Booker has announced price freezes on 450 foodservice lines to support caterers with the rising cost of doing business.
The wholesaler will lock prices on popular products such as premium frozen chips from 5 October until 3 January, providing price certainty over the Christmas period.
The move echoes that of parent company Tesco, which this week announced it had locked over 1,000 lines for the same period as part of it Low Everyday Prices initiative.
Booker supported customers similarly in April, freezing prices on 250 catering lines in the run-up to Easter.
Tesco’s interim results, published this week, showed Booker sales jumped 13.9% on a like-for-like basis in the first half of the year to £4.4bn.
Booker said much of this growth was driven by a sharp rise in catering demand, with like-for-likes up 35.5% to £1.83bn. The period lapped the early months of 2021 when the hospitality sector was still subject to a number of Covid restrictions.
The wholesaler’s retail sales grew by 6.7% over the same period, with tobacco seeing a decline of 3.7%.
Whilst there was some increase in volume, the wholesaler admitted high levels of inflation, particularly in fresh food, had contributed to the larger sales figures.
However, calculated over a three-year period, sales growth was still strong in retail and catering, increasing by 22.2% and 21.3% respectively.
“Booker preformed very strongly because it is the best quality and best for value wholesaler in the market,” said Tesco CEO Ken Murphy.
No comments yet