Ooberstock, the new drinks wholesale business chaired by former Enterprise Inns managing director Colin Pedrick, plans to expand to 6,500-7,000 retail customers as it announces the list of suppliers that have signed up to the service.
The company said 4.500 retailers have registered their interest and 150 have begun using it in its first week of trading last week.
Heineken UK, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Britvic, Budweiser Budvar, Red Bull, SHS Sales & Marketing, Highland Spring and Wells & Youngs are among the suppliers that have signed up, with the Society of Independent Brewers and Bibendum among those expected to join in June.
Under Ooberstock’s system, drinks producers upload product information to an online portal and retailers pay the net price from the supplier plus a transaction fee and delivery charge. The main services have been outsourced to logistics firm Kuehne + Nagel, credit management provider BCW Group and iTradeNetwork, which will provide IT management services.
The aim is to reach a £12m turnover within three years, with EBIT of £3m. Managing director Arran Heal, who has held senior marketing positions at Coca Cola Enterprises and Cobra Beer, said it aimed to have between 6,500 and 7,000 retail customers.
Heal said the focus is independent operators and he said he’s had “numerous” discussions with multiple groups, including some well-known firms. Single-site operators are also being targeted. Overall the company plans to target a further 70,000 venues through a marketing campaign in the coming weeks.
Ooberstock hopes to branch out to dry products such as snacks, probably in the third quarter of this year. “The business has to get to a level of stability, to prove itself, but those are my ambitions,” said Heal.
Around £2m has been raised from investors for the launch of Ooberstock. Heal said around half of that was from investors in the hospitality industry.
