Returning for its second year, the Destination 2026 conference challenged delegates to think about the future of the wholesale industry and the role that they play in shaping it.
Here are ten insights from the conference:
- The Wholesale Group reveals its growth target
Managing director Tom Gittins revealed a sustainable growth plan for the new buying group in which it aims to hit £5bn buying power by 2027. The group’s current figures stand at:
- £4.47bn
- 3,706 sales personnel
- 10.22m sq ft warehousing
- 255 depots
- 349k customers
- 4,501 delivery vehicles
2. Business leaders still have confidence in the Labour Government
Speaking to the conference, Tanya Pepin, managing director, of TWC revealed the findings of a recent Lloyds survey of 1,200 business leaders:
- 70% expect increased turnover in 2025
- 73% expect increased profitability this year
- 7 in 10 business leaders have confidence in the Government’s strategy to drive growth
3. Wholesale can be the answer to UK growth crisis
Dr Jason Wouhra OBE, managing director of Lioncroft Wholesale says there is an economic and growth crisis currently facing the UK and wholesale has the answer to it. He cited the channel’s entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative mindset as reasons that will help lead to sustained growth. Wouhra’s company, Lioncroft Wholesale, has grown by 30% since he took the helm five years ago.
4. Symbols catching up with unaffiliated c-stores
There is a move towards symbols over unaffiliated convenience retailers, with the former gradually catching up, according to Kantar data.
- 2023: 44% symbols/56% unaffiliated
- 2024: 46% symbols /54% unaffiliated
5. Independents’ prices are 77% more expensive than their Aldi equivalents
This came from TWC’s August Price audit in collaboration with Unitas, with Pepin also revealing further insight from TWC’s further research:
- 2.86% of e-commerce visits convert to purchases.
- 65% of consumers use price comparison sites in stores.
- 51% of shoppers search Google before shopping
Read more: Fairway and Confex to merge and create new buying group
6. The newly created Wholesale Group now the third biggest ‘wholesaler’
Gittins presented a graph using FWD data showing the new company to be the UK’s third biggest wholesaler when combining the revenue of the various buying group members. This would place it third behind Unitas and Booker and ahead of Costco, Sysco, Bestway, Bidfood, CRG, Caterfood, Sterling, and Caterforce.
7. Booker’s path to net zero
Angela Hughes, technical, sustainability & own brand director at Booker, revealed that the business is trialling electric trucks HGVs within its fleet as it aims to hit net zero by 2050. The wholesale giant also has a 60% emissions (Scope 1 and 2) reduction target this year, as well as 85% reduction by 2030. The company is doing this through six key pillars including a focus on human rights, decarbonising transport, eliminating waste, and investment in nature.
8. Caterforce continues growth using a three-pillar approach
Gary Mullineux, managing director at the buying group described how the company is allowing ‘wholesalers to thrive’ and has recently told Better Wholesaling that group turnover is set to grow by 8% year-on-year to £800m, equating to growth of 41% since 2019 compared to the foodservice market of 25%. Caterforce has already invested £50m+ since 2022, with £60m+ planned in 2025 from the group’s nine wholesalers.
9. Service levels from the suppliers are still not back to pre-covid levels
Martin Ward, managing director at the Country Range Group, believes supplier levels have still not recovered and stated they need to get into the granular detail of consumer profiles to re-establish these levels. He cited the care homes as a good example of a sector that needs prior knowledge and research. Ward also added that cost management will be a key focus moving forward and the buying group will be looking for efficiencies in the marketplace to achieve this.
10. The changing buying group market
Using FWD revenue data from January 2025, Gittins claims that the Wholesale Group is now the largest foodservice buying group with £3bn buying power (£1.4bn retail buying power) and the largest delivered buying group.
