St Austell Brewery has announced the appointment of Andrew Holden as Procurement Director to help the business gain best value from its supply chain after a decade of continual growth.
Holden will also help the firm to prepare for the next chapter in ambitious plans for its award-winning range of beers, its wholesale drinks business and its estate of quality South West pubs, inns and hotels.
Holden is already well-known in local circles after spending the last 10 and a half years in a similar role at the Eden Project, though he adds a wealth of previous experience to his local knowledge with 16 combined years in senior procurement roles at Habitat and IKEA.
No stranger to St Austell Brewery, Holden was responsible for cultivating the partnership between the company and the Eden Project that has blossomed over recent years to include Eden inspired beers from the Brewery’s Small Batch facility, sponsorship of the Eden Sessions and a supply contract worth over £250k per annum to Eden’s bars, café and other venues.
Holden said, “The Eden Project was a wonderful and unique place to work and having overseen the development of its local supply chain for the last ten years I shall always consider it a lifelong privilege to have worked with so many outstanding South West producers and business leaders. The Eden team remain great friends and knowing that they and the business are in good shape made the timing perfect for me to join St Austell Brewery.
“Not only did St Austell grow to be the largest individual supplier to Eden it was also obvious to me that with its award-winning beers and professional team, sales growth was happening at an unprecedented level. The task in hand now without compromising on quality or price, is to harness that growth by gaining a full understanding of our supply chain, apply intelligent solutions and gain best value.”
Brewery CEO James Staughton commented, “It’s a proven fact that you can’t grow a company year on year without it creating stresses on supply lines and systems that were designed for the way we were.
'As we look at introducing new resource procurement and management systems into the Brewery, it is the perfect time for us to bring in someone with Andrew’s experience, both locally and on a wider scale, to help us manage our relationships with suppliers and create the best environment for us to do business with them.”