Palmer and Harvey
Encyclopedia
Palmer and Harvey plcis a UK based wholesaler that services the, multiples
, convenience
, forecourt
and CTN sectors.
Headquartered in Hove
, East Sussex
, it is the UK's
largest delivered wholesaler, and the 4th biggest private company in the UK. It has an annual turnover of £4.3 billion and an integrated national distribution network across 13 sites in the UK. The company was originally founded in 1925 as a traditional confectionery
and tobacco
wholesaler. Today, Palmer and Harvey is the UK’s largest wholesaler working with a diverse range of 63,600 retailers. Palmer and Harvey, which employs 3,800 people, is privately owned by current and former employees.
, Multiple Retail, Independent Retail and Wholesale
. Each is designed to service the specific needs of a broad and varied client base, supplying customers with anything from freshly made sandwiches to shoelaces.
operators. Palmer and Harvey’s customer base includes Esso
, Royal Dutch Shell
, TOTAL
, Welcome Break
, Martin McColl (MMRG), Moto
and Blockbuster; the key grocery multiples Tesco
, Sainsbury’s, and Makro
(through the PalMak purchasing joint venture); and also handles distribution on behalf of blue chip manufacturers such as Nestle
, McVitie’s and GSK
.
, Mace Express, Your Store and Supershop; the Plus Extra drop shipment scheme, providing direct-to-store access for a range of more than 60,000 product lines; and dedicated retail support through an alliance with PCMS, providing IT solutions and EPoS
systems to retailers.
Multiples
Multiples is an album by electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman, released in 2005 on the Kranky label. The album was recorded at Harvard University where Whitman was lecturing at the time, and uses the university's supply of vintage synthesizers and other electronic instruments.-Track...
, convenience
Convenience
Convenience is anything that is intended to save resources or frustration. A convenience store at a petrol station, for example, sells items that have nothing to do with gasoline/petrol, but it saves the consumer from having to go to a grocery store."Convenience" is a very relative term and its...
, forecourt
Forecourt
In architecture a forecourt is an open area in front of a structure's entrance.In archaeology, forecourt is the name given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb...
and CTN sectors.
Headquartered in Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, it is the UK's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
largest delivered wholesaler, and the 4th biggest private company in the UK. It has an annual turnover of £4.3 billion and an integrated national distribution network across 13 sites in the UK. The company was originally founded in 1925 as a traditional confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
wholesaler. Today, Palmer and Harvey is the UK’s largest wholesaler working with a diverse range of 63,600 retailers. Palmer and Harvey, which employs 3,800 people, is privately owned by current and former employees.
Key Facts & Figures
- Palmer and Harvey is the UK’s largest delivered wholesaler
- And the 4th biggest private company in the UK
- Making 48,000 deliveries per week
- Delivering to every postcode, every day
- Deploying a fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles
- Operating from 13 distribution sites
Business Divisions
Palmer and Harvey has four distinctive business platforms – DistributionDistribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
, Multiple Retail, Independent Retail and Wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
. Each is designed to service the specific needs of a broad and varied client base, supplying customers with anything from freshly made sandwiches to shoelaces.
Palmer and Harvey Wholesale and Distribution
Palmer and Harvey Wholesale and Distribution is the UK's largest wholesale distributor, supplying ambient, grocery, chilled and frozen foods, health and home products to a diverse range of retail outlets, including supermarkets, multiple forecourts and convenience storeConvenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
operators. Palmer and Harvey’s customer base includes Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
, Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, TOTAL
Total
-Mathematics:*Total, the summation of a set of numbers* Total function, a type of partial function in mathematics* Total order, a common total relation in mathematics* Total relation, a type of binary relation in mathematics-Business and enterprise:...
, Welcome Break
Welcome Break
Welcome Break is a company which operates thirty-five motorway service stations in the UK. It is the second largest motorway service area operator behind Moto.-History:...
, Martin McColl (MMRG), Moto
Moto
Moto or MOTO may refer to:* Moto , a restaurant in Chicago known for its "high-tech" food* Motorola, the American multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois* Motorola MOTO, a mobile phone...
and Blockbuster; the key grocery multiples Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, Sainsbury’s, and Makro
Makro
Makro is a Dutch chain of Warehouse clubs, also called cash and carries. The first one opened in 1968 in Amsterdam. In the following years more stores opened in the Netherlands and in several other countries within Europe. In the 1970s and 1980s Makro extended its business to the Americas and...
(through the PalMak purchasing joint venture); and also handles distribution on behalf of blue chip manufacturers such as Nestle
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
, McVitie’s and GSK
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
.
Palmer and Harvey Retail Services
Palmer and Harvey Retail Services is a portfolio of the four established symbol group packages - MaceMace (store)
Mace is a convenience store symbol group operated in the UK and Ireland. The stores are independently owned and join the group, paying a fee for marketing and branding support and purchasing their stock from the brand owner. -Great Britain:...
