The Importance of Building Trust in Partnerships - Zupa

This last year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster for many industries. Now, as we mark the reopening of many venues and businesses across the country, strong business relationships and partnerships are perhaps more important than ever as the sector get to grips with managing operations and meeting the expectations of demanding customers once again.

Trust is a key factor in any relationship and for businesses, it underpins every aspect of the entire supply chain or sales cycle. Having faced a turbulent year of uncertainty, many businesses are seeking confidence and reliability across their business partnerships to ensure operational consistency and quality of service for their customers.

For some companies operating in retail, entertainments or hospitality, the impact of closures has been huge, so it’s not simply a case of turning on a switch and everything falls back into place. Many staff are still furloughed, so there is the logistics of that to consider and that is before you’ve even thought about the impact on basic elements like lead times for sourcing products and getting up to speed on legislative changes, reviewing stocks and mitigating wastage.

Working with trusted partners is paramount during this challenging period because we all need the economy to stay open and businesses are under more pressure than ever to deliver on their promises to customers – which means that everything else must run like clockwork. In the case of technology like ours, (which is designed to save time and money by helping to manage every aspect of the supply chain from purchasing to stock and inventory management and financial reporting as well as understanding how to grow your business), having trust in your chosen system and in the team behind it, makes all the difference.

Every business is navigating different challenges right now but having trust in your partners speaks volumes. We spoke to some of our own customers in the hospitality industry recently as they prepared to reopen their doors once again to the public and this is what they said about the importance of trust in partnerships right now:

Speaking about his relationship with the team at Zupa, Mark Hammond, Operations Director at Radish said:

“We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Zupa for a further three years at least. Through from the initial meeting we had with the team, and more recently, to working together on adapting to the challenges of COVID-19, our relationship has always been built on honesty, trust and delivering win-win scenarios for both of our businesses. Many companies talk about building a partnership with their customers, but the team at Zupa actually lives by this. Not only through having a great product but also through their approach, strategy, service and importantly, the people they have chosen to build their business.”

Alex Marsh, CEO at Three Daddies Ltd, also spoke about the importance of a strong relationship: "We chose Caternet as a partner for us and our clients because of the ease and straightforwardness of the relationship. There are a lot of recipe management, procurement and stock systems out there, with varying degrees of capability. Our priority was to work with people who understood our business and would help us and our customers to grow, rather than just providing a product. Caternet have always been helpful, knowledgeable and honest, and provide an onboarding process that is second to none. The team are a pleasure to work with.”