FOREWORD Welcome to the Unity Drinks List The past 12 months have been yet again… “Interesting” we have seen huge growth continue in the premium spirits market driven mostly by cocktails which are closing in on a value of £700m in the UK now! The beer market has seen strong growth on Stout (+17%), Premium and Draught Lager (+10%) along with No and Low Beer and Cider (+32%), we expect these trends to continue. Then of course we have wine where we are seeing continued growth in sparkling wine, more of a consumer demand for “out of the ordinary” grape varieties and the underlying need across all drinks categories in value for money – not to be confused with cheap! This year I am very excited to introduce some new products to our range. Starting off with wine, we have refreshed labels and juice on our Italian ranges Il Molo and Casa De Rosa along with our South African range, Bird Island. Our wine buyer Joe Norris has done an exceptional job with these and they have received amazing feedback at our tradeshows and with our customers. We have also brought in some new wines from Marlborough, Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir – these wines are grown so close to the coast line you can literally smell the sea air jumping out of the glass! One of my favourite additions to the wine range this year is a Basedows Barossa Shiraz, the Barossa region do very little wrong when it comes to producing wine but this beauty is absolutely amazing for the price point. Then finally we have introduced a new Rioja range, Conde de Basalu, which we have listed a Joven, Crianza and Reserva all tasting superb! Similar to the wine category we have seen a huge wave of innovation in the spirits and ready to drink category. We have seen the growth in Gin brands start to settle down now and the next few years will be interesting to watch as we see innovation vs heritage battle it out on the back bar. Rum as we have predicted continues to rise, again thanks to the cocktail market growth, we are also starting to see green shoots of growth on the Tequila and Mezcal market therefore we are proud to add Sierra Tequila with a Blanco and Reposado to our range along with Rooster Blanco and Reposado – these are both great brands and so expect to see lots of them in the next 12 months. Ready to drink cocktails are absolutely booming now and whilst we hold the classics like Funkin Nitro cans we have also expanded our range with Liberation cans and Moth Cocktails which both have higher ABVs and are starting to see superb growth across the market. Finally on the Beers and Ciders front as I mentioned above Premium, Stout and No and Low are the heroes in this beast of a category. Our No and Low range has expanded again this year to meet the growth we are seeing, we have also brought on Black Heart Stout from Brewdog which is causing waves across the market along with Guinness 0 which we saw such demand recently that Supermarkets ran out of stock – great liquid again and expect this to feature in many pubs and bars across the UK. I am also very excited about the return of Kronenbourg 1664 which Carlsberg have got hold of in the UK again and will be driving volume on – this includes the return of Kronenbourg Blanc which whilst niche has a very strong following already! Along with our fantastic range and exciting new products we are bringing forward this year, please remember that we offer training, wine lists, bespoke point of sales kits for you and of course all delivered on our amazing Bidfood trucks along with your food and other non-food items. As always thank you for your ongoing support and business and wish you all a strong and successful 2024. Matt Towe Head of Unity Wines, Beers & Spirits Page 1
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