Buzz Bars' Wetherspoon milestone

Booker has reached its target of trading with as many Buzz Bars — which let freetrade licensees compete on drinks prices with major managed operators — as there are JD Wetherspoon pubs.

Currently 800 pubs have been converted to the Buzz Bar format, the food and drink wholesaler revealed. Under the scheme, free-of-tie operators sell discounted drinks brands at prices set by Booker, while still maintaining a minimum GP per product.

Meanwhile, the company revealed it sold 18.3 million pints to on-trade customers in the 52 weeks to 25 March, up from 14.8 million the previous year.

Current Buzz Bar deals on offer include bottles of Carlsberg for £1, bottles of Magners for £2.50 and Smirnoff & Coke for £2. "The concept has been received really well," said Ron Hickey, sales director for Booker's catering division. "Some of the deals represent really great value, but are still making the pubs good margins."

Despite reaching the milestone, Booker chief executive Charles Wilson said the company has no particular target in terms of numbers for the Buzz estate, but will look to roll out the concept where it's appropriate.

Hickey described Booker's on-trade business as "buoyant". He said Booker has benefitted from operating seven days a week for collections and deliveries.

Booker currently supplies 55,000 licensed premises in the UK, including about 38,000 pubs, along with 3,000 customers from drinks wholesaler Classic that it bought from Halewood for £3.7m in 2010.

Wilson said Booker is "a meaningful supplier, but we think we can do an awful lot better," though he said it's aims are improving customer service rather than having more on-trade customers.