The Company  

The Country Range Group is a national foodservice buying group working on behalf of 13 independent wholesalers across the UK & Ireland. The central office team utilize the Group’s scale to improve its members’ ability to compete within the marketplace. CRG also works to understand the ever-changing foodservice marketplace and its member wholesalers to identify opportunities to add value and share best practice across the membership as well as increase efficiencies across other key areas such as marketing, sustainability and finance.  

The Group’s comprehensive buying options provide the necessary scale, accompanied by a myriad of value-added assets tailored for numerous wholesalers.  

Heading up the commercial and data department is Katrina Crabtree, overseeing relationships with major branded suppliers. In addition to managing all data-related initiatives, she actively participates in Group events. With 19 years of tenure, she plays a multifaceted role within the organization, contributing to its diverse operations.

Simplifying Complex Rebates

Within CRG, they have to manage various types of rebates, encompassing overriders and targeted agreements, among others. The intricacies of these rebate structures make them one of the more complex aspects of the buying group. Despite the complexity, they strive to maintain simplicity wherever feasible to ensure clarity and effectiveness in managing these rebate processes.

Crabtree tells us, “Rebates are a fundamental concept of the foodservice operation, encompassing various purposes. They serve as financial returns that benefit our members directly or contribute to funding the diverse services we offer. Embracing simplicity, we want to ensure that our processes remain straightforward and effective.”

The Challenges

Evolution Required New Systems

Before transitioning to Enable, CRG operated on a custom-built system that was developed many years ago. This system functioned through a quarterly submission process where suppliers provided rebate details along with turnover information. The system then calculated the corresponding rebate values.  

Crabtree tells us, “While the system generated bespoke reports, its drawback lay in static reporting—what was inputted resulted in fixed output without adaptability. Moreover, the system had seen limited development since its inception, failing to keep pace with our evolving needs and processes. In essence, it hadn't grown alongside the evolution of our buying group.”

Bespoke vs Buy

Recognizing the limitations of their existing system, CRG actively sought ways to enhance its dynamics and improve output capabilities. It was during an Enable webinar that Katrina and her colleague witnessed the Enable platform and knew they had found a potential solution.  

Crabtree comments, “The system seemed almost tailor-made for our rebate structures, even if it wasn't precisely aligned with all our buying group needs. Faced with a choice between a purpose-built system and Enable, we valued the well-maintained nature of Enable, its adaptability and its capacity to handle the diverse types of rebates we manage. The impressive features related to tracking targets and reporting, further solidified our decision in favor of Enable.”  

The Software

Why Enable?

Crabtree tells us, “Enable offers robust tracking capabilities across a wide spectrum of rebates, ensuring a comprehensive solution. The meticulously maintained software and hardware infrastructure inspires confidence in its reliability, significantly reducing the potential for errors or issues. This commitment to excellence enhances the overall user experience, making Enable a trusted choice for efficient and error-free rebate management across diverse applications.”

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities

Crabtree says, “The primary drawback of our previous bespoke system was its failure to evolve in tandem with our expanding reporting needs. A key objective in transitioning to Enable was to address this gap and obtain comprehensive reporting capabilities. This encompassed not only central office perspectives but also the specific reporting requirements of our individual members. Ensuring that our reporting functionalities align with our evolving needs was a pivotal factor in selecting Enable as a solution.”

Positive Experience

Crabtree comments, “My experience with the implementation team has been overwhelmingly positive, the team has consistently provided strong support. It took some time for them to fully understand the intricacies of our rebate processes, which differ significantly from those of other customers. However, as they grasped the unique aspects of our operations, they embraced the differences and actively assisted us. Initially, there was an inclination to overcomplicate what we consider simple, but once they understood our perspective, they played a crucial role in helping us streamline agreements to meet our needs.”

Saving Time and Efficiency  

Crabtree explains, “Enable represents a significant enhancement in terms of time savings and efficiency. In our context as a lean team, optimizing resources is crucial, and Enable plays a key role in ensuring that our resources are utilized to the fullest extent. The phased implementation approach, starting with mirroring our existing system and progressing to leveraging Enable's capabilities more effectively in the future, aligns with our goal of working smarter.”

She continues, “Efficiency is paramount, not only for our internal team but, more importantly, for the benefit of our members. As we transition to the next phase of Enable early next year, the focus will be on how Enable can work even harder for us, ultimately improving the support we provide to our members in tracking rebates. While enhancing efficiency for our internal team is key, the ultimate goal is to deliver a better service to our members.”

Rolling Out Collaborator with Buyers, Suppliers and Members

CRG have implemented Collaborator, utilizing it for various purposes. Currently, it serves as a platform for buyers and suppliers to sign off on agreements, although this is a work in progress, especially in terms of getting our buying team fully accustomed to it. The process of onboarding suppliers onto Collaborator is underway and progressing well. Another aspect involves suppliers submitting statistics directly into Enable, with over 70% of our supply base currently submitting through the platform.

Crabtree comments, “I view Collaborator as an excellent tool for our buying team, particularly in terms of tracking the progress of agreement signoffs. Historically, it has been a challenge to ensure that agreements move smoothly through the approval process. Collaborator addresses this issue effectively by providing a clear and visible tracking system. The ability to see the status transition from "waiting for approval" to "approved" in a quick and straightforward manner significantly streamlines the process for the buying team.”

Advanced Reporting

CRG are already extensively utilizing advanced reports within Enable, but their goal is to further evolve usage. Collaborating with members, the aim is to explore how they can push the boundaries and maximize the capabilities of these reports.  

Crabtree says, “While the current reporting structure mirrors what we had before, I am confident that Enable has the potential to offer much more. Although it may take some time to fully trust the system due to the complexity of certain mechanisms, I anticipate incorporating a variety of advanced reports in our future operations. The goal is to streamline our processes and move away from heavy reliance on tools like Excel for these tasks.”

Future Plans

In 2024, the focus is shifting towards a more strategic role in the project. The finance team will assume responsibility for day-to-day operations, allowing them the opportunity to delve deeper into exploring the full potential of Enable.  

Crabtree tells us, ““With this shift in perspective, we aim to uncover additional functionalities and capabilities that Enable can offer to further enhance our efficiency and drive strategic initiatives. This marks an exciting phase in our engagement with Enable, as we seek to extract maximum value and leverage its features for broader internal and external benefits. The focus on efficiency aligns with the broader objective of providing an optimized and valuable service to our members.”