How will independent retailers cope with new restrictions on selling unhealthy food? As the government comes to its conclusions after the consultation on
2nd June 2021
Unitas Wholesale has announced that it will be hosting its first face-to-face trade event since the start of the pandemic, between 29 September and 1 October 2021.
The event will take place at The Convention Centre, Liverpool and will include a senior supplier briefing on the 29th. The buying group said the following two days will then provide members and suppliers with an opportunity to network, share business plans, negotiate deals, and refocus business relationships that may have suffered through the challenges of the pandemic.
However, Unitas has decided to postpone its overseas conference in Tenerife until September 2022 due to the uncertainty of future travel restrictions.
19th May 2021
Unitas Wholesale has launched its latest ‘Plan for Profit’ category guides designed to support independent retailers.
The newest editions of the ‘Focus On’ reports highlight the opportunities that the energy drinks and hard seltzers categories present for the convenience sector. The buying group has partnered with CCEP to provide key insights on energy drinks, and Budweiser Brewing Group to help retailers understand the emerging licensed category, hard seltzers.
Plan for Profit Category Controller, Tracey Redfearn, commented: “The new ‘Focus On Energy Drinks’ guide will help independent retailers better understand this category of growth and the key brands driving this. Our ‘Hard Seltzers’ Focus On guide introduces this emerging category and outlines how independent retailers can introduce hard seltzers into their store to take advantage of this opportunity.”.
JW Filshill appoints regional development manager for east of Scotland Print
12th May 2021
Glasgow-based wholesaler JW Filshill has selected Gary Milligan as regional development manager for Edinburgh, the Lothians and Borders.
Milligan, who joins from high-end pet food firm Kennelpak, previously worked for two Scottish wholesalers and has experience of the convenience retail channel. He will report directly to Filshill’s chief sales and marketing officer Craig Brown.
Filshill, who operates the fast-growing KeyStore and KeyStore More retail fascias, is experiencing a period of robust growth and is increasing its resources.
Brown said: “Gary will work with customers to stimulate growth and increase profitability in a competitive convenience marketplace that continues to evolve and throw up challenges while helping them retain the flexibility to run their stores the way they want to and offer a point of difference over their competitors. His technology experience and interes
By Lyndsey Cambridge2021-05-11T16:14:00+01:00
Kitwave Group’s move to go public last week and list on London’s junior AIM market is big news for wholesale.
The family-owned business is only the second food and drink wholesaler to be listed from The Grocer’s Big 30 Wholesalers, following Booker, which trades as Tesco.
The Initial Public Offering has seen “strong investors” pour £82m into the North Tyneside-based business, with dibs on shares said to be “oversubscribed” ahead of its 24 May listing, resulting in a valuation for the company of £105m.
It will trade with the ticker ‘KITW’, issuing 70 million shares, with senior management retaining 22% of the business. The initial IPO will wipe its £76m of existing debt, a legacy of Kitwave’s steadfast decade-old buy-and-build strategy.