Expanded food manufacturing, excellent fresh ranges, and strong availability of Food To Go were three major takeaways from James Hall & Co. Ltd’s Spar Forward retailer event.
More than 600 delegates gathered at Harrogate Convention Centre for Spar Forward where they heard a range of convenience retail strategies from keynote speakers in the morning.
Those attending included Spar independent retailers from across the North of England, retail teams from James Hall & Co. Ltd’s G&E Murgatroyd company-owned Spar store division, and Spar colleagues from elsewhere in the UK and internationally.
An action-packed tradeshow with 66 of the biggest suppliers in convenience retail followed including headline sponsors British American Tobacco, Budweiser Brewing Group, Carlsberg-Britvic, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Nestlé, and PepsiCo.
An entertaining social evening featuring a series of team games and a quiz rounded off the day with food served by James Hall & Co. Ltd brands Fazilas and Graham Eyes Quality Butchers.
Chairman and CEO Andrew Hall welcomed delegates to Spar Forward and outlined plans to expand James Hall & Co. Ltd’s existing food manufacturing capabilities to better support Spar independent retailers in navigating supply chain issues and stubborn inflationary pressures.
He declared, ‘if we can’t buy it, we will make it’, listing the launches of new Spar fresh chicken products, mid-tier chilled Spar brand pizzas, and Clayton Park Bakery sourdough lines as key highlights of the last 12 months. He also announced that fresh food sales in the Spar Northern Guild have outstripped the wider convenience retail sector by 4%.
Ann Forshaw’s used Spar Forward to launch a new Gooseberry and Elderflower yoghurt alongside an equally tempting Apple Crumble luxury yoghurt in the brand’s glass jar range, with Clayton Park Bakery opting to showcase new cherry and Marshmallow Cupcakes on the day.
More bread lines, cake varieties, on the go food solutions, and ready meals were revealed as being in the new product development pipeline for launches in the months ahead.
Spar Forward also marked the chance to celebrate 70 years of Spar in the UK with James Hall & Co. Ltd the only remaining founding partner of Spar UK from 1956 when the brand entered the market from the Netherlands.
Retro design Spar tote bags were handed out to attendees from the Spar UK stand where some of the hundreds of own brand Spar lines were on display – with Joint Managing Director Dominic Hall reiterating to retailers how Spar own brand products drive loyalty and value.
Supporting this, Spar International managing director Tobias Wasmuht featured own brand, store investment, and fresh food success stories from Spar countries including France, Malta, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, noting the shift to convenience shopping in markets such as Saudi Arabia too where hypermarket stores have traditionally been king.
He said research showed 42% of Gen Z buy Food To Go at least weekly compared to just 27% of Gen X, and championed Spar Netherlands for winning in the arena of ‘on the go’ food service, particularly in urban and city centre stores, through a strategic decision to move away from declining categories and into direct competition with established food service brands.
Company stores director Fiona Drummond focussed on the evolving Food To Go range at Spar Kitt Green in Wigan – and the learnings from it – after the introduction of a serve over deli counter adjacent to the tills during the store’s complete refurbishment in November 2025.
The move is designed to deliver a seamless one stop service and prevent customers queuing twice. Breakfast and lunch successes was shared, and she encouraged retailers not to neglect afternoon and evening Food To Go sales with evidence from Kitt Green pointing to improved sales of 32% against comparable Spar stores between the hours of 2pm and 7pm.
In other updates, joint managing director Niels Dekkers said the Spar Northern Guild will invest £8.8m in new retail technology, marketing, and margins, including partnering with RELEX Solutions to upgrade forecasting and replenishment across wholesale and retail operations.
He also stressed the value of Q-commerce platforms to convenience retail was still growing with Uber Eats introduced in 2025. The platform has not cannibalised sales placed at company-owned Spar stores through Deliveroo and Just Eat but has instead established itself as part of a formidable trio that have grown Q-commerce sales by 40% in the last year.
Spar Northern Guild Committee retailers Oliver Blake, Leigh Parkinson, Asif Patel, and Paul Stone spoke too, relaunching the Guild’s position as a support network for other independent retailers, while also exploring current opportunities and challenges in convenience retail alongside Peter Dodding, Sales Director and Chairman of the Spar Northern Guild.
Later, Oliver and his Store Manager Pauline Scott from Spar Long Riston in the East Riding of Yorkshire joined Peter on stage as winners of the 2026 Deals of the Day initiative winning up to £10,000 of free stock purchased from suppliers during the afternoon.
Peter Dodding said: “Prior to Spar Forward, I said we have convenience retail strategies here at James Hall & Co. Ltd to keep our Spar retailers growing both their sales and profitability, and I believe we have achieved this with the presentation of our blueprint for the year ahead.
“Despite the obvious challenges we are facing in the convenience retail sector at present, there is a real feeling of optimism and togetherness under the Spar brand as we continue to work hard to deliver real success for our retailers.
“I would also like to thank our suppliers for their tremendous support once again. Events like Spar Forward would not happen without their valuable sponsorship contributions, not to mention the theatre and retailer engagement they bring with them on the day.”
James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent Spar retailers and company-owned Spar stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.
