UK's newest buying group The Wholesale Group held its first tradeshow since its launch in January 2025 which saw supplier partners and members come together to plan for future growth.
Held at Cheltenham Racecourse on Thursday (20), the event saw more than 190 supplier partners meet with more than 180 wholesale members.
“The tradeshow exceeded all our expectations and was a fantastic success with incredibly high levels of attendance,” said Jess Douglas, joint managing director.
“The new venue and the event itself really demonstrate the scale and diversity of The Wholesale Group.
“To see so many members and suppliers come together to discuss plans for the coming months, share the latest product innovation and take advantage of our on-the-day deals was wonderful.
"The energy throughout the day and evening was incredible and a great way to cement our plans for the group moving forwards.”
Coral Rose, The Wholesale Group co-chair, agreed: “We are delighted with the tremendous turnout of members for the show, all proudly representing independent family-owned businesses in foodservice and retail wholesale. The event successfully generated significant value to all these businesses demonstrating our collecting scale while creating valuable connections with our suppliers.”
“Events like this really are invaluable,” said Kate Robinson, regional account manager, Unilever Food Solutions UK.
“This industry thrives on face-to-face interaction and meeting with members in person to plan for the future and share our latest product development always provides critical insight.”
Dan Dunster, national account manager, CCEP, said, “What a fantastic event and an excellent venue. We were able to have several good business discussions with members and for me as account manager for The Wholesale Group, it is so effective to be face to face.
"This is such a valuable use of our time as both the day and the evening were great opportunities to build on relationships. It was amazing to see members and suppliers recognised for their work.”
Following the tradeshow, The Wholesale Group held a formal black-tie dinner where it presented awards to suppliers and members in recognition of engagement and performance with Confex during 2024.
Thompson Foodservice Ltd achieved double success as it was named Foodservice Member of the Year as well as Green Wholesaler of the Year.
“The Wholesale Group Awards showcased the best of independent wholesale,” said Tom Gittins, joint managing director.
“Across the board we saw outstanding achievements from both our members and suppliers with awards spanning retail and foodservice across all product categories, with winners represented across delivered, cash and carry, export, direct to consumer, residual and events.
:These awards remind me how lucky we are to have such a strong group with best-in-class partners, the perfect recipe for future growth.”
Later in the year, The Wholesale Group will be holding a foodservice fair in Stratford upon Avon on 11 September and an annual conference in Tenerife, from 9-12 October.
The Wholesale Group now has 257 members and a group turnover in excess of £4.5bn, representing more than 13.7 per cent of UK wholesale.
Panel discussion at the relaunch of the SAITG on 3 March 2025
