An experienced manager, Fraser joined Bellevue 24 years ago as a trainee in the wines and spirits category. He has held his current role for the past four years and is responsible for developing the business by maximising opportunities throughout every category.

Caterers form a large part of Bellevue's business, and with customers ranging from snack bars and burger vans to pubs, clubs and restaurants - many of which do not typically stock confectionery - Fraser recognises that there are incremental sales opportunities here for the category.

Indeed, it is a joint initiative with Nestlé Rowntree to help caterers capitalise on the confectionery market that has resulted in Fraser's Manager of the Month award for September.

The Edinburgh Festival has long been a highly important event in the cash and carry's calendar, generating the same kind of sales at the depot as they typically would at Christmas.

With a huge influx of people coming into Edinburgh for the festival, it's an incredibly busy time for caterers and an ideal opportunity for them to generate incremental sales from confectionery. What's more, with 70% of confectionery bought on impulse, it's an ideal additional category for their outlet.

In order to highlight the confectionery opportunity to caterers, Nestlé Rowntree provided Bellevue with two deals, one on KitKat, the other on Polo. Both deals offer customers a free point of sale unit to help them display either KitKat or Polo. The units were selected to only take up a small amount of counter space, thus making it easier for smaller caterers to site.

To promote the deals Bellevue created a display in the depot to give caterers the chance to see the point of sale units for themselves. The deals were also highlighted in the cash and carry's catering price list order form (PLOF), which is distributed to its database of catering customers and also available in depot.

The deals have proved highly successful with more than 40 point of sale units have been taken, and because they are permanent refillable units, it will encourage the caterers to come back into the cash and carry to restock. This is resulting in incremental sales for both Bellevue and Nestlé Rowntree, as well as the caterers.

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