Unitas sets out its 2026 plans to 'Think Bigger, Win Together'

UK wholesale buying group Unitas has shared its strategic direction for 2026, at its annual senior supplier event in London.

At the Unitas Supplier Partner Directors’ Luncheon held late last month, David Cooke took to the stage for the first time as Unitas chief operating officer, where he shared the group’s strategic direction for the year ahead.

With the theme ’Think Bigger, Win Together’, Cooke shared a key message with more than 110 of the UK’s most senior food and drink suppliers. He said: “Unitas is the UK’s largest buying group, and while scale matters, performance matters even more. This is why we’re choosing to focus on what we can genuinely do better together to leverage the scale and power of our group.”

Cooke revealed how Unitas had outperformed the market in both retail and foodservice during 2025, up +2.4% versus market for retail and +11% for hospitality.

Cooke also shared 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.”

He also announced an acceleration of supplier activations across more than 5,000 convenience retail stores across the Unitas membership, and a revamp of both retail club and Plan for Profit, to provide convenience retailers with essential resources to support business growth.

“Our next chapter is about working together in a way that’s simpler, more scalable and commercially effective,” Cooke said.

“Unitas will focus on more scalable programmes with measurable ROI and better execution across members…”

“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’re building the capabilities to win together across distribution, data and retail acceleration.

“This isn’t about being the loudest group, but about being the most effective group to partner with.”

Ben Parker, vice president for commercial off trade at Carlsberg Britvic, said: “Unitas offers us huge access to scale and the ability to execute our plans brilliantly with members and unlock opportunities for growth on our drinks portfolio.”

Hannah Dixon, wholesale, convenience and out of home sales director for Nestlé, added: “Unitas is one of our biggest customers in the UK. With that scale comes visibility and ultimately the investment to support our brands. 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.”

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