As a wholesaler with cash to spare and CEO Charles Wilson at the helm, C&C giant Booker could have comfortably acquired many of its Big 30 rivals.

Instead, in October, it snapped up two speciality fine food supplier Ritter-Courivaud, supplier of choice to Rick Stein's restaurants, for £14.5m, and on-trade wholesaler Classic Drinks for £4m.

"We had a meeting with our restaurant and catering customers and they told us the best supplier was Ritter-Courivaud," says Booker CEO Charles Wilson. "We went to visit them and were so impressed."

Classic Drinks is a "good regional player" and will allow Booker to deliver kegs to pub customers. Since October, it's been business as usual for the two companies. Both have continued to operate under the existing management and brands as part of Booker Direct, Booker's delivered wholesale business, and are "performing in line with expectations".

But, naturally, tongues are wagging on which wholesalers could be next on Wilson's list. There is no shortage of quality businesses below the Big 30 radar. Many smaller stalwarts have fallen off the bottom of our ranking as we widen the net, but are still going great guns. Take Wing Yip. The Oriental food wholesaler boasted pre-tax profits up 19.2% to £6.2m in 2010, with sales up 1.34% to £98.4m.

And Landmark Wholesale member BA Cash & Carry missed out on a ranking despite increasing profits by 63% to £460,000 and sales by 7% to £99m. Sert-MST is also one to watch. The toiletries wholesaler upped its sales by 10% last year to £115.4m but has predicted turnover growth of £85m over the next 18 months as it moves into licensed goods.

"Licensing is a major growth area, offering huge potential for our business," says MD Sabir Tayub. Other players just below the Big 30 include Rayburn Trading Company, a toiletries, cosmetics and household goods wholesaler that has upped sales by 29.47%, and delivered wholesaler and Landmark member Sun Mark, with sales up 45.35%.

Topics