Kitwave Wholesale Group expands convenience offering with acquisition of Chilled operator

North Tyneside based wholesaler Kitwave has continued its expansion plans with an investment in Central Supplies one of the UK’s largest independent chilled product wholesalers.

Central Supplies, based near Birmingham, which has a turnover of around £50m, is a highly respected wholesale supplier of chilled products to the retail and wholesale sectors. They operate across the UK from 2 depots and offer a wide range of products such as cheese, yoghurt, cold meats and a whole lot more.

The purchase of the West Midlands based company, for an undisclosed fee, will provide Kitwave with a wide chilled offering to sit alongside its industry leading frozen operations provided by Eden Hulleys.

Ben Maxted, Kitwave head of Frozen & Chilled operations, will join the board of Central Supplies alongside the existing board members David Packham and Sean Trow. Ben said: “We’re very pleased to complete the investment in Central Supplies. The business has a proud history of providing a quality delivered solution to its customers and this ethos is a key part of the Kitwave Group. Central supplies will continue to run as an independent business, as do all of the Kitwave Group businesses and we look forward to building the operations further with its loyal employees, customers and strong supplier relationships. Sitting alongside our nationwide frozen operations the addition of this chilled product offering will create exciting opportunities for the group.”

David Packham, Managing Director of Central Supplies said: “This investment from Kitwave Group will provide a great platform for the next level of growth in the business. The senior management and staff at Central Supplies are really looking forward to working closely with the Kitwave team over the coming years to execute our plans and to continue to drive our service quality across the wholesale sector.”

Kitwave, founded by CEO Paul Young, in 1988, has transformed itself from a regional confectionery based business to a diversified, national wholesaler through a number of acquisitions since 2011. The group has built a reputation for excellence in service quality, product availability and customer relationship and has a strong foundation for the future. As well as now having nationwide delivery capability, the group has expanded to offer frozen, ambient and own label products to the independent retail, vending and food service sectors.

The acquisition was supported by new finance facilities made available by Barclays Bank and Yorkshire Bank. Kitwave were supported on the transaction by Muckle LLP and KPMG on the acquisition in providing legal and due diligence services.