29 August 2024 - METRO has today acquired UK-based food service delivery specialist Caterite Food & Wineservice. Caterite supplies to over 2,000 HoReCa customers in the premium and masstige segments, offering a mix of locally and internationally sourced food, complemented with value-added products from its own processing and production facilities. With Caterite’s regional focus on the tourist-rich Lake District and adjacent regions, the acquisition will help METRO expand its FSD activities to the northern parts of the UK, thereby accelerating the nationwide expansion.
Guillaume Deruyter, Member of the Management Board of METRO AG and responsible for the FSD businesses, explains: "We are delighted to welcome the successful food service specialist Caterite as another member of our international FSD family. In addition to their strong local roots, the employees and management also bring a high level of expertise in the delivery business, and we warmly welcome them! METRO sees the acquisition as an opportunity to grow in the attractive UK HoReCa market and to create synergies with Classic Fine Foods UK. This brings us closer to our strategic goal of successively expanding the share of delivery in total sales."
Caterite serves its customers through its main brands Caterite and Grapevine. Offering a wide range of fresh and frozen food, groceries, value-added products (Caterite brand) as well as beverages (Grapevine brand), the company’s clear emphasis is on fresh produce and meat. Key customer segments include hotels, restaurants, bars and cafés, which are supplied from 3 sites with a fleet of 70 multi-temperature trucks. 60% of sales are processed via the company’s web-shop, offering a high level of personalized customer service.
Within METRO, Caterite will complement activities of FSD specialist Classic Fine Foods UK, which supplies premium customers primarily in the greater London area, South West and central parts of the UK, creating cross selling opportunities across companies. Caterite will initially continue to operate under the established brands and in its existing form, seeking synergetic collaboration with CFF UK in areas such as assortment, sourcing, knowledge transfer and logistic network.
METRO has acquired and successfully integrated various FSD specialists in recent years. In 2015, METRO acquired Classic Fine Foods Group, a food service specialist with presence across Asia, Middle East and the UK. In 2016, METRO extended its FSD portfolio with the acquisition of Rungis Express (today’s R Express), a specialist FSD company with focus on the DACH region. In 2017 METRO took over Pro à Pro, a leading FSD player in the French market with focus on institutional customers. In October 2020, METRO acquired Aviludo Group, the second-largest food delivery company in Portugal with more than 13,500 HoReCa customers. At the end of 2020, METRO acquired Davigel Spain (later rebranded to Pro a Pro Spain), a Spanish FSD company with a strong presence in the Balearic and Canary Islands. In September 2021, C&C Abholgroßmärkte GmbH (AGM) including its delivery business was taken over by METRO in Austria. In May 2023, METRO acquired FSD specialist Johan i Hallen & Bergfalk (JHB), the leading Swedish delivery specialist for meat, fish and seafood with more than 4,000 HoReCa customers in the metropolitan regions of Sweden and Finland.
