Food purchasing and food trading

We serve around 125 million meals a year, so our supply chain is complex. Our priority is to source food products of the right quality at the right price, where the quantity that we need can be guaranteed.

All our growers are required to meet the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group's standard of good agricultural practice, known as the EurepGAP standard. This is an integrated agricultural assurance standard and covers food safety, occupational health and safety, environmental protection, bio diversity and animal welfare.

We believe that getting closer to our growers is important. We want to work with our suppliers to develop greater transparency and better forecasting, to help us respond more quickly to market trends and shorten supply chains. We aim to build strong, collaborative partnerships, where each can benefit and prosper from the relationship.

Technology

Like many companies, we use a combination of outsourced and in-house capability to meet our IT requirements. This allows us to draw on our know-how to deliver our plans, but also to use third party expertise, which keeps us competitive and helps us stay at the forefront of technology.

We work with suppliers across the IT spectrum. What we value most is the ability to react quickly to new demands. So we partner with suppliers who have the scale and flexibility to respond immediately to new challenges and who have proven experience that helps us respond to the ever-changing pressures and opportunities of the retail industry.

Corporate Procurement

Our Corporate Procurement team develops products and services that help our brands  deliver the best possible financial returns. The department is structured into specialist functions. All of them make the most of the economies of scale across the whole Company. Their sourcing and procurement responsibilities cover Utilities, IT, Building Services, Pub Operating Goods & Services, Marketing Services, Corporate Services and Insurance Services.

Drinks Purchasing

Our drinks team sources and delivers market-leading products that suit all our brands. The trading team has two elements that work together to balance our customers' needs with commercial considerations.

The procurement team works with a large number of suppliers in domestic and international markets, sourcing a wide number of products at optimum terms. These suppliers come in various sizes and deliver both standard and specialist requirements.

The category management team is expert in both consumer needs and market dynamics. They use sophisticated consumer insight techniques to create bespoke product ranges that deliver guest satisfaction and margin delivery.

Logistics

Our Supply Chain creates a service driven environment that motivates managers and service providers to deliver the needs of the business. The role of logistics is to optimise internal and outsourced service provision, so many millions of cases and barrels of food, consumables and drinks products are delivered to our pubs and restaurants as efficiently as possible.

Our aim is to provide seamless delivery of product and service, and to benchmark and monitor our team performance (and that of our contractors), to ensure we consistently improve cost, efficiency and capability.

Electronic Leisure

We've around 6,500 machines across our estate, including gaming machines, pool tables, Quiz Machines, ATMs and various other machines. Our aim is to provide entertainment that supports each brand.

We work closely with manufacturers and suppliers to test and develop new products that will appeal to players in the future. We work closely with trade organizations and civil servants, and meet with politicians to develop legislation that assists the protection of the young and vulnerable from gaming products. We also help develop the legislative framework within which we operate. We're a leading pub retailer in this area of our business.