BESTWAY RESTRUCTURES

WHOLESALE: COSTCUTTER

Bestway restructures to ‘forge a new future’

Following its acquisition of Costcutter, Bestway Wholesale has announced amajor restructure of its senior management team.

Bestway Wholesale has announced a restructure of its senior management team in the wake of its acquisition of CSG (Costcutter Supermarkets Group) in late 2020. The wholesaler says it aims to “integrate talent and resource and emerge as a dynamic home for retailers in the UK”.

The restructure also supports the wholesale giant’s vision to bring Bestway Wholesale and Bestway Retail together, enabling the organisation to harness its growing scale and talent as it forges a new future.

Bestway Wholesale’s MD, Dawood Pervez said: “We have extraordinary talent within our business and the time is right to make changes as an important step in delivering future growth and ensuring we continue to meet the needs of our customers as behaviours change and opportunities grow.

“We are now bringing together our Off-Licence-led business in Crewe (including our Bargain Booze and Wine Rack Brands) and Convenience-led business in York (including our Costcutter and sub- brands Mace, Kwiksave, Simply Fresh and Supershop) and Best-one convenience, as one team within Bestway Retail.

“Importantly, we will continue to operate out of both sites, which will each become a centre of excellence for Off- Licence and Convenience respectively. Our new structure will optimise our ways of working within the Bestway teams, with our customers and our supplier partners. The approach that we have taken blends centrally-managed services with localised, specialist expertise aligned to our key locations in the UK. Additional services that will be managed centrally include procurement, fleet and insurance services, legal and financial controllership.

“We have built fantastic momentum over the past year. We want to build on this to optimise our potential trade during the coming months an ensure we have the right team, in the right place, to continue this exciting journey with us.”

As part of the new structure, Mike Hollis, formerly Retail Director of CSG, has been appointed as Bestway Retail Director. Reporting to Dawood Pervez and based out of York, he will lead a new Retail division focused on helping independent retailers to grow their food and drinks business. His leadership team is confirmed as:

● Paul Adams (Head of Symbol Fascia)

● Duncan Jelfs (Head of Franchise)

● Clive Binks (Head of Corporate Stores)

● Frankie Haynes (Head of Central Operations)

● Jamie Davison (Head of Store Recruitment and Development)

The company has also confirmed that its Buying and Marketing teams will now be managed centrally for all Cash & Carry, Convenience, Off Licence, Catering, Pet Specialist and Export customers under the leadership of Kenton Burchell who will take up a new role as Group Trading Director.

Suppliers will continue relationships with Category Managers and Marketing teams in PR, Crewe and York.