Foodservice giant Brakes has picked up new business worth £150m since the start of the year.

Around £50m of the new contracts were previously served by DBC, which entered administration in March. Brakes spent £300,000 to acquire the rights to continue to serve £100m of DBC’s business but decided that half the contracts, including SSP and Selecta, were not economically sustainable.

The largest former DBC contract it has held on to is an £8m deal to supply frozen, chilled and ambient food products to Barracuda pubs.

“We are really pleased with the speed and efficiency of the transfer of our biggest food contract to Brakes,” said Barracuda head of food Kate Eastwood. “We are even more delighted with the service levels since our move to Brakes.”

The remaining £100m of new business comes from contracts with coffee Republic, Akkeron Hotels, Scotland Excel, The Restaurant Group and OCS Group.

“After a thorough search process, including taste tests with a group of our chefs and several depot visits to assess quality throughout the delivery function, Brakes has outperformed others and were also competitive on price without compromise,” said OCS director of catering Mark Nelson.

Food quality and service levels had helped Brakes pick up new business, said chief operating officer Ian Goldsmith. “We are constantly evolving as we seek to add value to our customers’ businesses,” he added. “Our ethos is to deliver great food, backed by best-in-class logistics and excellent customer service, all with the reassurance of our market-leading Corporate, Social & environmental Responsibility (CSER) policy.”

Brakes is number three in The Grocer’s ranking of the UK’s Big 30 wholesalers, with sales of £2.5bn last year.

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