"4x Higher Uptake Than We Expected" | Samantha from Gate Gourmet London

Company: Gate Gourmet, Stretford
Name: Samantha Helsby, HR Business Partner
Sector: Logistics / Catering

The challenge: a growing business in a competitive market

Gate Gourmet is one of the world's largest providers of airline catering and hospitality, with a major UK operation headquartered near Heathrow Airport. But in recent years, the business has been expanding its regional footprint - stretching from London up through Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. That growth brought a challenge.

Moving into new regions meant competing with employers who already had an established local presence. The UK employment market, particularly in logistics and operations, is notoriously competitive. Gate Gourmet needed a benefits package that could match - and ideally beat - what rivals were offering.

At the same time, sustainability isn't a nice-to-have. As Samantha explains, ESG is embedded into the fabric of the organisation at every level:

"It's something that is present in all aspects of our day. It's drilled into our DNA now."

For a business with a large logistics arm - where the environmental impact of operations can often be significant - finding a benefit that combined employee value with a genuine sustainability conscience wasn't just desirable. It was a strategic priority.

Why EV salary sacrifice made sense

Gate Gourmet needed a benefit that could do two things at once: strengthen employee engagement and move the needle on the company's environmental impact. An EV salary sacrifice scheme offered exactly that.

As Samantha puts it: "We wanted a benefit that had a conscience, something that would benefit not just the people investing in that benefit, but where there would also be a wider impact."

The tax efficiency of salary sacrifice was also a significant draw. Once employees understood that the pre-tax deduction made an electric car considerably more affordable than they'd assumed, the appetite was immediate:

"People realising how much they can get for their money because of the tax arrangements has been really well received."

The scheme also addressed the recruitment angle directly. Gate Gourmet now advertises the EV benefit in job listings - particularly for corporate and mid-to-senior roles. Even including it throughout the induction process.

Why loveelectric?

When Gate Gourmet began looking for a provider, Samantha and the team had two clear criteria: strong reviews and a setup process that wouldn't drain internal resource.

"We weren't sure what sort of uptake the scheme would have, so we didn't want something that was really labour-intensive to set up if it wasn't going to be very successful. loveelectric just seemed to stand out as a company that managed to tick both of the boxes we were looking for."

The setup itself centred mostly on internal due diligence: getting the right sign-offs, payroll flows and approval processes in place. But loveelectric's guidance made that manageable:

"loveelectric had seen this being set up in various organisations before, so there was lots of guidance around what we needed to consider. That was really helpful."

On the communications side, having ready-made resources; visuals, FAQs, branded materials, saved Samantha significant time when launching internally:

"I am not the most creative person, so having visuals that I could utilise with some of the loveelectric branding - all of those resources were there and that saved me an awful lot of headaches."

The impact: 4x the expected uptake in month one

Gate Gourmet went into the launch with deliberately modest expectations. They planned a soft launch, anticipated a slow burn and hoped to see maybe one vehicle ordered in the first couple of months.

What actually happened was rather different.

"The take-up in the first month itself was probably about four times higher than we expected it to be. To be honest, it was a little bit thrilling."

The profile of who was signing up was equally surprising. Gate Gourmet had expected the scheme to appeal primarily to corporate staff at its Ashford head office. Instead, the biggest uptake came from unit-based employees - including HGV drivers.

"They are HGV drivers, and actually that forms the biggest part of our uptake more so than the corporate roles - I suppose they do a lot of driving, so driving a different type of vehicle must have been appealing as well. But we weren't expecting there to be much uptake in units at all."

The recruitment signal is also showing up in the data. Newer starters (within their first six months of employment) are already applying for vehicles through the scheme, suggesting the benefit is resonating from day one.

Advice for other employers

Samantha's message to any HR or benefits professional considering a scheme like this is straightforward:

"Setting up a scheme like this can be quite daunting for an organisation. Anything that involves tax arrangements like salary sacrifice is really important to get right as an employer. But loveelectric just made that so easy for us."

She's equally clear on the broader case for acting:

"I think that a scheme like this is something which most employers can benefit from. It's a fantastic offer to employees. It's a fantastic thing to do to try and help your environmental impact. It's something that loveelectric has been really good at supporting us in launching - where we probably wouldn't have known where to start without an organisation like this."

"So I'd say: if anyone is looking to tick either or both of those boxes, loveelectric seems like the perfect place to come."

A responsive, knowledgeable support team

One of the consistent themes from Samantha's experience is the quality of ongoing support; both for the HR team and for employees directly.

The customer service team holds regular check-ins to review uptake and work through any individual cases that need attention. Plus, when employees come to Gate Gourmet with questions that sit beyond the HR team's expertise - which, as Samantha notes, happens - loveelectric is on hand to pick them up:

"The team are really helpful in directing to the right places and making sure that responses are given by the right people that have the right amount of knowledge. Any scheme like this, you want to know that you've got really good support there. We absolutely have that."