Quarmby Colour has thanked CMYUK for ‘saving its bacon’ during a tumultuous lockdown period.

The Leeds-based printer says it ‘strode into 2020 confidently with a full order book,’ only to see its standard events and exhibition work dry up when lockdown hit.

However Quarmby quickly pivoted and moved into the retail sector. ‘As soon as we realised what was going to happen, we became very proactive and got straight on to all our contacts, particularly those in the supermarket world,’ says joint managing director, Damian Quarmby. 

The company soon won a large rolling contract for a leading supermarket chain to produce all social distancing floor graphics and safety graphics for its entire estate, including all stores and numerous internal offices, up and down the country.  

CMYUK supplied Quarmby with the lion’s share of material at this time, and with the volume of work being printed, the stakes were high in terms of consistent media supply.

‘CMYUK saved our bacon, that’s the truth of it,’ adds Mr Quarmby. ‘If they hadn’t had the foresight to order in the amounts that they did, we wouldn’t have been able to go ahead and do what we did.

‘We’ve always seen them as our buddies in the industry. They’ve recommended products, given us advice on the right materials, and they’re very competitive. However, through the lockdown period the relationship became an imperative.’

Quarmby’s floor graphic material of choice was CMYUK’s Utack Hexofloor Vinyl. This is a self-adhesive vinyl with a clear removable adhesive and an R10 anti-slip rating. It doesn’t require any lamination and lasts for up to six-months of indoor use. 

The company prints using EFI Vutek equipment, being the first business in the UK to install the EFI VUTEk h5, an eight-colour plus white, LED hybrid printer.