Client: The Steak on the Stone Company Ltd

Profile:

The Steak on the Stone Company launched their brand SteakStones back in 2005 when Managing Director, Nick Metcalf, entered BBCs business funding programme, Dragons Den, to gain exposure and seek funding for the company. Their products are available to buy online in the UK, USA, Canada, EU and Australia. They are manufactured in the UK and have a specific retail partner in Germany who have a history of very successful sales of the Hot Stone Cooking Products. The Steak on the Stones Company runs events on their platform for their members and then historically fulfil palletised orders to their distribution centre in Poland.

Problem:

In 2021 the German retail partner informed Nick that they wouldn’t buy any more product from him because suddenly the goods had to pass some sort of sanitary inspection in Poland and that they could not clear the goods as this process sometimes took up to a month. The products have the appropriate certification showing they pass EC Regulation 1935/2004 but the German company now insisted that it was the responsibility of Steak on the Stones to clear the goods through customs before they could be delivered to the distribution centre in Poland. Until a solution was found, the German customer refused to run any more events costing this British manufacturer a significant chunk of revenue.

Solution:

The International Trade Consultancy has a wide network of freight forwarders and customs brokers to work with to find solutions to these kind of problems. To avoid the issues that had suddenly sprung up in Poland, it was necessary to clear the goods through customs in another country and to deliver using the Incoterm DDP – Delivered Duty Paid. As the product is now entered in to free circulation in France or Belgium, there is no need for the Polish authorities to inspect the goods and they can be delivered to the distribution centre without any problems.