Established in 1976, the Japan Centre Food Hall is a well-loved institution situated in Central London with an outpost in Westfield Stratford City.

In 2005, Japan Centre Online was launched to bring the store experience to those living outside London and the UK. Together, Japan Centre Food Hall and Japan Centre Online have big plans for the future and part of that includes a strong fleet. In order to increase their fleet size to distribute their products to restaurants and shops across the UK, Japan Centre was looking to update their fleet to comply with new legislation.

Working alongside his support team at Cordwallis Group, a family-owned business with several big brand truck franchises covering London & Thames Valley, Japan Centre’s Tomohiro Nakayama who already had 4 Isuzu vehicles decided to add a 13.5 tonne Isuzu fridge vehicle to his fleet. He made the call to work with Gray & Adams having seen another of Gray & Adams’ rigid fridge bodies that were purpose built for Reynolds Catering Supplies.

Our brief was therefore to create a bespoke vehicle body to go on their 13.5 tonne Isuzu F135.240 rigid air suspension truck. With a bespoke specification to be developed with consideration to Japan Centre’s business needs and impeccable standards.

The highly detailed specification included air suspension as well as top mounted refrigeration to support the weight on the Isuzu truck chassis and VWS axle weigh equipment to allow their driver to ensure the vehicle is never overloaded. The vehicle was also fitted with a FORS Gold standard safety system by Exeros and a Verizon Tracking system.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL

“The real added value for Japan Centre has been Gray & Adams’ aftersales care and customer liaison expertise. We have enjoyed working collaboratively with both Gray & Adams and Cordwallis to get the specification exactly right. We have had a brilliant customer service experience and the overall quality of the finished product is first class. Communication from the team at Gray & Adams has made this project a real pleasure, from having changed the specifications without losing sight of overall finish of vehicle to offering alternatives to ensure the body is exactly what the customer wants as a finished product, we couldn’t be happier.”

TOMOHIRO NAKAYAMA
HEAD OF LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS, JAPAN CENTRE