Petty Wood

What Petty Wood does

Petty Wood & Co. Ltd is a privately held UK food and drink brand management and distribution company headquartered in Andover, Hampshire, with operations dating to 1816. The company exclusively operates a portfolio of ambient food and drink brands in the UK — including owned brands Epicure (launched 1891) and Epic Snax Co., alongside a managed roster of international principals such as Lavazza, Lee Kum Kee, Werther's Original, Bendicks, Sacla, YO! Sushi, Ahmad Tea, Hildon, Baxters and Comvita — totalling more than 2,000 SKUs across ambient categories.

The operating platform combines four service lines: brand building (in-market strategy and trade marketing), food innovation (trend scouting and product development), consolidation and logistics (national multi-site warehousing led by a 100,000 sq ft facility in Hampshire with over 10,000 pallet capacity), and trade show and event activation. A sales-led go-to-market team of more than 50 commercial staff serves two distinct customer segments — major supermarket distribution centres via full multi-pallet deliveries, and thousands of independent retailers via consolidated small-order solutions — supplemented by a direct e-commerce storefront at pettywood.direct and a London design and innovation studio.

Petty Wood generates revenue primarily through transactional distribution and brand management fees on owned and represented ambient SKUs, with quote-based B2B pricing. No revenue figure is publicly disclosed, and the company operates without external funding, subsidiaries, or a parent entity, functioning as an independent, family-transitioned SME with continuous national UK coverage and over 200 years of continuous trading.

Name

Petty Wood

Legal name

Petty Wood & Co. Ltd

Website

https://pettywood.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1816

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Petty Wood is a privately held UK food and drink brand manager and distributor, managing 2,000+ ambient SKUs across owned brands like Epicure and international principals (Lavazza, Lee Kum Kee, Werther's), serving major supermarkets and independent retailers through national multi-channel distribution from Andover, Hampshire.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Andover

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product distribution and sales: National distribution of ambient food and drink brands to multi-channel customers including major supermarket distribution centres and independent retailers. Revenue generated through product distribution and sales of owned and operated brands.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Petty Wood is a UK-based sales, marketing, and distribution partner for ambient food and drink brands. It builds and activates brands in-market through a commercial team of over 50 people, runs a national multi-site logistics platform warehousing over 10,000 pallets, and distributes a portfolio of more than 2,000 products — including its own heritage brand Epicure and managed international brands such as Lavazza, Lee Kum Kee, Werther's Original, Bendicks, and Sacla — to major supermarket distribution centres and thousands of independent retailers.

Product overview

Petty Wood operates as a food and drink brand management and distribution company offering over 2000 ambient food and drink products in the UK market. Their offering comprises: (1) owned brands including Epic Snax Co. and Epicure (launched 1891); (2) managed international brands such as Lee Kum Kee, Lavazza, Werther's Original, Bendicks, Sacla, and YO! Sushi; (3) service offerings including brand building, food innovation, consolidation/logistics, and trade shows/events activation. They operate national multi-site logistics with 100,000 sq ft warehousing in Hampshire, an in-house creative studio in London, and a direct e-commerce shop at pettywood.direct.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Epicure Petty Wood's original own-brand, launched in 1891, covering ambient food products including vegan mallows and fruit-based lines; distributed across UK retail and food service channels.
• Epic Snax Co. Confectionery and snack brand owned by Petty Wood, sold through the company's direct-to-consumer online shop at pettywood.direct.
• Petty Wood Brand Building Services B2B service for food and drink brand owners covering in-market strategy development and implementation plans, including trade marketing activities and promotional strategies, executed by a commercial team of over 50 people across multi-channel UK customers.
• Petty Wood Food Innovation B2B service that seeks out future ambient food and drink trends and brings new ideas to market for brand owners, supported by in-house creative design capabilities to optimise brands' UK market position.
• Petty Wood Consolidation and Logistics National multi-site UK logistics platform with a primary 100,000 sq ft Hampshire facility and warehousing capacity for over 10,000 pallets; handles full multi-pallet deliveries to major supermarket distribution centres and consolidated small-order deliveries for thousands of independent retailers.
• Petty Wood Trade Shows and Events B2B brand activation service that designs, builds, and operates bespoke trade and consumer events in the UK and internationally to showcase brand owners' portfolios, executed with an in-house creative team.
• Managed International Brands Portfolio UK distribution and brand management of internationally recognised ambient food and drink brands on behalf of their owners, including Lee Kum Kee, Lavazza, Werther's Original, Bendicks, Sacla, YO! Sushi, Ahmad Tea London, Hildon Natural Mineral Water, Nexba, Gallo, Rummo, Baxters, and Comvita.
• Petty Wood Online Shop (pettywood.direct) Direct-to-consumer online shop at pettywood.direct offering the company's owned-branded products for purchase, with payments processed via WorldPay.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Booker Group: One of the UK's largest food wholesalers, supplying tens of thousands of independent retailers, caterers, and convenience operators nationwide. Comparable to Petty Wood in providing ambient food distribution plus added services to independent retailers, though at much greater scale and across more product categories.
• Premier Foods: One of the UK's largest ambient food brand owners, managing well-known grocery brands (Batchelors, Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Oxo) sold through all major UK grocery channels. Comparable to Petty Wood in operating a diverse UK ambient food brand portfolio and managing it through supermarket distribution, though at substantially greater scale and from an ownership rather than distribution angle.
• Musgrave Group: Ireland-anchored wholesale and food retail services group operating brands such as SuperValu and Centra, with a food distribution and brand-management franchise spanning Ireland and the UK. A broader incumbent with overlapping capabilities to Petty Wood in distributing and developing food brands through multi-channel retail.
• Bidfood: One of the UK's largest foodservice distributors, supplying caterers, restaurants, and hospitality operators with a broad ambient, chilled, and frozen range. Overlaps with Petty Wood's stated food service ambitions and broad product portfolio of 2000+ ambient SKUs.
• Hain Celestial Group: Global packaged food company that owns and grows a portfolio of ambient health-and-wellness food brands (including Tilda, and previously UK's Danone ambient brands) and distributes them through UK supermarkets and independents. Comparable to Petty Wood in the multi-brand ambient food distribution and brand-management discipline across UK retail.
• Finsbury Food Group: UK specialty bakery and food group that manufactures and markets multiple ambient food brands through UK retailers. Comparable to Petty Wood in managing a portfolio of recognised ambient food brands and operating a multi-channel UK sales-and-distribution model, though from a manufacturer rather than pure distributor base.

Direct peers

• Cotswold Fayre: A UK specialty ambient-food distributor focused on independent retail and foodservice channels, distributing third-party international brands and providing brand activation services. Highly comparable to Petty Wood's combination of national distribution, multi-channel coverage, and brand-management services for ambient food and drink.
• JJ Food Service: UK-based food service distributor serving restaurants, takeaways, and caterers via multi-temperature logistics and digital ordering platforms. Comparable to Petty Wood in providing ambient food distribution to professional buyers (foodservice, retail) with national coverage, though more digitally-led.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Petty Wood