Whisper it gently but there is now a steely confidence within the Bibendum executive team that it is now in charge of a seriously revitalised business that is ready to win its place back as the top premium wine supplier in the UK.
Jamie Avenell is in charge of steering the wine range and direction across the C&C Group that includes Bibendum, Matthew Clark and Walker & Wodehouse
In part one of our in-depth interview Jamie Avenell, wine buying director of the overall C&C Group, and Bibendum stalwart, set out why, and how, it is now a “fundamentally different business” to the company he has spent nearly 15 years working for.
A company that has firmly settled itself into the C&C Group and is now benefiting from all the support and strength that comes being part of one of the UK and Europe’s biggest drinks companies with brewing, branding and distribution businesses that have combined revenues of €1,665.5 million a year and operating profits of €77m up 28%.
Crucially the Matthew Clark Bibendum (MCB) distribution business has, according to C&C’s latest trading figures in May, started to “recover customer momentum” with overall MCB customer numbers up 8%, with service levels now at 98% “on time” and 96% “in full”. A significant turnaround not just for Bibendum but for its customers.
A business that is also benefiting from significant investments in CRM-backed sales, and development training, and a number of senior executive hires tasked with putting in place the company’s new trading strategy.
Andrew Ingham's engaging personality embodies the new confidence there is across the Bibendum business
That new sense of belief and confidence about where Bibendum now is versus its competitive set comes across in spades throughout our interview with Avenell and seasoned multiple retail buyer, Andrew Ingham, who joined as on-trade sales director in the new year.
Ingham, in particular, is keen and quick to get across just how much has been achieved already to make Bibendum a serious operator and challenger again to all its rival wine suppliers, many of whom have not been shy in giving it a kicking in its more troubled years.
He has this strong message to them: “Don’t be throwing rocks in those glass houses. I was a customer of yours and I know how good or bad you are.
A line delivered with all his strong Mancunian, Oasis-style swagger.
Avenell says the intense competition there is between the major wine suppliers is only to be expected in what is such a tough and “very fragmented market” and “shrinking” customer base.
He appreciates “everyone is fighting tooth and nail for a declining market” but he would not want anyone in his team to be looking to win new business by “speaking ill” of another company.
“We focus on ourselves and our customers and that is how we will succeed. But as the part of the business that has the biggest market share of wine in the on-trade we do put ourselves up to be in the spotlight.” he adds.
Ingham says he takes criticism from others “as a badge of honour” particularly as he knows it is now in a position where it has the prices, range and quality of service that any potential customer might need.
Gunning for it
“I am gunning for it,” says Ingham. “I want Bibendum to be the wine company in the UK. I am not interested in being second best. We are going for it. We are putting everything in place to achieve those long term ambitions. I want us to be the first call anybody makes when they want a bottle of wine, wherever it is. If Tesco needs something then call us. If Buckingham Palace needs something, then call us and, anyone in-between, call us. I want to reassure people that we will be able to deliver it for them.
“I also want people in the industry to say they are the guys I want to work for. That’s the company that is delivering the most interesting stuff and doing it in the most unique way. I want our customers to feel great when our guys walk through their door. There are no half measures for me.”
Andrew Ingham: “I want Bibendum to be the wine company in the UK. I am not interested in being second best."
Ingham says it is absolutely essential for businesses like C&C and Bibendum to be leading from the front and doing what it possibly can for the sectors it is so very much part of and wants to serve.
He explains: "The on-trade is under attack and the number of pubs that have closed down is upsetting. I absolutely love the pub and to see those reduce in some of the numbers that they have is distressing. If I can do my little tiny bit to make that experience a little bit better just by having nice wine in the fridge then I am going to do it. It is too important just for us to let that slide.”
He adds: “I want to work with anybody that wants to do that. We are a team that love to eat out and want to try the latest thing. I want that passion to be part of our culture and embrace it as much as possible. I don’t have any time for dealing with any negativity be it from a supplier, or a competitor, or someone who does not want to work with us. You do you and we’ll do us thank you very much.”
Avenell says ultimately businesses like Bibendum “can only control what you can control”.
Margin driven wine range
Bibendum has worked hard to find the producers that can provide the wines that can work at all the key price points on a restaurant or bar's wine list from mainstream to premium to fine wines
Which is why it is even more essential it is sourcing wines that are going to help its customerssell more wine at margins that deliver the profits that make a difference to their bottom line.
