Unitas is to increase supplier activations across the buying group’s membership and revamp both its retail club and Plan for Profit schemes.
Revealed at the Supplier Partner Directors’ Luncheon, chief operating officer David Cooke also explained a raft of new central initiatives planned in partnership with suppliers and members. These include a review of membership categories, product launch partnerships to deliver execution, compliance and transparent return on investment, and a centralised network model built with strategic partners.
In his presentation, Cooke explained how Unitas had outperformed the market in both retail and foodservice during 2025: +2.4% versus market (retail) and +11% versus market (hospitality).He said: “Unitas is the UK’s largest buying group, and while scale matters, performance matters even more. This is why we are choosing to focus on what we can genuinely do better together to leverage the scale and power of our group.”
Read more: Unitas sets out plans to improve services to retailers
“Our next chapter is about working together in a way that’s simpler, more scalable and commercially effective,” he said. “In the coming months Unitas will focus on fewer isolated initiatives and more scalable programmes with measurable ROI and better execution across members with stronger, more consistent activation. We are building the capabilities to win together across distribution, data and retail acceleration.
Ed Merrett, head of Wholesale at PepsiCo attended the event, he said: “Unitas gives us the ability to speak to 125 members across the UK. The resource you’d need to be able to do that effectively without Unitas is astronomical. Working with Unitas provides us with the ability to execute plans right across the estate.”
Meanwhile, Hannah Dixon, wholesale, convenience and out of home Sales Director, added: “At Nestle, Unitas means scale and is one of our biggest customers in the UK. With that scale comes visibility and ultimately the investment to support our brands within the membership. The big message for me is that Unitas is in listening mode, there’s changes coming, and there are nuggets of positivity that we can really leverage by being targeted with our data.”
