Booker Group
Booker Group Limited is a food wholesale operator, offering branded and private label goods to over 400,000 customers, including independent convenience stores, grocers, pubs, and restaurants. The company also founded, and was previously a sponsor of, the Booker Prize for literary fiction, which was established in 1968.
In January 2017, it was announced that the British multi national supermarket retailer Tesco had agreed to purchase the company for £3.7 billion. It was confirmed on 5 March 2018 that Tesco had completed its acquisition of Booker.
History
Origins
The company was founded by George and Richard Booker in 1835, when they bought their first ship and established the Booker Line, which focused on shipping goods. It later diversified into the distribution of goods, and gradually disposed of its fleet of ships. With a new focus on wholesale food distribution, the company had over 100 warehouses across the United Kingdom by 1978, and was trading as Booker McConnell Ltd.Among other interests, it operated the sugar industry in Guyana, running five Booker Line ships, until it was nationalised around 1970. After six months, Booker was called back to market the sugar. Booker had a long history of exploitation of sugar workers through the indentured labour system during the 19th and 20th centuries. At its peak, it controlled 75% of the sugar industry in British Guiana and was so powerful that a common joke was to refer to the country as "Booker's Guiana".
In 1952, Jock Campbell took over the chairmanship of the company and his Fabian social politics transformed it dramatically into a benevolent force providing major benefits for sugar workers. Jock Campbell was also instrumental in the setting up of Booker's Author Division, which sponsored the Booker Prize.
Expansion
In 1986, the company set up a short lived co venture between the directors of Siriol Animation to create Kalisto. Kalisto also developed a show called Space Baby, along with another series called Satellite City and the animated film The Little Engine That Could. Kalisto barely lasted a year before Booker bought the rights back., Leeds
In November 1996, Booker bought Nurdin & Peacock, taking ownership of the convenience store operator and brand Happy Shopper. Happy Shopper's products are sold by Booker to independent convenience stores and off licences. In 2000, the brand's logo of a smiling face with blonde hair was dropped from products and packaging, as part of a redesign by Partners In Communication, a design consultant company.
In May 2000, Booker was purchased by Iceland Supermarkets, via its Big Food Group vehicle. Then, in December 2004, Big Food Group was in turn bought by acquisitive Icelandic group, Baugur, which split Booker and Iceland again into different companies.
In June 2007, Booker reversed into an AIM listed wholesaler of groceries Blueheath, to form Booker Group plc. Baugur sold all its assets in Booker Cash & Carry in June 2008, only weeks after its founder was found guilty of accounting irregularities. Baugur collapsed in February 2009, amidst the Icelandic financial crisis.
In September 2009, Booker opened a store in Mumbai and planned to expand its cash and carry stores across India. In May 2012, Metro Group sold the thirty stores of Makro in the United Kingdom and all operational assets to Booker Group Plc, in return for 9.99% of Booker's share capital, plus £15.8 million in cash; although the merger was referred to the Office of Fair Trading it was cleared by the Competition Commission in April 2013.
In May 2015, Booker Group confirmed it had reached an agreement with Musgrave Group to buy the Budgens and Londis grocery chains, for £40 million. In January 2017, Tesco announced that it had reached an agreement to merge with Booker Group for £3.7 billion, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. It was confirmed on 5 March 2018 that Tesco had completed its merger with Booker.
Operations
The company supplies approximately 1.5 million businesses across the United Kingdom, through its different divisions. It operates cash and carry branches throughout the United Kingdom and operates a national delivery service in the United Kingdom. The industry journal The Grocer named Booker the "Green Wholesaler of the Year" at the Grocer Gold Awards.The group consists of several divisions each specialising in different areas of the wholesale market in the United Kingdom:
| Name | Founded | Description |
| Booker Wholesale Holdings Limited | A cash and carry and delivery company in the United Kingdom. | |
| Makro Self Service Wholesalers Limited | A cash and carry and delivery company in the United Kingdom. | |
| Booker Direct Limited | A wholesale business catering for cinemas and HM Prison Service in the United Kingdom. | |
| Classic Drinks Limited | A wholesale business in the United Kingdom. | |
| Ritter-Courivaud Limited | A wholesale business catering for restaurants in the United Kingdom. | |
| Premier Stores Limited | a symbol group of independent convenience stores. The Premier name is owned by Booker Group with the stores owned by individuals who agree to a minimum spend each week with Booker Wholesale in exchange for business support and access to the branding. | |
| Booker India | ||
| Booker Retail Partners Limited |
Booker author's division
During The Baron Campbell of Eskan's tenure as chairman of the company, then known as Booker–McConnell, he was also instrumental in the setting up of the Booker's author division. Lord Campbell of Eskan purchased 51 per cent of Glidrose Ltd, which owned the copyrights of his friend Ian Fleming for £100,000.This purchase was the foundation of the Authors' Division, which also acquired rights to some well known authors' works, such as Dennis Wheatley, and the 64% stake in Agatha Christie's works not controlled by her family.
In June 1998, Agatha Christie's stakeholding was sold to Chorion for £10million, who themselves sold it on in February 2012 to Acorn Media UK. The division also co founded and sponsored the prestigious Booker–McConnell Prize for literature in 1968, now known as Man Booker Prize, the Booker Prize, or simply, "the Booker". This was transferred to the independent Booker Prize Foundation in 2002, and became sponsored by the Man Group plc, who opted to retain the well known "Booker" name.
Chairmen of the Author's division have included Charles William Tyrell, Dennis H. Joss and Agatha Christie's grandson Caradoc Thomas Prichard.
In popular culture
Booker's Happy Shopper brand is parodied in the game ', but renamed The Hippy Shopper'. The store in the game bears a very close resemblance to the real life stores.A Booker Cash and Carry in Oulton near Lowestoft was used as one of the filming locations for the movie Yesterday''.