“Each young person has their own room in a share-house style set up with communal bathrooms, kitchens and living areas,” Almond says. “House dinners are encouraged and helping young people learn how to meal plan, grocery shop, create and stick to a personal budget, and cook healthy meals, are all key life skills our caregivers support them to develop.

“Ensuring there is access to fresh, healthy food and other household essentials, including cleaning supplies, is critical.”

Supplier switch

With the arrival of COVID lockdowns, and supermarket panic buying, the task of providing these essentials for 13 houses became extra challenging. It was then that St John of God Horizon House decided to engage Woolworths at Work, which supplies groceries and everyday essentials for businesses.

“COVID and the physical distancing and lockdown requirements that came with it was the catalyst, but it also made a lot of sense as it streamlined processes and removed some of the challenges that came with having 13 individual accounts with different Woolworths stores for each of our houses,” Almond says. “It has saved us a lot of time.”

Deliveries removed the pain point of staff and young people visiting a physical store, and provided an occupational health and safety benefit too: “We aren’t having caregivers and young people repeatedly picking up and putting down bags which may be heavy” Almond says.

“We’re able to rely on Woolworths at Works’ processes and know that boxes or bags are of an appropriate weight and they only need to be moved from the front door to the house’s kitchen.”

St. John of God Horizon House’s grocery invoices have also been able to be reduced from more than 100 a month to just one, and Woolworths at Work’s smart procurement system, with real-time reporting, has been a real benefit. “We actually use the reports Woolworths at Work provides at our state meetings,” Almond says. “The teams from each Horizon House are able to see what the other houses are ordering and how they’re managing budgets, which helps to stimulate discussion and ideas sharing.”

Social dividend

Grocery supplies for business may not be the hottest topic of conversation around St John of God Horizon House dinner tables, but having a supplier that provides individualised service, value, and transparent accounting and reporting, is incredibly important for the operation.

What Almond wants in a supplier is clear: “Suppliers need to listen to what customers actually need, then deliver on that and provide value.” Woolworths at Work has done that, he says, and the end result has been an increase in one priceless commodity: time.

“We are using our newly freed-up time to extend into the community and reach more people,” Almond says. “So, there’s a social dividend too.”

Woolworths at Work is a whole new business grown to take care of business - from fresh food and kitchen supplies to cleaning and office essentials. Our free business solutions will help save time, drive efficiencies and add real value - from consolidated invoicing to help reduce paperwork, to spend visibility and powerful insights across your entire business’ fresh and essentials purchases to help inform decisions.

Woolworths at Work, the smart way to buy for business