A.F. Blakemore’s Supplier Conference earlier this month celebrated a year of progress for the wholesale and distribution group, while also calling for greater collaboration with suppliers to help drive mutual success.
Group Commercial Managing Director Jerry Marwood detailed the group’s achievements over the previous 12 months, including record inbound store recruitment across its SPAR estate and the addition of SOHO Coffee Co. and Bistrot Pierre to its Foodservice client base.
The group also revealed that a year after its purchase from Patisserie Valerie, the Philpotts chain was undergoing a transformation with new menus, store refits and the acquisition of new sites.
A.F. Blakemore’s Operations Managing Director Geoff Hallam revealed details of a £15m investment made in a new distribution centre in Bedford, a £6m investment in IT and a £2.3m investment in commercial terms for independent SPAR retailers. He also outlined new space targets for retail operations across Blakemore Retail company-owned stores and Philpotts, and an aim to grow the turnover of its Foodservice division by £100m over the next five years.
Meanwhile, suppliers were told about a suite of opportunities to collaborate, whether through logistics, operations, sustainability or marketing. Group Trading Director Rupert Morris said: “If you’re a supplier, we have it all at Blakemore’s. We’re a family business with 103 years of heritage and huge scale as one of the biggest privately-owned companies in Great Britain.
“Through our divisions, we have a view of the customer and their food consumption that is unrivalled amongst our competitor set, whether at home, on the go, dining out, on holiday, in education or a corporate environment, and we can offer suppliers a route to each of those markets.”
