The specialist bottling company is changing the way it does business so it can offer a one-stop wine-sourcing, brand development and packing service. As it has access to wine direct to its Norwich bottling facility, chief executive Mark Lansley told Harpers it was ideally placed to be faster and cheaper to market than its competitors.

He claimed Broadland can "undercut most people by 50p a case" and get a wine from the initial order through to a finished wine on shelf in two and a half months. Its best turnaround to date has been two months and it is working towards a five-week turnaround in the future.

"We think there is a gap in the market and we can really fast-track wine supply," added Lansley, who was confident of winning more major multiple retail business, "as we can
save them a lot of money".

He said Broadland was well positioned to take business away from traditional wine agencies and distributors, and the demise of businesses like D&D Wines had opened the market up to new competitors. "We can have a tank sample here, taste and analyse it, do a product and design spec, and have it all ready to go in a matter of hours," he said.

Broadland has been on a major recruitment drive to bring in the key skills needed for the new operation. Arabella Woodrow MW joined this month as its first wine director.

Woodrow was most recently head of wine development at Morrisons, and has held other senior roles at the Co-operative and Myliko Wines. Bryce Russell, who has a FMCG background, has joined as marketing manager to help develop more consumer insights.

Brand development in a wide range of packaging formats is key to its new strategy. Pouch formats, he said, were performing particularly strongly and it is set to introduce a British perry-based 1.5-litre pouch product, Le Soleil Picnic, in April.