, Mace Express, Your Store and Supershop; the Plus Extra drop shipment scheme, providing direct-to-store access for a range of more than 60,000 product lines; and dedicated retail support through an alliance with PCMS, providing IT solutions and EPoS
Epos
Epos or EPOS may refer to:* Electronic Point of Sale, technology which enables an efficient recording of the sale of goods or services to the customer* An epic poem, see epic poetry* Epos , a floating library in Norway...
systems to retailers.
Palmer and Harvey Direct Ltd
Palmer and Harvey Direct Ltd offers more than 25,000 smaller retailers an opportunity to buy from a range of products through the direct to door van delivery services P&H Snacksdirect and P&H Sweetdirect.Company History
Palmer and Harvey underwent management buy outs in 2002 and 2008, the latter led by Chief Executive Chris Etherington in a deal which valued the business at £330m. The equity of Palmer and Harvey is held by current and former employees, a fundamental cornerstone that underpins the company’s culture and structure and has been instrumental in growing turnover to more than £4.23 billion in 2009.Company Timeline
- 2010 - P&H announces record sales of £4.2bn, with a profit of £227,000. CEO Chris Etherington commented on the firms 2010 performance "The market has been much more competitive....People have been giving their margins away."
- 2009 - P&H Launches Sweetdirect, a direct to store van sales operation selling products from Perfetti Van Melle, Tangerine Confectionery, Weetabix, Reckitt Benkiser Medicines (and later Lindt and Bon Bon Buddies).
- 2008 - P&H reaches £4bn in turnover; a third management buyout is completed, lead by current chief executive, Chris Etherington. The deal, valuing the business at £330m, offers 50% of shares to management and employees
- 2008 - P&H acquires Leeds-based delivered wholesaler WH & HM Young, a member of the Key Lekkerland Group, with sales of £112m and launches its new Partnership Plus initiative to provide a tailored business growth package to independent and symbol group retailers
- 2007 - P&H acquires West Country delivered wholesaler T&A Symonds, a member of the Key Lekkerland Group
- 2006 - P&H wins the supply contract for the CTN chain Northcliffe Retail (supplying 66 company-owned stores and 250 retail partner stores) worth 75m a year; Chris Etherington is appointed as Chief Executive, joining P&H from motor parts wholesaler, Unipart Automotive
- 2005 - P&H acquires franchise for the MaceMace (store)Mace is a convenience store symbol group operated in the UK and Ireland. The stores are independently owned and join the group, paying a fee for marketing and branding support and purchasing their stock from the brand owner. -Great Britain:...
symbol group in Scotland from SomerfieldSomerfieldSomerfield was a chain of small to medium sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth largest food retailer. The name is currently being phased out and replaced by the...
, previously operated by Aberness Foods - 2002 –P&H unveils its new look to Mace stores under the 21st century Mace design and undergoes a second management buyout
- 2001 - P&H acquires a 200000 sq ft (18,580.6 m²) depot in CrawleyCrawleyCrawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, begins supplying to Sainsbury's petrol filling stations and secures a long term distribution with ShellRoyal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
UK Ltd to supply core and noncore food ranges - 2000 - P&H purchases YP Electronics, a specialist retail solutions business, acquires Snacksdirect from KP McVities and successfully acquires supplier status to 85 EssoEssoEsso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
forecourts - 1999 - P&H sells theSelect and Save brand name to Larnheath Ltd and acquires Booker Wholesale Foods from Booker plc. The symbol groups Mace and Select and Save are included in this sale, giving P&H control of the symbol group in England and Wales
- 1999 - P&H sign a long term distribution contract with TM Retail Group and Snowking Foods is merged with the ambient arm of P&H business, supported by a 190000 sq ft (17,651.6 m²) multi-temperature depot in CoventryCoventryCoventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
- 1998 - P&H launches Your Store to complement the Supershop symbol group. The Supershop fascia is also reinvigorated, leading to a rise in symbol group members
- 1998 - Pro Retail, P&H's annual trade show, is launched and P&H acquires Winerite, a BWS wholesaler in YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
running 650 BWS product lines - 1995 - Mojo Cash & Carry and frozen food distributor Snowking Foods are acquired by P&H. Warehouse and fleet size are both increased
- 1994 – P&H acquires McLaneMcLane CompanyMcLane is a $28 billion supply chain services company, providing grocery and foodservice supply chain solutions for thousands of convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and military locations, as well as thousands of chain restaurants throughout the United States. McLane is a wholly owned...
, the UK offshoot of the mammoth US business - 1988 – Sir Don Gosling quits after his divorce, but returns after a management buyout
- 1959 - Sir Don Gosling becomes a director after he marries Shauna Ingram, a member of the family which owns Palmer & Harvey
- 1925 – Palmer and Harvey is founded by Archie Stone who buys two wholesale businesses from a Mr Palmer and a Mr Harvey in North London and merges them into one.