With its eight truck fleet of Isuzu trucks on the road six days a week, reliability is key for fourth generation family business Routley’s Bakery.
Based in Geelong, Victoria, Routley’s Bakery has 10 flagship stores across the state. It produces pies, breads and cakes, which are also supplied to cafés, restaurants, school canteens, and tuck-shops at sporting facilities and football clubs across the region.
Operations manager Sam Routley says the business was started by his grandparents in 1947.
“They had five children, and the five children are all in the family business. So, it’s become very family orientated,” he said.
“Now the next generation have done their apprenticeships and are working at Routley’s Bakery, four generations deep in baking for the family name.”
Supplying a time-sensitive product, there’s no time for error. Routley’s Bakery requires complete reliability from its Isuzu transport fleet.
“We’re very service orientated. Customers will put in their order six days a week and we’re super reliant on our fleet to get the product to our customers every day, without fail. The great service Routley’s Bakery receives down at Geelong Isuzu keeps the fleet operational and always on the road. “
The latest Isuzu to join the fleet is a long wheel base FRD 110-260 automatic fitted with a Thermo King fridge body and a rear tail lift. It’s been on the road for seven months and Routley says “it’s exactly what we needed”.
The FRD 110-260 has a GVM of 11,000kg and GCM of 16,000 – 20,000.
The fleet has been built up slowly over time in-line with the bakery’s expansion. The relationship between the Routleys and Isuzu Trucks goes back to the 1990s.
“Our Isuzu fleet is on the road early six days a week. But the trucks do have a day off on Sunday.”
Routley plans to expand his fleet of eight within the next 12 months due to continued growth.
“We have tried other trucks at times to mix up the fleet but with Geelong Isuzu’s incredible service and reliability I know there won’t be issues,” he said.
“We did try the competitors and it wasn’t a smooth process in the end, or anywhere near the reliability we needed.”
By sheer coincidence, the Geelong Isuzu dealership and servicing arm happens to be located directly opposite the bakery itself.
“Our fleet travels the Geelong and Surf Coast region, and the FRD 110-260 travels to Melbourne delivering a massive amount of food and produce, which is then divided into the fleet of Isuzu N-Series trucks that service the Western suburbs of Melbourne,” explained Routley.
“We also have a truck that drives to the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, which then delivers to another distributor there.”
“The whole fleet covers a combined 1200 to 2000 kilometres every day.
He says if there’s an urgent issue, Geelong Isuzu gets the truck back to them on the same day.
“For routine servicing we drop them off and then Geelong Isuzu brings the truck back in the afternoon. Without the trucks on the road, products get left in the factory. That’s why we continue to buy Isuzu because they don’t let us down and we don’t have downtime waiting on repairs or servicing.”