Welcome to the June issue of Wholesale Manager. Continuing to place emphasis on developing long-term infrastructure, Bidfood, one of the UK’s leading foodservice providers, has confirmed that its new depot in Worcester is now opening and phasing in deliveries from this summer until later this year. Located on the Worcester Six Business Park, the site is already proving an excellent addition to Bidfood’s network, offering transport links to the Midlands region and serving the communities in which it operates by providing around 200 new jobs to local people.
Results from a survey of 1,000 retailers conducted on behalf of JTI has found that 82% feel the Labour Government has broken its promise to support small businesses, because of rising business rates, an increase in National Insurance contributions, the proposed generational smoking ban and minimum wage increases. This has left 70% of retailers feeling “disillusioned” by the actions of the Labour Government towards small businesses since they came into power in July 2024.
Leading wholesaler Booker is adding cuisines from five key global regions to its offer, following research into consumer demand for world foods within the dining out-of-home market. The new World Cuisines range will feature Greek, Turkish, Italian, Indian and African-Caribbean, as well as chicken shop products for this burgeoning market. Aimed squarely at the hospitality and catering sector, approximately 70 new food and drink lines under Booker’s new World Cuisines sub-brand are landing in 57 strategically selected branches now.
2025 marks an impressive milestone for Kara Foodservice, as the business celebrates 40 years of supplying high-quality bakery products to the out of home (OOH) and foodservice sectors. To mark this major anniversary, Wholesale Manager speaks to Sally Nicholson, Sales Director Out of Home (OOH) at Finsbury Food Group, who has over a decade of experience within the business and currently leads Kara’s commercial strategy in the OOH sector.
While Lioncroft Wholesale is celebrating its fifth birthday, the original Birmingham cash and carry business actually dates back more than five decades when Jasbir Wouhra and his brothers created East End Foods. The brothers, arriving in the UK from New Delhi, opened a small store in Birmingham in 1972 selling authentic, high-quality Asian food to the rapidly-growing migrant population, Jasbir’s son CEO Dr Jason Wouhra OBE tells our Who’s Who in Wholesaling page.
Soft drinks have been a key growth driver for convenience and the wider grocery channel in recent years, reports Carlsberg Britvic’s Soft Drinks Review 2025. In fact, the average Brit drinks 225.3 litres of soft drinks a year. That’s nearly half the amount consumed in the US. They’re also bought on almost one in four (23.4%) shopping trips in convenience stores and responsible for £5.3bn in sales.
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