BWG Foods
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BWG Foods Unlimited Company[1] is a wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator in Ireland, owned by SPAR South Africa.[2]
BWG is the second largest wholesaler in Ireland in terms of sales, after Musgrave Group, with sales of over €1.7 billion annually.[3][4] It used to be owned by a consortium run by Leo Crawford, John O'Donnell and John Clohessy. In 2015, SPAR's franchise in South Africa acquired an 80% stake in BWG for €55 million, in 2021 they gained full ownership of BWG.[5] The company head office is based in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland.[6]
EDL, a wholesale buying group applied to SPAR to operate the symbol in the Republic of Ireland. SPAR rejected this offer citing inadequate warehousing facilities and that the group had too many members in order to operate the symbol efficiently.
In 1963 a group of wholesalers broke from EDL and formed a consortium, P. Barrett and Sons Ltd, D. Tyndall and Sons Ltd of Dublin and McNulty and O'Reilly Ltd of Bray merged to form Amalgamated Wholesalers Ltd (AWL), Maurice P. Daly Ltd and The Jamaica Banana of Cork merged to form Munster United Merchants Ltd (MUM), and Messrs Looney and Co. Ltd of Limerick, these firms organised the Spar franchise based on the provinces of Leinster, Munster & Connaught. In 1966, a fourth wholesaler, Western Wholesale, joined the consortium securing a National spread for the Spar business.
in 1973, the Brooks-Watson Group (BWG) was formed through the later merger of the 4 SPAR wholesalers in the Republic of Ireland. In 1984 BWG was sold to Irish Distillers.[7]
In 2000, BWG purchased the Mace franchise area in Munster owned by Vantage Wholesale, merging it with its existing franchise area in Leinster.[8]
As of 2002, BWG was owned by Pernod Ricard who had acquired the business as part of Irish Distillers, but offered it for sale as it was not core to their business.[9] BWG was sold via a management buyout financed by Electra Partners Europe for 220m euro.[10] The current owners bought out Electra in 2006 through a vehicle called Triode, with a value of 390m euro placed on the firm.[11][12]
BWG bought Tolan's Foodservice based in Galway in July 2003,[13][14] and renamed it "BWG Foodservice". Also in 2003, BWG sold its Bellevue cash & carry's in Edinburgh and Stirling, Scotland in October, 5 years after buying it.[15] The Northern Ireland subsidiary J&J Haslett, which held the franchise for Mace was sold in December 2003 via a management buy out.[16][17] (Musgrave Group subsequently bought J&J Haslett).[citation needed] The Bargain Booze off-licence chain in the United Kingdom was sold in 2004.[18]
In 2008, BWG bought Mangan Bros Ltd a wholesaler based in Ennis, County Clare. With this purchase BWG took control of Mace franchise throughout Ireland. The business consisted of 8 cash and carries in the West of Ireland, and a distribution centre in Collooney in County Sligo supplying Mace stores.[19][20][21] BWG promptly closed the Collooney centre and integrated it into their Ballyshannon facility.[22] Seven Cash & Carry closures follow due to location overlaps and duplication, and all sites are now branded Value Centre.
As of September 2010, the company announced the closure of their warehouse in Ballyshannon, County Donegal,[23] with the business transferring into the centre at Walkinstown, Dublin.
In May 2012 BWG acquired Morris Bros of Convoy Donegal. Morris Bros operate a Distribution Centre that supply Gala stores and independent retailers in the north west of Ireland.[24] In June 2012 a new ambient Distribution Centre opened in Kilcarberry, Dublin with the aim of consolidating distribution of ambient goods to all Spar and Mace stores under one roof, including its bonded warehouse. The new 240,000 sq ft centre resulted in the closure of the existing centres in Limerick and Walkinstown, and was expected to handle 26 million cases per year.[25][26] BWG announced a partnership with Donnellys Fruit & Veg in August 2012. This saw a new separate distribution centre for chilled foods set up in Kilshane Cross, Dublin. The centre distributed fruit & veg, meats and other chilled products to all BWG's franchise stores nationwide. It affected BWG's Central billing business as a result.[citation needed]
in 2018 BWG Bought Midlands Wholesaler, 4 Aces Wholesale, with cash & carry outlets located in Portlaoise, Clonmel & Navan. a condition of sale was that BWG Foods was to become a member of the Gala Retail Wholesale Network. The sale was subject to approval by the Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), with a number of binding conditions, resulting to the 4 Aces Cash & Carry Network being run separately to BWG's Existing Value Centre Business.
This acquisition was followed by further acquisitions of Gala Wholesale Members, Cox's Cash & Carry & Mccarricks Bros in 2022 and Tuffys Wholesale in 2023.