BWG Foods

For the airline with OACI code BWG, see Blue Wings.

For the airport with the IATA code BWG in Bowling Green, Kentucky, see Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.

BWG Foods Ltd is an Irish wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator.

BWG is the second largest wholesaler in Ireland in terms of sales, after Musgrave Group, with sales of over €1.7 billion annually. It is owned by Leo Crawford, John O'Donnell and John Clohessy.

SPAR

It is the master franchise operator for the SPAR, SPAR Express and EUROSPAR brands in Ireland, with approximately 450 Spar stores . Spar Ireland reported €1.67 billion in retail sales in 2007. In the south-west of England BWG also own Appleby Westward Foods. This is a small regional SPAR wholesaler based in Saltash, Cornwall. In Ireland Spar operates in-store franchises for Tim Hortons coffee, Kitsu noodles and Treehouse smoothies among others.

MACE

BWG holds the master franchise for the Mace chain in Ireland. Maxol and Mace also have an exclusive deal that sees every Maxol owned forecourt shop branded Mace. There are approximately 220 Mace stores in Ireland.

Newhill, BWG's retail subsidiary owns 150 stores which are leased/rented to operators for an agreed percentage of turnover.

BWG operates distribution centres for their Spar and Mace stores in Walkinstown, Dublin and Limerick. In Sept 2010 they announced the closure of their warehouse in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, with the business transferring into Dublin.

BWG Foodservice

BWG Foodservice is a division which offers a full frozen/chill/ambient range aimed at the foodservice channel. The business was born from the purchase of Tolan foodservice and the main depot is still at the same site in Galway. In 2008 BWG opened a second foodservice site on the North Road in Dublin. Both sites now also operate as Value Centre's during the day, with foodservice picking taking place after 4:30pm.

Value Centre

BWG also owns Ireland's largest Cash & Carry chain, Value Centre. They have branches in Listowel, Killarney, Cork, Clonmel, Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Nenagh, Limerick, Ennis, Galway, Castlebar, Sligo, Letterkenny, Cavan, Monaghan, Carrickmacross, Dundalk, Drogheda, Mullingar, Wicklow and North Road, Dublin.

In 2008 BWG bought Mangan Bros Ltd a wholesaler based in Ennis, County Clare. Mangans owned 8 Cash & Carrys as well as the Mace brand west of the river Shannon. Since then BWG have been merging branches where overlaps occurred. Some Mangans sites are yet to be branded Value Centre. Value Centre offer XL Stop & Shop to its Value Centre customers as a franchise option. It is a cost effective way for retailers who are not suited to a full brand offering like Spar to get the benefits of brand membership.

History

BWG was owned by Pernod Ricard until 2002 who had acquired the business as part of Irish Distillers, and was not core to their plans. BWG was sold via a management buyout financed by Electra Partners Europe for 220m euro. The current owners bought out Electra in 2006 through a vehicle called Triode, with a value of 390m euro placed on the firm.

BWG also owned an off-licence chain in the United Kingdom, Bargain Booze, but this was sold in 2004. It also previously owned Bellevue cash & carry in Edinburgh.

It formerly also held the Northern Ireland franchise for Mace, but in December 2003 sold its subsidiary, J&J Haslett, via a management buy out. Musgrave Group has since bought J&J Haslett.

See also

• List of Irish companies

External links

• Official Website
• SPAR Ireland
• MACE Ireland
• XL Stop & Shop
• Value Centre