Blantyre firm buys craft beer specialist
DUNNS Food & Drinks, the Blantyre-based drinks and foodservice wholesaler, has acquired on-trade craft beer supplier Dameck Drinks for an undisclosed sum.
The deal sees Dameck director Danny McGeough – who worked at Dunns prior to founding Dameck – and his four-strong team join the 97-strong workforce at Dunns.
While Dameck will continue to operate as a separate entity for the next few months, it will eventually be absorbed into the Dunns Food & Drink brand. The Dameck stock is expected to be relocated to the Dunns warehouse in the coming weeks. Dameck is said to sell around 1200 craft and world beers to the Scottish on-trade.
Speaking to SLTN Dunns operations director Julie Dunn (great-granddaughter of company founder Joseph Dunn), said the companies had stayed in touch “on and off, through the years” but the deal had only been discussed in the last few months.
“He (McGeough) realised that, to grow the business, he would require a level of investment and we thought it was a perfect match for our product portfolio,” said Dunn.
She added that the deal will provide opportunities to expand the Dunns business with existing Dameck customers and vice versa.
“There’s not a huge crossover [in customers] at all so it gives us an opportunity to grow our foodservice offering and some of our more specialised spirits in these premises, and also to develop the craft beers with our existing customer base.
“We’re viewing it as a really terrific opportunity.”
The takeover represents the latest investment from Dunns, which has recently spent £100,000 on a new IT system and £250,000 on an extensive refurbishment of its 70,000 sq ft warehouse.
The company has also pledged a further £160,000 to develop its 26-strong fleet, and £40,000 to staff training and development. It is aiming to increase turnover from £22m to £25m next year.
