Licence to Chill

Based in Bundaberg on the Queensland coast, Rum City Foods is a locally owned and family-operated food service wholesaler, which was established in 1978 by then newlyweds, Kelvin and Glenda McIntyre.

What began as a modest milk run today has grown to become the Wide Bay Region’s leading full food service provider stocking an astonishing 8,500 products including chilled, frozen and fresh foods, as well as dry foods, beverages, and packaging and cleaning supplies.

Most of the company’s clients can be described as businesses which provide food service including clubs, pubs, cafés, and restaurants, hospitals, sporting organisations, schools and the mining industry.

Now in the hands of the family’s next generation, Rum City Foods is currently managed by Kelvin and Glenda’s son Scott McIntyre, with his brother-in-law Colin Frohloff in the position of warehousing and logistics manager. Scott and Colin are supported by the company’s 100 employees.

Rum City Foods operates its own fleet of around 50 trucks, the majority being from Hino, and includes three B-doubles with Volvo FH16 prime movers and the original Kenworth K104 B-double prime mover kept as a backup.

Rum City Foods now has its own facility in Brisbane from where its buyers source the freshest produce and the B-doubles perform linehaul duties between Brisbane and the company’s depots located in Bundaberg, Maryborough and Gladstone.

From these facilities the rigid trucks deliver directly to clients throughout the Wide Bay region as far north as Rockhampton, which has a satellite depot and as far west as Emerald in the Queensland Central Highlands region.

The Hino trucks are spread across the passenger-licence 300 Series up to 14-pallet Hino Wide Cab 500 Series models.

The rigid trucks are equipped with Scully RSV bodies and ThermoKing refrigeration units and Scott has no issues supporting the decision to stick with these complementary brands.

“I know the product, I trust the product, they’ve got long-term staff, and they know our business,” Scott says.

“They’ve got a full hire facility if we have a breakdown, or when we pick up a new contract and need additional trucks. They’re there every minute of every day for me so I don’t look sideways. It doesn’t come down to price, it comes down to service.”

Hino trucks feature Hino SmartSafe which is a comprehensive safety package with advanced driver-assist technology providing an active focus on protecting all road users including pedestrians and includes Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection (PD), Safety Eye (SE) and Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Lane Departure Warning System.

“The larger trucks do the most distance, so we might keep them for seven or eight years,” says Scott.

“If the body is still in good condition and the fridge motor is in good condition, we might put a new cab chassis under it. Or vice versa: if the truck is in good nick but the body has had a hard run, we’ll change them over. We try to drag them out as long as possible and we probably start looking at getting rid of them at 800 or 900 thousand kilometres.”

All of the servicing for diesel vehicles, refrigeration, and electrical equipment is carried out by trusted regular contractors.

Recent additions to the Rum City Foods fleet are two Hino Hybrid trucks which were acquired after Scott had some conversations with the team at the local Sci-Fleet Hino dealership who put forward some ideas involving the innovative Hybrid Diesel Electric which utilises an electric motor and a diesel engine operating in parallel, intelligently switching between the two or a combination of both driving through an automated manual transmission.

“We got into fresh fruit and vegetables which was the latest avenue for our business, and we put gas ripening rooms in to ripen avocados and bananas,” says Scott. “I thought of a marketing campaign along the lines of ‘fresher produce, greener deliveries’ and as a result we ordered the two Hino Hybrids.”

The Hino Hybrid’s maximum torque is generated at comparatively low engine speed of just 1,200rpm which minimises diesel fuel consumption and results in lower carbon emissions.

According to Scott’s records, the Hybrids average 17.5 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres, which represents an average fuel saving of a worthwhile 26 per cent compared with equivalent diesel-only vehicles performing similar work.

The engine idle stop system switches off the diesel engine when the truck comes to a stop with the brake pedal applied, saving unnecessary fuel use.

There is no conventional starter motor; and the Hybrid uses the electric drive motor to restart the diesel engine when the brake pedal is released.

“We’re happy with them,” says Scott.

“They take a bit of getting used to with the diesel engine stopping and starting, so we have dedicated drivers for each of them. They are brilliant for around town, and they work all day every day, mainly for our fruit and veg division.”

Bundaberg is the main hub for Rum City Foods and holds around 80 per cent of the stocked items.

Ordered items are picked, packed and loaded onto the company’s rigid trucks for deliveries to the customers. Beverages are an important part of the business mix and Rum City Foods services more than 200 soft drink refrigerators in the marketplace.

Clients can use the online ordering system which, depending on the time of day the order is submitted, typically results in same or next day deliveries.

For the past year Rum City Foods has been developing a fully managed warehouse system, with full scan in and scan out of all goods and incorporating sign on glass proofs of delivery.

“It’s part of the plan to go paperless,” says Scott.

“It’s been 12 months in the making and definitely drives efficiencies because we’re scanning in the stock so its live straight into the system and cuts human error. We know exactly what stock is in which depot and we can manage the pickers and weights with extreme accuracy.  It features voice picking as the computer tells them what to do, where to go, when to stop, and what product to scan. It will also tell them if they’ve scanned the wrong product and won’t let them go to the next bin until it’s corrected.”

The system advises warehouse staff with priority lists of which stock needs to be replenished so pickers aren’t waiting for stock to be on the shelf.

“It’s an existing product but we’ve done a lot of work to customise it to what we require,” adds Scott. “It’s taken 12 months but will be well worth it.”

Throughout its areas of operation Rum City Foods is able to provide similar levels of reliability and scale as a national food services distributor in combination with the personal connection and community focus possible with a local supplier.

Customer service is further enhanced through the in-house logistics functions which extend across linehaul, storage, picking and final delivery transport.