COPY: The Drinks Wholesaler: Intriguing Times

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 05 July, 2016

We've covered a far-reaching spread of issues, insights, interviews and profiles in these pages along with focuses on the sparkling wine category, gin, British beer and the contrasting, but in some ways complementary, wine offers of Chile and Argentina. We also examine what the word 'craft' means to consumers and ask whether it can be better applied to wine to engage millennials.

Among these categories are some of the strongest growth drivers for drinks businesses, which is why our highly knowledgeable writers examine how to leverage even better returns from your portfolio, giving a balanced appraisal that goes beyond the excitement and hype.

Elsewhere - and there never seems to be a dull moment in the trade - Conviviality's £60 million deal to buy Bibendum PLB looms large. We speak with Conviviality's Diana Hunter while asking what the impact may be on the broader UK wholesale trade.

Bibendum managing director Michael Saunders also opens up on what this means for the company that he spent 34 years building.

Meanwhile, with the very real possibility of Brexit lurking around the corner, Drinks Wholesaler surveyed the trade and had difficulty finding a single senior person who backs leaving the European Union. Our Brexit? question was greeted with a resounding 'no', a position the Drinks Wholesaler fully supports, looking to the financial health and stability of the UK drinks trade.

But perhaps the trade needs to shout a little louder ahead of a vote that looks set to be a very close call. Whether selling wine and drinks imported from Europe or elsewhere, or selling products into the EU trade block, exit would likely mean a raft of financial challenges, including fluctuating exchange rates and currency, higher tariffs on trade and possibly a depressed UK economy. Sorting out favourable trade agreements could also take years.

At a time when the UK economy is picking up and consumers appear to be digging a little deeper into their pockets, with value sales rather than volume increases being reported, it seems madness to risk upsetting the business of doing liquid business just as we are tentatively climbing out of some very tough years for the trade.

Looking to the positive, the backdrop of continuing consolidation has at least forced people to look at their own offer and business models, in the main promoting a focus on quality and real value in both service and product, to stay in the game. This is welcome and really shows in the ever-increasing calibre of the drinks mix across the wonderful variety of pubs, bars and restaurants that make up our on-trade.

Indeed, value over volume seems to be the trend. So despite our troubles and challenges, there has never been a better time to enjoy quality drinking in the UK.

Andrew Catchpole, Editor