FWD chairman Rodney Hunt, managing director of The Today’s Group, welcomed news of the APSSG’s concerns. He told ProWholesaler: “Every wholesaler will welcome this specific interest by MPs in our industry and we will do our utmost to help the APSSG to achieve its objectives.”

Dramatic initial reports from the House of Commons indicate that a powerful group of MPs will seek to defend the wholesale sector in the ongoing debate on unfair competition.

By their sudden new focus on wholesaling and the industry’s core customer base of sole traders and family businesses, MPs have added significance to the FWD My Shop Is Your Shop (MSYS) campaign.

Booker has launched a new fresh and chilled delivery service for independent retailers, in partnership with Kerry Foods Direct To Store (KFDTS).

The specialist trade body The Wholesale Confectionery & Tobacco Alliance has announced that it will cease operations from March 31.

Plans for the 2006 campaign for the FWD My Shop Is Your Shop campaign were being finalised as ProWholesaler went to press.

Blueheath has moved to rationalise its buying group membership after its acquisitions left it with membership of four separate groups. Nisa-Today’s will become Blueheath Holdings’ primary buying group with effect from February 1 and the company will resign from Landmark on January 31.

Brakes has been awarded the £6.5m annual frozen, chilled and grocery foods supply contract for Southern Cross Healthcare – the largest independent provider of care homes in the UK.

A new multi-temperature depot has been opened by 3663 at Kingswood Lakeside Business Park, Cannock, to replace the nearby unit at Brownhills it has occupied since the late 1960s.

The modern foodservice wholesaler offers more than 5,000 products across three different temperatures. All supplied, as a rule, within 24 hours. Which is pretty impressive. None of our suppliers get close to matching this level of service. Yet most of them still behave as if they control the market. They seem to believe that as brand owner they have the right to dictate who buys their product.

Embroiled as it is in lobbying for commercial justice, can the British wholesaling industry - and suppliers who rely on wholesalers - learn anything from the Irish experience?

Specialist confectionery cash and carry Hancocks has closed its Stockton-on-Tees branch after a review of the business.

The Nestlé Rowntree Manager of the Month for January is awarded to Sarwar Kiyani, assistant manager at Bestway in Romford.

Cash and carry wholesalers are linking with their retailers to implement the Blueprint initiatives covering beers, ciders, wines, spirits and ARTDs.

The Federation of Wholesale Distributors will bring its My Shop Is Your Shop (MSYS) campaign to life at its annual conference at The Belfry on April 3&4.

If you had to make a New Year’s prediction, it would be a safe bet to say that the year ahead will be a pivotal one for the traditional grocery wholesale industry. Its bedrock customer base, the 30,000 or so independent retailers it supplies, is reducing at an alarming rate in the face of the multiple supermarkets’ incursions into the convenience sector and the unfair price differentials they are able to employ.

Brakes has appointed Frank McKay as group chief executive officer, taking over from Bruno Deschamps, who has been acting as ceo and chairman and will continue as chairman of the group’s holding company.

Musgrave Budgens Londis has recruited two senior staff including former Spar UK managing director Garry Craft.

Michael Lorimer, managing director of the foodservice arm of the Henderson Group in Northern Ireland, has been elected vice-chairman of Landmark Wholesale.

Job title: own label manager - foodservice

The conclusion of a recent “Viva Las Vegas” promotion by Northern Ireland-based Holmes Wholesale Services was a casino night for invited customers and key suppliers, where customers had a chance of winning one of ten star prizes, including the headline prize of a one-week trip for two to Las Vegas staying at the luxurious Bellagio Hotel.

The Convenience Retailing Show, the UK’s number one independent event for the convenience sector, with over 200 leading suppliers of convenience products and services, will be at the NEC, Birmingham, between 19 - 22 March 2006.

Palmer & Harvey McLane’s Pro-retail trade show will be on April 25-27 at the Telford International Centre in Shropshire, with over 180 manufacturers from the independent retail industry showcasing their latest product range and merchandising advice.

BLUEPRINT. There will follow a few paragraphs about the Take Home Blueprint, the biggest single success story in recent history of how wholesalers work for, and help, retailers in a practical way. If this subject tends to bring on a yawn, well why not skip a few paras? The reason for these meanderings is the interest in the Blueprint idea by other categories. And why not? If you are a supplier in a non-alcoholic market, wouldn’t you just love a scheme which guarantees sales increases for those retailers who implement it? What? It’s true!

