24 March 2020
With the Covid-19 outbreak continuing to evolve and many operators closing their sites to adhere to the latest government advice, we wanted to keep you informed on how we are supporting our employees, customers and the industry during these challenging and unprecedented times.
The welfare and safety of our employees, customers and the communities we work within, remains our number one priority. We also recognise the important role we at UCC Coffee can play in helping to restrict the spread of the virus.
We’re continuing to follow all official guidance from the health authorities and have implemented additional policies that go beyond government advice, to provide enhanced support for our employees and their families.
From 13 March, all employees that do not need to be on a UCC Coffee site to undertake their role have been working from home and will continue to do so indefinitely. This means our core functions are continuing to run, while reducing the risk of infection spread for all employees, including social distancing measures for employees who do need to remain on site or out in the field.
The situation is moving very quickly and changing on a day-to-day basis. We are working hard to get clarity on the government’s support packages and fully understand what the latest announcements mean for our industry, our business and our people. In the meantime, we have committed to providing our team with financial support that goes
above and beyond the government pledge, to give them security as we navigate through this difficult time together.
We’re supporting our customers and mitigating any disruption, while providing specialist support to those customers who are dealing with temporary closures. We’re taking all the steps within our control to ensure our service to you, in whatever form that now takes, remains of the highest standard.
We’ve undertaken detailed planning for our coffee machine service engineering operation, to keep both our customers and our engineers safe. While we have reduced the number of engineers in the field, we are continuing to support our customers for essential calls (reactive maintenance), including the major supermarkets and the NHS. Our technical teams are adhering to strict health and hygiene protocols and social distancing measures when attending sites.
For non-essential call outs and preventative maintenance, we have dedicated specialists to help at our Technical Contact Centre on 01908 275520. We also have a series of troubleshooting guides that can be emailed to you. For customers preparing their coffee equipment for temporary closure, please see our step-by-step guide here.
In addition, our account managers and customer contact centre teams are available to answer your questions and will work together with you to ease any problems you may be facing as a result of the coronavirus situation.
We’re in continual dialogue with all of our supply chain partners to understand any anticipated disruption that may affect our supply of products, including coffee, equipment, spare parts, and side products.
If and when disruption is anticipated, we’ll communicate this swiftly to affected customers and work with them to mitigate the impact.
We’re still roasting, packing and supplying our customers with quality coffee from our Dartford roastery, so they can keep the nation fuelled. In addition to normal site access controls, we’re screening and monitoring all staff, contractors and suppliers through health checks, temperature readings and swab tests. Only visitors who are business critical are permitted on site and they are subject to the same stringent health check protocols.
We’ve also implemented other risk reducing measures including zoning, separating shift changes, staggering breaktimes, increased frequency of deep cleaning and sanitising
procedures, extra guidance on removal of disposable gloves to avoid hand contamination and the introduction of new cupping protocols.
UCC Coffee is very much open for business. Our products and services are still available for our customers that require them. And if you’ve had to temporarily close your sites, we have practical guidance and resources available to support you.
We’re keeping our customers and stakeholders regularly updated on any changes that may affect them. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your dedicated account manager or our Customer Contact Centre on 01908 275 520.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, while we adapt to the new situation we all find ourselves in. Our thoughts remain with you all – our people, our customers and our communities – please take care and keep safe.
If there’s anything I can do to assist you during these difficult times, please reach out to me
on: Elaine@ucc-coffee.co.uk
Thank you.
Elaine Swift
Regional Director Northern & Eastern Europe
UCC Coffee