Accolade Wines has renamed its major drinks production, warehousing, and distribution facility in Bristol to ‘The Park’ as it ramps up its contract manufacturing business and moves towards a more independent role within the group.
As part of the rebrand, the £100m site is receiving additional investment to increase its capabilities, including canning and carbonation facilities, alongside a new dedicated contract packaging team. This will mean it can produce other drinks, rather than just wine.
With the ability to package over 30m 9le cases per year and with available capacity, Accolade stated that its ambition for The Park site was to offer a “complete drinks solution for the European sector”. Whilst The Park and its 400 staff will continue to support the company’s wines operations in Europe, the rebrand and additional investment aims to support increased production, offer greater flexibility for customers, and lead to new alcoholic and drinks partners for the business.
Robert Foye, Chief Executive Officer at Accolade Wines, said: “This represents an exciting new chapter for the site, one that will differentiate us from our competitors and build synergies with customers and retailers to benefit the whole supply chain. The Park’s core principles remain innovation, outstanding quality and sustainability, and this rebrand gives us the foundations to grow the business in the years to come.”
Richard Lloyd, General Supply Manager at The Park, added: “This is a strategic shift for The Park as it moves towards a more independent role within the business. Capacity is scarce in the UK and we have space to support customers with volume flexibility due to seasonal, promotional or market spikes, such as those witnessed during Covid-19.
“We now have an exciting opportunity to find new partners that will allow us to develop synergies and leverage the scale and expertise offered by the site.”
The facility has already secured two new five-year contracts in the last month as a result of the relaunch. This includes Benchmark Drinks, which sells wines backed by celebrities such as Ian Botham, Graham Norton and Kylie Minogue. Paul Schaafsma, the company’s Founder & Managing Director, said: “It was an easy decision to move Benchmark’s packaging, warehousing and logistics to The Park, it provides Europe’s best complete service solution.”
