Press Release

September 2014


Community Chef cuts lead times and improves customer
satisfaction with Oliver Wight

With the help of Integrated Business Planning (advanced S&OP) and business
improvement specialists, Oliver Wight, Melbourne-based meals-on-wheels provider,
Community Chef, has reduced lead times by 20 per cent, refined its manufacturing
model and improved its value proposition.

Born out of a market failure to provide for the nutritional wellbeing of the elderly and disabled
in Melbourne, Community Chef provides high quality food for vulnerable local residents.
Within three years Community Chef evolved from concept to state-of-the-art $24M facility,
providing more than 1.2 million meals a year to its 21 local government shareholders,
hospitals and residential care homes.

With support from Oliver Wight to develop more robust planning processes, it has reduced the
long lead times that were negatively impacting customer relationships and hampering growth
ambitions. The benefits have been substantial: Straight away we cut lead-times by two days,
which was a real benefit for our council customers, explains Community Chef CEO, Joe
Ciccarone.

Having refined its product portfolio and improved its scheduling structure, Community Chef is
now confidently expanding into the hospital food sector a significant growth opportunity.
This is driving benefits for its council clients too:

We found the changes we implemented for the hospitals was actually a better way of doing
things all round. Now when one market drives best practice, we can adapt it to suit the other
markets we are serving, says Ciccarone.

And its not just processes which have been improved, says Operations Manager, Mei Ling
Wong, Its really improved the skills and knowledge of staff; everyone can see what it takes
to improve the systems in place.

Building on the initial success, Community Chef is now working on embedding its new
processes across the company: Weve made great strides already and now were taking our
initial steps on the path to implementing a more robust Sales & Operations Planning process;
we can see the enormous benefits it will bring to our business, says Ciccarone.












Notes to editors

About Oliver Wight

Oliver Wight has a 40 year track record of delivering business improvement to some of the worlds best-
known organisations. With a team of professionals offering a wealth of experience, Oliver Wight is the
largest consultancy of its type, with offices throughout Europe, South Africa, North and South America,
and the Asia Pacific region. We believe that sustainable business improvement cant be delivered by
external consultants but only by our clients own people, so unlike other consultancy firms, we transfer
our knowledge to them, helping deliver performance levels and financial results that last.

Integrated Business Planning
At the leading edge of management thinking and practice, our Integrated Business Planning (IBP) model
lies at the heart of our clients journey to outstanding business performance. Oliver Wight are the
originators of sales and operations planning (S&OP) and IBP can most simply be described as
advanced S&OP. However, unlike S&OP, IBP brings a truly strategic perspective, integrating diverse
processes - in the extended supply chain, product and customer portfolios, customer demand and
strategic planning - into one seamless management process.

Supply Chain Optimisation
In an uncertain business climate, volatile demand and unpredictability can expose weaknesses in supply
chain performance. Supply Chain Optimisation helps companies improve sub-standard systems and
processes, delivering a significant return to the bottom line.

Meeting the Class A Standard
The Oliver Wight Class A Checklist is the longest standing and most successful business assessment
tool. The latest, Sixth Edition, raises the bar, and sets ever more demanding standards for companies
on their journey to business excellence and the Oliver Wight Class A standard.


More information


Yolanda Muser Clare Sutton
Oliver Wight AP RONIN Marketing Limited
+61 (0) 3 9596-5830 +44 (0) 20 3326 5039
YMuser@oliverwight-ap.com clare@roninmarketing.co.uk
www.oliverwight-ap.com www.roninmarketing.co.uk