HIM’s C&C Tracking Programme has shown that while independent retailers appreciate the support and expertise of suppliers, they turn to their wholesalers or C&C partners first for advice, then trade magazines followed by suppliers.

The Northern Ireland-based Spar and Vivo wholesaler Henderson Group has almost completed the roll-out of a new computer system for its Spar forecourt stores.

Reduced manual handling and speedier loading has been achieved by Johnson Hospitality Services with a purpose-designed sloping modular platform from Thorworld Industries.

With the Working Time Directive restricting drivers to a 48-hour average working week, Dawsonrentals Portable Cold Storage is urging companies to use extra storage capacity to reduce transport movements.

The Londis and Budgens head offices were united under one roof just over a year ago, and both brands are seeing the benefits, according to MBL managing director Mike Taylor, but he foresees further gains as the integration continues through its distribution depots. In addition the company’s transition from a mixed retail/wholesale business into a strictly wholesale business which does not own any retail stores is on target, with its store divestment programme having already lined up prospective owners for 65% of the remaining 130 stores.

Once every neighbourhood was served by a number of ‘corner shop’ family grocers. Many have disappeared but the ethos of community involvement remains the strongest selling point of every independent, says Alan Toft, chairman of the FWD My Shop

Is Your Shop campaign.

The most sought after prizes in the wholesaling calendar were presented in front of a sell-out audience at the FWD Annual Dinner and Gold Medal Awards at the Savoy.

The winner of the 2005 Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD) Gold Medal for the Drinks Brand of the Year, presented at the body’s prestigious awards ceremony at the Savoy in November, was Strongbow cider.

Walkers Potato Heads was the year’s biggest snacks success story valued at £31.6m and winning recognition from the industry in the form of the FWD Gold Medal for the Best Grocery Brand, and it was the Star Product in the bagged snacks category of The Grocer’s Top Products.

The last year has seen Tetley top the charts as the number one branded tea in the foodservice sector. Throughout the year we have continued to lead where others follow, with a raft of specific delivered wholesale promotions that give something back to your customer and ultimately increase your sales. From M&S Vouchers to Tussauds day tickets and annual passes, Tetley has made stocking and selling tea a very profitable business.

Coca-Cola Enterprises is extremely proud to receive the FWD Gold Medal for the Service Company of the Year in Retail Products.

HJ Heinz Foodservice is delighted to have been awarded the FWD Gold Medal for the Service Company of the Year in Foodservice. We are particularly proud of our achievements including:

The FWD Take Home Blueprint is a uniquely successful industry benchmarking activity and the only one available to the wholesale/independent sector. But it is more than a series of planograms – it befriends retailers and can provide a thorough makeover.

The FWD Blueprint for Spirits and Fortified Wines is supported by suppliers genuinely backing the wholesale sector in its efforts to increase sales in this category. The scheme is now launching the most courageous and enterprising trial ever designed for the local store – moving some spirits from the “glass coffin” behind the counter to open shelves next to the check-out.

Twinings has refreshed its range of foodservice infusions by creating three distinct segments: Fruit Bliss, Classic Herbal and Wellbeing Blends.

Nestlé FoodServices is offering customers their money back if they don’t believe Aero Instant Hot Chocolate has more bubbles, a creamier texture, tastes more chocolatey and delivers a better drinking experience than the competition “We’ve put our money where the bubbles are,” said Katy Hilditch, marketing manager, beverages.

Veetee Foodservice’s latest addition to its range is Brown Basmati Rice.

Pernod Ricard has begun marketing and distributing the Stolichnaya brand portfolio in the UK, taking over from First Drinks.

Wyndham Estate is launching a new Bin 222 Sparkling Chardonnay in the UK, following the success of the Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz.

The UK’s two leading tobacco companies, Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher, have both given national launches to ultra low price cigarette brands that were originally only available on a restricted basis.

A major integrated TV and print advertising campaign will be used to support the launch of the world’s number two sugar confectionery brand, Mentos, in the UK.

Cadbury Trebor Bassett has invested £4m in improvements to its Cadbury Creme Egg, and will be giving it heavyweight support.

Quaker Snacks is expanding its Snack-a-Jacks range with Snack-a-Jacks Mini Bagels and Mini Breadsticks – savoury nibbles with less than 10% fat.

Wrigley has started off 2006 with the launch of extensions to its Hubba Bubba and Airwaves ranges.

MONDAY