Gourmet Partners

Gourmet Partners x Diamond Logistics Bristol: Shared Success Through Scalable Fulfilment

About Gourmet Partners

Gourmet Partners launched in 2020 with a single distributor and a bold ambition — to help independent artisan food brands reach national retailers without the complexity and cost of building their own supply chains. Five years on, that ambition has become a thriving reality. Gourmet Partners now works with 13 distributors, supplies major retailers including Waitrose, and supports a growing portfolio of food brands across the UK.

As the business grew, founder Phil recognised the need to diversify and innovate. Rather than keeping all his eggs in one basket, he developed Brand Builders — a shared distribution model designed to help small food brands access field sales support and national retail reach, with lower minimum orders and the flexibility of consolidated warehousing.

“I didn’t want all my eggs in one basket. I wanted a smarter, more flexible way to support lots of small brands nationally.”

The Challenge

Gourmet Partners needed a logistics partner capable of handling far more than traditional pallet distribution. Their model required the flexibility to fulfil small, mixed and varied orders across multiple brands and multiple retail and consumer channels — all while keeping costs manageable for independent retailers and small brand clients. They also needed a partner they could genuinely collaborate with, one that felt like an extension of their own team rather than a faceless supplier.

The Diamond Logistics Bristol Solution

Gourmet Partners chose Diamond Logistics Bristol — and the decision quickly proved to be the right one. Conveniently located and well connected across the South West, the Bristol site gave Phil easy access to collect samples, attend retailer meetings and maintain close oversight of stock. But it was what he found inside the warehouse that truly made the difference.

“Once I met the team and saw how they worked, it just clicked. It felt collaborative, like we were part of the same team.”

Flexible small-parcel fulfilment Unlike providers focused primarily on pallet distribution, Diamond Logistics Bristol supports small-parcel fulfilment alongside larger distribution — a game changer for Gourmet Partners. This flexibility allowed them to ship smaller, tailored consignments to independent retailers, keeping minimum orders low and making it commercially viable for retailers to stock a wide range of products from multiple brands in a single order.

A responsive, knowledgeable team The Diamond Bristol team’s warmth and responsiveness stood out immediately. Questions were answered quickly, issues were resolved proactively and the human, collaborative nature of the relationship gave Gourmet Partners the confidence to grow.

“If there’s a question, it gets answered. If someone doesn’t know, you get a response quickly. It feels warm, human and collaborative.”

Despatchlab — technology that works A central part of the partnership is Despatchlab, Diamond’s logistics management platform. For Gourmet Partners, it provided an intuitive, reliable and unified system for managing orders across multiple brands and channels — from small consumer parcels to larger retail consignments. Team members in different locations, including Stephen based in Dublin, can access the same live data, process orders and manage invoicing seamlessly.

“It’s intuitive. Orders move through easily, invoices are straightforward, and everyone sees the same data. That’s huge for us.”

Scalable omnichannel capability Diamond Logistics Bristol supports Gourmet Partners across the full spectrum of their operation — from e-commerce and direct-to-consumer fulfilment to retail distribution and onward into new grocery accounts. When Gourmet Partners broke into Morrison’s — a landmark moment for the business — Diamond’s infrastructure was ready to support the step change in volume and complexity that came with it.

The Results

• Grown from 1 to 13 distributors in five years
• Successfully supplying Waitrose and Morrison’s with Diamond’s logistics support
• Brand Builders model made viable through flexible small-parcel fulfilment
• Teams across multiple locations working from unified live data via Despatchlab
• A logistics partnership that feels like part of the team