Mason Foodservice, a family-owned food wholesaler based in Leicestershire, has announced an exciting expansion designed to enhance its ability to deliver exceptional value to customers.
This strategic growth includes new partnerships, enhanced storage capacity, and membership in the prestigious Sterling Supergroup Wholesale Buying Group, all of which aim to drive greater benefits for customers. This expansion comes as Mason’s approaches its 80th anniversary in 2025, a significant milestone that highlights its long-standing legacy in the industry.
George Mason, owner of Mason Foodservice, tells Wholesale Manager what benefits he will get from being a member of Sterling Supergroup and how his expanded warehouse space will boost his business.
Can you tell us a little of the history of the company?
In 1945, after returning from World War II, my grandfather Reg Mason launched a small fresh fish and poultry business from a van. As demand grew, supplying restaurants and hotels became a significant part of the business. By 1960, my father, Grahame, had joined the company, and it adapted to the more reliable frozen fish as railway changes impacted fresh fish deliveries. The addition of walk-in deep freezers marked a pivotal shift, enabling the business to expand into frozen food options, particularly as Chinese restaurants began flourishing in the 1970s. This focus on wholesale frozen foods eventually led to selling off the retail shops to meet growing demand.
In 2005, I joined the team, bringing my diverse industry experience to the company. In 2019, we rebranded as Mason Foodservice, reflecting our evolution and broader vision. Under my leadership, we’ve been able to diversify our offerings, now including fresh bakery, ambient, chilled, and cleaning products alongside our core frozen items.
What does your current role involve?
I have been the owner of Mason’s since 2005, and during this time I’ve been able to work to rebrand the company and completely diversify our offering, growing from just frozen offerings to include fresh bakery, ambient, chilled, and even cleaning products.
What are your long-term goals for Mason, and what would you like to achieve with them?
The company’s long term goals are to expand our product range and increase our stock holding for our customers, giving our customers a large selection of products at competitive prices. Our customers are extremely important to us and every move we make as a company is customer driven. Improving our customers’ experience and maintaining long term relationships.
How is Mason’s performing?
The business has seen year-on-year strong growth along with constant reinvesting into our company. This growth and profits have allowed the company to make this expansion. Forecasts for the next quarter look very strong as we increase our stock offerings. We have also recently joined Sterling Supergroup, which has been a great partnership with Mason Foodservice. Along with Sterling Supergroup, we have many exciting new products to offer our customers.
You have just joined Sterling Supergroup. What benefits do you anticipate getting from being a member of the group?
Through this partnership, we have formed exciting new supplier relationships with renowned brands, including Britannia Sugars, Delifrance, Sasco Sauces, Nestle, Proper Cornish, Unilever, and many more suppliers. These collaborations enable us to offer a more extensive product range, stock larger volumes, and deliver enhanced value with more competitive pricing for our customers.
You have just expanded your warehouse space. How do you see the expanded space boosting your business?
We have been able to move all our non-refrigerated and ambient products to our new warehouse, which gives us the space in our original warehouse to extend our freezer and fridge space, all in line with where we are seeing customer demand grow.
How far is the geographical reach of your business?
Our reach is across the Midlands, including Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Rutland, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.
How digital is your business, and do you offer any IT support for your members e.g. ordering apps, online support, delivery tracking?
Very digital, we encourage all our customers to order online, we offer online prices that are cheaper than the standard price and our team are always on hand for any online support.
How many products does your business supply and what categories do you cover?
We have a range of different products including:
• Ambient
• Bakery
• Chilled
• Fresh Foods
• Drinks
• Snacks
• Cleaning & Packaging
How has the wholesale industry changed in recent years?
The industry has changed dramatically in recent years, especially since Covid. We see customers utilising our online ordering platform along with our delivery notification system. Technology is an extremely important part of the industry, especially around keeping customers informed on pricing and stock availability. It is important for us to keep up to date with new products and trends in the marketplace and ensure we have the products available for our customers. The industry is always vibrant and fast-moving, and as a company, it is important for us to always put our customers first and meet their requirements.
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