Tristan and Claire King collect the highly coveted Baldwin Cup at the 2022 SRS awards ceremony. Pictured left to right: Bev Bailey, BTP Sales Director, Daphne Baldwin, Tristan King, Claire King and comedian Joel Dommett.
Download imageThe trophy is awarded to one retailer yearly and celebrates the best stores across SPAR UK’s Meridian & Welsh Guild region.
King Family Stores dates to 1997, when Tristan and his parents founded the business. Tristan and his wife, Claire, took sole ownership in 2016 and today have six SPAR stores in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and South Yorkshire.
They have consistently invested in their estate to grow sales and profitability.
With support from the team at Blakemore Trade Partners, they have developed their own food-to-go brand, Kings Kitchen, which has given their stores a real point of difference. Five of their sites operate the brand to varying degrees: from a simple chilled offer to a full hot menu more akin to a traditional takeaway.
Tristan and Claire’s latest development was completed at their Sheffield Road store in Chesterfield last month. They introduced the Kings Kitchen brand to give their customers a greater choice of great value, locally produced food.
Blakemore Trade Partners provided support by preparing a business plan, advancing business overriders, offering range, and pricing advice, fitting out the store and assisting with marketing.
The refit was completed only a few weeks ago, but customer reaction has been more than positive and sales better than forecast.
Blakemore Trade Partners Commercial Director Louis Drake commented: “Since joining SPAR, Tristan and Claire have demonstrated outstanding commitment to developing their business. Not wanting to rest on their laurels, they constantly look for opportunities to grow.
“The business is full of innovation, which is most evident in the development of their Kings Kitchen food-to-go concept, which has been developed to create a real point of difference and drive sales and profitability.
“The couple regularly move outside their comfort zone and have formed a formidable business partnership. Congratulations on this very deserved win.”
Blakemore Trade Partners hosted the SRS awards ceremony to recognise the outstanding performance of retailers and suppliers.
Other SPAR retailers honoured on the night included:
Suppliers to Blakemore Trade Partners also received awards:
Source: SPAR UK
The UK became a SPAR member in 1956 when SPAR International granted the SPAR licence to a group of independent wholesalers. As a result, there are now five regional partners in the UK. A central office in London provides national marketing and buying services for the group.
SPAR has led the highly competitive convenience market in the UK for many years. Always innovative, the five regional partners continue to grow the brand. SPAR UK comprises independently owned licensed retailers and company-owned stores. These include forecourts, airports, train stations, city centres, and local neighbourhood stores.