So as well as the £60 to £100 wines on a wine list where it is already strong, it also needs to be able to deliver quality and margin at every commercial price point up to those levels, stresses Avenell.
“The percentage of wines sold on a restaurant wine list above £50 is relatively small and from a portfolio perspective we want to focus more on the wines that can sell for £30 to £40 that can offer great value, experience and differentiation and are what our customers want rather than loading up the portfolio with loads of wines you can sell at £60, £70, £80 a bottle where the rate of sale is much slower.”
The key, stresses Ingham, is that it now has “wines in the portfolio at all price points that are exciting to sell and have a bit of an edge” be it working with interesting winemakers and producers that “have a cool story and are doing something different”.
“Bibendum always had a bit of an edge to their brand in the past. It is in Bibendum’s DNA of old and we should continue and embrace it,” he adds.
That is why it is also crucial there is such a close connection and understanding between the sales and buying teams so that the buyers are giving the sales team the right wines to go out and sell, adds Ingham.
“We need a portfolio we can sell, which includes fine and prestige wines,” he says, with entry and exit points for restaurants, bars and pubs to buy into.
Re-focused portfolio
The big structural changes that have taken place across the group in the last year have also resulted in quite considerable change in the number of producers that Bibendum is now working with.
Avenell says that whilst in some places it has looked to replace producers that have left with new partners where it is strategically important to do so - like with Quinta da Pedra Alta in the Douro - it has also been an opportunity to reflect on the number of suppliers it needs to be working with.
“We needed to re-focus and there is stilla little bit of that to do,” he says particularly in determining which producers it has an “alignment” with in terms of “what we are doing and can do in the market and what the market needs”.
If that means walking away from producers who are not in step with “what the possibility of the market is” or are not willing to “collaborate with us in the right way” then so be it.
It’s vitally important for the whole business, but particularly the sales team on the floor that it has the full confidence, commitment, support and excitement of the producers it is working with behind them, stresses Ingham.
New Theory - bringing low intervention wines from South Africa into the Bibendum range
It has also been a time to bring in “new and exciting” producers to the range “where the customer demand is there,” says Avenell pointing to the work it is doing with New Theory that is making what it calls “accessible natural wine” from South Africa.
It has also brought in a new Corpinnat producer from Penedès in Spain – Sabate I Coca - to tap into the interest in sparkling wines, particularly around the “sweet spot” between Prosecco and Champagne.
Group support
The Bibendum’s sales team is also primed and ready to go and help the other trading parts of the business, particularly Matthew Clark, when they might need a bit more specialist and premium wine expertise for their customers.
“There is a full on wine machine that can spring into action as and when is required,” says Ingham. “The process about talking about wine is a bit different than the other products and we can spend a bit more time with more expertise to do that.”
Avenell explains that outside of London there is a “tier of sales management that is responsible for both Bibendum and Matthew Clark”. A line of management that gives it “an overview of everything that is going on within that region”. It means the Bibendum team can step in as and when Matthew Clark has a customer who wants to talk to more of a wine specialist about their range.
“But below that layer of management everything is either a Matthew Clark or Bibendum sales person selling the Matthew Clark or Bibendum portfolio,” he adds. “That’s why we have two on-trade businesses because they do different things.”
It also means as a group it can look to win more accounts and business by having a combined strategy where Matthew Clark might be supplying the bulk of a customer’s alcohol needs across beers, spirits and soft drinks, but it is using other suppliers for its wine offer. It can then suggest and introduce the Bibendum sales team to share their wine expertise and potentially end up with one delivery and one invoice across both companies.
There is very much a group strategy underyling how Bibendum works with and alongside Matthew Clark to ensure their collective customers get the right wines for their venues
To help cement those internal relationships across the business it holds two national sales conferences a year with both Matthew Clark and Bibendum teams, whilst regional conversations are taking place every day, says Ingham, to ensure “we are all pulling in the same direction”.
Customer first strategy
The key is to always think customer first, he stresses, and determine what is the right wine offer for them and which part of the business is best served to supply it.
“We need to be grown up enough to decide which business is best to do that and what business the customer wants to deal with,” he adds.
