19th September 2023
Delivering over 300,000 cases of chilled and frozen goods to the trade each week, PRM is celebrating its 35th year in business. More than ‘just a distributor,’ they manage all the business functions required to take a product to market, from the factory gate to the shopper’s basket.
PRM has mastered the challenge of market penetration for chilled brands across the island of Ireland. The family-run business was set up by CEO and founder Philip Morrow and his wife Lynne Morrow in 1988. Initially, the company supplied local retailers in Northern Ireland, many of whom are valued customers to this day. In 2023, in addition to their core sales and distribution platform, the company operates two food production sites and offers a wide range of haulage, logistics, sales and distribution services across the island of Ireland.
PRM’s product portfolio includes a wide range of category-leading brands such as Alpro, Muller, Ferrero, Fage, Nomadic, and their own brand Galberts. The company also work with several other local suppliers such as Clandeboye Estate Yogurt, Cookstown, and Mash Direct to support their needs across different areas of the grocery supply chain.
Satisfied customers
According to Bryan Boggs, general manager at Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt, PRM has played an integral role in the growth of the Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt brand since they started working with the company in 2010. “They have helped us to manage the complexity of chilled logistics and their commitment to customer service is excellent,” he says. “It gives us great confidence knowing that we have the support of such a reliable sales and distribution partner.”
Fage UK & ROI has been working with PRM for ten years. “They have been instrumental in helping us develop our Irish business,” says Stuart Forsyth, sales director for Fage UK & ROI. “PRM have reached this significant milestone by delivering great service every day for their customers and retailers. This great service is underpinned by a great team who always go above and beyond. We wish Philip, Lynne and all the team a very happy 35th anniversary.”
New opportunities
As a company importing and exporting products from and to Ireland, Great Britain, and mainland Europe every day, Brexit has brought about many changes to PRM’s way of working. New customs procedures and formalities have been embraced and the company has developed its own in-house customs team to ensure that customer and supplier requirements are managed efficiently and effectively. Effective planning has ensured a relatively smooth transition, and in many respects, Brexit has helped to create new opportunities for distribution on the island of Ireland.
With the added layer of the Windsor Framework, PRM’s in house customs team have been developing strategies with each of their suppliers to ensure the continued supply of their brands across Ireland. If you need support navigating the Windsor Framework and getting your products to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from mainland UK, speak to the team at PRM today.
Expanding the business
Increased growth and new opportunities have resulted in a review of current facilities and the company has recently acquired a new site on Moira Road, Lisburn, which is very close to their existing base in Lissue Industrial Estate, Lisburn, to further expand the business. “It is an exciting time for PRM, as we celebrate 35 years in business,” says Philip Morrow. “We also take the next step on our journey with the development of an additional site that will allow us to further grow our operations. PRM has evolved over the years, beginning in the early days with a basic food distribution model, now offering a diverse range of specialist services in sales, distribution, haulage, logistics and production, and this new site will allow us to expand the scale of our operations and our range of services to include blast freezing, up-tempering and rework, enabling us to facilitate products from international suppliers.” 2024 promises to be an exciting year for the company as planning takes shape for the development of a new platform from which the business can continue to grow.
Find out more about PRM’s full range of services here.