How to strengthen supply chain resilience in food and drink

Supply chain disruption isn’t new, but its scale, frequency and complexity have changed. Most would argue worsened. Of course, food and drink supply chains are particularly exposed due to perishability of many products and more stringent regulation.

But resilience isn’t just about managing risk; it’s about building flexibility into your supply chain. This article will detail different techniques that food and drink businesses can use to build that much needed resilience into their supply lines.

1. Reassess and tier your suppliers

You likely know your tier 1 suppliers well, but the real risk often lies deeper. Sub-suppliers, specialist ingredient processors, or niche packaging manufacturers all threaten resilience.

Map your suppliers and categorise each partner based on criticality. Which ones are irreplaceable? Which ones supply multiple key SKUs? Which ones are in politically unstable or high-risk regions?

This exercise helps you prioritise attention and contingency planning. You can look at supplier financials, delivery history, compliance records, and ESG scores to build the complete picture. The more depth you go into, the more insight you will yield from the exercise.

For the most critical inputs, develop second-source options or building contingency stock.

Example table for this process

Table for illustrative purposes only. All data generated.

2. Improve visibility through digital infrastructure

It’s much harder to manage what you can’t see. Yet full logistical visibility is still quite a rare find in the logistics industry. Visibility isn’t just about where a container is, it’s about knowing the condition of your goods throughout transportation. Temperature, shocks, humidity, light and live-location can all be tracked by the WTA Platform, along with automatic exception alerts.

This is transformational for logistical resilience. It isn’t just about better reporting, it’s about enabling faster decision-making when things go wrong. That’s what builds resilience.

“The objection towards visibility that we usually see is that shippers question how helpful it is to see where their container is on a map. But visibility is about so much more than that. It's the live monitoring of a huge range of data points. Simply put, it's a huge step forward in supply chain management.”

Anthony Bour, IT Director, WTA

3. Look at transport modes and routes

Reliance on a single mode or route is riskier. The Red Sea crisis and Covid pandemic made that clear. To improve your supply chain, explore air-sea combinations, alternative ports, and overland routing to avoid chokepoints. It may cost more, but the ability to pivot quickly is often worth it. Build these options into your planning before you need them.

4. Build automation into repeatable processes

Manual processes are slow, error-prone, and difficult to scale. Particularly in areas like documentation, customs compliance and order processing. By automating the repeatable, you free up people to focus on exceptions and real problem-solving. This applies across planning, operations, and customer service.

“Robotic process automation is a terrific way to speed up certain processes and cut down on errors. Whilst AI is a very exciting space, businesses shouldn’t look to only use that technological development. There are RPA automations available right now which can be set up very easily by the right supply chain partner.”

Anthony Bour, IT Director

Examples include automated customs entry generation, auto-matching of invoices and delivery receipts, and AI-powered demand forecasting. These changes aren’t about cutting costs, although they can do that. They’re about creating a supply chain that reacts quicker.

5. Rethink inventory strategy

Just-in-time inventory has probably had its day. Especially in food and drink where lead times are rising, and supply is more volatile. Instead, consider holding strategic safety stock for key SKUs in regional warehouses. Focus on high-margin or fast-moving products that would be costly to run out of.

Fun fact: We save a major UK food and drink manufacturer over £100,000 every year with an on-port warehouse for their USA exports, meaning they can ship overweight containers.

You can also build resilience through postponement. For example, hold semi-finished goods in a central location, and finalise packaging or labelling closer to the point of sale. This protects against demand and last-minute market changes.

6. Stress-test the supply chain regularly

Resilience isn’t a one-time project; it’s a continuous process. Regularly test how your supply chain performs under stress. That includes scenario planning for different disruptions, such as a border closure, major supplier default, or geopolitical shock.

Attempt to measure the actual impact on service, margin, and recovery time that disruptions would have. We have written more detail on scenario planning in our article about supply chain budgeting here.

Also test your traceability and recall systems, especially with food safety compliance changes across the EU, UK and US. Can you isolate a batch issue within minutes, rather than hours? Do you have live access to production and transit records? These tests identify weak points and give your teams the confidence to act decisively when disruption happens.

Resilience in food and drink supply chains isn't a static or measurable goal really. It's a moving target shaped by regulation, climate change, geopolitics, and any number of other disruptive factors that threaten in 2025.

The most resilient businesses aren’t the ones that avoid disruption. They’re the ones that respond faster and smarter than the competition. That means investing in visibility, control and planning. It’s something we would be more than happy to work on with you. Speak to WTA today.