Grupo Lala, one of the largest dairy companies in Latin America, estimates that its refrigerated distribution network is one of the most important in the region.
As of December 31, 2022, the company operated 170 distribution centers in Mexico, the United States, Brazil and Central America and a fleet totaling more than 6,000 trucks for refrigerated distribution.
Overall, Grupo Lala’s distribution network serves more than 628,000 points of sale.
The company believes that this platform gives it a competitive advantage.
During 2022, Grupo Lala continued with the development and implementation of the simplification strategy in LALA’s distribution network, a strategy focused on the consolidation of distribution centers that have greater storage and operating capacity, allowing it to improve operating costs and service levels.
Currently, critical mass and efficiency allow the company to distribute at a lower base cost per kiloliter than most food and beverage distributors and producers.
With this competitive advantage, the company is able to constantly enrich and grow its portfolio with higher-value, more profitable products and categories and to optimize its cost base.
Therefore, Grupo Lala will continue to explore new options to leverage its distribution system.
Refrigerated distribution
To date, the company operates 140 distribution centers in Mexico, 23 in Brazil and 10 in Central America.
In total, its sales fleet amounts to more than 6,000 refrigerated trucks for distribution in Mexico and Central America and 677 units in the primary fleet.
Refrigerated dairy products and pasteurized beverages are generally delivered daily, while non-refrigerated products (mainly ultra-pasteurized milk) are delivered two or three times a week.
The company believes that it is important to deliver pasteurized milk on a daily basis, since consumers who buy this product in convenience stores or mini-supermarkets also tend to make their purchases with this frequency.
Grupo Lala uses external distributors only to distribute Ultrapasteurized Milk in areas where it does not have the necessary infrastructure to do so directly.
