Lenard's plucked as the winner of The Australian Business Award for Innovation

A revolutionary poultry supply system recently won Lenard's  the 2012 The Australian Business Award for Innovation.

The leading chicken retailer franchise created the new system to assist its national franchisee network of almost 200. The Award acknowledged Lenard’s innovation and professional contributions to the industry as a whole.

The 'Easy Cuts' poultry supply system has returned enormous benefits and profitability to Lenard’s franchise owners since it was introduced nine months ago.

"In this increasingly challenging environment, retailers have to adopt and innovate to survive," said Lenard’s General Manager, Paul Lange.

"Our Franchise Owners are reporting the new Easy Cuts system has cut stress levels down by half and maximised their profitability, which is helping them in this challenging retail environment."

According to Lenard's founder, Len Poulter, the company's success can be attributed to understanding what their customers need and evolving their products and services to cater for those needs.

"Because we listen to our customers, we can quickly adapt to their changing tastes, preferences and lifestyles and this puts us ahead of our competitors," said Len.

The key to franchise success
Lenard’s has taken its food products, business model  and training programs to Asia after taking a major equity interest in The Butcher, a Singaporean retail, wholesale and online meat provider and there are plans for further expansion in other overseas markets.

"The key to our success is our innovative approach to all aspects of the business," Len said.

"This accolade from Australian Business is recognition of that philosophy."

The innovation that won Lenard's this coveted award has provided various benefits including:

• debones poultry at the factory 
• delivers the prepared meat to stores fresh, daily
• provides flexibility and reduces the time and labour costs needed for the boning processes
• enhances production speed
• makes it easier to maintain a cleaner work environment
• improves storage and poultry management 
• will cut the retailers’ business costs in the long term, by allowing them to sign leases on smaller format stores and pay smaller rents