In January this year fine food distributor RH Amar announced it would part company with the UK's leading olive oil brand Filippo Berio at the end of September, signalling the end of a successful 25-year partnership.

That the brand accounts for 20% of all olive oil consumed in the UK, with sales of £20m, all of which passes through RH Amar's 14,000 sq ft warehouse in High Wycombe, will make its departure from the business very conspicuous. More significant, however, is the fact that its sales also account for almost half of RH Amar's turnover. As break-ups go, this is a big deal.

Yet David Mellor, RH Amar CEO, won't be crying into his hankie any time soon, he insists. The decision to split with the olive oil brand was mutual, he says, after both sides failed to agree terms for a new contract. "We have had a lot of success with Filippo Berio but after a review by both parties of the distribution, marketing and sales functions we decided that we would end the agreement when the company's partnership expires in September."

The break-up may well have been amicable, but RH Amar looks the more injured party. The company has recorded an impressive increase in turnover over the past few years, up from £29m in 2005 to £55m this year, helped by growth in the market for speciality foods, new contracts and the creation of its own brand of olives - Cooks & Co. But with Filippo Berio out of the picture turnover will return to 2005 levels. So why the move?

"It is a matter of profit rather than turnover," says Mellor. "Filippo Berio is much bigger for us in terms of turnover than profit. It's one thing losing turnover and quite another losing profit."

According to its most recent accounts, RH Amar made a pre-tax profit of £550,000 on a turnover of £36m for the year ended 30 September 2006, a profit margin of 1.5%. While Mellor won't speculate on how its margins may change post September, he is confident the business will remain strong. "If losing turnover had been a concern we wouldn't have ended the partnership," he adds.

What he is concerned about is finding business to fill the hole that will be left by Berio's departure, although he says he won't be rushing out for another olive oil brand. Instead the company will play to its strengths by helping smaller brands gain a foothold in the grocery market.

Alongside Filippo Berio, RH Amar distributes about 850 lines, including Chinese sauce brand Wing Yip, the Walkerswood range of Caribbean sauces, Crespo olives and pickles, the Mispol Polish food brand, Simply Delicious dressings and sauces and Peppadew peppers. It is up-and-coming brands such as these that RH Amar will focus on more heavily in the future.

Mellor isn't hanging around, either. The company recently secured the rights to distribute the Pizza Express range of salad dressings and last month won the contract to sell the Nando's, Wagamama and Cranks food brands into the independent, wholesale and cash & carry sectors. From the start of this month it is also distributing a newly launched range of Budweiser and Jack Daniel's BBQ sauces into the multiples and next month it will distribute the new Jamie Oliver-branded range of products to the independents.

"The Budweiser and Jamie Oliver contracts are a real coup for us," he says. "We wouldn't be attracting the likes of Nando's, Wagamama and Jamie Oliver if people didn't have confidence in our ability to develop their brands. We are not short of things to do."

These are bold words, but Mellor's strong sales background means he is more than up for the challenge and happy to get his hands dirty. Despite having held the post of CEO for seven years he still gets involved with marketing and NPD as well as sales. He even still looks after the Waitrose account, a throwback to his days as sales director at the company. The account grew 60% last year, he says proudly. "As chief executive I set all the targets but I don't believe you can do that unless you are in the sales environment as well. When I set targets I make sure that mine is the highest percentage increase of any, so no-one can say their targets can't be done. My philosophy is that if you can't do it yourself you shouldn't ask somebody else to do it."

But if the sales department is surprised to have the CEO as a peer, Mellor is also known within his company for his uncanny ability to spot the next trends before anyone else. During his 20 years at the company RH Amar has successfully capitalised on the boom for olives in the early 1990s, for Polish food a few years ago, and last year's rise in popularity of speciality cooking oils. He is personally responsible for bringing the Cardini brand, the original Caesar salad dressing, to the UK market after spotting it at an exhibition in the US, as well as products that are now commonplace on retail shelves, such as satay sauce.

"RH Amar is about finding new products and trends," he says, "but the overriding fact is they have to be authentic foods, the type the consumer will eat in the countries they come from. We don't want products that are chichi, invented by marketing people. What we are looking to do is bring in special products that have a real raison d'être and can grow into something meaningful."

Next on Mellor's hit list is French food, which he believes is massively undervalued in UK retail despite its huge popularity in restaurants. At the end of last year it launched a number of lines under its new Maison Rivière brand and this year it will swell the range to 15 to include terrines, duck fat and traditional ready meals such as pork belly with sausage and lentils.

"Why would you miss a country that is renowned for its cuisine? Lots of small companies have brought bits and pieces of French food in but nobody has brought in a cohesive range. We want to make real French cuisine accessible to the UK consumer. A lot of people holiday in France and this will create the bedrock for a market that will snowball. "

As well as exploring new markets Mellor is also keen to look at different avenues for the company. In a first for the company, in January it bought a minority stake in salad dressings and sauces brand Mary Berry & Daughter, which it has been working with since 2006. The move will help grow the brand, says Mellor. "This is first time we've got that close to a company. What we'd like to do is help run the business the way we know it."

Whether this will open the door to similar ventures with other companies, he won't say, but he isn't ruling it out. Mellor is aware that investing in a sauces and dressings business may cause conflict with clients that run businesses of the same ilk.

However, Mary Berry & Daughter is not big enough to present a problem, he argues. "We don't know what opportunities will arise in the future but we won't take on products that conflict with ones already in our portfolio."

This is the essence of RH Amar. It may take a punt on whether the UK appetite next turns to Dutch, Vietnamese or Turkish foods, for example, or whether consumers will rekindle a love for fondue, but it is more restrained in terms of growing the business. "We are a very conservative company, we don't speculate to accumulate," says Mellor. "We have a good year of growth and then we invest in the business the next."

The Filippo Berio contract is up on 30 September but Mellor insists that date won't become significant in the company's history. "We will continue to have success with the brands we sell. It will be just another day for us." nsnapshot

Name David Mellor

Age 55

Education Studied law at Liverpool College of Commerce

Career to date Worked in a bank before making the switch to sales. Previous jobs include working at Dairy Produce Packers, when it was a subsidiary of RHM, and for Italian tomato brand Cirio. Joined RH Amar in 1987 as sales director after seeing the job advertised in The Grocer. Was made CEO in 1996

What's the strangest product you've been sent? Most recently it has been olives in syrup. They were actually quite interesting but whether the UK consumer is ready for a sweet olive is another matter

What product have you bought that wouldn't sell? US cream spread Marshmallow Fluff. About 12 years ago I ordered a number of pallets and ended up desperately trying to get rid of it

What do you do in your spare time? Reading, golf and collecting Bordeaux wines. I'm interested in finding wines that are fantastic but which no one's ever heard of. I also collect late 18th-century salt cellars

What's your pet hate? Probably email. I hate asking someone if they have done a job and them saying that they have sent the person an email and that they haven't replied yet. What's wrong with picking up the phone?