The recently announced new buying group The Wholesale Group has begun the new year with the addition of six brand-new members
The buying group, which was announced at the end of last year and came into effect on Jan 1 2025, brings together the wholesale members of Confex and Fairway Foodservice to create "the home for independent wholesalers".
With 255 members, The Wholesale Group is now the UK’s largest foodservice buying group and the second largest retail buying group. The group has seen interest from unaffiliated wholesalers as well as members of other buying groups.
The new members to join the group are HRH International, Lancashire; Clegg’s Chilled Foodservice Ltd, Preston; Warley Stores Ltd, West Midlands; Eagle Foods Ltd, Peterborough; Café Deli Wholesale Ltd, Surrey and Tinsdale Distribuciones, based in Alicante, Spain.
“We are delighted to welcome so many new members to the group so soon into the new year,” said Jess Douglas, joint managing director.
“As a group, we provide a strong, supportive, collaborative platform for growth which secures our members’ future. Our offer is tailored to meet the needs of family businesses and we provide the best of both retail and foodservice expertise and efficiency.
"And, at a time when every business is faced with rising costs, our members pay no membership fees and all members receive a share of the profits – it’s an incredibly compelling offer.”
With £4.47bn buying power, the group is claiming to revolutionise UK independent wholesale sector.
As reported earlier, The Wholesale Group MD Tom Gittins is confident that the group will reach the £5bn mark “pretty quickly”, and has a chance “in five years’ time to be the biggest group”, amidst further consolidation in the industry.
On Tuesday (14), The Wholesale Group held a senior supplier briefing session ahead of its first trade show in March at Cheltenham Racecourse.
