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Extra depots provide an extended catering offer |
Booker is planning to roll out its Extra format to more branches following the success of trials at a number of locations.
Speaking at Catersummit last week Ron Hickey, Booker's director of catering development, said there would be more of the "orange" branches. It is planned that there will be 33 by March 2008
One of the features of the Extra format is an enhanced product range for caterers, although Hickey said that it had also proved popular with retailers.
He said that the format had proved to be a "tremendous success" at the sites where it had been trialled.
Hickey also predicted that there would be exciting developments from Booker in the field of e-commerce. This year its website has been redeveloped, and Hickey described is as an "industry leading, fully transactional site".
At the IGD Wholesale Conference last month, commercial director Brian Drew said the average time it took for customers to place their orders via the website had been cut from four hours to 20 minutes.
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