The company would produce bio diesel from waste cooking oil sourced from local takeaways, and sell the recycled product to the bus, coach and taxi operators.
As the company grew, it required a much larger vehicle to carry a growing volume of bio diesel, resulting in Gary obtaining his operator’s license and acquiring his first 7.5-tonne truck. The newly purchased vehicle allowed the business to carry up to four tonnes of cooking oil at any one time.
The business continued to expand and eventually began to transition into the haulage industry due to the type of delivery requests made by its customers.
As the progression of the Euro legislations demanded cleaner and more complicated engine systems, the bio diesel aspect of the business began to become less important so the company focused on the haulage opportunities.
Fat Solutions prides itself on the high calibre of service it provides to its clients and implements a ‘small enough to care and big enough to do that job’ mantra.
Since setting up his business ten years ago, Gary has personally ensured that his drivers are highly qualified, capable and reliable.
The drivers are all CPC trained as standard and often receive refresher courses from Gary himself. In fact, he often takes them on difficult jobs to ensure that they continue to act in accordance with his expectations in a safe and efficient way. The business provides high quality and reliable service to its clients on a daily basis, with the capacity to carry anything and everything that will fit into its fleet of vehicles including a varied range of loads from ambient produce to high value mechanical machinery. The company has been able to fulfil all customer expectations by joining Transport Exchange Group’s Haulage Exchange and establishing valued partnerships with other members.
Fat Solutions became a member of Haulage Exchange seven years ago, and since then the business has grown exponentially by using the online freight trading platform.
It enables the company to find jobs located close to its vehicles when they are empty to eliminate dead mileage. The Exchange has provided Fat Solutions with an extensive network of well-matched connections in the haulage industry, so Gary has been able to establish many positive working relationships as well as several longstanding friendships. Commenting on the Haulage Exchange,
“It has being fantastic for us and really contributed to the success of the business. We regularly use highly-reliable subcontractors that we have met through the Haulage Exchange.”
In fact, Fat Solutions was recently nominated for the Company of the Year Award at the Transport Exchange Group’s annual award ceremony.
Fat Solutions currently operates a fleet of two 18-tonne Scania trucks, one brand new 18 tonne Mercedes truck, a support van and a motorbike. Its fleet is fitted with TomTom tracking devices.
The combined use of tracking and the Exchange Mobile App creates a great solution to minimise empty running and maximise profits. In the last twelve months, Fat Solutions was able to purchase a brand new Mercedes truck using the profits it made the previous year.
Gary never thought that he would be in the position to buy new vehicles outright, however thanks to the combination of his diligent work ethic, fantastic reputation and support from the Haulage Exchange he has been able to do so.
The company intends to continue to grow the business without compromising on the high quality of its service.
The article was published on . It was updated on 1 July 2024 to make it more relevant and comprehensive.