Ingham, for example, sits within and alongside the senior Matthew Clark sales team to ensure there is that natural collaboration taking place “every day”.
Which is why the focus for the buying team is on the future and what they need to be bringing into the overall business in 2026 and beyond, says Avenell. “You have got to plan ahead. We have to be thinking about what is coming next.”
The fact it is now going out into the market with a new “energy” and “dynamism” in its sales teams means it is opening up doors to both existing and new customers, claims Avenell.
Ingham puts it down to “all the hard work” that goes “in the prep,” be it from the buying team thinking about what wines they need to have in the range months ahead, to the CRM-backed analysis the sales teams are now doing before they go out to meet customers.
Ingham says it is having a noticeable impact on customers “really engaging with us about wine”.
“We had a customer who used to deal with us coming to us because they are hearing from other people in the industry that when Bibendum show up now it is a really energetic wine conversation. But having all those tools behind us enables us to have those conversations which people are really responding to.”
Experience first
There has also been a marked change in how restaurants, bars and pubs are looking to buy wine, claims Ingham. Yes the quality of wine they have is still crucial, but what is now important is the experience and level of service they are able to give their customers.
“Everyone’s behaviour around wine has changed. People are not going out as much and when they do go out they want it to be special and you are even seeing that in local pubs and gastro pubs out in the countryside offering a world class experience,” he adds.
Bibendum has been a long time supporter of the Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer and helped sponsor the Grand Prix award for best overall wine list - which in 2025 went to Hjem in Hexham
Ingham would like to see the wine industry talking less about the elite, fine wines that excite wine professionals, and more about “what wines are being drunk in Walthamstow on a Wednesday”.
“It is the reality vs the romance. I like to see people enjoying wine. The greatest wine experience you have ever had is not because the wine was amazing, but it is the people I was with and who I shared it with,” he says.
If you look at the wine lists in the more edgier venues in London, and around the country, they are “not the same to what has been sold in the past,” he adds.
“I genuinely feel there is this whole old guard of wine people gatekeeping what the wine industry needs to be when there are customers demanding different wines that are cooler, more interesting, more accessible that we should, and are starting to embrace.”
Which is why it is also encouraging its sales teams to work with the new bottle preservation devices there are now to encourage a gastro pub, for example, to take on more prestigious wines and sell them by the glass and give new experiences to their customers whilst securing a higher margin per glass sold. It also taps nicely into the trend of people drinking less, but better.
“It is about us telling those stories to our customers about how we can help them deliver their service excellence and how we can help them do it.”
Fun and relevant
It’s also why Bibendum is looking to shake up the way it gets to know its on-trade customers better and go beyond just holding the traditional wine dinner and trade tastings.
It has, for example, just taken a group of customers out to Paris for a day in order to both get to know them better, but also give them the opportunity to relax, unwind and spend some time with some of their peers on the front line of running restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels.
“It was the most subscribed activity we have ever done,” says Ingham and involved a Champagne breakfast on the Eurostar, the chance to visit a few wine bars, and then enjoy a relaxing lunch and tasting with some of the artisan winemakers that Bibendum is working with across France.
“We could have taken 20 people out there every day for a month there was so much interest from our customers,” he adds. “We are just trying to think about things in a different way and see how we can help you sell better wine. If you do it right people embrace it.”
Crucially the initiative was open to all its customers and not the result of a sales campaign or picking out specific operators.
Bibendum's recent 'Let Us Drink Wine' event was a new way to showcase its French wines with a key focus on sparkling wine
“That has always been one of Bibendum’s strengths and doing different initiatives like this,” adds Avenell, pointing to its recent “Let us Drink Wine’ tasting at Shoreditch Studios in London which was all about trying to shine the light on France in a more exciting and memorable way - with an event focused on “fizz” and France “through the price points”.
An opportunity to also shine the light on all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes at Bibendum - and wider C&C Group - to re-imagine and re-align the business to ensure it is best placed to meet and, where possible, surpass the needs of its customers - across all channels.
The final word goes to Ingham: “Everyone is realistic about what where we have been, but now we are not looking over our shoulders any more. We are looking forward and taking leaps forward at the same time.”
- You can read the first part of this interview by clicking here.
- Find out more about what Bibendum is doing at its website here.
- C&C Group is a commercial partner to The Buyer. Click here to find out more.
