Adam Leyland

On top of the 1,000 company-owned, company-operated Morrisons Daily stores, there are now 700 franchise-owned and franchise-operated stores There are almost 22,000 independent convenience stores using one of the UK’s 20-plus symbol fascias and franchise options. And the number is rising. In this week’s fascia & franchise feature report The Grocer’s research shows an extra 826 stores signed up in the past year. That’s not surprising.

What a trip Trip is on. The $300m valuation of the adult soft drinks brand in the latest fundraising is astonishing, and a huge testament to the fantastic job founders Olivia Ferdi and Daniel Khoury are clearly doing. As well as achieving strong growth in the UK (despite Covid) since the brand was founded in 2019, Trip has made great inroads in international markets (despite Brexit), including the US, traditionally a graveyard for many UK fmcg brands (despite Donald Trump’s tariffs).

Sinead Bell and Adele Balmforth – two of the supposed architects of the Co-op’s commercial restructure – have left the business, The Grocer has learned. Chief commercial officer Sinead Bell was appointed last month to lead the Co-op’s newly established independent buying group for all food and goods for resale. One of three business units in the new group commercial and logistics division, it involves a merger of Co-op’s buying teams across retail, wholesale, societies and franchise.