move to the Seedbed Centre in Loughton, the company built a small cold storage facility (40 pallets capacity) and started to deliver in the local London area, initially, in one 7.5-ton commercial vehicle.

November 1991 - October 1995

January 1990 - November 1991

Chelmsford

The company was incorporated on 22nd January 1990 as H. Smith (Chelmsford) Ltd. It operated from a portakabin situated on a farm on the outskirts of Chelmsford (hence the name!). Initially all the sales were conducted on a 'direct; basis although, at one stage, a refrigerated trailer was used as a coldstore!