Member Article

Fairway Foodservice members increase collective turnover by 13 per cent to £626m

Fairway Foodservice’s members have increased their collective turnover by 13 per cent, generating £626m for the year-end 2015.

The Huddersfield-based buying group’s members, who access a number of cost-cutting benefits through membership with Fairway Foodservice, increased their turnover from £556m for 2014.

Fairway Foodservice is made up of 17 independent wholesalers from across the UK, Ireland and Spain.

Chris Binge, chief executive of Fairway Foodservice, said:

“We are delighted for our members. Their hard work and focus on service has been well rewarded over the last three years. The market has been buoyant, diesel fuel has been stable and we have had a deflationary food environment. And we, of course, continue to work hard to support them in their endeavours too.

“We can see a few ‘head winds’ on the horizon, including diesel fuel cost increases, shortage of HGV drivers and food commodity price increases, so it may be difficult to achieve organic growth of similar levels this year but current trading is still very good.

“At our bi-annual Meet the Members event, which provides our members with an opportunity to meet with some of our top suppliers, there was a thoroughly positive attitude and atmosphere with high hopes for 2016 and beyond.

“The increased top line is also reflected in the bottom line. Our members work really hard to deliver a great service to customers and our ‘umbrella’ of buying, marketing and technical services helps their businesses grow profitably.

“We support their independence and regionality, and provide them with common needs and services. It also reflects very well on our suppliers who work with us and share in our continuing growth, and I genuinely thank them for all the support they give to our members and us.

“It’s a fantastic achievement to smash through the £600m barrier, as well as to hit 13 per cent growth, which was an increase on the 11 per cent experienced last year.”

The buying group was founded in 1984 by five frozen food wholesalers, with an initial collective turnover of £7 million. Members benefit from access to a range of more than 560 quality bench-marked own-label products, collective buying power across all product groups significant marketing support, technical advice and support and subscription discounts to the Erudus One product specification database.

For more information on Fairway Foodservice, visit www.fairwayfoodservice.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .