The Griffin Report: Wholesale Market boss on bringing the 'World's Pantry' into the digital age
Birmingham Wholesale Market dates back to 1166 but these days it is focused very much on the future and where it sits in the digital age. JON GRIFFIN looks back and ahead with the markets’ co-director EDDIE PRICE.
It’s been called the World’s Pantry - with hundreds of workers toiling through the night to supply fresh meat, fish, poultry, flowers and vegetables to up to 5,000 independent retailers and restaurants throughout the UK.
Attracting around 13,000 visitors a week to its 18-acre site and supporting around 15,000 jobs in the wider economy, today’s Birmingham Wholesale Market is a £275 million turnover business dating all the way back to 1166, when the Lord of the Manor Peter de Birmingham first obtained a Royal Charter permitting him to hold a market at his castle.
Predating the Industrial Revolution by around 600 years, the Market founded during the reign of Henry the Second is said to have provided the initial impetus for the development of Birmingham as a commercial centre. But, despite nearly 1,000 years of history, the Wholesale Market has rarely hit the headlines in the same way as the likes of Rover, Cadbury, HP Sauce, the Bull Ring – or even Crossroads and Ozzy Osbourne.
Eddie Price, Wholesale Market co-director who knows the recent history as well as anyone after helping galvanize the crucial move from Digbeth to the old IMI site at Witton, says: “I have been doing this for 15 years.
“The average business does not know what goes on here, there are businesses that could use the market but do not know about us. This is the World’s Pantry but hardly anybody knows the real story – it is incredible.
“I would be delighted if members of the Chambers of Commerce would pay us a visit.”
It’s a story that Eddie is happy to share with a general public largely ignorant of the inner workings of the largest integrated wholesale market in the UK, a bustling hive of activity which attracts quality produce from virtually every corner of the globe, from Australia to Asia, Africa to China and the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the market boasts the likes of fish retailers J. Vickerstaff, dating back to 1827, and fruit and vegetable specialists George Perry, founded back in 1870.
And it’s a story which continues to unfold to this day – as the Markets’ directors aim to future-proof an historic commercial enterprise which predated the Magna Carta but now faces 21st century competition from the likes of Amazon and Ocado in the Internet age and 24-hour fast food deliveries.
Eddie has been a key figure in the Wholesale Market story ever since his business advisory firm Technolink saved the then loss-making markets from potential closure by persuading Birmingham City Council to invest in a new site at Witton, opening in October 2018.
“We became aware that they were threatened with closure – the tenants said they were facing a real challenge, can you find a solution? In 2011 we were given the contract to save the market.
“We presented our case to the council – it took us three years of battling and they agreed a multi-million investment to build a new market. We quickly agreed that it should be a joint venture between Birmingham City Council and the tenants.
“Refurbishment of the existing city centre site would not have been economical and the decision was understandably made by the council to create a new site. This was not just a commercial enterprise – the Wholesale Market has a major commitment to the societal benefits of Birmingham.
“Birmingham City Council may be facing a lot of criticism at the moment but I really can’t stress my thanks enough to the council’s previous and current leadership. It is really important that we acknowledge how supportive they have been. And Keith Simpson (Technolink director) took over as chairman of the board several years ago and has made an irreplaceable, unique contribution.”
More than six years on from the launch of the Witton complex, the Market and its 47 tenants across 78 units have continued to write new chapters in their distinguished history by battling through Brexit, Covid, intensifying price wars with budget supermarket chains, supply chain issues following the Ukraine war and other factors.
Now Eddie, the board, general manager Andrew Barnes, the tenants and countless others in the market’s supply chain are eagerly looking to the future for Birmingham’s most historic commercial enterprise.
Says Eddie: “The fresh produce supply chain has been subject to both supply and demand disruption in the last few years. On the supply side, you have got inflation, the climate, the global supply chain with Ukraine, Brexit and Government policy on agricultural land use.
“In recent years the way people purchase meals has been transformed.”
“The supply chain has been severely disrupted but the tenants are brilliant, so resilient and responsive to challenge – these guys are as sharp as city traders. And there has been a big impact on demand – kids all ring up on their app to order food and this is eating away at traditional demand.
“But while the market will always find an equilibrium to survive, we have got to ask the question – how will the market look in the next five years? That is what Technolink are now working and delivering on.”
To that end, Eddie and Technolink are currently drawing up a four-point plan to ensure the Wholesale Market has a thriving role to play in the future economy of Birmingham and the wider UK.
“The important thing is the future – Birmingham City Council has commissioned Technolink to do a report on the future of the market. I have now put a business plan to the council with four specific actions.
“The first thing is we need to bring new tenants into the market which do not compete with existing tenants and add value to visitors. It is no good bringing in another apples company because there is already total demand for that. The existing tenants already meet the total demand.”
“The second thing is we want to increase the footfall and we have devised a social media campaign which has been successful and we need to continue with that. Thirdly, we are working with Cambridge University to investigate whether our digital platform could work for the benefit of tenants, or not.
“Fourthly and most importantly, we are working with the West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker and John Cotton, Birmingham City Council leader, to investigate how the market can be utilized better as a regional asset.”
In an age of instant food and 24-hour takeaway deliveries, Eddie firmly believes Birmingham Wholesale Market has a vital role to play in preserving a tradition of quality service and fresh produce which has stood the test of time for centuries.
“You think of somebody who is trying to build up a distribution service for fresh produce. Where better to locate than having a couple of units here? That is where it is important we look to the future, recognise the threats and develop a plan to respond to those threats.
“The global supply chain is moving away from the UK but having come 15 years with this, we are not going to see it fail now, are we?”
This article first appeared in the September 2024 edition of Chamberlink magazine.
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