Food - Case Study: Fratelli Imports
Overview
Fratelli Imports is a Victoria-based family business co-founded by John and Terence Kazimatis that distributes quality Mediterranean foods to Australian retailers. The company was established in 2012, the Fratelli team is passionate about food, and has a track record of collating products from home and abroad and building reputable brands, exclusively representing many of them in the Australian market. A values-driven family business, their culture is founded in transparency, honesty and the quest for business improvement, and they have a history of affiliating with like-minded partners.
The Challenge
Prior to partnering with Ontime in 2020, Fratelli ran their delivery operation in-house and struggled with frequent resourcing and staff reliability issues. “As a business we realised we are not good at logistics, it’s not one of our core skillsets so we were actively looking for a specialist partner who could run our deliveries better than us,” said co-founder, John Brumtis. “Ontime’s relationship-orientated approach, conviction in their capability and tenacity in formulating a service offering tailored for our business convinced me that we would be in good hands.” After teaming up with Ontime John said his team saw a significant reduction in stress, hassle and wasted time. “Ontime has enabled us to take our focus off the deliveries area which was exceedingly time-consuming,” he said. “We no longer have to worry about staff replacements, sick leave, no-shows and all the other resourcing challenges that go along with running deliveries in-house.”
Our Approach
At Ontime we care for our clients’ businesses like they’re our own. It’s a promise we take seriously, and it sits at the heart of our evolving relationship with Fratelli Imports. When we embarked on our partnership, we acknowledged that we were relatively inexperienced with refrigerated runs, but we invested time in learning about Fratelli, their business, pain-points, and objectives. We sourced contractors and vehicles to meet Fratelli’s delivery obligations, and teamed up with the business to take the drivers with a thorough training and induction program that encompassed Fratelli’s products, customers and delivery runs. This provided the foundation for a smooth integration of Ontime’s delivery solutions into Fratelli’s business. “What has surprised me most is Ontime’s personal approach,” said John. “Their team takes our business very seriously; their values are similar to ours and that sits well with us.”
“We’ve forged a trusted partnership founded on regular communication, versatility, flexibility, and responsiveness to our business’ needs.”
Outcome
By taking the time to get to know Fratelli’s business Ontime has been able to provide the food distribution company with reliable and effective delivery solutions, freeing up their team to focus on their core business and goals. As a result, they are now in the process of expanding our partnership with the addition of another driver to their delivery team. “The Ontime team have lived up to their promises,” said John. “We’ve forged a trusted partnership founded on regular communication, versatility, flexibility, and responsiveness to our business’ needs. They’ve certainly added value to our business.”
