Drinks are heavy, and that is most of the price.
Fleetable runs beverage distribution across London on contract — soft drinks, beer, wine, water and coffee from wholesalers and roasters into restaurants, bars, cafés and multi-site groups. Most of a drinks order needs no temperature holding at all, so this is ordinary contracted-route work: a set driver, a named backup, and a rate per mile with every cost shown. What sets the price is weight, access and the zone. Proven on one route first.
The problem
The heaviest load and the thinnest margin.
A drinks order is the heaviest thing a kitchen buys and among the least valuable by weight, which is unforgiving in both directions: it fills a vehicle quickly, and there is not much in the invoice to absorb a wasted journey. It is also the order most likely to arrive at a site with no bay, no lift and a cellar hatch in the pavement. So what is priced is the weight, the access and the zone the vehicle enters, rather than the fact that it is drinks.
How it works
Proven on one route first
Send the sites, the days and what actually comes off the vehicle at the door. We set the class against the heaviest drop, price the round per mile with loading, waiting and the return leg itemised, and show the zone charges as their own lines. Then one route runs in parallel with your current provider — one set driver, one named backup — before anything switches.
Also
Nothing specialist here, and that is the point.
A vehicle that can hold a temperature can carry goods that do not need one. Wine, coffee, beer and soft drinks are ordinary contracted-route work — the same set driver, the same named backup, the same rate per mile — and a supplier who dresses that up as a specialism is charging you for the dressing. What actually moves the number is weight and access: weight sets the class, and a site with no bay and a cellar hatch sets the minutes at the door.
The other half of a drinks bill is the zone, and a drinks round is the classic case for it because the sites are in the middle of town. The congestion charge applies to every vehicle in the zone at £18 a day, from 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and from 12:00 to 18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays. ULEZ is £12.50 a day and is payable only by a vehicle that misses the emissions standard, and only up to 3.5t. Both are passed through at cost on their own lines, and a round that stays outside the zone pays neither.
Which of the two a route actually incurs depends on where it goes and when, so it is worth reading the coverage across London alongside the rate rather than after it.
Proof
Reliability you can check.
A backup on every route
Primary and backup, always. A sick day never leaves a site short.
Chilled, checked before each job
Food-safe vehicles, kept to temperature the whole route.
Live tracking and proof of delivery
Time and temperature at every drop, with proof your finance team can check.
One named contact
One person who knows your routes — not a call centre.
Drivers checked to your standard. Chilled, food-safe vehicles. Proof at every drop.
Accreditations added as contracts require.
Related
Where to next
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Do you deliver drinks to restaurants and bars?
Can you run a wholesale coffee round?
Do you deliver wine to the restaurant trade?
Which London charges end up on a drinks round?
What if a driver does not show?
Can we try it without switching?
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