RECORD ROCK SALT SALES AS ATLANTIC SNOW STORM APPROACHES UK.

PRESS RELEASE - 7TH DECEMBER 2011.

Flintshire based Dandy’s Rock Salt Supplies have seen sales of road grit and de-icing salt hit an all-time high as telephones ring off the hook and websites see a jump in visitors, after an official weather warning is released.

Dandy’s Rock Salt Supplies of Flintshire, near Cheshire, have seen sales of rocksalt and de-icing grit rocket as an official heavy snowfall weather warning is issued to parts of the UK.

The BBC and Sky News who amongst others use a traffic lighting system for weather warnings, have reported that there is a yellow level chance of snow and sleet in Scotland and parts of Northern England this week.

Weather experts expect the snow storm to travel down the country with the Midlands being the most affected on Thursday afternoon, leading through to Friday.

Winds of up to 80mph will be pushing the Atlantic snow storm across the UK and a red level warning has been released for this with some schools already cancelling transportation in anticipation of the dangerously fast gusts.

News of the expected snow and the recent flurry already seen in Northern Scotland earlier this week, saw Dandy's Rock Salt Supplies reach record sales figures, smashing targets set for the year.

The company has already provided one global retailer based in the UK, with all of its de-icing salt supplies, as well as a number of councils, businesses, the emergency services and homeowners across the country.

This has resulted in the huge amount of rock salt which was shipped into Dandy’s packaging plant at the start of the summer, already having been packed up and shipped out.

Although the rock salt mountain at Dandy’s premises on Deeside Industrial Park is still substantial, the company expect the record sales so far for this year to be a clear indication of things to come, and so more stock has already been secured to ensure that the company is able to keep up with the increased demand for its products.

UK Sales Manager, Simon Hughes, commented; "We've seen a steady increase year on year for sales of our de-icing range but with so many competitors flooding the market we didn't expect sales to rocket as they have done this year.

I attribute our success to our new, easy to use website and also the fact that we've got the best sales team we've ever had promoting the business and our products.

One major retailer pre-bought supplies from us this year after they saw record sales of our products last year when they came on board as a new re-seller. On top of this we have seen many returning customers as well as new shoppers taking advantage of our pre-season prices and special advent offers for December."

About Dandy's:

Dandy's have been a family run business since 1826 and continue to be so despite rapid growth propelling them from a small to medium sized business over the past four years. The business relocated to Deeside Industrial Park in late 2010 and plans to expand next year with North Wales first truck stop. Dandy's are award winning, market leading suppliers of topsoil, gardening and landscaping supplies as well as home fuels and rock salt and de-icing supplies.

£200 RAISED AT DANDY'S FOR CHILDREN IN NEED...

Dandy's successfully raised £200 for Children in Need with their fancy dress fund raiser held at their Rock Salt storage facility in Deeside, Flintshire on Friday last week.

The company also had a bake sale at Dandy's HQ and ran a "donate 5% of your order to Children in Need" voucher code, inviting customers shopping online at DandysRockSalt.co.uk and DandyGardenCentre.co.uk to allow Dandy's to make a donation on their behalf.

FANCY DRESS FRIDAY AT DANDY'S HQ THIS WEEK FOR CHILDREN IN NEED...!

Watch this space folks - it's fancy dress Friday so all of the team will be donning silly hats and fake moustaches in honour of Pudsey Bear and Children In Need this Friday.

We're also having a bake sale so if you're in the area pop in for a brownie and a photo with one of the gang for the website!

DANDY'S GARDEN CENTRE ASSIST IN SACK RACE WITH A DIFFERENCE...

Dandy's Rock Salt Supplies parent company; DandysGardenCentre.co.uk, recently came up trumps for a London based community garden project after their garden and grounds were destroyed during the riots of 2011.

The award winning company sent some of their quality topsoil and turf down to the project co-ordinators to get them back on their feet.

The garden has never looked better and it was a project which Dandy's were keen to get involved with as part of their commitment to charities, community projects, environmental awareness and to top it all off; all of that new turf being grown on Dandy's quality topsoil can only help to lessen the company's carbon footprint; bringing them one step closer to their goal of becoming carbon neutral by the end of 2015!

Most recently, kids from the local area were out in the garden having a sack race in the bulk bags which Dandy's supplied the topsoil in - a real novel way to recycle the bulk bags and one that the company hopes will catch on!

LEST WE FORGET...

This Friday marks the most unique remembrance day yet as at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011, the nation will pause.

Here at Dandy's the 'phones will go off, the diggers will stop and we will all fall silent and take two minutes to reflect on the sacrifice of our brave Service men and women from conflicts past and present.

To show our support for the poppy appeal Dandy's will be making a donation from all orders put through checkout on both of our websites; DandysGardenCentre.co.uk and DandysRockSalt.co.uk, using the voucher code 'remember'.

This code tells us that you, as our customer, want to show your support and have us donate 5% of your total spend to the poppy appeal.

We'll total up and be back with an update first thing Monday morning!

DAILY EXPRESS REPORTS: BIG SIBERIAN FREEZE TO HIT BRITAIN...!

The latest in a run of stories focusing on the expected big freeze to hit Britain this winter has been released by the national newspaper. The article reports that sources are expecting temperatures to hit -15C in December.

The newspaper also reports that 

"Winter weather will arrive with a vengeance with temperatures well below zero within the next fortnight."

The Express has released a number of articles along these lines; the most recent reporting on the fact that British troops are being prepped to go on standby ready to assist if the weather turns as badly and as quickly as is expected by leading sources.

To coincide with this news release we have launched our re-sellers retail packs of 10kg rock salt bags which feature bar-coded bags with handles to enable ease of carrying. Order today and you'll also get free POS and you'll be able to take advantage of our special re-sellers price of just (from) £2.49 per bag delivered + vat. RRP is £4.99 per bag so there's great room for you to make good margins if you intend to sell on!

10m PALLETFORCE/DANDYS DEAL KEEPS UK ON IT'S FEET...!

Dandys Rock Salt .co.uk have today announced news of a deal reached between Dandy’s and award winning Palletforce member, Farralls Transport for the successful company to become their sole pallet network provider in the UK for the next two years; with a view to extend the deal in 2013 by an additional five years.

As the only UK based rock salt supplier able to have continuously supplied the general public as well as businesses up and down the country with much needed grit during the worst three winters in over two decades it was pivotal for Dandy’s to ensure that they have a sole provider and one that would excel all year round no matter the weather or volume of pallets being sent out.

The deal, worth an estimated £10million over the next seven years, is the result of an enormous amount of hard work and outstanding levels of customer service given by the team at Farralls Transport and other Palletforce members when delivering Dandy’s freight over the past eight months.

Managing Director of Dandy's Rock Salt .co.uk, Adam Dandy, commented; "Farralls Transport are absolutely second to none. They are permanently focused on continuously improving their service to us, with weekly meetings taking place with our Logistics Supervisor and General Manager. They listen to our concerns and act quickly to meet our needs; Mike and Elaine Farrall and their whole team have given us the confidence to commit to them as our sole provider for the foreseeable future.

As a user of pallet networks for over five years we have tried many other suppliers and can wholeheartedly say that the service our customers receive from Palletforce as a network is without doubt the best in the industry."

The Dandy's contract also includes the distribution for all of the company’s spring and summer goods from their garden related websites, Dandys Topsoil .co.uk and Dandys Garden Centre .co.uk.